What is your name?

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

Mark 5:6-10

The Bible is weird.

And sometimes, it’s really weird!

Now if this whole idea of possession and, really, just supernatural things in general is something you can’t do, I get it. Stories like this are strange and beyond what most of us have experienced. But if you only read the Bible at face value you lose so much of it’s rich content, in my opinion.

Demon possession can be thought of as a metaphor for the destruction of the image of God within man. What is the image of God in man? Well, I would say we bear the image of God when we participate in relationship with others, when we choose to love instead of hate, when we choose to accept love rather than judge ourselves, when we choose to let neither pain nor pleasure consume us but live at the horizon of the two.

In this way we all suffer from an “impure spirit”. Who among us hasn’t damaged a relationship? Who has never condemned and judged themselves as unworthy, as not enough? Who has rejected the love of another due to pride or, perhaps more likely, fear?

All of these actions destroy. They destroy the way we view ourselves. They destroy who we are, our identity.

Going back to the story, this man of “impure spirits” is living in caves on the country side. He has been driven there by his own people, perhaps his own family. At that time, a person’s identity was often defined by their heritage and the community of people they lived with. Driven to the outskirts of town to live among the poor in caves that littered the hills, this man was stripped of all the ways in which he had identified himself.

Essentially, the question Jesus asks the man about his name is this, “How do you define yourself?”

We see the confirmation of his lost identity in his response to Jesus: “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

He can’t define himself. His mind is scattered, his sense of self lost. At the depth of his being, this man has no grounding. He doesn’t even know his own name.

Additionally, he has become attached to this condition and accepted it as the way things are. He begs Jesus not to send these “impure spirits” away. How many of us struggle to let go of the nonsense in our heads? The lies we tell ourselves about being worthless, not smart enough, not beautiful enough, not strong enough? Eventually you get to a point where you have told yourself this so many times you start to believe the lie at the core of your being and can’t even listen to others who tell you otherwise.

Indeed, we have all struggled with these “impure spirits”.

How does Jesus respond? How is the metaphor resolved?

The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Mark 5:12-13

Jesus sends the “impure spirits” into the pigs to display, with clarity, their intent to destroy.

When we lose our identity and begin to redefine ourselves with lies and deception, it only achieves one thing. Destruction. It inhibits relationship, ruins our desire to love others, and utterly destroys our ability to love ourselves.

This is why the stories of Jesus tell of him redefining those who are lost, providing a new way, a mode of identity, a new way to answer the question, “What is your name?”

The message of Jesus is this:

You are loved.

You are worthy.

You are enough.

You were yesterday, you are today, and you will be tomorrow.

By no merit of your own. You don’t have to say the magic words, you don’t have to arrange your mental furniture in the correct way, you don’t have to perform the perfect ritual.

Simply believe these truths about yourself, let these words be your identity, let them be your grounding, and you will experience life BEFORE death.

Grace and mercy ⇒ peace and love.

Something greater

All that I am doing is allowing the Heavenly within me to match up with the Heavenly in the world – this is probably why people mistake my art for the work of the spirits!

– Woodcarver Qing from the Zhuangzi

This story from the Daoist work called the Zhuangzi, illustrates one way to describe being in the “flow.” We have all felt it. A glimpse of it here or a moment of it there. Being in the flow can be described as that moment when you feel challenged but confident, uncertain but knowledgeable, motivated but perfectly at peace.

Woodcarver Qing describes this as “allowing the Heavenly within me to match up with the Heavenly in the world” or, in other words, letting the idea of being a part of something bigger than yourself motivate and comfort as you go about your work in the world.

You don’t have to be a Daoist to let this impact you. You don’t have to be Christian, Muslim, or Hindu to let this idea of the “Heavenly” provide you with guidance. It is simply the act of believing that you are part of something greater than yourself. If you are an atheist you can look at it like this. The way you live your life will directly or indirectly impact the life of somebody else; your actions have consequences not only for people but all of nature. With each decision you make you are participating in the ongoing creation of the world we live in, the ongoing evolution of humankind. Each of us is free to choose how we want to engage in the process.

Of course this is also true of those who claim some sort of theistic belief system as well. We are all in this thing together whether or not we get along, agree, or even acknowledge it.

To let the “Heavenly within me to match up with the Heavenly in the world” is to allow oneself to see how you are part of the bigger picture of humanity, to see how the way you live your life impacts those beyond you, and then to live into that truth with a heart of love for others as well as grace for yourself.

Another Daoist work called the Laozi explains it this way:

The way of Heaven

Excels in overcoming, though it does not contend;

In responding, though it does not speak;

In spontaneously attracting, though it does not summon;

In planning for the future, though it is always relaxed.

The Net of Heaven covers all;

Although its mesh is wide, nothing ever slips through.

This poem beautifully illustrates the paradox of the Heavenly way, and really the paradox of how we all want to live. It describes the paradox of being in the flow; to think of others without thinking, to be perfectly attuned to your environment without paying attention, to try without trying.

