9th December 2012

The story of the Fall describes the origins of blame and shame. Questioning God's safety instructions, leads to an experiment in disobeying orders, resulting in discovery of discomforting self-awareness. God asks the couple: "What have you done?" They become anxious and insecure about taking responsibility for their actions. Each projects on the other a sense of blame for having done something with fatally dangerous consequences. Now they know something about the realities of the world. Now they must learn to fend for themselves, protect themselves from danger. It's a parable of the dynamics of human development from childhood dependency into adult autonomy and responsibility.

Like physical pain, guilt and shame are warning symptoms that something isn't right. They invoke a response to address what has gone amiss, a response which, in itself may be far from adequate to resolve the cause of the symptoms. The challenge after failure to do well, or do the right thing, is  learning the causes, not repeating a pattern leading to the same outcome. Intelligence developed across millennia, learning what gets intended results by trial and error. Humans excel at it, yet it hasn't eliminated or reduced the capacity for failure leading to guilt, shame and blame. Areas of our lives continue blighted by incapacity to learn from our errors, or from each other.

The persistence of violence as a means to resolve conflict is a key area of human failure. It concerns personal and collective relationships, it also concerns relationship to nature, ravaged by mis-use and desire to dominate and exploit it, rather than live in harmony. People and their environment are all interconnected and interdependent in a vastly complex manner. Many different, sometimes conflicting ways of understanding what's wrong and what needs doing to put things right are possible. To continue to do nothing, to deny the need to act responsibly, puts the future of humanity and the planet at risk.

Sorting out messes we have made is regarded by many as a race against time, yet others are indifferent, complacent in the face of danger. A feature of human freedom is the ability to ignore guilt and shame and suppress impulses they generate to find a remedy to underlying problems. The ultimate outcome to misuse of freedom not addressed, however great or small the issue, is needless suffering.

When people talk about Hell, they refer to a realm of unrelieved, un-necessary suffering. Some kinds of suffering are acceptable as means to an end: 'no pain no gain' is a popular phrase which refers to this, but it has nothing to do with a notion of Hell where none of the perpetual agony has any meaning. The prospect needs taking seriously, not least because such conditions seem readily reproducable in this life when we pay no attention to tackling the consequences of our errors and wrong decisions.

8th December 2012

From the Gospel of Jesus, the world has learned about human value, dignity and freedom in relation to God. This is a source of confidence and hope that worthwhile and meaningful life is possible for all who embrace trustfully a way of living and serving God and each other in the face of our limitations and weaknesses. Relatively little is said in the Gospels about life beyond this mortal existence. The Gospel concentrates on dealing with the present, finding eternal life in the here and now. Yet the context In which Jesus teaches is always the imminence of the End of all things. 

As St Paul teaches, decades later about the meaning of Christ's resurrection in the face of mortality he insists: "If for this life only Christ has given us hope, we of all people are most to be pitied.." The mystery of resurrection applies in a manner inadequately understood to all human beings he explains. He improvises as he follows his own train of thought.

Paul was re-born into an experience of Christ's resurrection and the indwelling Spirit. An intellectual and scholar, he has to work out what this all means. He has to invent ways of expressing new thoughts to explain God's graciousness to others. e says about other things that he's passing on only what was handed down to him as a convert, but he believes he too has the creative Spirit to think about matters not covered in what he'd learned. He is certain it is proper and honest to speak of both a temporal and an eternal realm, perfusing each other, God and human beings belong together in both. Temporal life ends, yet as he says: "The gift of God is eternal life."

Greek platonic ideas permeated and influence the culture of cosmopolitan first century Judaism. Immortality of the soul, transmigration of souls and re-incarnation, would not have been alien, nor would they have been mainstream to those with ancient Semitic roots. For three centuries before the Second Temple was destroyed, the idea prevailed that immortality was a reward from God for martyrdom or outstanding holiness. Immortality was not therefore an inherent property of the soul which made transmigration and re-incarnation feasible for all, but a conditional gift, earned from God.

The Gospel affirms all life is divine gift, that God is indiscriminately generous with grace, mercy and love. Gifts can be accepted, embraced, used or ignored, refused, neglected, however. Life in this world and in eternity depends on the response humans make to God's creative initiative. We aren't ignorant of the choices from the outset. The longing to 'be forever' lies deep within us. Awareness of the life enhancing, transcending nature of goodness, beauty, truth and justice invites openness to the divine, and to communion with God. But because we are created free, contradiction of higher values is also a reality challenging us to discover who we are, and what life consists of.

7th December 2012

With the divine gift of freedom, human beings learn to change, adapt, be responsive to life and all its events. This leads to responsibility - how do we use the choices before us? To further our evolution or just to subsist and survive? For growth or destruction? For the benefit of self or of others? For good or for ill, however that may be understood in context.

Knowing that we are mortal brings with it consideration of what we might do or become within that finite time span of life. We reflect on these things at each major stage in life, matching our ambitions and plans against the reality of our achievements. However great or small our resources and potential may be, each of us is finite. It's quite natural to want to make the best out of our limited opportunities, and check that we are doing so. However, when our own expectations aren't met, either for ourselves or others, a sense of failure and inadequacy causes distress, undermines trust and confidence. This is of no benefit to a healthy life.

