A New Revelation and Resolution

• All of God's children, I am convinced, feel instinctively in their moments of divine illumination that a life of inward rest and outward victory is their inalienable birthright.

• To state it in brief, I would say that man's part is to trust, and God's part is to work.

• I have tried to settle the question as to the scripturalness of the experience sometimes called the Higher Christian Life but which is the only true Christian life, and which to my own mind is best described in the words, the "life hid with Christ in God."

• We received Him by faith, and by faith alone. Therefore we are to walk in Him by faith, and by faith alone. And the faith by which we enter into this hidden life is just the same as the faith by which we were translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son -- only it lays hold of a different thing. Then we believed that Jesus was our Saviour from the guilt of sin, and according to our faith it was unto us. Now we must believe that He is our Saviour from the power of sin, and according to our faith it shall be unto us. Then we trusted Him for forgiveness, and it became ours. Now we must trust Him for righteousness, and it shall become ours also. Then we took Him as a Saviour in the future from the penalties of our sins. Now we must take Him as a Saviour in the present from the bondage of our sins. Then He was our Redeemer. Now He is to be our Life. Then He lifted us out of the pit. Now He is to seat us in heavenly places with Himself.(Hannah Whithall Smith, The Christian Secret to a Happy Life)

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ. . . . Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.

Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death.

(Colossians 3:1-9a, The Message)

Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!

(Matthew 2:9-10, The Message)

 

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Beginning Well

The New Year gives us an opportunity to make a new sort of resolution: a life abandoned to God.

But real surrender—real abandonment to Christ—begins with a clear understanding of what such a life actually entails. One of the first things we must understand is that there are not two or more classes of Christians, as though some are merely Christians and others are disciples. There is only one way to be with Jesus: as his disciple. That is his calling. That is the choice placed before us.

We may be very inexperienced disciples, needing much instruction, patience, and reassurance. Or we may become seasoned disciples, living our Christ-life with greater ease and regularity. But we are still disciples. We trust our Lord, and we grow in that trust. We grow as well in his strength and grace. Along the way, we discover that we need him more than we first imagined—more for the journey, not less.

This kind of life is indeed hidden, though it is not completely undetectable.

Eyes that are fixed on sorting—on who is right and who is wrong, on who benefits me more or less—will likely miss the Christ-life at work in another person. They are simply looking in the wrong places. But eyes that seek the goodness and mercy of God may begin to notice something else.

These eyes may notice a loosening of sin’s grip. They may see a growing wholeness, a quiet virtue emerging over time. They may hear words or observe ways of being that remind them, gently but unmistakably, of Jesus. They may even sense a healthy indifference to the panic and frustration that so often govern life—an unexplainable peace and joy taking their place.

Such hints of glory are encouraging. They give hope.

Yes, we can trust. And God will work. Surrender is made of this hidden life with Christ in God.

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Experience for Epiphany

Take time to notice what a life abandoned to Jesus might look like in your own place—in the ordinary settings and relationships of your days.

You may find it helpful to write a few things down. Choose three or four characteristics that seem to describe such a life as it could be lived by you. Hold these before God over the coming week. Speak with him about them. Listen as well.

Resist the urge to form a quick or heroic resolution. Instead, allow space for a resolution that Christ himself can shape and sustain in you over the coming year—and perhaps longer.

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Prayer

Lord, this feels like a good time to begin again.
It is also a good time to continue—more thoughtfully—on the journey I am already on.

Guide my thoughts and lift my heart as I seek to abandon my life to you.
I trust that you are gentle and humble at your core.
I trust that you know what is best for me,
and what is best for my place in this world.

I place myself in your care.
Amen.

A Careful Balance

Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking.

    The Voice was and is God.

This celestial Word remained ever present with the Creator;

     His speech shaped the entire cosmos.

Immersed in the practice of creating,

    all things that exist were birthed in Him.

His breath filled all things

    with a living, breathing light—

A light that thrives in the depths of darkness,

    blazes through murky bottoms.

It cannot and will not be quenched.