This is the point of religious ritual and practice in my opinion. You give an offering on Sunday, not so that you can go to heaven with God or so that some being “out there” loves you more; but rather you give on Sunday to develop a habit of giving, to get to the point where you give without expectation of receiving anything back, freedom to give.

You sing and worship together not to stroke the ego of the “man in the clouds” but to quite literally experience being a part of something bigger than yourself, to literally be breathing in unison with those around you, to feel in rhythm with the person next to you.

You take communion not because that specific piece of bread or sip of wine is special but because all bread and all wine are sacred when you they are taken with others. At the table we all come for the same reason, we all need this earth to produce food for us to eat and drink to quench our thirst. It is the equalizer, it paints a picture of this “thing” we call life that we are all participating in together.

 

Grace and mercy ⇒ peace and love.

God the event horizon

God is found at the event horizon between pain and pleasure; both of which have the gravity to pull you in and prevent you from experiencing the depth and beauty of this life. 

It is at the singularity of either that the word hell obtains its meaning.

Our obsession with perfection

We are obsessed with perfection.

Or, at least we think we are.

And by we, I am speaking of American culture (that is what I know).

Now, I don’t want to be that person that just rails on on modern culture and constantly reminisces about how “perfect” the past was (which is another way in which we obsess over perfection). In fact, I want to point out, rather, that perfection is not all we think it to be.

I propose what we really want and what will really lead to contentment and joy is a desire for things to be good.

 

We have all our heard our friend say, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” With a hint of sadness and disappointment, this statement is meant to be reassuring but is it?

Let’s look at the modern debate in the sports world of who is the better basketball player, Michael Jordan or Lebron James? Well, almost everyone will point to the fact that Lebron is 3-4 in the NBA Finals whereas Jordan is 6-0. Undefeated. Unblemished. Perfect.

People obsess over this stat. It is constantly used to discredit Lebron James, to point out his failures, to diminish all that he has accomplished. Why do we point out the past failures of a man and define who he is by them?  Why do we not celebrate the fact that yes, Lebron has failed, he did have a Finals series against the Mavericks in 2011 in which he played significantly below his own abilities.

But how did he respond?

With an NBA Championship the next two years! In my opinion, no player in NBA history has endured the scrutiny Lebron James has. Every decision, every pass, every shot he has taken has been analyzed to the utmost degree. And the result? Many people are missing out on the greatness before our eyes because of their obsession with perfection.

Here’s the thing with perfection: It lives in the past.

It lives where nobody can touch it, where you can’t go back and re-experience it. It is a legend.

And legends… usually aren’t true!

Let’s reexamine the career of Michael Jordan. He lost to the Celtics and the Pistons during his first years in the league. His team had losing or barely above .500 records during those years. He didn’t win six straight championships, he retired for a year and a half and when he returned his team lost to the Orlando Magic in the playoffs. So, as we should have expected, Jordan does not have a perfect basketball career but we choose to focus on this one thing, this 6-0 record in the finals and it is robbing us of our present.

That is how perfection functions. It gives us an ideal that will never be reached.

You may respond, “Well, isn’t it our pursuit of perfection that drives innovation? It can’t really be all bad?”

I would say that there is a big difference between striving for perfection and striving to be your best self.

When you strive for perfection there is no room for error, one slip-up and it is all over, your chance at perfection is gone, and that is a crushing blow. One that you may never recover from.

However, striving to be your best self realizes that failure and blemishes are part of the experience. There is grace. There is forgiveness. And if you talk to most people of great success, it is through failure that they have learned their most valuable lessons, and it is because of failure that they now succeed.

So, stop letting perfection paralyze you.

Stop comparing yourself to others you deem as perfect, their not.

Give yourself the grace to fail.

Fail quick and fail often.

Because that is how we grow, that is how we move forward, and that is where real life is.

All things are not perfect. But all things were created and they were called Good. 

 

 

Grace and Mercy ⇒ Peace and Love

Life is cycles

Summer ⇒ Fall ⇒ Winter ⇒ Spring.

Infatuation ⇒ Relationship ⇒ Love ⇒ Heartbreak. 

Start ⇒ Study ⇒ Learn ⇒ Test.

Hope ⇒ Faith ⇒ Struggle ⇒ Faithless.

 

Life is made up of cycles we all go through. We all start at different points. Some progress through cycles many times and others may remain in the same stage for their entire life.

The planets of our solar system cycle around the sun, Earth’s cycle creating our year which we use to track time.

Stars are formed through the accumulation of mass, they live for billions of years spewing light into the universe, and then they die in a magnificent display of heat, energy, and power spreading heavy elements throughout space.

These elements become the building blocks of life. We are born made of them, we live constantly replenishing them in our bodies throughout our lives, and then we die returning these materials of life to the earth where they will contribute to the coming of new life.

There is a pattern to it, a rhythm of life.

