Week 2
When the tools we use to navigate daily living are disorienting, when our maps and models paint a picture of reality that is incomplete, we’ll have a difficult time flourishing. Whether mentally exhausted from the try-harder treadmill, our desired destination always just a little more effort, information, technique/ology away. Or emotionally trapped by our fixations on the perceived issues and oppositions, or spiritually fatigued by the endless cycle of answers that never really satisfy; we’ll continue to experience the anxiety and restlessness of “Imaginative Gridlock” until a True image of life reorients us—leading us to an imaginative breakthrough. If you don’t know what we’re talking about or need a refresher(!), listen to Sunday’s sermon before continuing.
In this practice, you’ll read paraphrases of sections from the Sermon on the Mount, known as The Beatitudes. As you read, pay attention to your heart rate, racing mind, and tightening stomach. When you notice your body’s disquieted reaction, ask the Spirit to examine your heart and see if there is any way you are building your life in God’s life that leads to grieving rather than flourishing.
Read each paraphrase slowly; if/when you feel your body react, stop reading and ask the Spirit to show you what’s happening. Remember, don’t judge what you notice; just notice it and notice that God notices it, too. Remember what the psalmist discovered in Psalm 73:
When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward, you will receive me to your glory. (Psalm 73:21-24)
It’s not about how you enter; it's about being open to receive, to be led. So, let the Spirit of truth lead you into awareness and the kind of work needed to live differently, to flourish.
Okay, take three deep breaths, breathing in, Already Whole, and breathing out, In Jesus. Then pay attention to what the Spirit reveals in your unsettled heart:
Already happy are you utterly dependent on God’s presence and power, for you have it.
Already favored are you who feel the losses in life; for refreshment, strength is yours.
Already whole are you appropriately angry and evidently gentle, for you are at peace amid chaos.
Already happy are you whose truest (always there) desire drives you, for you have your daily fill.
Already favored are you who illogically and inconceivably forgive, for you have what you share.
Already whole are your laborers for wholeness and health, for you’re living on your inheritance, your vocation, what was made for you and given to you.
Already happy are you in conflict with the old world/self maps and models, for your living in/by something new.
Already happy, favored, whole are you in the run-ins and put-downs, for you are distinctively with Jesus—for those blessed to be a blessing, called to call others, shown to reveal in word and deed a world different, has always been a life with a bit of tang.
- Matthew 5:1-16 (Paraphrase)
Consider your experience of Imaginative Gridlock in contrast with the “Blessed” life Jesus (with the psalmists) says is ours already in life with God. So then, what dilutes or covers your:
utter dependence on God’s presence and power?
mourning life-less in others and yourself?
appropriate anger/passion with evident gentleness?
truest (always there) desire/drive?
illogical and inconceivable forgiveness?
your labor for wholeness and health for others?
your conflicting with the old world/self maps and models?
your run-ins and put-downs because you are distinctively with Jesus (salt & light)?