Author: Matt Judkins

Signs of Spiritual Enlightenment

Gordon Atkinson at Real Live Preacher posted these signs of spiritual enlightenment back in November. I know many folks have already read this, but it was interesting enough that I wanted to link to it even now. Here they are for those of you too busy to click the link:

  • The embracing of paradox
  • The love of mystery in the presence of unanswered questions
  • The acceptance of your small place in reality
  • The willingness to engage in spiritual exercises without knowing how they will work or even what it would mean for them to work
  • The increase of love, grace, forgiveness, and patience visible in your life

Part of me wonders if these are true signs of spiritual enlightenment or if they are signs he has interpreted as enlightenment in his own life. I can say that I share some of these traits, but I haven’t necessarily considered them signs of spiritual enlightenment. Befuddlement…perhaps.  Hopefully we can embrace a blessed befuddlement as a kind of grace that we can receive.  I’ve heard theologians talk about the simplicity beyond complexity, and I think blessed befuddlement can be that simplicity that we should strive toward.  Is this the goal? Maybe the true end of our search is realizing that creation is so darn complex that we just have to shake our heads and smile a perplexed smile of amazement.

Jenson: Sin and Righteousness

“Throughout Scripture, the central moral and historical category is ‘righteousness.’ Since Israel’s God is invested in Israel’s community, her righteousness consists in faithfulness in that community; thus righteousness in Israel’s Bible is the vigor of the entire network of communal relations within which participants divine and human live…Scripture’s many words for sin are mere contraries of ‘righteousness’ and denote one or another betrayal of community (pp. 71-72).”

How often do we portray sin and righteousness in this way? So often, it seems to me, sin and righteousness are defined by participating in or refraining from particular acts. For instance, some traditions forbid dancing and drinking alcohol as sins. I think these can be sins, but only in the sense in which Jenson here defines sin. Only as authentic community with God and neighbor are compromised are these sin. We can easily see alcoholism as a sin. Dancing? Maybe if it is dehumanizing in some sense. So, let’s start to define sin and righteousness communally, and maybe we’ll make some strides in our conversations about sin.

Advent with Robert Jenson

Robert W. Jenson - Systematic Theology For Advent, I am reading Robert W. Jenson’s Systematic Theology. What better way to prepare for our Lord’s arrival! So far, I am floored by Jenson’s breadth, depth, and at times…clarity. He is a terrific writer and the only reason there aren’t more of these crystalline moments is my own lack of breadth and depth theologically and philosophically. There is something powerful about reading first rate theology such as this as you prepare week-in and week-out to preach to a congregation hungry for God. It seems to me that our quest to communicate the mystery of faith is aided insofar as we are willing to passionately pursue answers to our own questions about the faith. That’s why I read folks like Jenson. He’s willing to face the tough questions. For instance, like Pannenberg, he believes Feuerbach’s assertion that “God” is simply human interest writ large is an important assertion to interact with and question. I’m about half-way through this now, and I look forward to delving further into the mystery of our Triune God.

Advent Resource

Season of Light and HopeThis year for Advent I’m using a resource by Blair Gilmer Meeks: Season of Light and Hope: Prayers and Liturgies for Advent and Christmas. I struggled to find a good resource for Advent services this year, since I wanted to use something other than the Book of Worship this time around. So far, I’ve been very pleased with Meeks’ resource. It is scripturally-grounded and a very rich place to gather materials for worship.

The Divine Hours

One of the real struggles I have in ministry is trying to maintain personal spiritual discipline. I enjoy reading and studying, which can certainly be spiritually formative. However, my prayer life is often dismal at best. A tool I’ve found that inspires and calls me to prayer is The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle. You will see that I’ve added a link to a website that has the fixed order prayers for the day. You simply enter your time zone and the appropriate prayer is listed. I’m committed to following this through Advent in hopes of developing a foothold on this discipline in my spiritual life.

Boomer Sooner

Whew, I can’t believe the Sooners pulled it off against our in-state rival last weekend. I was going to blog about this then, but had a lot come up. Against all odds, we are in the Big XII championship game, with the potential to go to a BCS bowl. Strange indeed. I’m looking forward to the big OU-Nebraska game on Saturday; it’s really the reason the Big XII was founded. The organizers hoped to have this kind of big name match-up at the end of every year. Now it’s been several years since the inception and the scenario isn’t what it used to be, but we finally have OU-Nebraska for the title. I can’t wait.

Board of Ministry and the Connection

I am very happy that I passed the second round of Board interviews. In our conference, we break the ordination process into three modules, and we meet once a year for a retreat at one of the United Methodist camps for interviews. I passed Module B this year, and I only have one more round to go before full ordination as an elder.

Most of us wouldn’t necessarily say we love the process. Most of us really love griping and complaining about the process. However, I truly enjoy the time I spend at these interviews for one main reason: the connection with other pastors. As United Methodists we are blessed (and this blessing brings its fair share of curses as well) to be so visibly connected with one another. As a result of these meetings, I know far more people in the conference than I would otherwise. I know women and men who are going through the same things I am. It is a great privilege to be around others who are plodding along through the long haul of ordination either as a deacon or an elder.

The connections we form at these retreats are invaluable. I can’t imagine ministry without my colleagues and friends in ministry. The connection is the Church.

Off I Go…

Today I’m leaving for our annual Board of Ordained Ministry retreat.  No, I’m not on the board.   This is the time when we probationary members have our annual interviews.  We get together at one of the Methodist camps for fellowship and interviews about this time every year.  This is my second year, so hopefully this will be my next-to-last time to be there as an interviewee.

This is such a long and complicated process, and it is one that I have mixed feelings about.  On one hand, I appreciate the selectivity we have for UM pastors.  On the other hand, if we really have a clergy shortage, I don’t think drawing the process out a decade does much to remedy that.  Anyway, I don’t have any better ideas right now, and until I do, I’m not going to complain much.

Black Friday

Black FridayI may be totally out of the loop, but this is the first year that I have heard the Friday after Thanksgiving so consistently referred to as Black Friday. Fortunately, it seems to be one of those miracles of the lectionary that Black Friday comes right before Christ the King Sunday.This Sunday was introduced into the Christian year in an encyclical by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as he entreated the world to live in such a way that we acknowledge Christ’s reign in all the earth. Scripture seems to suggest that idolatry is one of the root sins humanity struggles with, and I think that it is easy to allow other things to ‘reign’ in our lives. Black Friday is a reminder that consumerism has a pretty powerful and compelling reign in many of our lives. Perhaps Christ the King Sunday can be a reminder that Christ’s reign places consumerism and greed in their place and exposes them as fakes and frauds.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go wait in line for 32 hours to see if they have any more Playstation 3s.