(Jn 1:1-5)

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

(Mark 1:35-39)

Somewhere we know that without a lonely place our lives are in danger. Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, without distance closeness cannot cure. Somewhere we know that without a lonely place our actions quickly become empty gestures. The careful balance between silence and words, withdrawal and involvement, distance and closeness, solitude and community forms the basis of the christian life and should therefore be the subjects of our most personal attention. Let us therefore look somewhat closer, first at our life in action, and at our life in solitude. (Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude)

 Prayer

Lord, grant me a taste for solitude so that I might find in my heart the holy place where you live and can tell you truthfully how I am feeling. Grant me also an understanding of when to act in response to your call to me. Amen.

Advent Action

Our Lord went out to a deserted place to pray before he started his journey throughout Galilee to proclaim the message of the Good News. Look back on your past life and identify as active moments. also examine the times of solitude you have experienced. Assess how you functioned under both conditions. Make sure that in the midst of Advent season there is a balance between the two aspects of your spiritual journey. 

 

(from Advent and Christmas Wisdom of Henri Nouwen) 

The Foundation of the Spiritual Life

Soon afterwards

Elizabeth his wife became pregnant

and went into seclusion for five months.

“How kind the Lord is,” she exclaimed,

“to take away my disgrace

of having no children!”

(Luke 1:24-25, The Living Bible)

Dear friends, even though I am talking like this I really don’t believe that what I am saying applies to you. I am confident you are producing the good fruit that comes along with your salvation. For God is not unfair. How can he forget your hard work for him, or forget the way you used to show your love for him—and still do—by helping his children? And we are anxious that you keep right on loving others as long as life lasts, so that you will get your full reward. Then, knowing what lies ahead for you, you won’t become bored with being a Christian nor become spiritually dull and indifferent, but you will be anxious to follow the example of those who receive all that God has promised them because of their strong faith and patience. (Hebrews 6:9-12, TLB)

The French author Simone Weil  writes in her notebook: “Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.” Without patience our expectation degenerates into wishful thinking. Patience comes from the word patior which means “to suffer.” What seems a hindrance becomes a way; what seems an obstacle becomes a door; what seems a misfit becomes a cornerstone. (Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude)

Prayer

Lord, give us patience so that we may truly see obstacles as doors, the “not-quite-rights” of life as a foundation, our suffering and indifference as eventual gateways to your salvation, to goodness, and to meaningful service. Make the challenges on our spiritual journey into opportunities to say “yes” to your love and to your help. Amen. 

Advent action

Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, by watchful alertness. Prepare the way of the Lord by making an Advent calendar of ways to help others or positive changes in your own spiritual life. Don't plan too precisely, however; leave room for God's input. 

(from Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri Nouwen)

Hidden Hope

But on this humbled ground, a tiny shoot, hopeful and promising,
    will sprout from Jesse’s stump;
A branch will emerge from his roots to bear fruit.
And on this child from David’s line, the Spirit of the Eternal One will alight and rest.
By the Spirit of wisdom and discernment
    He will shine like the dew.
By the Spirit of counsel and strength
    He will judge fairly and act courageously.
By the Spirit of knowledge and reverence of the Lord,
    He will take pleasure in honoring the Lord.

(Isaiah 11:1-3, The Voice) 

 

I keep expecting loud and impressive events to convince me and others of God's saving power. Our temptation is to be distracted by them. . . .When I have no eyes for the small signs of God's presence - the smile of a baby, the carefree play children, the words of encouragement and gestures of love offered by friends - I will always remain tempted by despair. 

 

The small child of Bethlehem, the unknown man of Nazareth, the rejected preacher, the naked man on the cross, he asks for my full attention. The work of our salvation takes place in the midst of a world that continues to shout, scream, and overwhelm us with its claims and promises. (Henry Nouwen, Gracias! A Latin American Journal)
 

Prayer

 

We welcome you, small child of Bethlehem, who's coming we await with quiet attention. Shield us from the shouts, the screams, the empty promises of the season, and encourage us to turn our hopes to your coming. We know that the promise is hidden in the stable in Bethlehem and rooted in the offspring of Jesse; let us look for our salvation there. Amen.

