We are in week two exploring the purpose of our church. Last week, we began by exploring the purpose that your pastor, me, feels like has been placed within my life as the leader of this body. The next two weeks we get to broaden the scope. What is our purpose as a church? As that piece of the body of Christ that worships at Stonewall Wesleyan Church.
We have a purpose statement. Anyone willing to boldly raise their hand, say I know it, and stand and declare it today? (Take volunteers and give prizes)
Let’s declare it together again this morning, Our purpose statement is "Connecting People to God and Each Other by Living and Declaring God’s Word."
This purpose statement is what we call counter culture. It runs contrary to the views and paradigms of most people cruising around in our society. Because for many people life is all about. . .me. Mot me, as in Chip. Me as in, whoever is saying it. The trinity of me, myself and I. Most people are living what we will refer to today as a "monopolar" existence. A one dimensional existence. And a one dimension spirituality that is all about the discovery of an ever evolving and unfolding self.
In fact, the ever emerging vision of spirituality in the twenty-first century is largely monopolar and subjective. It’s about me, and what I say it is about. Granted, that one dimension is a very real dimension. Obviously, we all exist. We all have an essential humanity and humanness within each of us. But in monopolar spirituality the entire journey and quest is about having this encounter with my inner self. It is a very private, inner experience of religion. There are no sacred places, rituals or traditions. It is a religion without formal religion. It is a religion of self.
The language of the monopolar spirituality and religion is one of ¡§getting in touch with one’s self. As one person described it, "My god is nature, the high Sierras my temple, the high I feel when hiking or climbing the only sacrament I need. I am never happier with myself than when by myself."
Monopolar spirituality pursues the objective of self discovery as the ultimate purpose of life, existence and religion. To better know who I am. This is how that can play out in a practical sense. Take the example of forgiveness.
If I am a monopolar adherent, I forgive and accept others. I tolerate differences. I am even enabled to claim closure. And it is all so that I can be free. I forgive you. I tolerate you. I accept you. Not for relationship with you. Not because God’s word tells me it is the right thing to do. But so that I can more freely be me. I am a church of one. A church of me.
There is even a monopolar style of worship. You can even by the CDs. Check it out ("Me Worship" Movie Clip from SermonSpice).
Now there is a CD that will sell, and to add to your Christmas list. Unfortunately, as important as it is that we know ourselves. As important as it is that we get in touch with our inner self, and understand who we are. We are not called to, or created for a monopolar life. In fact, if we choose to live a monopolar existence, we will fall short of God’s will and plan for our lives. His purpose that He created into us.
Take your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew 22. Let’s stand together as I read this passage. I’m reading out of the English Standard Version. Matthew 22:34 (read through verse 40 & pray).
So here’s the scenario (recap passage)
Now, if all the Law and the Prophets hang on a given commandment or two. If Jesus says here are two things that if you do, you will be doing all that I desire in your life. Might you join me in thinking this is pretty important stuff? Amen?
In fact, it might be just important enough, that as a church. As a piece of the body of Christ. We should be about helping people live out those commandments. Amen?
But there is something very distinct about both of these commandments. There is something that they hold in common. Namely, it is impossible to live them out in a monopolar universe. A monopolar spirituality. These most central commandments. The guiding statements of who we are created to be, and how we are created to live are completely impossible to fulfill in a monopolar existence.
So as the body of Christ, we have to intersect the "me universe", and move ourselves and others from a monopolar, "Me, myself and I" existence into a tripolar spirituality that enables us and them to live out a love for God and for others.
And that is why, central to our purpose and mission at Stonewall Wesleyan Church, is connecting people to God. Right off the top. We are about helping people make that connection to God, so that they might be enabled to begin living a life of complete devotion and love of their Creator.
It is initially a shift from a monopolar spirituality to a bipolar spirituality. If a monopolar spirituality is all about the pursuit and discovery of self, a bipolar spirituality combines that search for self with the realty of recognizing that we are living our lives, we are acting out each moment of our existence before God. Not simply a search for self, but a search for that life that lives in agreement with the Divine.
You see, bipolar spirituality still recognizes the need for self-knowledge and inner discovery, but it sees that need as intricately connected to the divine presence of God. It is the spirituality of an encounter with God. Not only do I desire to know my true self, but I also desire to know God. I desire to love Him. I desire to pursue Him with my whole life. I find myself longing to live out the great commandment of loving the Lord God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.
