Archives by: Gary Hoag

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:27

“The old joke says that the Englishman takes pride in being a self-made man, thereby relieving God of a fearful responsibility. The urge to be creators of ourselves, though, is not restricted to any one nation or class. Whenever we set our feet on the road to the impossible…We fear the other kind of burden because carrying it means that certain things are decisively out of our control and we can only respond in trust or faith…

Jesus says in Matthew 11:30 that His yoke is easy – but we can hardly forget that He also tells us to pick up and carry the cross. To see – to feel – the cross as a light load is the impossible possibility of faith: letting our best loved pictures of ourselves and our achievements die, trying to live without the protection we are used to…It is only very slowly indeed that we come to see why the bearing of the cross is a deliverance, not a sentence; why the desert fathers and mothers could combine relentless penance with confidence and compassion.”

Rowan Williams in Silence and Honey Cakes: The Wisdom of the Desert (Oxford: Lion Books, 2004) 48-49.

Until we let go of what we think we want our generosity and compassion to look like, we won’t grasp what it could be in Christ. The cross of Christ is a light load but it requires trust and abandonment.

The picture of the Englishman makes us smile, and maybe that is because only the Archbishop (Williams) can get away with saying it. We may think we are growing in generosity and compassion but are we?

I’m realizing today that the path of growth in these areas may rather be this narrow little trail that few take that is marked by daily dying to self and carrying a cross that, ironically, is a light load.

This leads us to the practice of penance. Many are averse to but might benefit from it. Think of it as retraining yourself in how to live. And what should that look like. It should appear with a sense of “confidence and compassion.”

Confidence is rooted in the fact that denying ourselves and carrying our cross daily is the impossible possibility of faith. When we do, we realize it is a light load that releases us to live, give, serve, and love compassionately like Jesus.

The alternative is to try to sort things on our own as self-made people. Let’s not go that route!

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19

“These words, which Jesus took from Isaiah, are rooted in the prophetic vision of the Hebrew Year of Jubilee. In His message and person Jesus was, in effect, announcing the perpetual Jubilee in the Spirit. The social ramifications of this were profound indeed: the land was to be healed, debts were to be forgiven, those in bondage were to be set free, capital was to be redistributed…In the Beatitudes we see the Jubilee inversion in which Jesus takes all those kinds and classes of people that in the natural order of things are thought to be unblessed and unblessable and shows that in the forgiving, receiving, accepting life of God’s Kingdom they too are blessed…

Notice His compassion in cleansing the leper and healing the paralytic, people who were outcasts of His day…Notice how Zacchaeus embrace this Jubilee life, accepting the call to generosity. Notice too the Jubilee attitude of the widow who puts her two copper coins in the offering, giving out of her poverty… Jesus’ living out of justice and shalom challenges our vested interests. It rebukes our rugged individualism and selfish hoarding. And it invites us to be the kind of people in whom justice and compassion flow freely. Jesus, who lived in the virtue and power of that Jubilee life that pulled down the kingdoms of the world, points the way.”

Richard Foster in Streams of Living Water: Essential Practices from the Six Great Traditions of Christian Faith (New York: HarperCollins, 1998) 12-14.

We are living in a time in history when God has shaken the earth. In response, we can hold on more tightly to our “vested interests” or the proverbial baskets in which we have put our eggs. Or we can live out the compassion of Christ and proclaim Jubilee through our human interactions: sharing when others hoard and forgiving when others condemn.

This is, admittedly, hard. It’s otherworldly. This is precisely why Jesus puts the Spirit within us. Read today’s Scripture again. The same Spirit that was upon Jesus is upon us. If we live by it, our giving will look like Zacchaeus and our compassion will appear like Christ. This kingdom around us will pass away. Let us live in light of Jubilee today.

Speaking of light, the sunset a couple days ago was stunning. I snapped the new header photo while walking the dog. In these challenging times, don’t miss how the heavens are declaring the glory of God. While things seem uncertain all around us, may the consistency of the sunrise and sunset reminds us of God’s sovereignty and generosity.

