When we fail humanly, do we grow spiritually?

failure on the human level may feel like a curse but on the level of spiritual unfolding it can be a blessing in disguise. . . . This shift to the spiritual perspective shows us the relative value of success in God’s eyes. The Pharisee, who was the symbol of human success, was a failure before God in comparison to the humble Publican. . . . Instead of making failure an occasion for self-flagellation, we can see it in faith as a condition for our spiritual progress

Susan Muto and Adrian van Kaam, Practicing the Prayer of Presence, 91-93

Failure ploughs the soil of my soul;

     it prepares me to receive the seed of the gospel.

Failure bends my back low,

     the right stance to carry my daily cross.

Failure humbles me into the common man,

     so I may learn to love my neighbour.

Failure pierces my heart with pain,

     that I may know the Suffering Servant.

–by Wan Phek How

 

Conversations about Heaven

Over dinner last night, my daughter, a joyful five year old who is full of life, off-handedly said, “I want to die at the age of five and go to heaven.” My son, aged eight, responded, “No, God does not want you in heaven at the age of five just so you can have fun. He wants you to tell other people about Jesus. That is why He wants you to live in this world until you are old.”

Mum said, “We don’t want you to die at the age of five. You’re five right now, and we will miss you.” To which, Daughter replied, “Then let’s all (die and) go to heaven together.”

In case you think this is a holy family, a few days ago, Son was upset that Daughter was talking about him to her friends behind his back. He said, “If I were to die first and go to heaven, I can hear all the lies you tell about me.”

There certainly is some interesting theologizing going on at the dinner table

 

Leaving family, gaining family

One of the most beautiful things that can happen in a human life is that parents become brothers and sisters for their children, that children become fathers and mothers for their parents, that brothers and sisters become friends and that fatherhood, motherhood, brotherhood, and sisterhood are deeply shared by all the members of the family at different times and on different occasions.But this cannot happen without leaving. Only to the degree that we have broken the ties that keep us captives to an imperfect love can we be free to love those we have left as father, mother, brother, or sister and receive their love in the same way. This is what Jesus means when he says: “In truth I tell you, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, who will not receive a hundred times as much houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land–and persecutions too–now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30).

The great mystery of leaving father and mother is, indeed, that their limited love will multiply and manifest itself wherever we go, because only insofar as we leave, can the love we clung to reveal its true source.

Nouwen interprets leaving family in terms of emotional ties, especially ties that bind us to family and inhibit our emotional and spiritual growth. This is one way of looking at things, and I think a valid interpretation, but perhaps not the only interpretation. Sometimes the only way to leave emotionally is to leave physically, at least for a season. At times, maybe oftentimes, the physical leaving is more easily accomplished than the emotional leaving, which may take a lifetime for some.

Henri Nouwen, Here and Now (New York: Crossroad, 1994), 116.

 

A techie parable

No one runs untested code on a network server, for the code may crash and take down the server. Likewise, no one puts old format data files into new databases. The new database will be corrupted, and the data will be lost. No, you put new-format data into new databases (Matt 9:14-17).

(excerpted from Parables for Modern Academia by Deborah and Loren Haarsma)

 

Travel and the Spiritual Life

According to Henri Nouwen,

Traveling is seldom good for the spiritual life. Especially traveling alone. Airplanes, airports, buses and bus terminals, trains and railroad stations filled with people moving here and there, cluttered with magazines, books, and useless objects–it’s all too much, too sensual and distracting to keep our hearts and minds focused on God. When I travel alone I eat too much, drink too much, and look around too much. Meanwhile, I let my mind wander to unhealthy, imaginary places and allow my heart to drift along with confusing emotions and feelings.

I concur with Nouwen, and would like to add that vacations too can be distracting for the spiritual life. Much depends on the type of break we have, whether it is to secluded spots in nature or to busy entertainment. Rest is part of the spiritual life, and a Christian ought to be known by the way she rests. There is a world of difference between rest and retreat compared to a holiday jam-packed with activities and entertainment. Often one needs a rest after the latter type of vacation.

