Reflections on Discipleship and Walking in the Wilderness

Then Jesus said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. —Luke 9:23 (NIV)

As I have previously stated, my intention, prayers, and hopes for this blog are to provide a forum where Christians can talk about issues of faith and/or real problems they face, identifying resources they use/draw upon to help them overcome these problems or deal with issues. Today’s reflection continues yesterday’s thoughts on answering a call in difficult circumstances, i.e., about walking in the wilderness faithfully.

In Luke’s passage above Jesus makes four things clear: (1) we must submit to his will for our lives even if (or especially when?) he calls us to suffer, instead of pursuing our own desires; (2) carrying our cross daily implies continued action, consistent with MacDonald’s reading—discipleship is not a part time, casual thing that can be pursued; (3) carrying our cross implies a one-way destination, i.e., the condemned who carried their crosses were going to their place of execution—they could not turn back; and (4) carrying our cross means suffering.

Clearly, our Lord intends us to make him our first priority over everything else, even if it means suffering for his Name and Sake. At first blush, this sounds crazy! Who in their right mind would want to deny himself and embark on a one-way journey where he is called to suffer? Indeed, this WOULD be crazy if we were not assured of Jesus’ presence with us and his power to help us endure suffering. Yet it is to the glory of God that the consistent witness of Scripture and countless Christians over time and across cultures testifies to the reality of this sustaining presence of Christ. Hence, we can embark on this journey as men and women of courage and hope.

Yesterday I wrote about answering my call to ordained ministry during a time of great upheaval in our church, reflecting on this in light of de Foucauld’s writing, i.e., I wrote about embarking on a journey through the wilderness, and mused that I was prepared to suffer for Christ to bring him honor and glory if that is what he called me to do. Since I wrote my reflection, this theme of walking in the wilderness has been brought to my attention from two other sources and so I must pay attention here. I wrote to a friend this morning that I would much rather walk in the wilderness with Christ than to live in a palace of luxury without him. Easy words, of course, because I am not suffering at the moment. But what will I do if/when the time comes?

Given the human condition and my own foibles, I cannot be certain of the answer. What I DO know, however, is that if I rely on my own strength, my own resources, I will surely fail. If I lose faith that Christ is with me and sustains me in any and all circumstances, if I forget my call has been validated in many ways and from multiple sources so that I am convinced this IS God’s will for me, then I will surely lose hope and heart and attempt to put down my cross and walk away. But if I go to Christ in prayer, if I feed myself daily on his Word and partake of the sacraments regularly, if I count on his abiding presence and power to sustain me, if I enlist the help of my Christian friends, I will be able to continue to walk through the wilderness with hope and courage.

Suffering manifests itself in multiple ways and it seems to me that wondering in the wilderness can be a form of suffering because we don’t know for sure where we will end up or if we will ever get there in the first place. At the same time, wondering in the wilderness demands faith and putting our whole hope and trust in Christ, not ourselves; hence, God can use our wonderings to help us become more faithful souls, to deepen our trust in him, and to become more dependent on his power to help us live faithful lives.

And so as I embark on this path toward ordained ministry in the midst of very uncertain and troubling times, I do so with an uncharacteristic calm and confidence that is surely not my own. I want this to be perfectly clear to the reader because to think otherwise misses the point of today’s reflection. To read this without understanding that I have finally reached a point where I am trying (and not always successfully) to put my whole hope and trust in Christ—no easy matter for someone like me—is to miss the point that Christ is the source of my confidence, not my own abilities or resources. I have no illusions that this journey will be particularly easy but I put my hope in the One who loves me and gave himself for me and draw strength for living from him, even in the most difficult or tenuous circumstances.

THAT’S Good News for anyone.

It’s your turn now. What do you think? How does Luke 9:23 speak to you and your life’s circumstances? What does discipleship demand of you and how do you draw on Christ to help sustain you? Tell us your stories so that we might “watch over each other in love.”

On Answering the Call in Difficult Circumstances—Reflections on the Writing of Charles de Foucauld

As I stated yesterday, my intention, prayers, and hopes for this blog are to provide a forum where Christians can talk about issues of faith and/or real problems they face, identifying resources they use/draw upon to help them overcome these problems or deal with issues. To facilitate this interchange, I will attempt to post excerpts of devotional writings or passages from Scripture on a regular basis and then comment on them. I will then ask interested readers to do likewise, sharing their experiences and knowledge so that we might “watch over each other in love,” as John Wesley put it. My second excerpt comes from Charles de Foucauld:

Our Lord asks great faith from us, and he is right. We owe him great faith. After Our Lord said ‘Come’ to him, Peter had no more fear and walked upon the waters. So that when Jesus has quite certainly called us to certain circumstances in life, given us a certain vocation, we need fear nothing, but should attack the most insurmountable obstacles without hesitation. If Jesus has said ‘Come,’ we have the grace to walk upon the waters. It may seem to us impossible, but Jesus overmasters the impossible. So we need three things: first, to call out to Our Lord very clearly, and then, when we have distinctly heard his ‘Come’ (without this summons we have not the right to throw ourselves into the waters—it would be presumptuous, imprudent and rash, and a risk to the life of the soul; it would be sinful, even to mortal sin, for to risk the life of the soul is even graver than to risk the life of the body), once his ‘Come’ is heard by the soul (till that moment our duty is simply to pray and wait), we must hesitate no more but throw ourselves into the waters like S. Peter and, confident in the call that God has given, walk over the waves, without hesitation, without the least doubt or fear, sure that if we go forward in faith and confidence the path that Jesus calls to us to follow will become easy to us by the virtue of his call ‘Come.’ So let us walk with the perfect faith in the way along which he calls us, for heaven and earth shall pass away but his words shall not pass.