To draw the picture we utilized with monopolar spirituality, in bipolar spiritually forgiveness is offered as a divine command. It is a pardon that is unilateral and without condition. It is a release that asks for nothing from the other. And it isn’t done just so that I can feel good about myself. It is done out of desire to be obedient to a God who knows me as I am, and accepts me in spite of it.
In bipolar spirituality, freedom is sought through relationship with the Divine. There is a desire to know a God that is truly there. There is a desire to participate in the Spirit. There is a longing to come in contact with Divine who loves us and who we worship.
Communion can often be an act of bipolar spirituality. And in many Catholic and Protestant traditions, that is largely what it is. It is an awareness that there is more to this world than just me. There is a loving creator, who so desired to be connected with us, that when our sin and filth and shame were too great to be cleansed by any act on our part, He sent His very Son to earth. To die on the cross. To have His body broken, and His blood shed. So that we might receive eternal life.
Communion is not for the monopolar spiritualist. It is not for the individual who finds religion within themselves. Who finds nature to be their lone sanctuary. It is not for the individual who sees self-discovery as the ultimate pursuit for this life. Who thinks this bread and this juice are all about them. Because it is not.
Communion is about Him, and the burden He bore so that we could connect with the very Creator of the universe. When you come and receive communion, you are at the very least saying, "I know that outside of me and beyond me, God exists. I know that He sent His son to die for me. I know that I needed that sacrifice in order to be justified before God, and to receive eternal life. I know that this is not about me. This is about my Lord and Savior. And every time I do this, I do it in remembrance of Him."
In many ways, this table is as good of a representation of the first statement of our purpose as you can find. It is the essence of the connection between us and God. It is the gateway by which common, sinful people like you and me, can enter into a relationship with the one true, and holy God.
So we are going to receive communion this morning. If you are able to say in your heart, "I have received the sacrifice of Christ’s broken body and shed blood for my sins. I have broken free from a life of monopolar spirituality, and entered into a relationship with God." This is a time for you to once again connect with your Heavenly Father.
If you haven’t made that decision, maybe today is the day you break free from slavery to self, and enter into a place of greater discovery and awe. This is a great place to do that. To receive the body and the blood as the gift of grace that it is, and make it your own.
And if you haven’t made that decision, and are not ready to today, I would encourage you to simply remain where you are at, and take these next few moments to really reflect on your own spirituality. Reflect on the possibility that this life is about more than this small sphere of our own existence. Reflect on what it might be like to break free from a monopolar spirituality.
(Pray for Communion - this first communion had the elements on the communion table for people to come up and receive at their own pace as a song played in the background.)
So there is a monopolar spirituality, completely consumed and focused on the discovery of self. There is a bipolar spirituality, open to the discovery of self through participation in a relationship with the Divine Creator of everything. Unfortunately, as one evangelical seminary professor put it, "Bipolar spirituality is the norm among my students and is assumed as a given in all faculty discussions and curricular planning." Truth be told, bipolar spirituality is the standard spirituality of mainstream Protestant Christianity today.
And that is problematic. Because as wonderful, and critical as that greatest commandment is. Jesus didn’t stop there (re-read v. 39).
Jesus tells us that on top of that great commandment there is another important thing we are to be about. We are to be about the life that love’s our neighbor as ourselves.
In other words, we haven’t been issued the freedom to simply exist in this Pollyanna world where it is just me and God. I know myself better, and I know Him more, and that is good enough for me. As long as I deepen my walk, grow in Christ, am sanctified by the Spirit, I’m being all I was intended to be. Right? Wrong.
It is not enough to simply connect with God. We need to connect with each other. With our neighbors. With our co-workers. With our fellow students. With our family members. We need to be about connecting people to God and each other. We need to be about a tripolar spirituality.
There are three dimensions to our walk. There is the inward experience. Understanding more and more who God created us to be. There is the upward relationship with God. Growing closer to Him, and deeper in our love and pursuit of Him. But there is also an outward commitment that we are called to.
Not just personal transformation and divine encounter, but we are also called to enter into the relationship of integrity and co-human journey with our neighbors. Three interdependent pieces to the Christian walk.
Now, when people are challenged in regards to this third pole, they are quick to affirm it. "Yea, I know I’m supposed to be relating to those around me. I know I’m supposed to be connecting with others. I know that this upward pole is supposed to reflect itself in horizontal relationships." Few people will deny this.
