October 16, 2010

• Learning God’s lessons

  It seems to me most of us enjoy learning new things while most of us also dislike going to school.  This seems like a contradiction but I think the explanation is quite simple, while we enjoy learning; we dislike being tested on what we have learned.  This explains a great deal for me about my choice to learn about being a child of God.  I enjoy learning, I just don’t like being tested on what I have learned about discipleship.  I have mentioned before my most frequent mantra is, “no more life lessons.”  Life lessons is just another way of saying God is testing us on what we have learned about being child of God.

   

  The sacred texts are for me an unfolding of how we understand God and how that understanding is to mature.  The Hebrew text for today tells us about people first become acquainted with God through hearing and learning God’s law.  The law is an external influence to control our behavior.  God said do this, don’t do that and we obeyed without understanding why.  As we gain greater understanding of God, we begin to understand what God expects of us.  We can reason out what God wants us to do and what God does not want us to do.  Eventually, we are to become so intimately aware of God that we automatically respond as God would have us to respond.  This way of growing in our understanding of how to be a child of God is very much the way we are socialized by our parent figures.  As small children, we are told what to do and what not to do by the parent figures in our life.  It does no good to speak to a toddler about the dangers of sharp objects, or the consequences of ingesting things found on the floor, or running out into traffic so parents just tell them no.  As the child matures, the parent begins to explain consequences and expects the child to begin to make decisions based upon reason.  Fully mature children have an internal guidance system that allows them to process information and make decisions on how they will behave.  As mature Christians, we should have a fully developed guidance system based upon how God expects us to behave.

   

  The problem, as I mentioned earlier, is we are willing to learn about God’s way and God’s expectations for us, we just don’t want to be tested on our understanding of God expects from us.  We are fine with doing justice in theory but not so excited about having to confront in our own lives when our behavior condones or even benefits from injustice.  We accept God’s amazing grace as a concept but not so enthusiastic when we are asked to show grace to others who we feel have wronged us.  Unconditional love is one of our favorite God qualities but we don’t find it easy to give unconditional love to others.  We like to learn about God qualities in terms of how those qualities benefit us but we aren’t as pleased to learn God expects us, as God’s children to exhibit those same qualities.

   

  I have found that learning is much easier for me when I can see how the information I am being taught is going to be useful for me in my life.  When we encounter a God lesson, it is important for us to consider how this will make my life or me a better person.  Very often God lessons teach us something contrary to what the world teaches us.  Living justice, grace, and love isn’t seen as the wise way to live.  Getting what we are due and more is considered wiser than seeking that all are treated equitably.  Hanging on to our grudge against someone who we believe has wronged us is considered wiser than being willing to forgive.  And, expecting our love to earn us certain behaviors from the one we love is seen as wiser than loving without condition.  The God lessons about justice, grace, and love will move from theory to practice only if we accept that it is better for us and for the world when we live as just, grace filled, and loving people.

   

  The best way to learn God lessons and to move those lessons from theory to practice is to establish a prayer life that opens us to hear God and to allow our prayer to change how we see ourselves and our world.  The gospel passage for today has been a difficult one for many to understand.  At first read, it appears to equate God with an unjust judge who must be badgered in order to get what we are petitioning God to do for us.  Some have tried to move the focus from God as the judge to God as the widow but I believe that wrenches what the parable says.  I read the story as an example of how our prayers should persist until we achieve what we are petitioning for.  Prayer, as I understand prayer, is not about changing God, it is about understanding what we are asking for and how God is molding us to achieve what we need.  Prayer is a place where we learn God lessons.  We learn to discern the consequences of our prayer, we learn our role in bringing about what we request, and we learn to listen for God’s answer.  I think the story of the widow and the judge is meant to teach us that the widow learned what she needed to do to receive justice from the judge.  We must also pray persistently so we can learn how to achieve justice, how to give grace, and how to love unconditionally.  We pray persistently so we can learn God’s lessons for us.  We pray consistently so we can succeed when our knowledge of what it means to be child of God is tested.  Amen.

   

  Jeremiah 31:27-34

  2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

  Luke 18:1-8

  • 10:36 pm
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