04 December 2011

Message in a Labyrinth

"A long season of Surrender to beat Temptation; walking the Path in the Climate that is given."


The cryptic message came to me while walking the Labyrinth on ACU's campus on the morning of my first day of seminary.


A labyrinth is not a maze; you do not have to figure a way out, and you cannot get lost.  There is only one path to follow, for as long as you are willing, with one end in mind.  But you never know where you will turn.  You cannot look too far ahead without losing your place in that moment.


ACU's Labyrinth has a winding path with words like "Faith," "Light," "Sin," etc, around it.  You walk through it, stopping at any point for however long you need to do so.


I stopped at "Temptation" first.  One of my greatest temptations has been isolation, enjoying the lack of responsibility and drain of energy that comes from living on my own.  And that's exactly how much of this first semester of seminary has gone—spending hours on my own in my apartment, in the library, eating on my own.  And isolation is exactly where the Accuser brings us to draw out our greater sins.


The very next word I came to was "Surrender," and that cryptic message crystallized: "a long period of Surrender to beat Temptation."


"Surrender to what?" I ask.


I found my answer in After You Believe by N. T. Wright.


See, Surrender entails Obedience, particularly to a new Authority.  Obedience is not a one-time decision—it entails thousands of little actions over time, being formed into a new person by the Master.  Spontaneity can't do this, but Authenticity can.


What N. T. Wright calls "Eschatalogical Authenticity:" actions which become genuine through practice, and are informed and molded by one's beliefs of what is to come.  Specifically for Christians, this means actions taken in light of living within the promise that all of this world will be redeemed, resurrected, restored to God.


"I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ." - Philippians 1.6


It's been extremely difficult to do that this semester, partly because of my isolation.  Still I have no church to call home, but I feel like that is changing.  I have not had the habits of body that I need to be healthier; I have not had the habits of heart to really be sensitive to people around me; and I have not had the habits of soul to become closer to God every day.  Only some days.  And I seem to have only had strong habits of mind to learn more about the nature of my God, which I guess is to be expected in seminary.  The problem is, if I'm not really doing the healthy habits, it probably means I'm walking in unhealthy ones.


‎"Part of the problem about authenticity is that virtues aren't the only things that are habit-forming," N. T. Wright warns me.  "The more someone behaves in a way that is damaging to self or to others, the more 'natural' it will both seem and actually be."


I need to remember here I'm going, because it will tell me how to act now.  I going to a life in Christ.  And so, I look to Hamlet and The Lord of the Rings to remind me that obedience, not spontaneous action, creates the habits of Christ in me, and that if I lack one then I should act like I have it anyhow—how else can it become genuine habit?


"assume a virtue, if you have it not...
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery
That aptly is put on.
Refrain tonight;
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence; the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either curb the devil, or throw him out,
With wondrous potency." - Hamlet


"The westward road seems easiest.  Therefore it must be shunned... Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforeseen.  There lies our hope, if hope it be.  To walk into peril." - Elrond


"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost." - Gandalf


As we enter the winter,
Dig your roots deep in the Spring.
By strenuous road he'll make
Heart, Mind, Soul be genuine.


Grace & Peace