Category Archives: empowerment

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Greatness is Within

The power to be
The power to give
The power to see

Suddenly I see
This is what I wanna be

“Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall

In 1916  Russian Greek Orthodox priest Father Grigori Rasputin was a feared and hated man.  He was thought to be many things: a mystic, a psychic, a hypnotist, a faith healer who could work miracles, a crazed man, a lecherous and dangerous person, a demon, and a political threat.  His closeness to the Royal Tsar (as the faith healer supposedly keeping the Romanov’s son Alexi from dying of hemophilia) and his wild ways drew scorn and blame when Russia plunged into war, poverty and famine.  In fact, when a prostitute who claimed he gave her syphilis stabbed him two years earlier in 1914 she screamed, “I have killed the anti-christ!” and no one argued.  Except – she didn’t kill him.  He miraculously lived through the stab wound that actually severed his intestine, which furthered the idea there was something unnaturally powerful about him.

That spiritual, physical, mystical power myth wouldn’t end with his death, but grew larger when the details of his eventual murder came to light.  On the night he was killed by a group of Russian noblemen – they reported the following dramatic tale:

At the palace of  Prince Felix Yusupov Rasputin was taken to the basement for a talk with the prince. He was fed cakes and wine laced with cyanide. After what seemed like a very long time of pointless chatting, Prince Yusupov went upstairs and told his friends that the poison was not working.  He went back downstairs and shot Rasputin in the back.  Elated, the Prince ran back upstairs claiming he had “killed the devil” but when they went down to see him – he was very much alive and tried to strangle the prince. The group of friends shot him 3 more times.  While figuring out what to do with his body, he lunged at them – proving once again to be living. They took a chair and wooden implements in the basement a beat him badly.  With Rasputin seemingly finally dead they tied up his body, wrapped him in a carpet and threw him off a bridge into the freezing Neva River.  To their horror –  a still alive Rasputin got out of the bonds, and the carpet.  Eventually he drowned in the turbulent water of the river.

There were, of course, questions about this amazing story – however the written autopsy of Rasputin, which was an open record until the Stalin era, recorded that the body “contained poison, 4 bullet wounds, bruises from a bad beating, evidence of being restrained, and water in the lungs from drowning.”   Talk about having 9 lives!

The world's creepiest Superman

Rasputin clearly had some kind of personal strength most people didn’t understand. It wasn’t the powerful people around him that gave him power, it was something within him.  I’ve always wondered – with that kind of constitution and passion – if he had just stayed a local priest and not gotten involved with fame, politics and royalty – what an amazing ministry he might have had.  Truly, having “something within” is not helpful unless you are within something good.

The boxing equipment I use comes from Everlast and is emblazoned with their slogan:  Greatness is Within.

One of the bags I use for cardio punching practice is a heavy rubber bag covered in nylon with nothing put air inside so I have to chuckle when I see that logo even though I understand they are trying to inspire me into the thinking the “greatness” is within me, not a bag of air.   I have quite a love/hate relationship with exercise so this is how I prefer to think of greatness within:

Why do they even bother with that cookie part?

But no matter how you see internal greatness – the strength of a mystic, the power to strengthen your body, or appreciating the joy of a simple dessert there is still the truth that what is inside you matters most depending on what you are inside.

In American culture we value individualism and that value doesn’t just play through our politics, families, parenting or consumer habits – it plays out through our interpretation of theology as well.  We tend to spend a lot of time focusing on God with us or God in us.   What is the first thing churches invite you to do? Invite Jesus INTO YOUR HEART.  It’s clear from our earliest faith memories of songs we sing, that aged fading picture on a sunday school room wall of Jesus knocking on the door with no handle, the way we are taught about salvation and the ways we are taught to teach others about Christ that our focus is recognizing the greatness of God within us.

And we miss the point.  Relationship with God is not simply about having the spirit of Christ within you. It’s about YOU being within God.  Let me say that again, in case you were distracted by the cookie picture (I know I am…).   Faith life is not simply about God being in you.  It’s about you being within God.

