February 25

May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!     1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 The Message

We humans find it extremely difficult to know the truth about ourselves.

I read recently (sorry I cannot remember who to attribute this to…) that we look through the wrong side of our eyeballs.  I think the writer meant for me to understand that I can never truly see myself, only a version of myself through the mirror of another.

How can we improve our consciousness of self?

It will not come through relentless, narcissistic, self-absorption.

First, we must come to believe that God is completely dependable.

God is completely dependable.

Meditate on this thought today.  If your experience doesn’t match this truth, maybe you could ask yourself the following questions:

What if I am wrong?

What if the story I have told myself is skewed?

What if I have blamed God for things that are of man?

What if I have trusted man for things that are only available from God?

What if…I have some unlearning to do in order to regain sanity?

February 24

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  So watch yourselves.   If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” 

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”  

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.  Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?  Won’t he rather say, “Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?  Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?”  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ “  Luke 17:1-10 NIV

The disciples were human – which is to say, they were not God.

People who have pondered this separation of God and man for many generations tell those of us who today consider the issue of coming to believe that it is only those who know darkness (insanity) that appreciate light.  These sages of old suggest that it is only our brokenness (insanity) that allows us to become whole.

Wholeness does not mean that things do not end up broken (“Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come…”).

Saint Augustineand Martin Luther understood and taught that within individuals and communities there is both good and evil, strength and weakness. 

I pray these words encourage us.  Our journey will not require us to stop stumbling (as if we could!), but it will provide us a way to enter into a life of sanity.

February 23

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  So watch yourselves.   If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” 

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”  

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.  Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?  Won’t he rather say, “Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?  Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?”  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ “  Luke 17:1-9 NIV

A warning to heed:  at step two, it is natural to not grasp the blessing of being an “unworthy servant.”  That sounds like bad news.  The beauty of the twelve step process, for those who actually work the steps, is that what was once good news may become bad, and what once seemed like bad news becomes a blessing.

No one I know has ever stumbled upon the twelve steps without a big fall.  This may feel bad.

But part of learning a new way to live, means acquiring a new way to think. 

“However we come to understand that there are necessarily both ups and downs in life, the same perspective reveals that within ourselves there is light within our darkness, good within our evil.  In the spirituality of imperfections, we learn to accept that we are neither angel nor beast, for we are both.”  The Spirituality of Imperfection, p.59.

Wisdom within the context of Luke 17 allows us the opportunity to struggle with the sad truth that we are woeful.  We are both victim and villain, and we are more.  We are granted the gracious opportunity to come to believe and discover that we are more than a label – we can accept God’s invitation to be adopted into his family.  Our human experience may leave us stunned by the possibility of being a kid of THE KING.  And confused.  Our life has stories of both victimization and villainy.  Of course it is confusing!

February 22

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  So watch yourselves.   If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” 

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”  

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.  Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?  Won’t he rather say, “Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?  Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?”  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ “  Luke 17:1-10 NIV

Foreshadowing without the subtlety:

1. Coming to believe creates a framework that believers live within, as opposed to making up the rules of life as we go.  This framework presumes that there is a God, and he has a perspective on our life that is uniquely his; his thoughts matter, they are not only helpful, but essential to hear and respond to if one believes.  We who believe serve God; he is not our servant, he is our Savior.
2. Once we come to believe, we must wrestle with our place in God’s story.  This is challenging work.  Most of us prefer to think of ourselves as master rather than servant.  Maybe we’re going to have to get serious about what may seem obvious to others who watch our lives, but remains a mystery to us:  If we think we are capable of being God, we have over-reached beyond our capabilities.  We have become living examples of the Peter Principle – we have risen to our level of incompetence.  We are incapable of being God. 
3. Coming to believe allows us to let go of the terrible pressure to figure things out on our own.  Control and power are powerful temptations to live independently of all manner of authority – including God.  But playing God is also a terrible burden –one that humans are not able to sustain for any period of time without leading to insanity. 

February 21

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  So watch yourselves.   If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” 

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”  

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.  Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?  Won’t he rather say, “Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?  Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?”  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ “  Luke 17:1-10 NIV

Maybe I am alone in this, but the truth for me is that I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to master life so that I could get what I thought I wanted.  In desperation, I have sought many means to acquire what I believed I needed to survive.

Coming to believe is hard work.

It requires us to challenge our preconceived notions, past assumptions and future expectations.  Such hard work cannot be done alone.  When Jesus taught these principles, he didn’t teach A DISCIPLE, he taught THE DISCIPLES – plural.  They had a small group of 12 (with one sad loss when Judas crashed and burned).  I pray that you are seeking and finding a group of fellow disciples, so that you, like these 12, can experience a community of support, encouragement and when appropriate – feedback.

May you be blessed as you walk, taking one tiny right step after another.

February 20

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  So watch yourselves.   If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” 

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”  

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.  Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?  Won’t he rather say, “Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?  Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?”  Luke 17:1-9 NIV

Step two is setting the stage for step three.

Jesus is reminding his disciples (who are post step three in their experience) what it means to come to believe.

Coming to believe means that we recognize that we are not all-powerful.

Coming to believe means that we recognize that there is a God, and we did not get the job.

In this story of Jesus, who does the master represent?

Who is the servant?

Ironic, isn’t it, that we must relinquish all power (our life) to gain a power that heals, restores, renews, and activates life transformation (gain life eternal)?

In order to experience the abundant, fruitful, empowered life, we must recognize our place in God’s narrative.  We aren’t the hero, but neither are we the goat.  We aren’t the master, but there are some real perks to being the servant of the living God.  Trying to become master has left us feeling like we are on crazy pills (or maybe taking them!).  Coming to believe restores us to sanity, as we live out our faith – one right step at a time.