Notes

Henri Nouwen, Here and Now (New York: Crossroad, 1994), 85.

 

All I want for my birthday

We just celebrated our son’s eighth birthday. Instead of a gift, he asked friends to bring two dollars, one for him and one for charity. One friend did that; the others brought two dollars and a gift. No, my son did not complain. Ten days later, I was spending special time with my five year old daughter. It was time to do whatever she wanted to do–only together. The activity? Colouring. In the midst of colouring, she looked at me and said, “Dad, if you can’t think of a present for my birthday, just sing me a song.” Just sing me a song–such simple joy. No wonder Jesus said we need to be like little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Dear God, please fill my heart with joyous song so I can sing to my daughter.

 

We walk, not alone, but in good company

Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.

Guess who said that? A humble person? Yes. A dedicated person? No doubt. A great person? Absolutely! This quote is by none other than the iconic scientist of the twentieth century, Albert Einstein. It is obvious that new scientific discovery is built on the ground of established science. What is amazing is that Einstein perceives that his interior life of reflection, spirituality, and identity were dependent and interconnected with others.

So if we pray well, could it be because others have prayed or are praying for us? Or because others have written about prayer, or preached on it. Or we have been in churches and prayer meetings with people who prayed well. The same could be said of any other skill, including that of sports. Kicking a ball may come naturally to some, but to bring the skill to the next level requires practice, learning from others, being coached, watching and studying the moves of great footballers.

Others have made the same point as Einstein. In Telling Secrets, Frederick Buechner wrote that it is important, “to keep track, you and I, of who we are and where we have come from and the people we have met along the way because it is precisely through these stories, in all their particularity, that God makes himself known most powerfully and personally.”

Henri Nouwen echoes, “We are called to lay down our lives for . . . people. This laying down . . . means first of all making our own lives — our sorrows and joys, our despair and hope, our loneliness and experience of intimacy — available to others as sources of new life.” (Bread for the Journey)

 

Towards a Kingdom Timestyle

Towards a Kingdom Timestyle
by Wan Phek How

In the novel Gulliver’s Travels, the Lilliputians thought Gulliver’s watch was his god, since Gulliver referred to it throughout the day in making decisions about what to do.[1] This astute observation about the importance of the watch was made by Jonathan Swift in the eighteenth century. Neil Postman, a contemporary technology critic, agrees that the invention of the clock is a significant step in humanity’s technological development from mainly agrarian tool-using cultures to industrialized technocracries.[2] The mechanical clocks used in public buildings in the thirteenth century had no minute hands and were used to mark time generally—with variable hours.[3] The length of the “hour,” one-twelfth of daylight time, varied with the seasons until the late fourteenth century.[4]

Cultural historians suggest that the fixed hour was the invention of urban businessmen who wanted to establish a standard work shift regardless of the season; wage labourers were paid by the day and their employers, presumably, wanted to get as full a day’s work as possible.[5] If such was the beginning of the sixty minutes, it is hardly surprising that we use monetary terms to describe our use of time: we “spend” time with friends, “save” time from chores, “give” time to family, and “steal” it from sleep. Since we tend to worship time as we do money, we need to hear the words of Jesus: “No one can serve two masters. . . . You cannot serve both God and Money” (Mt 6:24). Therefore, we should serve God and let money serve us. In the same way, we should not be slaves to time, but should let time serve us as we serve the Kingdom of God.

To do that, we need to start with a biblical understanding of time. Our modern, scientific mindset assumes that time is “out there” as an objective, measurable part of nature. Philosophers argue that clocks do not measure invisible, intangible time but tangible things such as the length of a workday or a sprinter’s speed in the 100 metres.[6] In contrast, the Bible’s approach to time is not scientific, naturalistic, or humanistic—it is God-centric. The birth of time is announced at the very first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning” (Ge 1:1). Before the Beginning, there was nothing; it was time-less. At the Beginning, time was created: God separated light from darkness and marked the days, the seasons, and the years (Gen 1:3-4,14). By resting on the seventh day, God inaugurated the Sabbath and created our seven-day week (Ge 2:2-3). Jesus later said: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27). Thus the rhythm of six days of work followed by a day of rest was instituted for the good of humans. From this, we can surmise that time is a gift of God in the same sense that the whole of creation is a gift of God. But that is not all. The larger framework of our time—our days, weeks, seasons, and years—is also a gift from God.[7]

