detangling life (pt.2)

I imagine myself talking to someone else about simplifying life, and right away, I hear them saying, "Isn't that just a kind of escapism? Aren't we supposed to be engaging the world around us with the gospel?" Is a life of simplicity "escapism"? You stop doing so much. You say "No." to good things. You lose touch with some friends. You stay in with your family instead of going to see the latest 'culturally relevant' film. You can't "make a difference."

Sure, but how many of the "many things" that constitute our busy-ness do we do well? What if an integrated life (which is one part of what I mean when I talk about simplicity) is one part of embodying the life of the age to come? So what if I escape certain things so that I may be fully present and engaged in a few important things?

Understand that it is my better self that is pulling the rest of me toward this. I am often restless when I am at home. I want to go do things and watch films and hang out in the cafe. But when I have submitted to the Spirit's direction to stay home and spend a quiet night doing 'nothing' with Torie (because she is the one through whom the Spirit spoke), I find great resonance with Foster's experience: "I had touched the margin of simplicity, and the effect was electrifying."

More, please. And less, please, too.

language

We need to stop thinking and talking as if God is a 'part of my life.' I hear it so often, even in some sermons. It is the assumed perception that the point of being a Christian is to make God a 'part' of your life. I want God to make me part of His Life. That is the better way to think and speak and act, is it not?

Language is important because it betrays our real beliefs; but not only that, it also shapes our convictions. It works both ways.

Richard Foster was writing (in "Freedom of Simplicity") that he experienced God as being on the periphery of his life. Then he corrects himself: "Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I was on the periphery of his Life. It was I who needed to come to the Center, the Core." See how the language changes perspective and vice versa?

We need to develop language that helps us properly orient ourselves--to God, to others, to the world. I am starting to learn that language. I think it is a big part of the pastoral (in the basic functional sense, not merely in the paid professional sense) task to share language with others that helps them orient their lives properly. Language that leads to action. Language that explains action. Language that tells us what time (kairos) it is.

I'm starting with "I want God to make me part of His Life."