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Wisdom Saying
We are, as it were, aeolian harps, endowed with the power either to expose themselves to the wind of the Spirit or to shut themselves away from it.
*Aldous Huxley
The will makes heaven; the will makes hell. There is no hell but where the creature's will is turned from God; there is no heaven but where the creature's will cooperates with God.
*William Law
God is bound to act, to pour Godself into you as soon as God finds you ready.
*Meister Eckhart
Wisdom Story
*A. B. Earle tells the following conversion experience in Incidents Used ... In His Meetings. 1888.
Among those who sought Christ in New London, was one of Connecticut's ablest lawyers, who prided himself on his intelligence and rare eloquence. ...
In a large meeting I proposed ... that every person who was able should kneel down by the seat they occupied. That each person who kneeled should put his or her honor and veracity in the act as far as they knew. That it should be fully understood between themselves and God that when their knees touched the floor it should be the token of a full surrender of their wills to God, never to be taken back, as far as knowledge went, just as far as they understood themselves. That no one should kneel this time except those who meant it as a token of a full surrender.
This would be signing the deed with their knee. This lawyer began to move his foot slowly and after a great struggle his knee reached the floor.
He declared the moment his knee reached the floor, with his veracity in the act, he felt the witness in his heart that he was born again.
This action of the will unbolted the door of the heart so that the Spirit entered and imparted life to the dead affections.
Comments
Resignation is the crux for many persons of religious faith. We are taught that being willful, even religiously willful, is the way to success, and success is what pleases God ~ with success defined as "willful" action, and more so deceitfully willful by being painted in colors implying willingness.
This poisonous thought can pervade a faith group and will lead, if allowed, to discontent in what the Spirit is doing presently ~ persons will not even see how Grace is acting in the present. Willfulness blinds, willfulness desensitizes, willfulness drives out spiritual illumination, and this occurs, slowly but deadly, while the religious machinery is operating full-throttle. Then, persons wake up, long afterward, wondering, "Why are we dying?" or "Why are we dead?" Such communal groaning can be a result of refusing to be a communion Grace designed to live and work only from willingness based on resignation to the Divine Presence. Frankly point, regardless of what a church does or does not do, the church is designed to live from a continuing resignation to the Holy Spirit. Without this, it might be a nice group or club, but we can seriously question it being a church.
Out of that self-induced, willful discontent, blaming arises. This is self-righteousness flowing from a view of faith as willful and void of continuing, humble resignation.
The energy created by willfulness, even in religious or moral areas, is well-illustrated by words of the Tibetan spiritual Teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in his classic, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism:
The more we try to struggle, the more we will discover that the walls really are solid. The more energy we put into struggle, by that much will we strengthen the walls, because the walls need our attention to solidify them. Whenever we pay more attention to the walls, we begin to feel the hopelessness of escape.
Rightly does Rinpoche refer to our "claustrophobic rooms." The rooms are suffocating, and more so as we struggle to a success defined, in the first place, without commitment to a continuing resignation in the face of all apparent despair and promise.
Resignation makes room for God coming to the fore, God coming forth to be God within and through you. God does not come forth in this manner without resignation. God operates from inside to outside. God works through, by working in.
No, we do not have to bend the knee to surrender. Yet, that and other signs of the body help in affirming inward resignation.
Reflection
What is one way that you can affirm your resignation to God?
What do you think Rinpoche means by "claustrophobic rooms"?
What is the difference between willingness and willfulness?
Is the faith community you share in operating principally from resignation to the Holy Spirit? Explain.
For Brian's on-line audio sermons, go to www.wherethelightshines.org and select Pastor's Corner; on the following page is his weekly sermons given at Christ United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL.
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*Sources: quotes by Huxley, Law, and Eckhart, from Aldous Huxley. The Perennial Philosophy. Law and Eckhart I adapted for modern readers. The Wisdom Story is from Elbourne.org .
For replies and biographical information, and submission to "The Light Shines" daily devotionals ~ a ministry of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL, see next page:
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