Share this:
"A Resurrection Model for Failure" by Jean M. Blomquist
As we wrestle with failure, we need to remember we are in good company. Jesus failed too. The problem with being on this side of the resurrection is that we often miss the pain and anguish of the failure that preceded it. In the eyes of the world, Jesus' life and ministry were most certainly failures. He did not change the hearts of all who heard him, nor did he usher in a visible reign of God on earth. To those who expected a socio-political savior, he failed to liberate Palestine from Roman rule. He even failed to gain the loyalty of his own disciples, who abandoned him and denied any association with him. He died a humiliating, lonely, and painful death, taunted and ridiculed for being who he truly was. And yet ...
As people of faith, we need to remember that the resurrection tosses out all standard expectations and measurements of failure and success. Neither failure nor success is good or evil; both can result in growth, stagnation, or regression. In our struggle with failure and success, we may find a hidden strength as we commend our spirits to our Creator and seek to yield our lives to love. Our challenge is to have faith—in failure, in success, in whatever life brings. The unexpected turns, the painful endings, the precarious beginnings are all part of the path of faith, where we are reminded with each step that the resurrection did not happen only once long ago—it happens each day of our lives.
From "On Having Faith in Failure," Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, Vol. VII, No. 1 (Jan/Feb 1992)(Nashville, TN: The Upper Room,1992), 14-15.
"The Desert as Christian Failure" by W. Paul Jones
The church has consistently ministered to the unintentional victims of failure. It has found it much harder, however, to accept intentional failure as central to the gospel itself. Yet Christianity is for losers—so much so that winners must undergo failure to become Christian. Against a lifetime of socialization, there remains the firm insistence: "Whoever would save [one's] life will lose it, and whoever loses [one's] life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 16:25, RSV).
The central image for failure is the desert. It runs from Adam and Eve's exile east of Eden through John's exile on Patmos. It is in the desert that our primary temptations become exposed—those of power, status, and security (Matthew 4:1-11). These temptations are the precise marks which our society identifies as success. Thus for the Christian to be faithful is to fail—intentionally.
But the process through which we refuse to embrace the driving values of the surrounding society is not a teeth-gritting self-denial. By breaking the craving for these "values," the desert becomes our honeymoon with God (Jeremiah 2:2). It is where God forms God's people. Without this desert honeymoon, Christianity is too easily reduced to a justification of questionable winning, or solace as sour grapes for failing when we really wanted to win.
Pure faith hears the full silence of God, and believes—for the absence of God touches one's thirst more than the presence of everything else. "In the desert we go on serving the God whom we do not see, loving [the God] whom we do not feel, adoring [the God] whom we do not understand, and thanking [the God] who has taken from us everything but [God's self]" (Charles Cummings, Spirituality and Desert Experience). In time, the search becomes the goal, the longing becomes sufficient unto itself, and the perseverance transforms the meaning of success. Then some quiet evening, perhaps by full moon, it becomes strangely self-evident that we would not be searching had we not already been found. And the desert blooms when we find ourselves willing to be last—not because the last may become first, but because the game of "firsts" and "lasts" is no longer of interest.
From "Intentional Failure: The Importance of the Desert Experience," Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, Vol. VII, No. 1 (Jan/Feb 1992)(Nashville, TN: The Upper Room,1992), 16-21.
"Failure and Faith"
March 2016
Back issues of Weavings are available by calling1.800.972.0433.
Imperfection is not failure.
You are invited! Thurs., March 17
Join author Beth A. Richardson in a virtual book launch celebration for Christ Beside Me, Christ Within Me: Celtic Prayers.
Reserve your spot now to connect with Celtic practices of gratitude and noticing of blessings in our everyday life.
Preview Alive Now Digital magazine and subscribe.
*This monthly newsletter is a free service of Weavings/The Upper Room. It is not intended to replace subscriptions to the print journal. To order, call 1.800.972.0433.
"Like" Weavings on Facebook
Happy Easter from the Weavings staff.
"Christ is risen!"
"He is risen indeed!"
1908 Grand Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee 37212, United States
----------------------------
----------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment