Strive First for the Kingdom of God

Many thanks to my friends Nancy, Yaret, Gabe and Saul--for introducing me to "Background" by Lecrae (featuring C-Lite).  I'm reminded that the Teacher is always at hand, always shining a light, always offering encouragement for the journey ahead.  Even now, even tonight, he bids me follow.  "Do not worry," he says.  "God knows what you need."  Let your heart sing.  Let your life love.  Let your light shine.  The battle is already won.  "Follow me."

Discipleship.  Following Jesus against the grain.  Following Jesus into the contradictions of the cross.  Following Jesus into the beating heart of mystery.  Discipleship.  Jesus says "strive first for the kingdom of God...and all the rest will be provided..."  Seek ye first the kin-dom, the oneness, the healing of life.  Jesus is that Love. 

Am I willing, am I ready to follow?  To turn my full attention to the kingdom--to the reconciliation of broken pieces, to the healing of broken lives, to the project of God's kingdom on earth?

My study this spring--with two very special and very different study groups--reminds me that I cannot answer these huge questions alone.  I can only answer in partnership with others, others who ask questions of their own and rely on my friendship and my encouragement.  Even as I rely on theirs. 

Prayer and Liberation

One of my theological heroes died this week: Walter Wink--who taught at both Union and Auburn Seminaries in New York and wrote some of the 20th century's most important theology.  In an essay called "Prayer and the Powers," Walter wrote this:

"Prayer is never a private inner act disconnected from day-to-day realities.  It is, rather, THE INTERIOR BATTLEFIELD where the decisive victory is won before any engagement in the outer world is even possible.  If we have not undergone THAT INNER LIBERATION in which the individual strands of the nets in which we are caught are severed, one by one, our activism may merely reflect one or another counterideology of some counter-Power.  We may simply be caught up in a new collective passion, and fail to discover the POSSIBILITIES GOD IS PRESSING FOR here and now.  Unprotected by prayer, our social activism runs the danger of becoming self-justifying good works.  As our inner resources atrophy, the WELLS OF LOVE RUN DRY, and we are slowly changed into the likeness of the beast.

"Prayer may or may not involve regular regimens, may or may not be sacramental, may or may not be contemplative, may or may not take traditional religious forms.  It is in any case not a religious practice externally imposed but AN EXISTENTIAL STRUGGLE AGAINST THE "IMPOSSIBLE," against an antihuman collective atmosphere, against images of worth and value that stunt and wither human life.

"Prayer is the field hospital in which the spiritual diseases that we have contracted from the Powers can be diagnosed and treated."

Thanks be to God for Walter Wink and all the pioneers of prayer!

My Walking Staff

Alexander Shaia describes the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) in this way: "[They] reflect diverse parts of a harmonious unity which endlessly reflect and touch each other as we go through our lives.  As the very heart of Jesus's teachings, their practice opens us to compassion.  If we are able to place these on our hearts, walk with them on our feet, hold them in our hands, and seal them in our thoughts, we will have more insight along our journey.  They will become our walking staff and guide for the arduous times we will face" (The Hidden Power of the Gospels, 79). 

I'd extend this lovely metaphor--the walking staff--to include the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount.

What might it mean for us to place this sermon on our hearts, to walk with it (everyday) on our feet, to hold it (in every meeting, in every encounter) in our hands, and to seal it somehow in our thoughts?  "Blessed are the poor in spirit...I say, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...Do not worry, for God knows what you need...Seek first the kingdom of God, the justice of God...Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers..." 

Alexander Shaia suggests that Matthew's intent (and Jesus') is to invite a new kind of attentiveness.  A deep and reverent engagement in the ways of God.  "Just because a respected external authority establishes a code of behavior," he writes, "does not make it correct.  Meaningless acquiescence is not a holy course; a genuinely holy path requires individual responsibility, effort and scrutiny."  The Sermon on the Mount charts a course, a genuinely holy path.  It's a path that requires companionship, discipline, hope and mindfulness in every step. 

I have a walking staff that I take along, often, on long hikes.  Sometimes I grab it for a walk around the neighborhood.  I wonder, now, about carving into its wooden core some of these verses, some of Jesus' words, this teaching that guides me through arduous times...

LOVE. 
DO NOT WORRY. 
SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM.  
FORGIVE.
MERCY.  
PEACEMAKERS.  
YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

What about finding a walking staff for yourself?  What about carving the Sermon on the Mount--or the words that move you--into it?  Place these words on your heart every day.