More than Brains with Legs

 

I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:18-19

This week we are letting Paul’s words to the Ephesians continue to rummage and roam around our hearts, minds, souls, and whole lives.  Yesterday, you made a list of saints today, people you can call or text or have a cup of coffee with to remind you that God’s love is not just a “good idea”, but a holy experience in our lives.  Today, you may add another person or two to your list.  I love how Paul says that when we are in the mystery of our relationships with each other, we experience a holy moment that surpasses knowledge.  Recently I heard someone say, “Spiritual formation is not information, but the process of being formed in the image of Christ for the sake of the other.”  Wait, go back, and read that sentence.  Spiritual formation is not just some more knowledge for our brain.  Rather, spiritual formation is God’s work shaping our lives for the sake of the other.  God showing up in us and through us to connect us to all creation from people to platypuses to porcupines.  What does that evoke and provoke?  Two thoughts.  We were all shaped by the Enlightenment, that there was no problem we couldn’t solve and no issue that we couldn’t study.  The Enlightenment, in some ways, turned us into brains with legs.  What mattered most was that you understood.  But you are more than your mind (and we have explored before in these morning meditations that our thoughts are not just some databases that live in the network of neurons in your brain you can recall perfectly).  You are also your emotions, you are also your physical body, you are also a soul, and the truth is that you are more than the sum of your parts too.  This Spiritual formation isn’t just a great idea that we add-on to our life or check off a list, it is the essence of our being.  We live in a do-it-self culture where we want knowledge or techniques to be more effective.  If we fail to see instant results, we see ourselves as failures.  Perhaps Spiritual formation doesn’t only happen by reading the right book or listening to a sermon or going to a conference.  There is no one process or procedure, there is only the wayless way that is the art project of your life.  And the truth is, whether it is intentional or unintentional, every thought we hold, decision we make, action, emotion we hold (or that holds us) are forming us, and relationships we have can shape us or misshape us.  We are constantly being formed and deformed by what the weather patterns in our souls and in the world around us. 

In addition to the people, what events/experiences are shaping or misshaping you right now?  Add to your list the good, the bad, and the ugly of life internally and externally.  Usually, it is easier to start with the places and spaces that are breaking our heart and causing our soul to ache.  Yet, don’t stop there, keep diving and digging deeper to discover what is forming and fashioning your life in good ways too right now.  For example, we could point to wars in Israel and Palestine or Ukraine and Russia; discrimination; or words spoken harshly by another person.  Pain shapes us one way, on the one hand.  And on the other hand, there is also the truth of laughter and joy and music and beauty that is forming us too. 

Paul is saying that God works through both in ways that surpass our understanding!  I invite you to explore and I pray you will experience the beautiful mystery of this truth in your life, your heart, your soul, and your whole being…and in your unfolding relationships with the saints you love this day and week. Amen.