God is in the details

Some details of spring

“God is in the details.” This saying is attributed to German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969).

It isn’t hard to see how an architect, so attentive to visual details, might find God’s hand behind the harmony, beauty, and function in a bridge , a building, or house design.

I find God in the details of my day too. Pretty much in proportion as I let God be central to my activities, thoughts, and conversations, all sorts of interesting things happen.

Among my acquaintances, for example, I’m making the opportunity to look deeper into the spiritual qualities they express, and finding beyond the surface good and dear people, people I really like.

One new friend is a fierce animal lover, a staunch NRA advocate, and is taking a course in belly-dancing at a local university. She recently tenderly cared for an elderly uncle who had no other family, until he passed on.

Another is active in her church, generously sews many costumes for her daughter’s high school musical productions, hauls the girls to their swim meets, and finds time for tennis.

In spite of their different life styles, each of these ladies is pursuing her own spiritual journey. God is working in the details of their lives because somehow, in some way, each has invited Him/Her into their hearts.

People on spiritual journeys tune in to the substance of things that cannot be seen, eternal truths they innately believe. They have not given up on the basic goodness of mankind and the basic premise of a Higher Power.

People on spiritual journeys tend to discover God’s goodness or beauty or strength in the details of their lives.

Photo: thanks to Gordon Imrie

Turning lives around

Valuing others' lives --

A mama swan protects her babies.

One of today’s encouraging phrases runs something like, “He did a complete turnaround.” Or “She did a one-eighty -- referring to the number of degrees required to change from facing in one direction to facing the exact opposite direction. North to south, east to west.

I love when “one-eighty” praises someone’s ability to make a dramatic course correction.

Jesus was always doing that – turning people’s lives around, facing them in new and promising directions. It was as though he put a gentle finger under a downcast chin and lifted the gaze from the ground – helping them to see their world on an eye-to-eye basis, literally lifting their self-esteem to glimpse their worthiness as children of a loving Father.

The woman dragged to him for judgment makes a great example. From the scant information provided, it sounds like an entrapment – she had been set-up and caught having sex with a man not her husband. The Pharisees, Jesus’ self-appointed very public critics, had tossed her in front of him as so much trash, daring him to not have her stoned to death as Moses’ law required.

Jesus let them rant awhile and then posed a solution. Anyone of you, he proposed, who has never committed a sin, never done anything wrong, go ahead and throw the first rock. His simple statement demanded honesty and self-knowledge. Quietly, they all left.

And the woman! What a sense of freedom and relief when Jesus helped her see that no one was accusing her anymore. He sent her home with the admonition to stay out of trouble - specifically to sin no more. Was he was showing her God-given sinless nature? the satisfaction and self-worth that come from recognizing the genuine beauty and purity of her true femininity?

When he healed people – blind, crippled, diseased – usually long-time sufferers, he restored purpose and value. Jesus' life message was one of hope, healing, transformation.

He told his followers to do what he did. I wonder, if we all made a special effort to value those who come into our lives today, how much hope and purpose we might bring without even knowing it? Might we just help turn somebody's life around?

Whose are you?

A delightful and insightful podcast discussion, “Community and the human spirit,” includes this:

Shirley: “I think there are moments when we are tempted to forget about who we are”
Harry: “And whose we are.”

“And whose we are.”

Doesn’t that make you smile? Most of us wear many hats, sometimes in a single day. And we may think, I am:

• a student, a soccer player, a football fan
• a dancer a musician, an artist, a teacher, a contractor, a manager, an electrician
• a mom, dad, uncle, aunt, grandparent

While these are some of the roles we may fill, they are not who we are.

Who we are is greater than the sum of our roles. When we strip away the uniforms – for student, musician, aunt – what’s left?

I love that Christian Science emphasizes our identity as God knows us. Starting with the first chapter of Genesis where God’s entire creation, including man, is very good. Man is God's very good idea.

Jesus evidently thought man is a good idea too. He showed us Whose we are -- that we belong to a God of Love and compassion and caring. His life records not only his healing others, but what we call The Sermon on the Mount (Matt chapters 5-7). Guidelines for happiness. Goals we can reach for. How God expects us relate to one another. To be merciful, peace-makers, not to hold grudges – basically to live generously.

He taught a simple prayer that is not just words to memorize; the Lord's Prayer meets all human needs. It's rather incredible that so short a prayer connects man to God so concisely and precisely.

Jesus had no patience with criticism and hypocrisy. Instead, he showed by example that we need to treat others the way we want to be treated. And to grab the initiative and do it first.

It’s good to take time daily to go into our mental prayer closets and shut out the distractions, to carve out time to be absent from the body and present in thought with God.

Who are we? And whose are we? Here is the apostle Paul’s conclusions about identity and community. Life can be so simple, if we let it:

God is our Maker. We are God’s work of art!
Created in our union with Christ Jesus
to devote ourselves to the good deeds
for which God has designed us.

From Today’s English Version, Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible
(Ephesians 2:10)

Click here to see the podcast, Community and the Human Spirit:
Then scroll down to August 29, 2007, and click on LISTEN

Measuring up for peace

Is there hope for world peace?

Most assuredly. Here's an example.

Kista Tippett, NPR radio’s "Speaking of Faith" hostess, revisited a past interview with Eboo Patel, founder of Chicago’s Interfaith Youth Core. He is a deeply committed Muslim, and an activist for engaging the religious energies of young people across many faiths and traditions. She says his work defies the wisdom of secular society, as he creates grass-roots interactions based on service among youth across cultures.

Eboo said something in that interview that struck home for me, a dedicated Bible reader. He said he is less interested in reading theology, and more interested in “observing how religious people actually interact.” He is committed to discovering how human beings can live together on earth, rather than what they write in books.

I also read another book a lot, Science and Health. It's a deeply spiritual book that, like a good Pastor, explains the spiritual meaning of the Bible. And what I hear Eboo saying is, Let me learn your religious texts by observing how you live.

What a heads-up! So I have to ask myself, how do I as a follower of Christ relate to my family, my neighbors, my community? How well do my conversations and my life speak the love Jesus lived? If someone were observing me to find out how Christians interact in society, what impression would they have?

Each person makes a statement weighing on peace by how they live their lives.

For an eye-opening transcript of their discussion, click on this link:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/religiousyouth/transcript.shtml

See also "The diginity of taking responsibility"

http://kimckorinek.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html