Everybody Wants To Rule The World

Let me put it out there for all to read: I want to change the world! But then, everybody wants to change the world. In fact, in the words of "Tears For Fears," "everybody wants to rule the world." In my natural self, I want a world that works for me. In this perspective, world peace is good because it means that my family is, my friends are, my country is, and I am, safe. Yet, in my better self, in my redeemed self, I want to change the world, not rule it. I want the world to become the world that God wants it to become. This perspective is less about me; in fact, sometimes it means that changes to the world may affect me adversely. This naturally brings us to questions about mechanisms for changing the world and our motivations for changing the world. The astute reader will have already picked up on my stated motivation: "I want the world to become the world that God wants it to become." Of course, even as I state this, I am aware of the challenge to interpret this, and then live this. What if we started small? What if we started near?

When I was young, I set out to change the world. When I grew a little older, I perceived this was too ambitious, so I set out to change my state. This too I realized was too ambitious, so I set out to change my town. When I realized I could not even do this, I tried to change my family. Now as an old man I know that I should have started by changing myself. If I had started with myself, maybe then I would have succeeded in changing my family, the town, or even the state - and who knows maybe even the world. - Hassidic rabbi on his deathbed.1

I am neither particularly young, nor am I particularly old, and I am definitely not on my deathbed; but, the words of this rabbi resonate with my soul. Changing the world begins with changing me! If I want a world that looks like God's design, then my life must look like God's design. I am not talking about some legalistic, checking over my shoulder to see if I am on "God's good boy list." Becoming the person God wants me to be will be about enjoying and stewarding all that this world has to offer: my wife, my daughters, my grandchildren, the mountains, the seas . . . . Change can then radiate outwardly from me. Hmmm, what will this look like in my life? What will it look like in yours?

Everybody Wants To Rule The World 

(Words and music by Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley, Chris Hughes) (Listen here) 

Welcome to your life
There's no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find you 

Acting on your best behaviour
Turn your back on mother nature
Everybody wants to rule the world 

It's my own design
It's my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most 

Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world 

There's a room where the light won't find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do I'll be right behind you 

So glad we've almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world 

I can't stand this indecision
Paired with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world 

Say that you'll never never never never need it
One headline why believe it ?
Everybody wants to rule the world 

All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world 

1 (Scazzero, Daily Office: Remembering God's Presence Throughout The Day 2008, 56)

Works Cited:
Scazzero, Peter. Daily Office: Remembering God's Presence Throughout The Day. Barrington: Willow Creek Resources, 2008.

Being and Doing

Luke 10 is a very important chapter of the Bible for me. I was reminded of this again as I read "Day 4 Morning/Midday Prayer" of Peter Scazzero's Daily Office: Remembering God's Presence Throughout The Day. The entry for this day focuses on Luke 10:38-42 and reminds me that "Our goal is to love God with our whole being, to be consistently conscious of God through our daily life - whether we are stopped like Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, or active like Martha, taking care of the tasks of life."1

The Mary/Martha story of verses 38-42, should be read hand-in-hand with Luke 10:1-20. I include a few select verses below.

The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. 2 These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. 3 Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. . . . 9 Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’ . . . 16 Then he said to the disciples, “Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me.”
17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” (NLT)

In this passage, Jesus is telling his followers to go and do things for him. He has been teaching them; but now, rather than more sitting at his feet to learn from him, he sends them out to do his work. They are to be the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus to the places to which Jesus will soon travel.

You and I need both. We need to sit at Jesus' feet and be in his presence. We need to go and take his presence to the world. The key is listening and being sure that we are indeed going and doing the work that he has given us to do. We do not want to be doing busy work or someone else's work. To be sure of this we must first stay in the presence of Jesus to hear his voice and receive his direction. Then, we must go and take his presence with us.

1 (Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality 2006, 48-51)

Works cited:
Scazzero, Peter. Daily Office: Remembering God's Presence Throughout The Day. Barrington: Willow Creek Resources, 2008.
—. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006.

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

I often use my blog as a place to keep track of things I am learning from books or articles I am reading. Right now I am reading a book called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero. It is the basis for a new sermon series at our church that started yesterday. He is getting at the heart of some things often neglected in the development of a follower of Jesus. Of course, by emphasising healthy spiritual development the author is necessarily encouraging us to look at ourselves; but one gets the sense that he wants to help us know ourselves so that we may know God (he is explicit about this); so that we may know others (less explicit, but still there); and so that we may serve others (largely an implicit message of the book). So, after I read this book I should probably pick up some Ron Sider or Shane Claiborne to remind me of other essential elements of my spiritual development. For now, I will learn what I can from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.

Scazzero reminds us of three things that early Christians and the Desert Fathers focussed upon when he says,

Emotional health and contemplative spirituality offer three primary gifts. Each enables us to participate in the enormous transformative power of Jesus Christ today. They are:
* the gift of slowing down
* the gift of anchoring in God's love; and
* the gift of breaking free from illusions.1

This first point is particularly appropriate for the world in which we find ourselves. I suspect that many of us would do well to slow down the pace of life. Scazzero reflects upon his own life and offers this testimony.

The pace of my life slowed down considerably eleven years ago when I began my journey into emotional health. It takes time – lots of it – to feel, to grieve, to listen, to reflect, to be mindful of what is going on around us and in us, to live and not simply exist, and to love well. . . . This opened up for me a new world of surrendering and trusting God in the midst of obstacles and challenges. In a culture as frenetic and inattentive as ours, a "slowed down" Christian who is a contemplative presence to God and others is an extraordinary gift.2

Slowing down can be a powerful tool. I have found it productive in my spiritual life as long as I slow down for the right reasons. I dare not slow down and fill my life with more entertainment or more luxury for myself. This does not serve God's purposes in my life. Instead, slowing down must mean that I create space for feeling, grieving, listening, reflecting, meditating, praying, and waiting for God. This is what Scazzero is getting at. I will read on and likely come back to this blog with a few more insights as I allow the Holy Spirit to work in my life.

1 Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006; p. 47.
2 Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006; p. 51, 53.