These Zoe conferences are coming up very soon:
My orthopedic surgeon cleared me for this weekend if I’ll use crutches, sit on a stool, and keep my leg elevated. This should be interesting. I think if they have any compassion, Brandon and the whole Zoe team will do likewise just so I don’t feel embarrassed.
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Words to ponder from Anne Lamott: “The biggest difference between you and God is that God doesn’t think he’s you.”
Or how about this one (that I wrote down, but forgot the source): “People who over-work under-produce.”
Good luck with that stool thing. They will probably need to tie you to it. Crutches are no fun.
Forget the crutches/stool bit - I think you should use a wheel chair - you’re not THAT many years away from the nursing home!
We have lots of snow in Cleveland and Boston Mills right now.
Sounds like you are going with ready made visual aids. Crutches and a stool (especially a 3 legged variety) have sermon outlines all over them.
well if they do not help at least you will have a leg up on them
Given your Anne Lamott quote some reflections on humility…
Interestingly, narcissists do really well in life. Their inflated egos tend make them immune to most setbacks. The main costs for narcissists are not psychological but social. They are jerks. The issue, then, for psychologists investigating humility is (if humility is the opposite of narcissism) to see if the primary good in humility is social. Is the only benefit of being humble the fact that you are nice to be around? Further, if humility is involved in some sort of ego-deflation are there not so good mental health consequences for being humble (e.g., low esteem, lack of assertiveness)?
Personally, beg off these ego-based formulations of humility (common in the church as well as in psychology). I don’t think humility is about ego exactly. I think humility is primarily about eschewing power dynamics in relationships. Life is permeated by hierarchies and power structures (think of your workplace). Humility less about issues of self-esteem and more about refusing to relate to people via power structures.
Wow. The Lamott quote is a zinger. I’d say she’s dead-on.
Richard, I love your reflections on humility. Some friends and I just began a study called “What should the Gospel DO to people?” One of our conclusions, of course, is that it should cause a deep sense of humility to spring forth in our lives that manifests itself in serving others, especially those who can’t speak up for themselves.
Richard, you’ve nailed it well: “eschewing power dynamics in relationships.” That is at the center of how Paul describes how Christ came in Philippians 2, laying down the prerogatives of power. As to the psychology of it…laying down the prerogatives of power flows from a deep-seated security in Christ instead of leading to a debasement of self. Your phrasing is really helpful.
So: to the extent that I am a control freak, I cannot possibly be possessed of much humility, because the issue becomes (a) what I am doing to secure the outcomes I think ought to obtain rather than (b) what God is doing to bring His purposes into reality.
qb
Do people who under-produce over-work? Or, perhaps people who under-produce also under-work. (is that a word?) Perhaps too much analysis screws up the saying:)
Josh and gb,
Just to keep talking with you both…
More and more I’m convinced that the master virtue of Christian life is kenosis. Kenosis is the word in Philippians 2:7 variously translated as “empty” or “nothing.” As in, “Jesus emptied himself” or “Jesus made himself nothing.”
I think if you look at long lists of Christian virtues, from humility to self-control to servanthood to kindness to turning the other cheek, that kenosis, the emptying of self, is the root virtue.
Interestingly, kenosis is a master virtue in Buddhism as well. One of the names for the Buddha was “Gone.” That is, his ego had been extinguished. “He” was no longer there.
But I think Christians add to this. In Christianity, after kenosis, often called the “death of self,” there is a filling, a replacement. Another ego takes the place of my ego: The mind of Christ. I like the idea of spiritual formation being my name going from “Richard” to “Gone” to “Christ.”
My favorite quote:
“Lord I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better I’d have come running with a bucket.” - Nancy Spiegelberg
Richard, et al, “death of self, a filling…” reminds me of the song lyrics, “Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me,” which is my continuing prayer until death do I part from my stubborn self… tho I’d like to be “Gone” sooner!
Amen, Richard. “Goneness” is truly one of the unique characteristics of our faith, but I’m afraid there seems to be a deficit of it in many Christian circles these days. Instead, the person or group who can make their presence known is the more virtuous.
Matthew 12
43″When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
Blessings on your recouping Mike! Wish we could trek out to Lubbock - we’ll see.
Yup, I had come to that conclusion, too…it is that sort of humility that makes possible all manner of other virtues, so although the use of the term “preeminent” strikes the word “humility” at funny angles, I have to concur that humility is the preeminent virtue. It is, for example, the foundation that permits agape to emerge from phileo or eros as a substance entirely different from either, an intrinsically giving rather than receiving sort of love.
But kenosis’ preeminence is a dangerous idea, threatening to the status quo. Witness the advancing tendency for evangelical churches to ask (and then dutifully to advertise) for essentially unchallenged, CEO-level leadership in the pulpit…I ask rhetorically, is that tendency likely to call forth the kinds of myn that will remind us of Moses, or of Saul?
Just wondering,
qb
Love the Anne Lamott quote. To go along with it—-the difference between God & human beings is that God is merciful, & human beings tend not to be. I’m working hard on that one.
Speaking of not being able to stand… I have had cause to think about this one over the past couple of years. Most Sundays for the past year my wife has been unable to stand up for the songs. She can either sit and sing a little, stand for a while and not sing at all, and some days just has to sit and listen. Often I just can’t “stand” to stand while she has to sit, so I join her. It is a different perspective that I encourage everyone to try. For one, it’s amazing how much of our assemblies now require a standing position to read the lyrics to the song, engage in responsive readings, or see scriptures on the screen (unless you are on the front row - and that’s not a good option when health is poor). And as the old saying goes, unless you are the lead sled dog - the view never changes. So while I smile at the thought of Zoe on stools with legs lifted, maybe it’s not too much to ask on occasion. Anybody else noticed this trend and its impact on the less mobile?
well, let’s see…last year when I was sick and running from both ends, you used me as a teaching tool and made me run around the auditorium during your sermon…hmmmm…paybacks might be sweet this year.