Ordinary is Surrender

" . . . from its first moments, change has been the call to those claiming to be believers.  Sometimes it's called repentance, sometimes conversion, sometimes forgiveness, sometimes surrender.  It goes by lots of names but God's ordinary always means change."

In order to understand how surrender is a way to change you have recognize the point of change itself.  Like surrender: repentance, conversion and forgiveness aren't the things we do just to bide our time or that we do once and are done. The point or hope of change is to fully realize union with God.  They are how "we live and move and have our being" thus are constant practices in a life of faith.

Like playing the piano or basketball surrender as an act of faith must be practiced and learned. That's why monastics make a vow of poverty so central to deepening their daily devotion.   Poverty and letting go of wealth and it's "security" is a real head start into understanding prayer as a surrender and not a performance that somehow pleases God. They were already experts in down-sizing and self-emptying (kenosis) and this outer “poverty” then "instructs" a spiritual poverty that is first of all for the sake of prayer, never an end in itself.

That's why we use language like "getting out of our own way" to recognize our part in living sacramentally with God.  We use the same elements of bread and wine every time we make eucharist to avoid the traps of pride and idolatry that come when we take control to improve or innovate.  We're not monastics but our practice can help us to become more like the symbols we use to remind us that God in Christ is really present with us.

Progressively we come to understand that surrender is a way not a moment.  By "giving up" ourselves in a willingness to be used we are changed from the glory that is God's creation in us into the gospel promised resurrected glories we are meant to become.

This glory that is by surrender is not by our own accomplishment.  By "letting go and letting God." By dying daily to sin we get to live a life of change that never has to stop.  God's ordinary is change.

Ordinary is Forgiveness

" . . . from its first moments, change has been the call to those claiming to be believers.  Sometimes it's called repentance, sometimes conversion, sometimes forgiveness, sometimes surrender.  It goes by lots of names but God's ordinary always means change."

Almost a year ago I wrote about how the proximity of God's reign makes a kind of forgiveness available to us to practice.  It is a non-transactional forgiveness.  I wrote:

"I understand [forgiveness as a dynamic reality] begun in the presence of God.  Forgiveness means trusting God's love enough to pursue healing instead of presuming to do God's work by punishing others. It is no longer a transactional housekeeping of rights and wrongs, of debts and favors.  It is a faithful and constant response to the 'reign of God being upon us.'"

I still believe this.  I also believe that even if we forget, or stumble, are hurt, or hurt each other God's reign does not shrink away from us.  Whenever we forgive others, especially when we do so out of God's love and forgiveness of us something changes.  

Its like a light comes on or a heavy load gets lighter or our breathing is easier.  Something changes.  

If we stop ourselves short of that understanding and restrict our acts of forgiveness to those tired old transactional methods then the darkness soon descends again, the load returns, the air gets heavy.  Better the devil we know than the one we don't and we are right back where we started. 

Maybe the allure of this transactional forgiveness is that it feels like power when we can look at others as indebted to us.  Isn't that the language we use, to say "he owes me an apology."  But this idol of this false power cannot free us.  It needs our stubbornness to hold its ground.  

God's forgiveness is not about power.  It's not about God holding some ground.  It's not about winning in a zero sum game with others.  

When we take our turn forgiveness in God's kingdom means both sides letting go of power and neither keeping accounts.  It means releasing all our presumptions of leverage or advantage over others so that all we're left is to be children in God's presence.  

It's like Paul told the Corinthians:

We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see-- we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return-- I speak as to children-- open wide your hearts also. (2 Cor. 6:8b-13, NRSV)

Ordinary is Conversion

" . . . from its first moments, change has been the call to those claiming to be believers.  Sometimes it's called repentance, sometimes conversion, sometimes forgiveness, sometimes surrender.  It goes by lots of names but God's ordinary always means change."

