Another Friday Night at the Scotts'

Tonight I introduced jalapeno cornbread to 3 couples from the East Church. We're meeting for 3 Friday nights to eat dinner and talk 1 Thessalonians. Margaret made a lovely salad and two wonderful desserts (as usual) and I contributed black bean chili, cornbread and conversation / background on 1 Thess. Most of the evening was spent in conversation around the table along the lines of the Ignatian examen (high points / low points in life just now). It was a superb evening, and just what Mike and Margaret and I hoped for in pulling this group together -- prayerfully sowing seeds of deeper fellowship among the congregation at the East Church. Selfishly, I loved getting to share some of what I've been studying among a group of friends / fellow believers.

Which got me thinking that this blog is rather 2 dimensional if I only share events and never reflect with you concerning my work here. So here is one thing that has struck me very hard recently: it is the descripton of the Thessalonians as "examples" of the gospel throughout the region.

The Incredulity of St. Thomas

Caravaggio's painting captures the visual that I love for the word "example", which is from John's gospel, when Thomas declares that unless he sees the impression (the "examples") made by the nails in Jesus' hands, and puts his fingers out to touch the marks left by the nails and put his hand in Jesus' side, he won't believe the gospel that his friend has risen from the dead.

So I wonder if Paul isn't capturing this same dynamic, saying that the gospel has made its impression in the lives of the Thessalonians -- left its mark, by means of their suffering with joy, in the same way that the nails of the cross left their mark in the body of Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.

All this gets my imagination playing with the image of the gospel so penetrating my life that I'm now marked -- indelibly imprinted -- by the life and death and resurrection of God in Christ. That seems different to me somehow than merely "setting a good example" -- it seems less a matter of willpower and trying to live as a good Christian -- and more of a willingness to be marked by Christ's life, or maybe better yet, Christ's presence in my life, especially when this means self-denial or suffering.

In the book "Lying Awake" (which I recommend highly), there is, among a community of Carmelite nuns in Los Angeles, one sister who has been faithful to the "rule" of the community for so many years that the younger sisters no longer need to read about the manner in which they are to live out their vows -- they only have to watch her. The habits and practices of the community life dedicated to Christ have been impressed on her to such an extent that the other nuns refer to her as "the Living Rule". Similarly, the Thessalonians became a "living gospel", with the message so deeply marked on their lives that Paul doesn't need to preach anymore in Macedonia -- touching the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica is enough for belief.

Wouldn't that be something. This provokes in me the longing for my faith in this gospel to be something embodied -- not simply the gospel as a wonderful warm blanket that I crawl under for comfort -- or my Christian faith as so much decoration. I struggle with this, and find myself with just enough in the way of external marks to clearly demonstrate the religious catalogue from which I prefer to do my life shopping, but lacking a deep internal willingness to really and truly die to myself -- be changed -- be marked, scarred even, by the cross of Christ. These days, I'm facing the unpleasant realization that while I can believe in a crucified and resurrected Lord, I'm wary about that belief cutting too deeply into my own flesh.

And when the Son of Man returns, will he find faith upon the earth...