James 24:7 - Liberation

Reflections on a Story

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:33:12 -0400

(I will be reflecting on a story for the next several posts...)

"Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, 'Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?' then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, 'If you will, you can become all flame.'"

That is one of my favorite stories from the Desert Fathers. I think about it and let my mind run with the question of what it might mean to become "all flame." The story invites each reader to contemplate its meaning in light of his or her situation and struggle. It asks us to identify with its two characters. Like all parables, it is more than a fantastic story, it is a mirror. I thought I would share some of my thinking about the story as a way to help others think about it too.

The story gives us a glimpse into the character of Abba Lot. He is a righteous man, one who wants to grow in the spiritual life. He engages in Christian spiritual practices and he wants to add more practices to his regimen.

However, at the risk of reading myself into his character, I suggest that the brief story reveals an ironic character. This ironic character is displayed in three ways.

First, Abba Lot seeks God from a position of self-reliance. The phrase "as far as I can" appears twice in the two sentences he utters. "As far as I can I read my little office..." "...As far as I can I purify my thoughts."

Second, Abba Lot undertakes a way of life through dabbling. The word "little" appears twice in the two sentences he utters. "I say my little office..." "I fast a little..."

Third, Abba Lot undertakes a way of life as a list of tasks. He asks the older Abba Joseph what else he can do as if the goal was to create a spiritual to-do list.

I doubt that Abba Loth expected the response he got from Abba Joseph. He may not have been prepared for Joseph to extend his hands toward the heavens while each finger burst into flames. And I doubt that Abba Lot was prepared for Abba Joseph's reply:

"If you will, you can become all flame!"

I have no way of knowing for sure but I think Joseph was trying to create a shift in Lot's thinking. I think he was trying to create a little mental crisis that would disorder Lot's thinking in the service of assisting him toward a higher/deeper/broader way of understanding.

The shift that Abba Joseph sought was around four themes:

First, Abba Joseph wanted Abba Lot to move from a way of "doing" to a way of "being". Lot was thinking in terms of one more thing he could do, while Joseph suggested that there was one thing than Lot could become.

Second, Abba Joseph wanted Abba Lot to move from a controlled way of being to a non-controlled way of being. Lot was not in the market for a total transformation. Lot wanted to continue with his usual way of going about his life. He was a man who did spiritual things. All he wanted was one more thing to do.

Joseph completely bypassed Lot's question and, rather than give him one more spiritual thing to do, he suggested he go on and become just one thing... "all flame."

Third, Abba Joseph wanted Abba Lot to move from from dabbling to burning. Joseph did not want Lot to stop at Joseph's fire-finger display. Joseph invited Lot to become "all flame."

All...flame.

Fourth, Abba Joseph wanted Abba Lot to move from distance to intimacy. Lot could continue his efforts to find just one more dead thing to do or he could actually experience something lively and alive.

The shift that Joseph invited Lot to was a shift from doing to being, from maintaining control to surrendering control, from dabbling to combusting, from distancing to experiencing.

The Bible is filled with these kinds of stories.

A couple of weeks ago I preached about Thomas and how he said, after Jesus had told the apostles that he was going away and that they knew how to get where he was going, "Lord, how can we know the way if we don't know where you are going?"

I likened Thomas to an engineer, a strategist, a goal-setter. A Tell-me-where-you-want-to-go-and-then-I-can-figure-out-how-to-get-there kind of guy. Jesus didn't say, "I'm going to X and you can get there by taking your first left and then your next right..."

Jesus said, "I AM the way..." Jesus was saying something like, "I AM GOD and GOD is the WAY to GOD."

Thomas sought the cool predictability of directions. Jesus offered the hot wildness of relationship.

I think of the Rich Young Ruler and how he came to Jesus seeking to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life. (Strange and revealing question since one inherits by virtue of who one is rather than what one does!) After running through the commandments with him and hearing the young man claim he had done and did do all of that, Jesus said, in effect: "Well, brother, why don't you just go on and burst into flames? Why don't you sell everything you have and give it to the poor and then come on and follow me!"