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15

“If I, as a Christian, am going to debate someone who is a non-Christian, I want to be able to put my arm around that person’s shoulder and say, “We are looking for truth together, and if you can show me where I am wrong, I’ll take your side.” I’m not there to beat someone into submission. Jesus never worked that way. The only people he rapped on pretty hard were precisely the people who were positive they were right, when in fact they were totally blind to the truth,

Apologetics isn’t intellectual bullying, it isn’t belittling, and it isn’t a way of getting people saved without God’s grace. We work with the Holy Spirit in gentleness and reverence. We surrender our powers of reason to the Holy Spirit. We expect God to enhance those powers and use our words, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to relieve the burden of doubt from a troubled heart. Doubt is a truly terrible thing. Some of us have been Christians for so long that we haven’t really struggled with itm but doubt is a terrible thing.”

Dallas Willard in The Allure of Gentleness: Defending the Faith in the Manner of Jesus (New York: HarperCollins, 2015) 50.

We are living in days when gentleness and respect are lacking.

In hard times, people are asking questions and looking for answers. The trouble with many of us, me included, is that if we think we are positive we know the answers, we often lack gentleness and respect.

And we may be totally off base in our thinking! I am learning that gentleness helps release the burden of doubt. Whereas the lack of gentleness causes people to become more deeply entrenched in their opinions.

The key, as Willard notes, is to surrender our powers of reason to the Holy Spirit.

This makes total sense for me as gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit. So one of the most generous things we can do today, tomorrow, and the next day is to surrender our powers of reason to the Holy Spirit.

When we do this, gentleness surfaces. This creates a context where generosity (another fruit) can also emerge. It makes us safe people who can help those with doubts and fears to let go of them.

These are pretty profound ideas, and for the most part, I feel I am just understanding them. I have a long way to go in living them out. There’s hope because I’ve learned to surrender my mind.

As for the saints who are in the earth, They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight. Psalm 16:3

“The saints are what they are, not because their sanctity makes them admirable to others, but because the gift of sainthood makes it possible for them to admire everybody else. It gives them a clarity of compassion that can find good in the most terrible criminals. It delivers them from the burden of judging others, condemning other men. It teaches them to bring the good out of others by compassion, mercy, and pardon. A man [or woman] becomes a saint not by conviction that he [or she] is better than sinners but by the realization that he [or she] is one of them, and that all together need the mercy of God.”

Thomas Merton in New Seeds of Contemplation (New Directions Books: New York, 2007) 57.

I am shifting my attention to look at compassion linked to generosity in other writers. Today I turned to Merton and was gripped by this idea, the gift of sainthood.

In a time when the world is in crisis and there’s lot’s of finger-pointing, we must recall that saints are not perfect. There are no perfect people.

Saints are people who have experienced “compassion, mercy, and pardon” and so they extend it to others. This is how to stand out as majestic and as the object of God’s delight.

When we combine generosity and compassion we actually work to bring out the best in others. We multiply the impact of our living, giving, serving, and loving.

The Apostle Paul labeled the recipients of his letters as “the saints” in their cities. God has distributed us all over the earth. Let’s generously live out our identity.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

“A growing intimacy with God deepens our sense of responsibility for others. It evokes in us an always increasing desire to bring the whole world with all its suffering and pains around the divine fire in our heart and to share the revitalizing heat with all who want to come. But it is precisely this desire that requires such deep and strong patience. The painter Vincent van Gogh powerfully expresses the disicipline of patient prayer when he writes this to his brother Theo:

‘There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by only see a wisp of smoke through the chimney, and go along their way. Look here, now, what must be done? Must one tend the inner fire, have salt in oneself, wait patiently yet with how much impatience for the hour when somebody will come and sit down near it—maybe to stay? Let him who believes in God wait for the hour that will come sooner or later.’

One of the most powerful experiences in a life of compassion is the expansion of our hearts into a world-embracing space of healing from which no one is excluded. When, through discipline, we have overcome the power of our impatient impulses to flee or to fight, to become fearful or angry, we discover a limitless space into which we can welcome all the people of the world. Prayer for others, therefore, cannot be seen as an extraordinary exercise that must be practiced from time to time. Rather, it is the very beat of the compassionate heart.”

Henri Nouwen in Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life (New York: Image Doubleday, 1983) 107.

