Was there ever a time in your life when you felt so strongly about something that you made significant changes in your life, perhaps quite suddenly? Some people fall in love and immediately make major life changes. Others come to grips with health concerns and suddenly change their lifestyle to preserve their lives. I know a handful of people who were so convicted about a need or cause that they changed careers to invest themselves more fully in their passion. There are folks that become so addicted to a sport or hobby that they make huge changes in their lives so that they can do it more often. In Mark’s Gospel, we’re offered a scene of Jesus calling his disciples:
After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Message of God: "Time's up! God's kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message."
Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." They didn't ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.
A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee's sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed. – Mark 1:14-20 MSG
Sometimes Westerners like us get immediately caught up in details. “What? They just left their nets in the water and boats on shore? What about their business? Was that a responsible thing to do, just walking away like that?” I think our focus on literalism and details shifts our attention away from Mark’s intent. He simply wanted to communicate to his readers that these first followers were so captivated by who Jesus was and what he was about to do that they simply changed their lives.
St. Francis, Clare, and eventually Bonaventure all in their own way heard and heeded the call of God similarly. They were captivated by the message. They couldn’t let it go. And while they spent the rest of their lives sorting out their beliefs, theirs was a following not just of intellect, but their whole lives. It is possible, especially in our time in history, to sequester faith to the realm of intellectual assent. But faith was never meant to be so limited. As Bruce Epperly notes in his book, Simplicity, Spirituality, and Service:
These spiritual pilgrims recognized that Jesus can be found only in the walking, both literally and figuratively. Francis and Clare discovered the living Christ by following in his footsteps, living in the style of Jesus, welcoming the outcast, embracing the lost, and putting God’s realm above all else... A person can boldly claim to be an orthodox Christian, affirming the creeds of the church and the authority of Scripture, yet follow business and political practices that disregard planetary well-being, economic justice, human rights, democratic institutions, and concern for strangers and immigrants—the very creation that Jesus came to heal and save (35-37).
Following Jesus, for the first disciples on through to these saints from the 12th Century all the way up to now and forever has always implied that our whole lives be consecrated: our minds, our hearts, our hands and feet, and our resources. Everything. A brief overview of history reminds us of the terrors self-proclaimed Christians can inflict when they simply sacralize their prejudice and hatred with their distorted, limited allegiance to Christ. Just in the United States, slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, segregation, labor rights for women, children, and men, voting rights, protection for immigrants, LGBTQ, and all who are vulnerable have been both threatened and championed by people claiming faith as their motive! Some hold their Bibles draped in flags, restricting protection or rights. Others recognize that the person of Jesus was in solidarity with the vulnerable, as should everyone who dares to suggest they are followers of Jesus. For Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure, they recognized Jesus’ death on the cross as the greatest example of his Way:
The cross of Christ itself was a reflection—in fact, the culmination—of Jesus’s earthly ministry, the most dramatic example of the way of Jesus, the friend of sinners, healer, movement leader, and wisdom teacher.18 The cross was the ultimate manifestation of Jesus’s sacrificial living and commitment to put God before everything else, including life itself... In their spiritual adventures, Francis and Clare both sought to live in accordance with the mind of Christ, attuning every movement and choice to the sacrificial path of Jesus. They not only asked, “What would Jesus do?” but they also asked, “How would Jesus live?” and “Whom would Jesus love?” (Epperly, 40-41).
I’ve got good news and bad news for you. The good news is that wholeheartedly following Jesus is possible today, and that what that looks like is specific to a person, meaning that for most of us, taking a vow of poverty will likely not be required of us. The bad news is that if we have not seriously reflected – and continue to reflect – on what following Jesus implies throughout our lives, we are very likely to miss it and miss out. Maybe you are one of the .0001 percent who very naturally find yourselves effortlessly falling in behind Jesus. How nice for you. What about the rest of us? It only comes with time spent focusing on what it means to be a continually maturing follower of The Way.
As Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure spent time reflecting, they found much fodder for thought in what I call Jesus’ stump speech, The Sermon on the Mount, where you can identify The Way applied quite broadly. In particular, they contemplated the deep, counter-intuitive and counter-cultural meaning found in The Beatitudes, which centered them on the eternal Spirit of God more than their limited lifespan in the present. It did not remove them from their context, but rather informed how they could and should live out their lives guided by the North Star of Christ:
If God is your ultimate concern, then your life finds its meaning in eternity and not in the anxieties of temporality. The Beatitudes do not devalue earthly life or our quest for shalom in our citizenship and political participation. They place our lives in God’s care, trusting fully in the faithfulness of God who promises that if we lose our life for God’s sake, we will gain peace of mind in this life and everlasting joy in the next. In trusting God, the temporal world of change and uncertainty becomes the pathway into divine companionship and eternal life. Everyday life takes on the spirit of eternity, and outcasts become angels in disguise (44).
The Way of Christ exemplified on the cross is surely challenging, yet Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure all discovered that “in taking up their cross, [they] discovered that Christ was carrying it for them” (43)!
If we think about it for a minute, we will realize that what is true of our relationship with God and “The Way” of Jesus (which is affirmed and taught by all enduring world religions) is also true of every other relationship in our lives. Relationships require work to grow – time spent learning and maturing together. Our health requires work – learning what it means to maintain ongoing physical health as our lives change and bodies age. Our mental health requires work – paying attention to what is going on in our emotional lives. Our relationship with ourselves is the same – it is possible for us to grow older without maturing, remaining a teenager well into senior adulthood. Our hobbies and interests take time and effort if we want to develop further. Everything in life is a type of relationship requiring work. Perspective matters, then. Some of us may hear the word “work” as a burden while others may see it as compelling. Perhaps it depends on the relationship? If we are in a painful season of a relationship, we may not want to develop it with work and attention, yet if it is something we feel great about the work is effortless. Could it be that if we keep our attention on our wellbeing, we might find ourselves more motivated toward working on all these relationships? Or, taking a cue from politicians, perhaps we need to scare ourselves to action: what kind of life and faith will be experience if we “vote” for apathy?
The exercises below from Epperly provide a range of ways to do the work of cultivating a growing, life-giving relationship with God from the perspective of following Jesus’ teaching and modeling. May it help you in your becoming a fully human being experiencing all that shalom offers you and the world you impact.
FRESH SPIRITUALITY
Praying the Our Father
The Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer of Jesus, joins mysticism, mission, and morality. Grounded in intimacy with God, living the Lord’s Prayer as Francis and his followers did inspires intimacy and reconciliation with friends and enemies alike and challenges us to embody God’s realm “on earth as it is in heaven.”
In this spiritual practice, spend a few days prayerfully reading the three versions of Jesus’s Prayer noted in this chapter. One approach involves the following:
· Set aside a time of silent prayer.
· Ask for guidance in discerning God’s vision.
· Read prayerfully each version of the Lord’s Prayer, with a time of silence between each version.
· Give thanks for God’s ever-present and wondrously diverse guidance and inspiration.
· Open yourself to divine movements in your life through words, intuitions, dreams, and encounters.
· Let God lead you toward incarnating Jesus’s prayer in your personal life and relationships.
· Give thanks for God’s all-encompassing grace, companionship, and guidance.
The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forever.
The Lord’s Prayer (adapted by John Cotter). Eternal Spirit Earth-Maker, Pain-Bearer, Life-Giver, source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all. Loving God, in whom is heaven. The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the earth! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us. In times of temptation and test, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer (adapted by Philip Newell). Ground of all being. Mother of life, Father of the universe, Your name is sacred, beyond speaking. May we know your presence, May your longings be our longings In heart and in action. May there be food for the human family today and for the whole earth community. Forgive us the falseness of what we have done as we forgive those who are untrue to us. Do not forsake us in our time of conflict but lead us into new beginnings. For the light of life, the vitality of life, and the glory of life, are yours now and forever.
Lectio on the Beatitudes
Francis and his followers encountered Scripture holistically, with heart, hands, and spirit, as well as mind. Scripture was a living text for them, intended to speak personally to each person in their unique situation, calling them to discover their calling. In this spiritual practice, we let the Beatitudes come alive through an updated and fresh approach to lectio divina, or holy reading, practiced initially in the Benedictine tradition. Contemporary people seldom have hours to let a biblical text soak in. Given our schedules, often ten to fifteen minutes is the most time we can set aside for spiritual practices. Moreover, contemporary people want streamlined spirituality in everyday language. In many ways, this was Francis’s goal as well. In our fresh approach to lectio divina, I invite you to:
· Take a moment of silence, breathing deeply your connection with God and the world around you.
· Take a moment for gratitude. For what are you thankful today?
· Read the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3–12) twice, slowly, and prayerfully.
· For three to five minutes, open your heart to any insights that come. Sometimes a random message is the most profound—a word, phrase, song (popular or religious), event, or image.
· Focus on your insights for a few moments, letting them sink in, as you ask God for understanding.
· Ask about its meaning for your life today and how following this insight might change your life.
· Write down a few sentences to ground the insight in your journal.
· Conclude with a prayer of thanksgiving, asking for divine guidance in embodying the insight throughout your day.
· Throughout the day, remember your insight, noting where it might illuminate your current activities.
Being the Light of the World
Described as the perfect Christian by Ernst Renan, and the Second Christ by Bonaventure, Francis sought to be a light in a world of chaos and upheaval, in which even the church and its leadership had lost its way. We need to see and be the light in our equally chaotic and wayward world, in which the values of Jesus are subverted and manipulated by those who claim to be the most orthodox Christians. In this practice, begin by reading Jesus’s affirmation of his disciples, then and now, pondering its meaning for your life.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14–16)
When you have set aside fifteen minutes for stillness, find a comfortable place to sit, and breathe deeply and prayerfully, letting the breath of life connect you with all creation. As you breathe, visualize a healing and empowering light flowing in and through you, illuminating your soul and every cell of your body. Visualize this light filling you completely, bringing health and wholeness to mind, body, and spirit. As you exhale during this time of contemplation, visualize the light going forth, bringing peace and wholeness to the world.
Throughout the day, seek to be the light in your activities, encounters, and relationships. In every situation, especially those in which conflict or tension arises, look deeply at those around you, discerning and bringing forth the light within them to bring God’s peace and wholeness.
FRESH PRAYER
Jesus, walk with me in paths of humility and simplicity. Show me your presence in each person I meet. Guide my steps to be of service to those I meet. Illumine my heart that I might shine brightly, bringing your light to the world. Amen.
All material referenced above is from Bruce Epperly’s book, Simplicity, Spirituality, Service: The Timeless Wisdom of Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure (Kindle Edition). Franciscan Media.