With good reason  Paul teaches: "There must be no passing of premature judgement." We cannot see the wider context in which present success or failure occurs. It's better not to engage in the kind of criticism which undermines, when what everyone needs is nurture and support. Jesus often speaks against pre-judging and condemning each other. He teaches that mutual restraint is vital for the health of all our relationships when he says: "Judge not and you shall not be judged." If we are to use our critical faculties considering our lives or the lives of others, it must be to build up and not to break down.

Scripture speaks of the End as the proper occasion for final judgement. Then, all created things and human beings are to give account of themselves for the part they have played in the unfolding of the divine purpose while time continued its course. When the End comes for us, whether it's early for us or finally: "It is our human lot to die once, with judgement to follow.." says the writer of Hebrews.

It's not an occasion to criticise or condemn, but for Christ's work to be completed, bringing salvation (wholeness and fulfillment) to those eagerly awaiting him. Only the Creator can ultimately evaluate what people make of themselves in this life. The reason why judgement and condemnation are so closely linked in our thinking is fear that inadequacy and failure will cause our annihilation. Scripture itself, born in a context of tough testing and trial has its share of imagery expressing this anxiety, but it is not the last word on judgement.

In the End, Christ will be all in all. No matter how anxious, dramatic and tortuous this process, the way to salvation remains open for every person to reach ultimate fulfillment in Him.

6th December 2012

Life from birth to death is in constant process of change. The process of adjustment to continuous minor changes is automatic. We are hardly aware of them, until we quieten ourselves and re-focus our attention, as in meditation, or when checking how to achieve something, like shouldering a burden we're unused to, balancing, attempting to read small print with weakening eyes.

We observe more consciously, reflect on and celebrate major change: childhood development stages, adolescence, leaving home for work or college, marriage, childbearing, vocation, major illness, bereavement. The meaning of existence is made partly from experiences great and small. It also comes from connections we make with others during this journey, above all, in relation to One with us always from start to finish. One who dwells in us, with us and beyond us; One in whom we live, move and have our being.

It's not that we're fully conscious of God and who God is for us at any time. We can sometimes be aware of God without understanding, unable to interpret this to ourselves or others. We can learn from religious practice or spiritual discipline, ways and means of interpreting this awareness, but ignore what we are taught, resisting or taking ages to be persuaded of the truth. "Late have I loved you Lord." said St Augustine after his libertine years rejecting his Christian mother's appeal to live by the Gospel. Some people feel their lives are invaded by God, and experience being changed by grace from beyond. They interpret this as conversion to life of faith in God, as St Paul and many others have.

Does God force Himself on anyone? Doesn't this violate the freedom God confers as part of human nature? Sometimes experiences and events in life give the impression of God breaking in unexpectedly, perhaps unwanted. This has more to do with hidden aspects of our nature of which we know little. Jung invited observation that conscious experience is like the visible tip of an iceberg, mostly hidden beneath the waves. The background processing of sensations, memories and understanding as thoughts which may or may not percolate up to consciousness from below suggests how the mind/brain works.

If human existence is immersed in divine Being, the unconscious may be understood as a dimension where God dwells hidden, closer to us than we know, until we learn to delve within ourselves. When God seems to break into conscious experience, is it the outcome of a dialogue in the unconscious between self and God, resolved by emerging into consciousness, changing what we believe about everything? It doesn't matter whether we interpret this as God intervening from within, or above and beyond. We cannot fathom how grace works to make change and bring all things to fulfillment under God's reign. Grace manifests itself in all the affairs of the world as in the affairs of the heart, if only we learn how to perceive it, and awaken to welcome its Advent.

5th December 2012

Saint Paul lived in an era when anxiety about the end of the world was commonplace. Life under a violent exploitative colonial regime was nasty brutish and short. It was understandable that oppressed people should long to see an end to victimhood. Jesus' ministry and the events issuing from its astonishing conclusion, heightened expectation among his followers that the End of all things would be soon. This was reflected in his writings.

As decades passed, the church spread from Palestine across languages and cultures. Believers were martyred in persecutions. Some grew old or sick and died, but the End didn't arrive. Paul gave pastoral reassurance to people  wondering anxiously if dead loved ones would lose out if they missed the finale of the great cosmic drama.

His own certainty about the End and eager anticipation of it was undoubted. He didn't know when and didn't seek to know when, but he expected it to occur in a single instant, when the eternal 'imperishable' nature of reality, which is clothed by transient material reality, would be revealed. He stated: "We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed in a flash in the twinkling of an eye ..."

This refers back to his conversion experience, when the risen Lord was revealed to him as he was unexpectedly overwhelmed by blinding light. This instant that turned him from persecutor to evangelist by the grace of God acting in a decisive transformation. 'We shall all be changed' is a key theme of his preaching and the spiritual formation of new Christian disciples. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds." he exhorts.