Today is my last post from this book. As one who appreciates the paintings and the limited writings of Vincent van Gogh, I love that Henri quoted Vincent on this topic of patient prayer.

This may well be the greatest gift that we can give to a broken an hurting world to show that everyone matters, no one is excluded. We can practice patient prayer. As believers in God, we can wait patiently with Vincent. Why do this?

Many of the troubles around us relate to systemic issues. The human temptation is to fight back, to revolt, to point fingers, or to throw stones. But does that really get us anywhere? Do we really make any progress?

In his paintings, Vincent tried to capture the beauty and brokenness in the world simultaneously, so I can picture him waiting patiently. Hoping. Praying. Sadly, I think many have given up waiting on God. They appear to be taking matters into their own hands.

Let’s be different. Let’s be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. Let’s do this in a word lacking in hope, angry in affliction, and that seems to have abandoned patient prayer. These are neither the first hard times in history nor the last.

So, as God stretches us and fills our hearts with compassion for all that is not right, let’s generously give ourselves to patient prayer if, that is, we believe in God.

Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. Luke 10:31-34

“Patience is the discipline of compassion because through patience we can live in the fullness of time and invite others to share in it. When we know God is offering salvation to us, there is ample time to be with others and to celebrate life together.

As long as we remain the victims of clock time, which forces us into the rigid patterns of time slots, we are doomed to be without compassion. When we live by the clock we haven ot time for each other: We are always on the way to our next appointment and do not notice the person on the side of the road in need of help; we are increasingly concerned about missing something important and perceive human suffering as a disturbing interruption of our plans; we are constantly preoccupied with our free evening, free weekend, or free month and lose the capacity to enjoy the people we live and work with day in day out…

Patience helps us to give a moment of rest and joy to the driven executive…Patience allows us to take ourselves less seriously…Patience makes us loving, caring, gentle, tender, and always grateful for the abundance of God’s gifts.”

Henri Nouwen in Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life (New York: Image Doubleday, 1983) 98-99.

This post pegged me. I am so driven by clock time. Whereas, the compassionate and generous person may be largely unproductive in worldly terms. Perhaps you are realizing the same thing? If so, read it again.

God grant us patience so we can live in the fullness of time. Give us eyes to see and respond to the opportunities around us. Awake us from our preoccupations so we enjoy life day in and day out. Amen.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. Matthew 5:15

“Discipline in the Christian life should never be construed as a rigorous method or technique to attain compassion. Compassion is not a skill that we can master by arduous training, years of study, or careful supervision. We cannot get a Master’s degree or a Ph.D. in compassion. Compassion is a divine gift and not a result of systematic study or effort. At a time when many programs are designed to help us become more sensitive, perceptive, and receptive, we need to be reminded continuously that compassion is not conquered but given, not the outcome of our hard work but the fruit of God’s grace. In the Christian life, discipline is the human effort to unveil what has been covered, to bring to the foreground what has remained hidden, and to put on a lampstand what has been kept under a basket. It is like raking away the leaves that covered the pathways in the garden of our soul. Discipline enables the revelation of God’s divine Spirit in us.”

Henri Nouwen in Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life (New York: Image Doubleday, 1983) 88.

What is the role of discipline in your life related to compassion?

I would be the first to consider the pursuit of compassion as an academic exercise. What I am finding, this year, is that related to generosity, discipline really is the human effort that submits to the Spirit’s work, that brings it to the foreground and puts it on a lampstand .

In God’s providence, I am thankful this raking away of the proverbial leaves coincided with the COVID-19 crisis. It has helped me see that compassion is the fruit of God’s grace and only as His grace is at work in me can I be generous and compassionate.

As you think about compassion during crisis times, discipline yourself to focus on the grace of Jesus Christ. This enables the work of the Spirit. And remember, one of the fruits that the Spirit produces is generosity, so it will be a double blessing for sure.

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 2 Peter 1:3-4

“As soon as we think that our careers are our vocation, we are in danger of returning to the ordinary and proper places governed by human competition and if using our talents more to separate ourselves from others than to unite ourselves with them in common life. A career disconnected from a vocation divides; a career that expresses obedience to our vocation is the concrete way of making our unique talents available to the community. Therefore it is not our careers, but our vocation, that should guide our lives…

A vocation is not the exclusive privilege of monks, priests, religious sisters, or a few heroic laypersons. God calls everyone who is listening; there is no individual or group for whom God’s call is reserved. But to be effective, a call must be heard, and to hear it we must continually discern our vocation amidst the escalating demands of our career.