The word conversion to a boy raised Baptist "South of God*" triggers all sorts of memories of arms flailing, people wailing, and tears flowing as childhood friend after friend came down the aisle to make their profession of faith saying they had accepted Jesus into their hearts and had been -- some said "got" -- saved.

Mind you the majority of these good people had never spent more than a week away from the safe homogeneous confines of a church culture that awarded perfect attendance and relentlessly reminded itself of the dangers of things like dancing, popular music, science fiction, etc.

Just being devout had already whittled away most of what would had been converted.  Instead we submitted and were moved to membership which mostly differed from our previous status in that we were eligible to receive communion and to vote on new members and other church business matters.  Otherwise my life stayed pretty much the same with the constant reminders of all those forbidden things that now would lead to back sliding.

I can see that part of what we were doing was maintaining a practice that was not meant just for us.  In its ideal form conversion was understood as an abrupt, one-time shift from one absolute to another: from denial to belief, from rebellion to allegiance, from sinful to saved.

But we were not deniers or rebels and our sinfulness was well constrained by heavy regulation and long practiced indoctrination.  Still we "got saved" so that we could identify with and "bring in the lost" who weren't believers, weren't allied but were living in sin and darkness and who proved their condition by drinking, dancing, etc, etc.

Another way to understand this is to note that the majority of baptisms were of children under the age of twelve.  There just wasn't much to convert.  Our transition was more like getting confirmed first and then getting baptized.  Still we had to maintain the model of abrupt one-time conversion.

I'm older now and I've danced a little.  I love sci-fi!  And I'm still getting saved.  That's how conversion works for me now.

My conversion then was more a tipping point moment when expectation, indoctrination, peer pressure and a new, developing capacity for self-determination combined and led me to stand with my dad before the congregation attending the Sunday night service at Boulevard Baptist Church in Anderson, SC in October of 1963 and to make a promise I am still keeping.

Now my conversion is ordinary and by way of this church I work on it everyday.



* Baptist South of God - a term coined by Rev. Dr. Carlyle Marney meant to counter the boasting that so often accompanied the term Southern Baptist.  

Ordinary is Repentance

" . . . from its first moments, change has been the call to those claiming to be believers.  Sometimes it's called repentance, sometimes conversion, sometimes forgiveness, sometimes surrender.  It goes by lots of names but God's ordinary always means change."

I've written a bunch about repentance.  Mostly because I need as many reasons and methods to accomplish it in my own life as any.  

I also have written about it because so many of us are stuck with one understanding that misses  the rich and complex biblical portrait as it is drawn using those deep and ancient terms of the Hebrew.

Two Hebrew words get translated repent.  The more familiar,  / "shuv" means to "turn around."  This call to repent catches us and expects us to change direction.  It has a singular momentary aspect to it and it also has a continuing and habitual aspect to it.  

The dynamic of that "singular" call is for us to stop those behaviors and practices that grow out of frail, failing, faulty humans.  Just stop!  

Think about all our family and friends in recovery from addiction.  But theyknow and we know in other ways that there is more to it.  That continuing and habitual aspect is exactly what recovery attempts.  

Both as singular moment and a continuing effort this call to repentance comes from God.  It comes from a God who loves us and wants a face-to-face relationship.  The biblical notion with  is that we don't just turn, we return.  

The other Hebrew word we translate repent is   / nacham.  It's what God does when he changes his mind and removes his threat to smite all of Ninevah.  It's what he did when Saul disobeyed. “I repent that I have made Saul king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.”  1Sa 15:11 RSV

We could say that God's expectations carry weight.  Sometimes God exerts that weight and other times God changes God's mind and withholds.  It's what Job does at the end of his ordeal.  He changes his mind and is OK with a new understanding that God is God even when bad things happen to good people.  "Therefore I despise myself and repent . . ." Job 42:6 RSV

Either way with  or   what you get is a call to change.   A change in behavior that births and grows a new understanding or a  change in understanding that demonstrates itself in new behavior.   Change is ordinary and so is repentance.