Guest Writer: Chris Schaefer: Becoming Fathers and Mothers

Guest Writer: Chris Schaefer, Becoming Fathers and Mothers

“What are we going to do when we get home?  When the two sons of the parable of the prodigal son both have returned to their father, what then?. They have to become fathers themselves.  Sons have to become fathers; daughters have to become mothers.  Being children of God involves growing up and becoming like God…How? By welcoming home our lost brothers and sisters the way our Father welcomes us home.” Henri Nouwen, “July 2,” Bread For the Journey, HarperOne 1997.

When I read this, I thought of this picture I took of my daughter and small grandson many years ago. We were at the zoo and one of the animals had frighten my grandson. My daughter bent down to comfort him.  The compassion and love on my daughter’s face rocked my heart.  I realized that she was a mother that not only loved but that knew how to be compassionate.  As her mom, I was so proud and if it was possible I think I loved her more. She had grown up and without even realizing it, was becoming like God.  She knew how to welcome her son into her arms when he needed it.  When he needed to be loved and comforted. That is exactly how each of us feel when we lean into God the Father’s arms when we need to remember we are loved. When we need His comfort.  Our Father welcomes us home. A home that lies in His loving compassionate arms. 

Being compassionate with our friends and family really isn’t hard.  However, Jesus is telling us to be compassionate to our lost brothers and sisters too. To take that opened hearted caring we feel when we love our children and give it to other children of God.  To remember how it feels to be loved by the Father and take that feeling to those we encounter every day.  We are mothers and fathers to all the children of God.  And remembering the look on my daughter’s face helps me be more loving and compassionate to those I meet just like she was in that picture of her with my grandson.

Blessings

Chris Schaefer

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

God Hole

God Hole

“There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there too. But more often stones and grit block the well, and God is buried beneath.” Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life, Daily Quote, Inwardoutward.org, Church of the Saviour, June 28, 2018.

Simon Migaj

Etty Hillesum was a young Jewish woman studying law in the Netherlands in the 1940’s who lived down the street from Anne Frank. She died at the age of 29 in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. She kept a diary of her inner life as well as describing the severe persecution of the Jews in Holland during those days, published after her death. Her transformation out of fear and hate to love and care and kindness and compassion for those suffering around her makes her an icon especially for us today. Through the help of her psychotherapist, she learned to see the God hole in people and situations during those amazingly difficult times and fill that God hole with the love she had known.

This is indeed our ministry as spiritual friends. Each of us has a hole in our mind, our heart, our body that only God can fill. Instead we try to fill it with relationships, food, alcohol, drugs, shopping work, sports, work, power, even family, writing, reading, and patriotism.  We can also fill it with hate, persecution, bigotry, self-centeredness, intimidation, cruelty, negativity, pessimism, hopelessness, despair, apathy, and indifference. As spiritual friends we are called to help each other find that God hole and fill it with the best unconditional love we can muster up. It begins with our presence with each other and listening.

I remember a dear friend who came into my office at the hospital early one morning about a relationship that had just broken up. He was depressed, sad, broken-hearted, in tears.  We talked for some time. Mostly I listened and tried to let him know how much I cared about him. Late in the conversation, I mentioned the God hole. Somehow, he intuitively realized that this relationship had completely filled his God hole. I only had to say very few words. A light bulb went on. I usually do not mention the God hole when someone is in so much suffering, but something told me to bring it up that early morning. Hopefully we both were being guided by the Holy Spirit.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Guest writer: Burton, Rachel Held Evans, Inspired

Guest Writer: Larry Burton

Rachel Held Evans newest book, Inspired

“How could I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength while disengaging those very faculties every time I read the Bible?”  Rachel Held Evans, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again. Thomas Nelson 2018.

At almost 75 years old, after 40 years of university teaching, and 50 years of ordination in a Christian denomination, and 50 years of marriage to a wonderful woman, I have fallen in love with Rachel Held Evans.  Now, don’t start worrying about my character.  Neither my dear spouse nor Ms. Evans are in the least bit threatened. 

I am in love with her writing, her journey, her honesty, and her new book, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again.  The question of how we should read the Bible has plagued good people for at least a couple of centuries.  Do we read it as history, as fact, as metaphor, as faith, as inspired?  It is that last word that Evans uses as she delves into the fascinating, challenging, and sometimes bewildering world of the Bible.  Where scholars parse the Hebrew or Greek, seek to understand its social, cultural, and political context, and sometimes venture into the mine field of making truth claims, Evans approaches the Bible from the perspective of one who has suffered, questioned, and taken a faith journey, a pilgrimage, from certainty to faith.

Drawing on the insights of her own teachers, professors, clergy, friends, and her own questing spirit, Evans manages to invite the reader to share her journey.  Then, together author and reader discover the depths of wisdom, hope, and indeed, inspiration contained in these ancient texts.

Evans writes: “When God gave us the Bible, God did not give us an internally consistent book of answers.  God gave us an inspired library of diverse writings, rooted in a variety of contexts, that have stood the test of time, precisely because, together, they avoid simplistic solutions to complex problems.  It’s almost as though God trusts us to approach them with wisdom, to use discernment as we read and interpret, and to remain open to other points of view.”

This is not a text book.  It is not a book for anyone who holds a defensive and protective approach to this sacred book.  And Evans does not pretend to be a Biblical scholar.  Rather, it is an invitation to rediscover the wonders of what Christians call the Old and New Testaments.  Evans is an intelligent and loving explorer of a territory she once thought was closed and has now found to be full of hope-filled, living inspiration.

Maybe you will fall in love with her, too.  Don’t worry, it is OK.  I’m pretty sure she is used to it.

Larry Burton

Joanna joannaseibert.com