In chapter three of Ecclesiastes, it is written: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecc 3:1). In other words, there is an appropriate time for every activity in each of our lives, and this time is appointed to us—it is a gift from God. Whereas the weeks and years were designed for the good of humans generally, the appointed times in our lives were given to each of us individually, specifically, and personally. All of time, its existence, its larger, calendar-type framework, and its personalized timetable of birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions are all a gift from God.

Time is indeed a precious gift and we try to fill it with as many fruitful activities as we can. Sometimes we feel there is too little time to do all that we have to do. Indeed we question whether God has given us enough time for all that He wants us to do. So it is interesting to note that God stuck with a bunch of ex-slaves for forty years while they wandered around in the desert. He waited for a generation of Israelites to die naturally instead of massacring them and choosing another people group to fulfill His kingdom purposes. During that time, the Israelites lived, got married, and had children. God also gave Moses the desert-time he needed: forty years. Even though the Israelites were in slavery and were crying out for deliverance from the Egyptians, God did not prematurely push Moses into urgent ministry in a great hurry.

Undoubtedly, the man with the greatest mission throughout history was and is Jesus Christ. Yet, from the gospel narratives, Jesus did not act in haste. Rather, His actions were timely. Jesus tarried and was too late to save His friend Lazarus from death, only to work a greater miracle of resurrection (Jn 11:6). Jesus had a notion of appropriate time. When the wine ran out at the wedding in Cana and His mother asked for help, Jesus replied: “Dear woman, why do you involve me? . . . My time has not yet come” (Jn 2:4). When his disciples wanted to go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus replied, “The right time for me has not yet come” (Jn 7:6). Then, when the time came for Jesus to enter Jerusalem to be crucified, He sent His disciples ahead with the message: “My appointed time is near” (Mt 26:18). Even the demons had a notion of a set time. When Jesus encountered the two demon-possessed men in Gadarenes, the demons shouted: “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” (Mt 8:28-29).

Jesus did not try to bring about His Kingdom before its time. He refused Satan’s offer of a false kingdom (Mt 4:8-10). He turned many would-be disciples away with difficult and at times, offensive sayings (Jn 6:66). When some Pharisees asked for a miraculous sign, Jesus chose not to perform miracles for persuasive purposes (Mt 12:38-39). When the people wanted to make Him king by force, Jesus withdrew to a mountain (Jn 6:15). His closest circle, the twelve disciples, was perplexed by the way Jesus went about His messianic mission—which when compared to the fast-paced, numbers-focussed, result-oriented approach to modern ministry, seems almost leisurely and ludicrously inefficient.

Did Jesus have enough time for his earthly ministry? He was only in active ministry for three years. Then He died, leaving the earthly scene before he could write the gospel according to Jesus Christ. Had he been around longer, Jesus could have given the church the definitive organizational model and established a solid theological foundation for all Christians. He could have done so much more instead of leaving the Mission to a floundering flock of bumbling disciples, leading to two millennia of divisive theological development and fragmented church growth. However, all these good things were not part of the Father’s purposes for Jesus. In fact, Jesus said: “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. . . . I always do what pleases him” (Jn 8:28-29). Before He died, Jesus could tell the Father that not a single person given Him was lost (Jn 18:9). When He finally gave up His life, Jesus proclaimed that His messianic mission was completed: “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). Jesus certainly did not have the time to do all that we would have liked Him to do, but He most definitely had the time to do what God the Father appointed for Him to do. The things Jesus left undone were left for others to do, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is very much active and present in the world, even though we often think He is absent because He is operating behind the scenes. The Spirit’s work of preparing the stage and getting the main actors, we Christians, to play our part could be done in a more systematic and efficient way. If whenever a fixed number of Christians prayed a model prayer for a certain number of hours, the Spirit could effect a certain number of conversions and scale of revival, we would have come to some sort of “working arrangement.” Then we could hold seminars worldwide for all Christians to adopt this method and voila, the Mission would be accomplished in no time. Somehow though, as much as we are waiting for the Spirit to burst into the scene and take centre-stage, it seems the Spirit is waiting for us to be ready, not passively waiting, but walking with us in the process of getting us ready. Perhaps, in a sense, we are the work—not merely the means, but part of the end: the Kingdom of God.

The Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—appear to have the same attitude towards time: an unhurried pace, a sharp focus on the real mission at hand, and patience with the workers. Jesus, the most visible person of the Trinity, lived His life focussed on what the Father wanted Him to do and was given both sufficient time and appropriate timing to accomplish His mission. If, therefore, our lives are aligned with the Kingdom and we are acting in response to God’s call, then there will always be enough time to fulfil God’s priorities and a right time to do it.[8] In short, we will be “[d]oing God’s ministry in God’s time.”[9]

This does not mean we do not plan, but instead, we plan with discernment. We need to discern what God has called us to do and what season of our lives we are in. Then we can respond to requests appropriately. “Making the most of every opportunity”[10] does not mean cramming as much as we can into our schedules. Rather, it means being serendipitously attentive for opportunities, as they present themselves, to respond appropriately as ambassadors of Christ’s Kingdom.[11] If we are serious about being available, we need to plan for it by scheduling our time loosely. That goes against the grain of what time management is all about—packing it in. But, just as we redeem our time for God’s Kingdom, we need to redeem our time management as well.

One helpful exercise is to take off our watches for a day. Initially, without a watch, we may feel disoriented, less competent, or even dysfunctional. But beyond that, there is the wonderful experience of the natural flow of time, uninterrupted by watching the watch. Once we realize the benefits, we may want to schedule “watch-off” times: perhaps an evening after work, a leisurely weekend, or a public holiday. There is not too much that we can pack into a schedule without a watch, but some wonderful kingdom opportunities may turn up.

As we begin to live this kingdom-oriented timestyle, our lives begin to be somewhat disorganized, certainly less efficient, and worst of all, inconvenient. Take a small snapshot of Jesus’ life and the same adjectives could be applied to Him; but take the full view of His entire life and we see a beautiful, coherent tapestry of the focussed life accomplishing a great mission. This should give us courage. By and large, the societal timestyle subverts our personal attempts to redeem time. We Christians need to remember that it is the Holy Spirit that enables us to live the Kingdom life in Kingdom time:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:[12]
a time to put on a watch and a time to take it off,
a time to plan and a time to let things happen.
For every moment and all eternity belongs to God,
and He appoints the time for every good work of His Kingdom.

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Copyright © 2002 Wan Phek How. All rights reserved.

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Notes

1. Robert Banks, “Watch,” in The Complete Book of Everyday Christianiy, eds. Robert Banks and R. Paul Stevens (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 1100.
2. Neil Postman, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (New York: Knopf, 1992; Toronto: Vintage Books, 1993), 27.
3. Banks, 1100.
4. Richard Biernacki, “Time Cents: The Monetization of the Workday in Comparative Perspective,” in Nowhere: Space, Time and Modernity, eds. Roger Friedland and Deirdre Boden (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994), 61.
5. Ibid, 63.
6. Norbert Elias, Time: An Essay (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), 1.
7. Our standard hours, minutes, and seconds are not necessarily God-given. They could well be dehumanising, mathematical abstractions we force upon ourselves in a scientific, technocratic culture.
8. William T. McConnell, The Gift of Time (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1983), 89.
9. Ibid., 88.
10. Eph 5:16; Col 4:5
11. Ibid., 76.
12. Ecc 3:1

Bibliography
Banks, Robert. “Watch.” In The Complete Book of Everyday Christianity, eds. Robert Banks and R. Paul Stevens, 1100-1102. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

Biernacki, Richard. “Time Cents: The Monetization of the Workday in Comparative Perspective.” In Nowhere: Space, Time and Modernity, eds. Roger Friedland and Deirdre Boden, 61-94. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994.