—From Meditations of a Hermit by Charles de Foucauld

As I read this excerpt from Foucauld this morning, it struck me that this would be a splendid opportunity to invite interested readers to offer their own reflections about a perceived calling, whatever it may be, in their lives in light of what Foucauld writes above.

For me, I couldn’t help but reflect on my own calling to the ordained ministry in some very tenuous times for the church. I have read those who urge orthodox folk to flee the church and I can both appreciate and understand the passion that evokes such a response. Yet I am grateful for Foucauld’s exhortation and warning here. He reminds us that we need to be very certain that we first have a call to follow before “jumping into the waters” to go to Jesus. Yet he also reminds us that if we DO have the call, we have nothing to fear. I have no idea how (or where) my call will end up manifesting itself or what it will eventually look like; but that is really not the point, is it? Rather, I believe my call to be valid; hence, I must pursue it with vigor, faithfulness, and trust in the One who issues the Call despite tenuous and trying circumstances. In doing so, I must always be prepared to bring honor and glory to the Christ who loves me and gave himself for me, irrespective of the circumstance or outcome, i.e., I must be prepared to suffer for Christ if called to do so. To do otherwise would be to fail to heed the call and/or perhaps take up my cross daily and carry it.

It would also demonstrate a lack of faith and trust in the One who calls. I have been unfaithful enough in my life; I dare not continue the pattern, especially in this context. And so like Paul, I will attempt, although probably unsuccessfully given my human foibles, to give thanks to God in all circumstances. I am also recently reminded that to put one’s hope in a particular outcome invites disaster; to put one’s hope in Christ will ultimately never fail because he is faithful and can be trusted. My own life experiences and the experiences of hundreds of millions of Christians over time and across cultures confirm this truth. Therefore, I will continue to wait and pray but I will also be prepared to act boldly if I perceive it to be consistent with my calling. Toward that end, I covet your prayers.

I now return to my invitation above to any interested reader. What is your perceived call and how are you demonstrating great faithfulness to it? How did you discern your call and what difficulties must you overcome in pursuing it? What in Foucauld’s writings did you find helpful (or harmful)?

On the Need for Urgent Discipleship-Reflections on the Writing of George MacDonald

My intention, prayers, and hopes for this blog are to provide a forum where Christians can talk about issues of faith and/or real problems they face, identifying resources they use/draw upon to help them overcome these problems or deal with issues. To facilitate this interchange, I will attempt to post excerpts of devotional writings or passages from Scripture on a regular basis and then comment on them. I will then ask interested readers to do likewise, sharing their experiences and knowledge so that we might “watch over each other in love,” as John Wesley put it. My first excerpt comes from George MacDonald:

“But I do not know how to awake and arise!”

I will tell you. Get up, and do something the Master tells you; so make yourself his disciple at once. Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have this day done one thing because he said, Do it, or once abstained because he said, Do not do it.

Oh fools and slow of heart, if you think of nothing but Christ, and do not set yourselves to do his words! You but build your houses on the sand

—From Creation in Christ by George MacDonald

As I read this passage from MacDonald this morning I was struck by its sense of urgency. In addition to its urgency, MacDonald emphasizes DOING (or abstaining from) something and doing (or abstaining from) it NOW. Today. No procrastination here, no making excuses; just DO it, baby! He definitely places a premium on the immediacy of discipleship and on DOING.

As I apply this to my own discipleship, I wonder how often I simply talk about something but do not bother to ACT. For example, I sometime ignore my daily Bible reading, thereby denying myself from being fed on the Word. Likewise with daily and continuous prayer. Every time I refuse to engage, I am diminished as a man and a Christian. How long will I continue to pursue this delusion of self-sufficiency? How long will I continue to build my foundation on sand?

Most of the great devotional masters have also been confronted by this problem. To a person they urge us to pray something, even if it is perfunctory, or to read psalms or other passage from Scripture until the darkness passes. They do not cave in; they DO something and they are fighters. I must learn to do likewise.

It also struck me that this would be a splendid opportunity to invite interested readers to offer their own reflections about what sense of urgency they have, if any, about their own discipleship in light of what MacDonald writes above. Again, my intention is to provide a forum where Christians can talk about real problems they face and what resources they use/draw upon to help them overcome these problems.

So let’s start. Is your discipleship marked by immediacy and action? If not, how do you overcome or what do you need to do to make it more immediate? Are your solutions biblical? Do you draw on the work of the great masters of faith? Tell us your story so that we might begin to “watch over each other in love.”