February 19

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  So watch yourselves.   If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” 

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”  Luke 17:1-6 NIV

Ironic, isn’t it, that the first step requires us to acknowledge our powerless ways, while Jesus tells his disciples that even a teeny tiny seed (mustard seeds were considered the smallest of seeds in Jesus’ day) of faith is exceedingly powerful?

What is Jesus suggesting as one key to renewed living?  Watch ourselves.  Pay attention. 

What is another key?  Develop a new vision for what is woeful.  Stumbling is yucky and inevitable, but causing stumbling is woeful.  Jesus says, watch ourselves.  Notice when we are behaving woefully.

Once we come to believe (no matter how small and new and raw the experience), we have what it takes to experience life.

February 18

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  So watch yourselves.   If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” 

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” Luke 17:1-5 NIV

Upon hearing this story, the disciples believe that they will need a lot of faith to carry out this radical change in lifestyle. 

Is it possible that they have had trouble forgiving their offenders? 

Do they feel the burden of shame, knowing that they deserve a giant millstone and a dip in the sea as a result of their own offending ways?

Coming to believe in a Power greater than ourselves is the first, but not only step, in regaining our sanity.  Jesus is about to teach them that their faith – once acquired – is not the central issue.  He is alluding to a central tenet of the Christian faith.  We can’t work harder, grow it bigger, make it stronger – faith is faith, a gift from God.  We cannot practice and perform our way to big faith.

Once we believe, we have faith.

These steps are not a way to work our way back into the good graces of others.

If not that, then what are they?

To be continued….

February 17

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  So watch yourselves.   If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”   Luke 17:1-4 NIV

Whether we find ourselves in the role of offended or offender, in the months ahead the twelve step process will provide us ample opportunity to wrestle with our responsibility to do the next right thing.  I appreciate how the writers of the twelve steps re-told the gospel message in a way that provides those who “come to believe” a pathway to sanity that is clear and action-oriented. 

In today’s reading, we catch a glimpse of the process of forgiveness and repentance.  My experience with living with my own stumbling stories and listening to the stories of others has taught me that many of us are very confused when it comes to what Jesus really said about the forgiveness process.  Listen to what the story says and does not say:

1. Rebuke (name the offense out loud) those who are your brothers and sisters so that the stumble is acknowledged between both parties.  Notice that the story is specific about whom to rebuke – “brother or sister.”  We must be careful about defining these terms.  “Brother or sister” is not an expression of DNA, but a term that defines relational closeness.  I would suggest that perhaps a brother and sister would be one who understands and practices the same principles of loving interaction that these disciples are learning how to practice.  (Remember that scripture teaches a corresponding caveat:  “Do not rebuke a scoffer or in the end, it will lead to your death.”   Some people are not safe to have this kind of intimate dialogue with – in some cases, we ourselves are the scoffers and are unsafe for others to talk to about times when we have harmed them! Again – watch yourself.)
2. Notice that there is a condition of repentance.  The presumption is that the offender “turns away from,” acknowledges wrong doing, accepts responsibility, doesn’t try to weasel out of his or her offense.  (Scoffers don’t do this kind of thing, do they?  They blame others, explain, justify their actions, make excuses…)
3. Jesus is only addressing rebuke, repentance and forgiveness in this passage.  He is not talking about reconciliation.  We can forgive another person; we can repent of our harming ways.  Neither of these actions guarantees immediate restoration of the relationship.  Reconciliation is only possible after the work of forgiveness and repentance – and that work is not talked about in this story.  However, the rest of the story hints at how it might be possible to achieve.

To be continued…

February 16

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  So watch yourselves.”                    Luke 17:1-3 NIV

I listen to stories every day of people in the midst of suffering; this suffering usually involves a good bit of stumbling.  My observation is that the stories I hear often remind me of my own stumbling experiences:  I tend to repeat stories where there is a villain and I am the victim of someone’s dastardly deed.  When I’m suffering, it is easy for me to craft a story, which I mostly believe, that paints my offender as the bad guy, and me as the innocent victim of stumbling on someone else’s part.

Jesus tells his disciples two things that provide foreshadowing for the next steps in the twelve step process.  These are two important pieces of information:

1.  No matter who causes the stumble, woe to them.
2. Jesus doesn’t clarify whether he thinks the disciples are the “little ones” or the “one through whom they come” – but he does say:  “watch yourselves.”

As we read through the scriptures, it seems that God is always picking unlikely heroes.  He picks humans.  He chooses David to slay a giant and become a king; but this same David also is an adulterer and a murderer and a pretty lousy dad.  Peter becomes a leader in the early church, and he denies Jesus three times in spite of the fact that Jesus offers a foreshadowing of Peter’s betrayal. 

Stumbling happens; disciples will at various times be both “little one” and “one who brings stumbling to others”.

Bottom line:  watch yourself.

I like stories that make me sound better than I am and my enemies worse than they have actually behaved.  Jesus is telling his disciples – the key to sanity is changing how you read the story.  No longer can you be satisfied with a story that makes you feel better about yourself.  Sanity and discipleship will require all of us – whether victim or villain – to watch ourselves.  Notice how we are responding to stumbling – and acknowledge our coping strategies.

It’s not about eradicating stumbling.  It’s all about moving toward sanity.  Disciples learn to acknowledge the truth.

Disciples spend more time “watching themselves”[1] than obsessing over the misdeeds of others.