What does it mean to be in God?  It means to recognize ourselves as part of a whole being and joined inherently with the creation, goodness, compassion, grace, abundance, giving, healing and freedom that is the very nature of that being.  We are not always  graceful people but we are people who live in grace and do well when we remember it.

Psalm 100 is thought to be a Psalm of praise – but it is also a good reminder of how we should understand ourselves not through the lens of individualism, but through the fountain of beloved belonging.

 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100

We are God’s people, sheep in God’s pasture. We are within God.

How does that help us to know that?  It gives us a chance to truly reflect and re-prioritize our life and the message of God we carry to a world that needs to hear it.  When we seek to be the people God made us to be, we can find comfort and inspiration understanding that we don’t have to reach to something inside us and find God – but God is around us and we have that love of God in abundance.  When we need to be forgiving we are surrounded by forgiveness. When we need to be compassionate in circumstances we don’t like or with people we are challenged to care for – we don’t have to dredge it up from inside – its around us – we need to take it in, learn it and live it.  When we are unsure or feeling unwise, we can pray and admit we don’t know what to do – then remember we are in a pasture of wisdom with a shepherd who wants to walk with us as we forge ahead together.

It also says something about the way we view “evangelism” – and maybe why it’s not really working.  Churches in our mainline modern day don’t really seem to do much gospel teaching and good messaging as much as we focus on discipleship development (always worthwhile). We don’t bring people in as much as we “people swap”.  When was the last time someone came into your church and said, “I didn’t know who God was” or “I have never been a Christian but now my eyes are opened.” and you knew it was the first time they really got the gospel?   More likely the last 2 or 20 or 200 people came in saying, “I used to go to “X Christian Church” but I like your youth program, or your preacher speaks to me, or I want to be part of your mission.”    There’s nothing wrong with people moving about faith places finding a field in which they can both feed and be a feeder.  But there’s not much evangelistic about it either.

People who haven’t seen or heard of God’s love aren’t really ready for a message that they need to bring Jesus into them. Many of them feel (or have been told) that Jesus or God or the whole christian family wants nothing to do with them.  But the message that they are within God’s pasture – already there – not waiting to change or needing to take 3 membership classes and a bible quiz –  is something they have been waiting to believe their whole lives.  And once they realize we are God’s created people – the changes God desires, the wisdom they require and the beauty of community will all come into being.

In sharing the gospel:

It’s not our job to bring people into church.

It’s not our job to bring people into our view of “right”.

It’s not our job to bring people into agreement with us and what we believe.

It is our call, and our great joy, to show people they are already brought in – created and loved by God, and that from within God they will forge the relationship with God that can heal, change, encourage, and grow in them.  Then the community of the church, the discipleship and development  and the empowerment to share their witness can begin.

Greatness is Within.

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The Remains of Our Day

Lectionary OT Reading: Isaiah 49:1-7

In the movie The Remains of the Day, Anthony Hopkins gives a touching performance as Mr. Stevens, a butler in an English manor who is effective, efficient and amazingly dedicated to his job within the servant class. Mr. Stevens serves the Estate of Lord Darlington, a well meaning English gentleman who unknowingly is duped into becoming a Nazi sympathizer. In order to serve his house with excellence Mr. Stevens blocks out the needs of his father, ignores his desire for Miss Kenton, and refuses to see that the policies made at conferences he is serving are empowering Germany to begin the Third Reich. Later, when Lord Darlington is unmasked as a German enabler and stripped of his title, the estate goes to an American who asks the aging and lonely Mr. Stevens what he must have thought when the conferences that brought the horrors of World War II were being held in that very house. Mr. Stevens replies, “I was doing my job, Sir. I was too busy to listen to the speeches.”