He was sorry but he just couldn't do it. I'm convinced that the problem was not his wealth per se as much as it was his desire to continue to live life on his own terms. To live life under his own control, to embrace the life he knew rather than the Life that knew him.

I read lines from one of Paul's prayers:

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3: 17b-19)

I hear it as an invitation to enter into the joy of experiencing the inexpressable and inexhaustable love of God to the point that we are filled with the very fullness of God.

I hear that prayer as an invitation to become "...all flame."

The Kid I Want to Be Like

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:36:33 -0400

One of the young ladies in my church came in a few weeks ago sporting an abolitionist t-shirt she had gotten at school and talking excitedly about a boy in her school who spoke in assembly about slavery and human trafficking. She talked about how much money this kid had raised and how all that money had gone to help eradicate slavery.

At the time I had just been boning up on the topic of human trafficking and slavery myself. I was interested in what she was saying but hadn't made the connection about who it was she was talking about.

I have since learned that she was talking about Zach Hunter, a young abolitionist who began his own campaign a few years ago when he was uh...12.....yep....12.

Zach's in the 9th grade now, is the youth spokesman for The Amazing Change Campaign, and founder of "Loose Change 2 Loosen Chains," an organization that enlists kids to raise money to help eradicate slavery and human trafficking.

Only a few years ago, Zach struggled with anxiety attacks. Now he travels around in his "spare time" speaking to thousands of young people about the issue of slavery.

He's also a published author. I read his book, Be the Change, tonight. The book is an inspiring collection of stories about people who have made a difference in the world. It includes thought provoking questions designed to get people, young and old, thinking about how they might make a difference in the world. As I read the book I kept thinking about how when I was 15 (oh about 41 years ago) I was trying to figure out how I could get into the Beatles...not the music- the band!

This kid is a marvel. When I get really sick of being an adult (and believe me I'm pretty close!) I want to be just like him! (You know us adults...we're smart enough to know that people can't do what this kid is doing. "In the adult's mind, there are few possibilities but in a kid's mind there are many.")

If you'd like to see Zach's interview on Good Morning America...(yeah, he's done that too!) just go here and be inspired.

I recommend that all parents get Zach's book, read it with your kids and resolve to "be the change" together as a family.

Just for good measure, here's an interview with Zach from Christianity Today.

Celebrating Amazing Grace

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 09:32:10 -0500

This coming Sunday (2/18/07) Christians from around the world will join together to sing the hymn Amazing Grace as a way to commemorate the work of William Wilberforce, the British parliamentarian credited with introducing and driving through the first anti-slavery laws in the British Empire in 1807.

So what's the connection between Wilberforce and Amazing Grace? Amazing Grace was written by John Newton, a slave trader turned pastor, in 1752. Several years later, Newton became Wilberforce's mentor and told him that God had raised him up for the good of the nation and of the church. The work of Wilberforce and Newton had a profound influence upon the abolition of slavery in the America.

The relationship between Newton and Wilberforce and their work toward the abolition of slavery is being featured in a new film that is set to be released on Friday, February 23rd.

Many of us believe that slavery ended with the American Civil War. However, some estimate is that slavery produces something like $30 billion in revenue every year. Some people estimate that as many as 27 million people live as slaves. Many of those slaves are children who are sold to work as laborers and prostitutes.

I am posting related links below. My hope is we will all support this film, sing Amazing Grace, pray for those who are bound in the shackles of slavery and do what we can to join with Christ in setting the captives free.

For infomation on the film Amazing Grace, go here.

For information on William Wilberforce, go here.

For information on John Newton, go here.

For information on the hymn Amazing Grace, go here.

For information on the global slave trade, go here.

For an incredible slide show regarding one Missouri mother's quest to rescue one child slave in Ghana, go here.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has annointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

-Jesus' Ministry Platform

Luke 4: 18-19