Change is a constant feature of existence, whether we are called to respond to it, or to be its initiators and instruments. Paul, however, speaks in the passive voice, about change we aren't in control of, concerning the nature of our existence as children of the creator Father God. We don't just live, we are sustained, cherished in life by the infinite consciousness of the One Jesus declares with poetic flourish, values every sparrow, and each person so much more, He numbers the hairs on our heads.

Over and against the prospect of annihilation at life's end, the Gospel places, not our knowledge of God, but God's knowledge of us. My consciousness of self is fundamentally linked to God's consciousness of me. I come fully alive as I open myself and reach out in trust, discover and acknowledge the bond of love between us. "Not that we first loved Him, but that He first loved us."

We affirm in faith that we are on journey into the unknown, now in this world, and at at the end of life. In that unknown we are not alone, due to Him who loved us and gave himself for us in a way we can understand - in Jesus Christ.

4th December 2012

Certain instincts inherited across generations are characteristic of all living matter and make both survival and growth possible. Among these are the impulse to reproduce, to defend against danger and learn to adapt to changing conditions, to the point where physique and behaviour modify themselves over generations to optimise survival potential. From the origins of time and space itself matter has evolved to the point where planet Earth (and presumably others like it) produced rare conditions in which organic forms of matter have all the characteristics we call life. The evolution of the human species, with its particular form of self awareness and ability to understand and organise its own environment, is the most recent chapter of a long evolutionary history.

Faith refuses the notion that this entire process 'just happened' and started itself for no discernable reason. Faith speaks of God as 'uncreated creator', the Mind whose infinite intelligence is expressed in the rich complexity of the creative process. Exactly how all things came into being, where and when the seemingly unending chain of cause and effect began is subject to detailed human enquiry now that we have evolved the technical means to do so.

Even the question of whether or not God was the Prime Mover in the creative process is not ultimately accessible to enquiry or reasoning. Whatever we think we know of God, so much more remains unknown, a complete mystery. How all things were originated by God is beyond our comprehension. Our longing to understand the reason for our existence however, leads us to take it on trust that, no matter how it was achieved, God is creator and source of all that is.

Reaching out from the natural pre-occuption with survival and all it entails, human beings have a capacity for curiosity, awe and wonder which takes them out of themselves. Having a useful knowledge of our environment is a part of what it takes to adapt to changing circumstance and survive.  Longing to know more about the universe and God has evolved as part of our self-consciousness. It is so much more than hunger for useful information. It is longing for relationship a mutual relatedness not only with creation but the Creator. In trust we reach out and hope that God is also reaching out towards us, to engage with us. "O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down!" as Isaiah said. It's a sentence at the heart of the Advent seasonal liturgy.

We have evolved possessing this higher longing as part of self consciousness. The heart of faith interprets and voices this candidly in the words of St Augustine: "O Lord thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee."

3rd December 2012

In the search for meaning in life, belief in God presupposes assent to facts impossible to verify empirically. The content of belief is a working hypothesis relied upon to guide our attitude and relation to God. It's always subject to critical review and amendment. What cannot be shown to be false when experience is tested, we choose to rely on and trust in. This is the core of what believers call faith.

The prophet Isaiah was a prime advocate for trust in God as a foundation for hope that the fortunes of his people would be restored. He confidently used poetic and anthropomorphic imagery speaking of divine activity and relations between creatures and Creator. Yet, he could declare candidly the unknowability of the One he reached out to in trust: "Truly, thou art a God that hidest thyself." He prayed longingly for a manifestation of God: "O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down!"

He was no stranger to visions and exalted experiences: "Woe I am undone for mine eyes have seen the Lord of hosts!" However, more important to him than individual experiences were unfolding events that revealed divine providence in action, changing peoples' plight by ending slavery and suffering. This vindicated the personal faith he placed in God.

Like other prophets he struggled and suffered striving to know God. He turned inwards only to refresh himself to keep turning outwards, looking for God and the divine will made known in his time: "Those who wait upon the Lord renew their strength."

Personal survival beyond death hardly featured in the thinking of Isaiah's day, although the dead had their proper place, where they were confined to the background, outside time in shadowy nothingness, disconnected from the community of the living. Their idea of annihilation was being erased from the community's memory. 

Mediums might conjure up departed spirits (though how scripture doesn't say), but the ensuing interaction is reported to be of advantage neither to the living nor the dead. The dead lived on in stories told by the community descending from them. This made having offspring to inherit one's story as well as one's wealth was vital for every generation.

Isaiah and the prophets waited upon God in hope to restore their peoples' collective fortunes. They appealed to God above all to remember them. In this was the key to giving life meaning - being part of something greater than themselves.

Today's culture emphasises individuality and self-awareness. Our identities may be shaped by belonging to more than one community. Few of the billions who've ever lived can be famous, universally remembered, and not everyone's self awareness is fully developed. Yet, the longing to 'be forever', secure from being lost and forgotten amidst the 'changes and chances of this passing world' haunts us all in different ways.

For the heart of faith, only One who is author of our being can make this so.