The problem is it rarely arises naturally in our lives as a direct outflow of the first two poles. You see, our love of God will transcend our lives and transform our love of self. And when it does, that transcendent love will overflow from our lives into the lives of those around us. Then, we will truly be able to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Tripolar spirituality is that of radical love of those around us.
Tripolar spirituality is that which recognizes this incredible teaching of Jesus. You have heard it before, but I want you to listen to it in this context today. (Read Matthew 25:31 through 40)
You see, these two commandments Jesus has given are not separable. We can’t love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength without loving our neighbor as ourselves. Because our neighbor is Christ. Jesus said so himself. He said, "These people you see in need. These people you see who are poor. Without hope. Imprisoned. Without promise. They are standing in for me. When you intersect their lives with your love, you have intersected mine. When you love them, you are loving me. The two are inseparable."
He doesn’t say it is "like you did it to me." "It is the same as if you did it to me." He says, "When you did these things. You did them to me." Tripolar spirituality is a religion of action. Not just action so that we can be neighborly. But action because we have entered into a life of committed relationships. A life that shuns withdrawal and solitude. A spirituality of hands, feet, knees, spine, as well as heart and head.
In contrast to so many bipolar Christians who get completely consumed by contemplation, reflection and meditation, this is a tripolar spirituality that acts on the discoveries of who God is, and who He has called me to be.
- Shared my struggle with those who only want to reflect. They receive 10, 12, 15 inputs a week, with no output.
Listen to this quote, "If your spirituality becomes focused mainly on spending time communing with God in holy habits such as centering prayer or lectio divina, going to a Bible study group, hearing great preaching and teaching, looking for the next silent retreat, or attending a Christian conference, then you can easily become spiritually self-centered. This may sound strange-how could there be anything wrong with focusing on our personal relationship with God? There is nothing wrong with that; in fact, it is what we all need to do, unless our spirituality-no matter how deep and intense we think it is-is not producing in us an urgency to bring Jesus’ message of salvation and justice to others. If we fill up much of our time with activities that develop our personal relationship with Jesus and not with those individuals whom Jesus came to serve, then we miss the totality of Jesus’ gospel.
As the Christian psychologist Harold Darling wrote, "To continue to receive from God and fail to share of the abundance received leads to spiritual leanness." We may think we are experiencing fullness in Christ when in reality we are only full of ourselves."
That was Tony Campolo in his book, "The God of Intimacy and Action." In tripolar spirituality we come to know Christ not only through the spiritual disciplines of inner depth, but through participation in the disciplines that express love to others. Disciplines that love our neighbor as ourselves. Disciplines that connect us with God by connecting us with others.
You see, in this model, forgiveness is not simply looking to be off the hook. It is not simply looking to get right with God. Forgiveness is also about restoring relationships, and as Jesus spoke of in Matthew 18:15, hoping to regain a brother or sister in Christ. Tripolar forgiveness not only wants to be whole inside, and in unfettered relationship with God¡Kit also wants to fix that mess between me and my neighbor. To make things right horizontally.
And true, pure communion. True, pure participation in the sacraments, is tripolar. We witness baptism as a community. And we receive the Lord’s Supper as a community. It was that way when Jesus instituted it. It’s still that way today.
We receive the grace of the broken body and the shed blood, and we share it with those around us. As the disciples did in that upper room. We partake of the sacrifice, we connect with God, and then we turn and share the gift with the one next to us, we connect with each other.
(Begin serving communion - For this communion, it was a loaf of bread and a challice of juice. I walked out into the congregation and administered communion via intinction to one individual. Then I led the parishioner up out of the pew, and over to another. They received communion together. Then the new parishioner went on to another, and so forth. The entire congregation received communion, one-by-one, administered by each other. And the post-service refelction on this was incredible. It really drove home the point!)
One last thing I want to be sure you see today. In tripolar spirituality, there is a constant flow from one pole to the other. So I come to truly know myself by knowing God. The more I come to know God, the more I see those around me as reflections of the image of God and representations of Christ here on earth. The more I get to know those around me, the greater the number of pieces of this God puzzle I can put in place. And the more my picture of God develops, the more I am able to know who I am in Christ and what my purpose on this earth is.
So if we want to find our purpose in life. If we want to find our purpose as a church. We need to connect to God, and connect to others. And if we want to help those around us fulfill all God has called them to be, we need to be facilitators of those connections.
Personal Check-up: How many poles are we operating with?
Prayer
