Spiritual Co-inherence

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:1-2)

I am interested in the integration of two aspects of our inner life – mind and heart, or what we refer to as our intellect and our emotions. While I would assert that these are properties of the same self, it usually helps to make the distinction between what we hold as true in our rational mind from that which we moves us in our emotional mind. And while I would also make the case that these aspects are deeply connected, in the popular conceptualization, these properties of self are distinct. As a Christ-follower, then, I am interested in seeing these two aspects of my self become more integrated.

In philosophy-speak, we talk about the principle of co-inherence. This means that one thing can hold multiple properties at the same time. For instance, we might say that the property of “sweetness” inheres in a sugar cube, but this is not its only property. We can also say that the properties of “whiteness” and “squareness” also inhere. All of these properties thus “co-inhere” in the same sugar cube and are not mutually exclusive. I believe that it was Dallas Willard, the philosopher and student of the soul, who first pointed out the spiritual relevance of this philosophical descriptor.

The point is simple when it comes to authentic spirituality: there are multiple properties to it that must exist at the same time. We are one person, but we can never be described by one property. And to my point, mind and heart as intellect and emotion are both vital and deeply human properties that need a spiritual education. Even more specifically: theological soundness can be found alongside experiential vitality. True spiritual life is not a war between what we know rationally and what have come to experience. In the deepest sense, true spirituality is knowledge of the deepest kind, the kind that is truly felt, and deeply known. In the words of my friend Charles Nienkirchen, “what I know, I really know”.

And so my interest in the text above. In Paul’s letter to the Colossian Christians, he takes time to lay down what God has done for his people in and through Jesus. And then, as he often does, he makes a “since-then” argument. He says in effect: since God has done all this for us, we must put both our thoughts and our emotions in order, and do this in a unified and integrated way. It is this deep integration, this recognition of spiritual co-inherence, that is the sign of a truly maturing Christ-follower.

If you live only by how your Christian faith makes you feel (you would hardly be alone), but know little of it’s substance, you need to follow Paul’s advice: pursue depth of insight, pursue content. If, on the other hand, you know a lot of things about the Christian faith, but are hardly moved emotionally by what you know (and you would hardly be alone in this either), then you will need an education of the heart: seek to be a person who feels and is able to respond emotionally to these great things.

Of course, we need help in this and we cannot develop a mind and heart without God’s help in forming us. But whatever your starting point, pursue integration.

The Bible and Problems

For the past year, I have been making my way through the entire contents of the Spiritual Formation Bible, a wonderful introduction to the “with God life” from the Renovare people.  It is what you might call a tome: a really big and montrously fat book.  But I recommend it as a reading project for those who aspire to bigger ideals.  I recommend it with the caveat that you have to have the mind of a marathoner and not a sprinter.  Sprinters get off the line quicker, but marathoners cover more ground.  In the life with God, we are called to be endurance runners.

This morning’s reading and reflection included this introductory comment by Earl Palmer on Second Thessalonians:

We should not be surprised by the atmosphere of argument and dispute in the early church… Christians argue because they care and also because the Christian fellowship has always faced the problem of false or confused teaching.  It was the theologian Karl Barth who noted, “There are no New Testament letters that are written apart from the problems of the church”

For me, this comment stands as a particular illuminating place in my long reading journey with this particular Bible, a journey that has has paralleled the life issues I have been facing during this season of my life.  And somehow this comment represents for me a kind of “second wind” in the long race, that kind of mysterious ability which overcomes the labored breathing and breaks into new found energy.  If I sound too personal, I apologize, but our connection to truth usually begins that way.  I am beginning to see that what I have experienced and am experiencing may be bigger than my personal story — I am beginning to see (again) that what is most personal is also most universal.

Perhaps my personal story parallels what the church has felt over this last season of its existence in North America.  For we too (and I mean the whole church of Jesus in North America) are faced with issues and problems that are not only large and complex, but important enough to open up and argue for.  This is not bad because problems are (paradoxically) our friends, driving us to rethink and re-orient ourselves to the life we are called to.  If the church of Jesus has been “sucking wind” lately, it is because it has lived disconnected from the voice that sustains it.  If it finds itself again, it will not be because it overcomes problems but because it sees that Scripture engages problems, lives off of problems, is not afraid of problems.

For years now, I have felt that my calling as a pastor was not to merely comfort people, but to comfort them in the large truths of who God is and what he is doing in us and for us.  In other words, it was theology in the service of real life – God’s word for people right where they were.  The connection between the Bible and church life was all-important to me.  I have always believed that if we avoided Scripture, or failed to base our ministries out of Scripture, then we would fail to connect with people where they were.  I feel as I am there again.

I see a world of problems not only in the culture but in the church of North America.  And I see the Scriptures as fully immersed in the the problems of life as we experience them.  Somehow, because of this vital connection — the way our Scriptures connect to the large and seemingly intractable problems of our time — I feel as I am catching new breath.  Go figure.

Insight into the Mystery

I belive that the practice of prayer is the most unused and misunderstood gift of the gospel.  And so I am adding Insight into the Mystery, an exposition of Ephesians 3.  If it reads like a sermon it is because this was originally given to the Westside community last January 2007 at the launch of our annual prayer days. I hope that you find something here worth pondering.  And I hope that you are encouraged once more to enter the gift of prayer.

Suburban Monastery

We are ramping up for a new season of Suburban Monastery.  This is a place (not a program) we created several years ago at Westside King’s Church and it is being relaunched this fall.  As the director of spiritual formation at the church, I wanted to create a context where we could learn to read the Bible formationally.  We really had no template for what emerged; all we saw was the need for suburban people to find solid and transformational spiritual nourishment and to engage the long history of faithful Christian experimentation we are part of.  I believe in an experienced faith, but one that is deeply tied to the Scripture.  And so the monastery exists for this purpose: to be a place for people to explore a life with God, to learn how the Bible helps us do this, to appreciate the long story we are part of, and to practice another way of being.

You can find out what is happening at wkc.org.  If you live in Calgary, come and join us on Wednesday nights, beginning September 24. You can register for the program at suburbanmonastery@wkc.org