Elias, Norbert. Time: An Essay. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.

Grudin, Robert. Time and the Art of Living. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982.

McConnell, William T. The Gift of Time. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1983.

Postman, Neil. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. New York: Knopf, 1992; Toronto: Vintage Books, 1993.

 

Efficiency–For What Purpose?

Is it good to be efficient? Or is it bad because it harms our humanness? To properly answer that question, we need a proper understanding of efficiency. The assumption underlying efficiency is a limited resource. Usually, that resource is time, but it can also be money, oil, space, workers, and life. To be efficient with time means accomplishing as much as we can in a given amount of time. To use money efficiently is to stretch the dollar. The efficient use of oil translates to fuel efficient vehicles. The need to house more and more people in Vancouver leads to smaller dwellings—space efficiency. To run a college with limited staff and faculty is to achieve efficiency in terms of human resources. But what does it mean for us to live efficiently? And is there a place for it?

The examples above show that we are, or aim to be, efficient in many areas of life. But to be efficient in all areas of life all the time is not possible, because to be efficient with one resource may, and often, conflicts with efficiency in another resource. To be efficient with time, it is best to drive to class. But that requires the purchase of a car which may not be best way to stretch your student loan. Not to mention, the inefficient use of oil compared to riding the bus or biking. Another example: using the dish washer may be time efficient but not water efficient.

Allow me to be word efficient and get to the point. Efficiency is for a purpose and not an end in itself. Usually there is a trade-off. Efficiency with one resource may require inefficiency with another. We need to consider all of life and all the resources available to us individually and communally. Efficiency is not a virtue, except in the working world and the technological culture. As human beings, we have limited resources of energy for all of life, which encompasses work and rest, chores and play. Working efficiently, accomplishing many tasks in a given amount of time, uses up energy required for other life activities.

Even so, there is a place for efficiency at work, in order that we can be inefficient with time in play, rest, and prayer. The monastery, surprisingly, is a very efficient workplace. In his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton, who had left the world for the monastery, recounts his horror at having to wake up at three in the morning and run around all day doing chores. All that work efficiency was in order that the monks could spend hours in prayer. So the answer to the question of efficiency is: yes, but to what end?

 

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society

In A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson reflects on Psalms 120 to 134, also known as the Songs of Ascent. These psalms were originally sung by Hebrew pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for worship festivals. Through a variety of reflections ranging from repentance to joy and providence to perseverance, Peterson attempts to draw back to a life of intentional discipleship. The occasional pleasurable visit to a sacred site is contrasted to the daily, lifelong obedience of the pilgrim. Though we live in a different culture from the ancient Hebrews the life-pattern of a disciple remains the same.

Thus, in the 20th year edition of the book, Peterson made no substantial change to the book beyond the use of a new translation of the Bible: The Message. Personally, of the many lessons that can be garnered from these pages, three are especially relevant.

• Firstly, repentance is painfully beautiful. The experience of God’s judgment is a necessary prelude to my repentance. Even after the initial conversion to Christ, there will be many painful calls to repent. Repentance is the door to pilgrimage and Peterson appropriately reflects on this in Psalm 120, the first of the Songs of Ascent.

• Secondly, as a Christian brought up in a middle-class culture I somehow expect God to provide a middle-class lifestyle for me and my family. Not so, Peterson counsels, God’s providence is not about a life free from pain. Rather, it is about Him guarding us and not abandoning us, even in the face of misfortune and evil.

• Thirdly, my spiritual life is not to be defined by feelings. The culture tells us that if the right feeling does not accompany our action, then our action is inauthentic. Peterson reminds us that, “Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship” (54). This point is so important that it bears repeating at the end of the book, “Feelings don’t run the show” (195).

Resources

Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2000)

MP3 Lectures by Eugene Peterson