July 1 , 2007
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See also: [2001] |
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
Psalms 77:1-2, 11-20
Galatians 5: 1, 13-25
Luke 9:51-62
Today’s readings highlight God’s grace revealed in healthy and life-supporting relationships and mentoring. While moderns and post-moderns may struggle with the apparent supernaturalism, described in the account of the passing of the mantle from Elijah to Elisha, the passage highlights healthy mentoring as a matter of both sharing and letting go. Elisha asks for a double-portion of his mentor’s spirit and receives the powerful gifts that shaped his mentor’s own ministry. Elijah does not stick around to see how his student will use these gifts, but passes from the scene “in a chariot of fire,” trusting that God who animated and guided his ministry will continue to inspire the ministry of his successor.
Letting go is a challenge in mentoring and ministry. Just ask any retired pastor how difficult it is to leave their final full-time congregation. Sadly, some continue to interfere in the lives of congregations that they once served faithfully. Mentoring has the same dangers – spiritual mentoring is about bringing forth God’s gifts in the one you mentor, rather than defining or controlling the shape of these gifts. A healthy mentor seeks to nurture God’s unique gifts in the other, enabling the other to see for her or himself where God’s vision is leading her or his life.
Mentors are surely needed in the church - older adults who take an interest in the spiritual lives of less experienced Christians and share their wisdom as a means of helping the other to discover God’s unique voice and call to leadership in their lives.
Psalm 77 describes God’s faithfulness as the source of confidence in challenging times. In the “day of trouble” when God seems absent, the Psalmist finds solace in remembering all that God has done in her or his life and in the life of the people. The Psalmist prescribes a type of “centering prayer,” an imaginative focusing on God’s presence in the world. Such meditation gives the Psalmist and ourselves a greater perspective on our lives, enabling us to deal with the challenges of day to day life with greater courage and equanimity.
The movie “Grand Canyon” describes an East Los Angeles tow truck driver who sojourns to the Grand Canyon once each year in order to gain a wider perspective on life. When he sees his life in light of eternity, he can respond creatively to the challenges of his community’s poverty and hopelessness as well as his own personal problems. Apart from a wider perspective, we become tyrannized by small things that appear all-important.
Galatians 5 contrasts freedom and slavery, and spirit and flesh. Faith is a matter of creativity and freedom. We are no longer tied to the old order of things and its rule-based spirituality. Rather, we honor the gifts of the past by embodying God’s lively presence and holy creativity in our time. In a world in which God calls us to freedom, we must not slip back into the slavery of orthodoxies, be they conservative or liberal. God is bigger than our theological systems and ethical orthodoxies. The “political correctness” of left and right create a world that is far too small for those who have awakened to God’s grace.
The dichotomy of flesh and spirit is similar to that of freedom and slavery. Living by the flesh involves a life focused on the self and its needs above all else. Turning our backs on the interdependence of life, we seek to satisfy our desires by consumption and control, rather than relationship and care. The obvious examples of living by the flesh include the contrast between fossil fuel consumption and global warming, opulent living and starvation, and suburban security and inner-city violence.
On the other hand, living by the spirit involves behaviors that build community and create interdependence. Guided by the spirit, we go beyond the penultimate and artificial boundaries of ethnicity, race, class, and nation to experience the unity of all life in God’s spirit. Our own self-interest expands to see the well-being of others as essential to our own well-being. This is surely the case in our world today – our attitudes toward consumption and the environment will bring joy or catastrophe to future generations as well as to animal species. Our own hopes and dreams will reach beyond our deaths to affirm unborn generations or contract to our own selfish needs in the here and now.
The gospel reading explores the importance of living in this day and time, rather than being caught in the past, whether our experience of the past is positive or negative. To disciples who want God to punish the Samaritans for their lack of faith and hospitality, Jesus says “let go of it.” God’s mission is calling us forward. We don’t need to carry the burden of yesterday’s failures. God has a vision for each moment that builds on the past, but calls us into a new and creative future.
Jesus’ response to those for whom family loyalty is important is not intended to be a denunciation of “family values.” Rather, family values are placed in a larger perspective, the reign of God, which affirms our most significant relationships, but also relativizes them in light of God’s aim for our lives and the world.
This is a challenge to contemporary Christians. While Christian liberalism has rightly affirmed that God can be served anywhere and through any practice, liberalism has often lost its spiritual edge in a world where Sunday mornings are dominated by soccer games and home improvement activities. Mystics see God everywhere and affirm that God can be worshipped anywhere. Yet, mystics also affirm that we will more fully experience God in all things if we commit ourselves to special moments of worship, prayer, and contemplation. While Jesus is not directly challenging the value of soccer games and family gatherings that often trump church attendance, he is reminding us that, at the end of the day, a good life is a result of our faith, personal commitments, and experience of God and this must be nurtured with the same care that we use to further our children’s intellectual, athletic, and social well-being. Today’s congregations are challenged to develop spiritual practices that fit the unique circumstances of today’s families and single adults.
How can we imbue an attitude of holiness and Sabbath-keeping among those whose lives are dominated by cell phones, e-mail, permeable boundaries between work and home, and the demands of driving children from one activity to another? How can we remind ourselves and others that “less is often more” in terms of the quality of our spiritual lives and personal, community, and family well-being?
Jesus is giving us permission to prioritize our lives consciously, and from a spiritual standpoint, rather than letting the nebulous norms of our community define what is important. While we are always making decisions and cutting off possibilities, we don’t often make these decisions in light of a well-articulated scale of spiritual values and commitments. We need to regularly ask ourselves and our congregations: What is really important to your life? What do you want to do with your “one wild and precious life?” (Mary Oliver) On what basis do you decide how to spend your time or money? This means saying “no” to certain good things in order to say “yes” to more important things for ourselves and our children. As Jesus asserts “strive first for the reign of God and God’s righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Today’s passages remind us to live intentionally and flexibly, to see the larger perspective and yet honor God’s presence in ordinary tasks. Healthy relatedness, and values that expand our personal stature, open us to God’s lively interdependence and the joy of the present moment.
Bruce Epperly is Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is the author of twelve books, including God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus (Westminster/John Knox) Healing Worship: Purpose and Practice (Pilgrim), and Walking in Light: A Jewish-Christian Vision of Healing and Wholeness (Chalice). These books are available from Flux Books.
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