A story, a metaphor, an allegory (whatever you want to call it or believe about it) of this process is given to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

If you are within the Christian tradition, and even if you’re not, this exact cycle is often seen within our own faith journeys. Furthermore, I believe this process is necessary for a mature and flourishing faith. Allow me to explain (keep in mind that the order of this cycle varies for everyone).

Life

Do you remember the first time God seemed real to you? The first time you believe you felt His presence? Do you remember the first time your meditation led you to feel something greater than yourself existed? And that you were a part of that something?

Do you remember a time when your faith was not faith at all because it seemed so certain?

This is the stage where you are excited about your new view of the world. You read and learn about the life Jesus lived and strive to mimic it. Love becomes more than a word or feeling but also an action. People often get baptized in the Christian tradition at this point. Or perhaps they choose to go on a mission trip and feed the hungry or clothe the naked. It truly is an exciting time and I believe a time to be enjoyed.

But we rarely remain there.

Death

For some this death is literally the death of a loved one; for others it is a betrayal, a loss of innocence, or a crumbling worldview. Sometimes a person you respected and idolized hurts you or lets you down. Perhaps your intellectual achievements and advancement slowly destroys this “fairy-tale” belief that you once held.

Whatever the cause, death of the life you once enjoyed ensues.

Jesus was betrayed by even his closest disciple Peter. He was falsely testified against by his own people. He was beaten and killed by those in a position of power.

When we go through the death of faith, the loss of our tradition, the destruction of our belief system it feels, quite literally, like a beating. We respond (perhaps rightly so) with anger and sadness.

You may feel deceived by those who taught you, betrayed by friends who left you, and even embarrassed that you ever believed in such fantasies and myths.

Indeed, this is a time for mourning and grief.

Resurrection

However, the hope of the Jesus story and the very essence of Christianity is the hope of life after death, of resurrection. I am not referring to what happens after we die, in my opinion the Bible doesn’t have a lot to say about that, but rather I am referring to once again experiencing life here and now, before a physical death.

The beauty of Christianity is the teaching that even after the death of our faith, of our hope, even of our God, there is life.

We experience resurrection not when we push down the pain and pretend we are fine, that only leads to bitterness and more death. But rather, we experience it when we go deep into the pain, we sit in it for a time, and then move through it. Only then will you make it to the other side. Scars remain but the resurrection of Christ is made true in your life every time you experience this process.

Just as the death of a star led to life on this planet and a fallen tree provides nutrients for the next one, so does the death of our faith provide the building blocks of new life.

Life is messy.

Life is painful.

Life is beautiful.

Life is cycles.

 

Grace and mercy ⇒ peace and love.

 

I believe…

At different times in our lives the way in which we see the world will change. What I believed in high school is not what I believed in college and what I held to be true in college is not what I hold to be truth now. I have come to recognize that a healthy faith is one that can respond to challenges and new observations with the humility to change. It often has not been easy, but with each new development in my own belief system I strongly feel that I have moved closer to a life of love, grace, mercy, and peace.

I think it is important to periodically do a self-check-in, to take a moment and evaluate the way in which you view the world. Have the humility to change, the openness to learn about others beliefs, and have the courage to admit that you’ve been wrong.

What I am about to write may be something that I feel differently about in the future but I’m okay with that possibility.

This morning, here is what I believe:

I believe that the word “God” is the language we use to describe the depth and the ground of all being. I believe that this “thing” is at LEAST the set of natural forces that have served to bring into existence all that we observe. I believe that connecting with and experiencing the depth of human relationship is one of the, if not the best, ways to understand the “personality” of this creative force of the universe.

I believe that grace, mercy, peace, love, and faith are essential to experience life and its profound nature that can only be described as “divine”. I believe that we have the opportunity to tap into this flow of life, this divine dance, and learn how to fully engage with the present moment. I believe that this moment is as perfect as it will ever be and I have the privilege to experience and participate in it.

I believe that we all have the chance to participate in the ongoing creation of the world through the lives we live and that that is a sacred truth.

I believe that Jesus came in his full humanity to lead us into ours. I believe that he had the courage and audacity to see the divine in the mundane, to see that this physical place we inhabit is the blessed place where the divine and the human meet.

I believe in the mystery of the faith, that Christ died, Christ rose, and Christ is coming again. I believe this is a process that we experience every day, death and resurrection are a fundamental truth and reality of the world we live in. I believe the Cosmic Christ was manifest in the life of Jesus the Christ and that this “Christ” is something that has existed always and is offered to all.

I believe the Bible is a collection of stories written by real people, in the context of their time, about their own experiences of God and simply reflects the manner in which they understood God at that time.

I believe dualistic thought is a trap we often get caught up in and is directly challenged by the teachings of Jesus, the theology of the Trinity, and even by modern ideas of quantum mechanics.

I believe that there is hope and goodness permeating all of space, all we lack is an awareness of this reality, an awareness of God in all things, around all things, and through all things.

 

 

Grace and Mercy. Peace and Love.