Advent action

 

Today I will look for one small sign that God is present in my daily life. I will give thanks for his presence. If I can't hear him, I will look for what might be closing my ears.

 

(from Advent and Christmas: Wisdom from Henri Nouwen) 

Filled Up with Light

You aren’t giving up on us, are you, God?
    refusing to go out with our troops?
Give us help for the hard task;
    human help is worthless.
In God we’ll do our very best;
    he’ll flatten the opposition for good.

(Psalm 60:10-13, The Message) 

Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

(Daniel 3:26-27, NIV) 

Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.

(2 Corinthians 4:5-7, The Message) 

 

A terrible fire ravaged the whole building, and when, afterwards, she went back to inspect the remains of her office all she could do was shake her head and be grateful that she had not been in the building at the time. Certainly none of the files of papers had survived. 

 

With one backward glance her eyes fell on a tiny blackened vase still standing on the charred remains of her desk. She had a new office now in a different place it was able to move in there instead. Well, little vase, she said, you and me have survived and you shall come with me into my new office. 

 

It stood in the usual place on the corner of her new desk, but when people came in she noticed a difference in their reaction. Before they would say, 

'Oh, what a beautiful vase.'

Now, since it had been through the fire, they said, 

'Oh, what beautiful flowers.'

(Northumbrian Aiden readings, Dec.17)

 

 

Robbing Our Monster's Power to Surprise

 Right now I can’t see because I am surrounded by troubles;
    my sins and shortcomings have caught up to me,
    so I am swimming in darkness.
Like the hairs on my head, there are too many to count,
    so my heart deserts me.

(Psalm 40:12, The Voice) 

 

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
 

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

(Numbers 13:30-33, NIV) 

 

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

(Matthew 1:18-19,NIV) 

 

Each of us has triggers that activate irrational fears, psychological monsters that seem overpowering to us but which probably would be no problem to someone else. 

 

It may be a temptation to do the right thing the wrong way, or a lie thrown in our path by the enemy that anyone else would laugh at for its foolishness. 

 

The common denominator is the same - it is a giant bigger than our own courage and it comes out when we are alone. All of us have monsters of some kind, nightmares from our past or from our subconscious, unwelcome 'visitors.' 

 

But it was the Spirit who took Joseph off-guard and filled him with the dread of Mary's unfaithfulness, God who instructed the Israelites to subdue and drive out giants, and He is bigger than any giant or monster or problem the enemy may resuscitate or invent. 

 

Sometimes He'd rather the nightmares appeared and came out into the light to be recognized for what they are, and be robbed of their power to surprise us. (Northumbrian Aiden readings, Dec. 12)

Let God Hear Your Voice

 I am completely numb, totally spent, hopelessly crushed.

    The agitation of my heart makes me groan.

(Psalm 38:8, The Voice)

Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, 

and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 

From inside the fish 

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.

(Jonah 1:17-2:1, NIV) 

 

When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, [Zechariah] went back home. It wasn’t long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy. “So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate

condition!” she said.

(Luke 1:24-25, Message)  

 

John Skinner's story of the novice monk has impressed upon many of us the words of council the novice was given:

 

Go to your cell, 

and your cell will teach you everything.

 

The cell is a place of being shut away with God, and with yourself. This may be a physical place or just a choice to be opened to Him in an interior way. We know it is exactly what we need, but avoid time alone and find other things to address in order to delay it. . . 

 

The son felt fenced in. His Father took him to the fence and bid him look. He looked and he did not notice a hedge of thorn or a barbed wire entanglement. He saw a fence of feathers. 

 

'With his feathers shall he make a fence for you.' The son remembered how once he had said, 'There are days when little things go wrong, one after another, and I am distracted by much serving. Such days are very trying.' Then the Father had said, 'On such days take yourself take to yourself the words of your Savior and which you have so often given to others. Let them be your solace and your tranquility. But tell me, when you are under pressure, do you turn first to your companions or to me? Your companions listen and respond, but you never tell me about it. Let me see your face, let me hear your voice.  

Amy Carmichael