Thus, we see how the voluntary displacement leads to a new togetherness in which we can recognize our sameness in common vulnerability, discover ouor unique talents as gifts for the upbuilding of the community, and listen to God’s call, which continually summons us to vocation far beyond the aspirations of our career.”

Henri Nouwen in Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life (New York: Image Doubleday, 1983) 82-84.

This pursuit of compassion, especially during COVID-19, is not a competitive quest but a movement toward our calling or vocation that is rooted in God’s generosity.

Notice in today’s Scripture that His divine power has given us everything we need because of His goodness or generosity. Did you hear that? We have everything we need. Everything!

That means that we don’t have to go chase after anything. We lack nothing. We must, instead rely on His promises as that the pathway for participating in the divine nature.

That means our growth only comes when we trust God to do what He says He will do. And related to generosity, He wants us to position ourselves as conduits of community blessing.

We get there through the doorway of voluntary displacement and vulnerability. Or in plain terms, when we set aside our desires and make ourselves nothing like Jesus did.

God, help us fulfill our calling. We trust in your precious promises. Make us conduits of blessing. Hear our prayer. Work by your Holy Spirit in us for the glory of Jesus. Amen.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Philippians 2:3-7

“By revealing the unique gifts of the other, we learn to empty ourselves. Self-emptying does not ask of us to engage ourselves in some form of self-castigation or self-scrutiny, but to pay attention to others in such a way that they begin to recognize their own value. Paying attention to our brothers and sisters in the human family is far from easy. We tend to be insecure about our self-worth and so much in need of affirmation that it is very hard not to ask for attention ourselves, referring to our experiences, telling our stories, or turning the subject of conversation toward our oown territory. The familiar sentence, “That reminds me of…” is a standard method of shifting attention from other to ourselves. To pay attention to others with the desire to make them the center and to make their interests our own is a real form of self-emptying, since to be able to receive others into our intimate inner space we must be empty. That is why listening is so difficult. It means our moving away from the center of attention and inviting others into that space.”

Henri Nouwen in Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life (New York: Image Doubleday, 1983) 79.

Paying attention to others is a beautiful act of generosity. The only way to get there is to get rid of empty conceit by self-emptying. It’s easier said that done.

For my part, I find that I want to be known. It doesn’t help that I have a lot of words, so I can be guilty of Nouwen’s familiar sentence, “That reminds me off…”

What about you? Are you guilty of shifting attention to yourself rather than paying attention to others? What might it look like for you to attune generously to others?

If there’s one thing COVID-19 is doing for us, it is giving us the opportunity to grow in ways that will help us love others more generously. God, help us not waste this crisis.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 1 Corinthians 12:7

“When we have discovered that our sense of self does not depend on our differences and that our self-esteem is based on a love much deeper than the praise that can be acquired by unusual performances, we can see our unique talents as gifts for others. Then, too, we will notice that the sharing of our gifts does not diminish our own value as persons but enhances it. In community, the particular talents of the individual members become like the little stones that form a great mosaic. The fact that a little gold, blue, or red piece is part of a splendid mosaic makes it not less but more valuable because it contributes to an image much greater than itself. Thus, our dominant feeling toward each other can shift from jealousy to gratitude. With increasing clarity, we can see the beauty in each other and call it forth, so that it may become part of our total life together.”

Henri Nouwen in Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life (New York: Image Doubleday, 1983) 77-78.

You and I are part of something bigger. But our sense of self does not come from celebrating our differences (like many people tend to say in our world today) but the gratitude for being part of the whole. Ponder that.

The Spirit gives us each something to offer not to shine the light on ourselves but for the common good. Generosity comes into view as playing our part, as little stones, for the greater good and the glory of Christ, our Cornerstone.

In so doing, sharing our gifts does not diminish us but enhances us and those around us. We bring out the beauty in each  other. Each of us has been blessed to be a blessing. We discover this in the community of the mosaic.