It’s a tragic cautionary tale about being a servant who does not know the Master’s business, and is powerless in the role of servitude. It’s a good movie for Christians to see because we are, afterall, servants of God called by Jesus Christ. We are the opposite of Mr. Stevens in some ways. We rarely strive for the gospel in a dedicated way, and appease our servitude by showing up to church on Sunday where we just listen to the speeches, and never do the work. The lectionary scripture from Isaiah 49 – describing the call of God to a servant – helps us to remember that although we are serving, we are not blind or helpless pawns of fate. We have responsibilities too.

We are not Powerless

Verse 2:
He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.

We tend in our day and age to think of the servant as a powerless person – lower class, with no will of their own. However, in the days of this writing (and even into the first century) being a slave or servant could afford the person tremendous power and ability. Slave owners kept slaves in their houses and depended on them for everything from chores and work to banking and message giving. A slave who was trusted and truly wanted to serve his or her master well, had a world of power and privileges at their command.

As God’s servants, we are given tools of great empowerment. We are given the word of God to learn by living it, and share by showing it. We are given the Holy Spirit to guide us into God’s will and into the paths of those who need to see God. We are given community to make one another stronger, more able and more equipped. We are given free will, that we may choose to do God’s bidding, and we are given gifts so that we may give them back to God. Never think yourself weak or unable to further the gospel in this dark world. Christ is the light, and you hold the lantern.

We are not Purposeless

Verse 4:
But I said, “I have labored to no purpose;
I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.

Sometimes we feel like our work has been in vain. Maybe someone we witnessed to seems to make no change at all. Or maybe the lifework we do isn’t showing a lot of good fruit for the hard work we are investing. Maybe we aren’t even sure what we are doing anymore. The servant in Isaiah certainly feels discouraged. Perhaps its because the servant sees the lack of purpose that servant has had in the effort. Sometimes we can put a lot of effort into something and not have any purpose behind it. Sometimes in trying to make something better all we do is tear it apart.

In Chuch Palahnuik’s novel “Choke”, Ida Mancini is a woman who spent most of her years as a liberal “activist” in the 60’s – working to draw attention to a number of causes. When she gets old she begins to lose her mind to Alzheimer’s. On one of her last days of clear thought she gives a speech that describes where her empty life has led.

“I’ve defined myself, all my life, by what I was against. I fought against everything, but more and more I worry that I was never for anything. Oh, I can criticize and complain and judge everything, but where does that get me? Rebelling isn’t rebuilding. Ridicule isn’t replacing. My generation! All we did was make fun of the way the world was. We didn’t make it any better. We spent so much time judging what other people created we didn’t create anything of our own. We took the world apart, but had no idea what to do with the pieces.”

As God’s servants we need to have purpose in what we do. We need to do more than judge, tear down, complain and re-hash our ideas. We need to see our lives, words and actions serving God and triumphing the healing love of Jesus. That is our purpose and that is how we serve.

We are not Private

Verse 6
he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth

So the servant tells the master about his lack of purpose and his failure to bring the One God to the nation. What does God do? God says “Its not your fault you didn’t to do the job – it was TOO SMALL a task. I’ll give you a bigger one. Now you’ll bring everyone to me!” – So imagine that you manage the produce section of a grocery store. You go to the boss and say “I haven’t done a very good job with my department. The fruit is rotting, and my sales are down”. Then imagine the boss saying “You know – the problem is produce is only a small part of my business – so here’s what I’ll do – I’ll put in you charge of the WHOLE STORE!” – AH! But that’s God. Where we see our failure as servants to promote the gospel, God sees us as valuable loved children who can shine the light of Christ to the whole world. God believes in us. We should too.

Our work isn’t mean to be private – but vibrant. We aren’t just for the “chosen few”, we are for the whole world. So don’t think if you let God down, you’ll get an easier job. What you’ll get is mercy, empowerment, and a bigger job next time!

Isaiah’s odd scripture here is a reminder that we are not supposed to be standing in a room listening to the speeches while the banquet goes un-served. We are not supposed to be so busy serving that we ignore the world or God’s words. We need a balance of spiritual empowerment, purpose and public witness of Jesus to help us be a servant worthy of the Kingdom of God. Then, when we hit the remains of our day we too will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”