I Hope I Never Forget:

“Anything that one imagines of God apart from Christ is only useless thinking and vain idolatry.”- Martin Luther

Monday, January 21, 2008

SPIRITUAL CHECKUPS














A good friend asked me a good question. He wanted my opinion: What sorts of inquiries might be helpful in determining how an individual is doing spiritually?

There are short exams out there that claim to do just that, but I've not been impressed. My deep seated idolatry would likely make it past the diagnostic filter of those things. That's a problem.

Of course, I'm no expert, but I think the questionnaires that are typically circulated in our churches reveal a very serious compromise with the spirit of this age. Their sensors are searching for the wrong contagion. They focus on efficiency and quantifiable progress. They assume the superiority of busyness and business.

It seems to me that instead of enquiring about the number of tracts a person has handed out or how many small groups they've attended, the truly helpful exam would question how consciously we are attempting to be formed in and by the gospel, and how aggressively we are struggling to resist the counterclaims of those powers who would usurp Christ's throne. Incidentally, I'm not talking about those manifestations of idolatry that "others" are exposed to, but the ones we Americans constantly swim in- radical individualism, reductionistic rationalism, traitorous nationalism, a gnostic disregard for the body, sensual obsession with the body, the commodification (and consequent dismissal) of all things human, mysterious and awful, and ...summarizing it all- chasing after the American dream of rabid consumerism.

My check up might look something like this:

1. Do you regularly eat with God and his people?
2. Do you immerse yourself in the four Gospels?
3. Do you find ways to plant the flag of the gospel in your own "small yard?"
4. Do you regularly ask yourself what those flags might look like?
5. Do you resist the salvific claims of Mammon, Mars and Aphrodite, which are present in the American Dream?
6. How?
7. Is your identity clearly rooted in your Baptism or your American Heritage?
8. Do you draw on the rich cultural distinctives of the church to enact and strengthen your identity?
9. Do you forgive your enemies?
10. Do you gossip?
11. Do you hold grudges?
12. Do you strive to see Christ in everyone that you meet?
13. Do you strive to be Christ to everyone that you meet?
14. Do you keep a Sabbath?
15. Do you strive to rid yourself of a deistic two-storied world?
16. Do you try to cultivate an attitude of astonishment and wonder?
17. Do you resist the need to explain everything, tightly?
18. Is The Faith confusing and challenging?
19. Do you prepare yourself to notice when “God makes a pass at you?”
20. Do you worship God with your body, as well as your heart and mind?
21. Do you Fast?
22. Do you Feast?
23. Can you tell the stories of God’s people?
24. Does the doctrine of the Trinity appear to be immeasurably practical?
25. Are you struggling in all these things?
26. Do you make regular confession?
27. Have any of these points gotten you in trouble?
28. Lately?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Phil I really did enjoy this post. sometimes a spiritual checkup is a very good thing. In my life it should happen more often. Could you explain the deistic two-storied world a little more for my feeble mind. You could email me if you like at your convience.
Dave

Phil James said...

It's great to hear from you, Dave.

Here's what I had in mind: I was lying in bed beside Sandi a few months ago, and it occurred to me that I viewed reality much like I viewed my house.

Sandi was there with me, while the kids were not. Now, they were “home,” but they were downstairs. Interaction with Sandi was the simplest sort of thing imaginable. I only had to speak or reach out and touch her, but if I wanted to talk with one of my daughters or son, a “technology” had to be brought into play. It might be the phone, an intercom, the stairs,,, or even me forgetting where I was and screaming really loud. The point remained that a floor separated me from my children. Though willing and ultimately able to interact with me, that interaction included a gap, a lag…needed a method.

Conversation with Sandi, who was simply beside me, required none of this.

For example, it would freak me out if my daughter suddenly began talking in my ear when I knew that she was studying downstairs moments before…and I never heard the stairs creak, and I know that no one knocked on the bedroom door- much less opened it. That would be memorable. If Sandi started talking, well….I’d just talk back.

It struck me that this is how the modern church understands reality. We are down here, and God and his entourage of Saints and angels is up there. We might interact, but it requires intentional effort. Things regularly (usually) go on downstairs without any knowledge or direct interaction with those upstairs. That seems deistic to me. It says that God’s involvement in our world is noteworthy because it is exceptional…miraculous, even.

But if all things invisible surround all the things that can be seen, it ought to be the most natural thing in the world to see God’s hand in my life. Just as Sandi might lay out my socks in the morning, God may cause me to arrive at the traffic light in just the right moment or remind me of the iron I left on back at the house. Nothing special, just a family rubbing shoulders at home.

One view sees the visible world as infused with supernatural reality; the other sees the visible world as something that must be abandoned in order to reach that supernatural reality. One has God (and his saints and angels) right here. The other has them up there. One would suggest that you ought to “fall out” or see a shrink, if St. John appeared and advised you in some way. The other would say, “Of course!” It seems to me that one is simply plain vanilla catholic Christianity. The other is a modern compromise. Eastern Orthodoxy seems immune from the new fangled understanding. The western church seems eat up with it.

Fr. Stephen has some great stuff on this over at Glory to God for All Things.

I’m praying for ya’ll every day!

Anonymous said...

I don't know that I will ever understand all of this. I do know that I will be reading your list throughout lent and asking God to help me make changes and adjustments. Not an easy task.
karen

Phil James said...

Hello Karen,

It’s so nice to have people leave comments. Thank you.

I hope you don’t think I understand all this stuff, either. I’m confusing because I’m confused. If there’s something in particular, though… I’d love some conversation to help me sort through things, as well.

Susan said...

Dear Phil,

It was nice to have Sandi cut my hair again. I'd been gone too long. I enjoy your thoughts and look forward to both Mike and myself reading more. God bless you and your sweet family.

Susan