Demand
It’s been a while since I’ve written and posted here. I didn't realize how long until my good friend Don called me for coffee because he wanted to make sure I was okay. I am very much okay, it’s just that much of my mental real estate has been occupied lately with the beginning of my D.Min studies at ACTS Seminary/Northwest Biblical Theological Seminary. (Which I am very excited about, by the way.) But this week I came across a quote I underlined a few years ago from an amazing essay by Annie Dillard called “An Expedition to the Pole.” To say that I love the essay and think it is profound would be an understatement. In it she compares the practice of communal worship (which I speak about here) to an expedition to the North Pole. Suffice it to say that her writing is brilliant and incisive and that she takes what people might see as two very different actions and helps you understand both in a deeper way.
But let’s get back to that quote that I underlined a few years ago. To give you some context I need to say that in the last few years I have become increasingly convinced that spiritual growth happens best when we make a space in our lives for God to work in His way and in His timing. That’s why at our church we see it’s important for people to commit to practices (more about that here) in order to create the mental, emotional, and spiritual space for God to work in our lives. Into that thinking comes the words of Annie Dillard:
“God does not demand that we give up our personal dignity, that we throw in our lot with random people, that we lose ourselves and turn from all that is not him. God needs nothing, asks nothing, and demands nothing, like the stars. It is a life with God which demands these things. Experience has taught the race that if knowledge of God is the end, then these habits of life are not the means but the conditions in which the means operates. You do not have to do these things; not at all. God does not, I regret to report, give a hoot. You do not have to do these things - unless you want to know God. They work on you, not on him. You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is necessary. But the stars neither require nor demand it.”
Spiritual growth is less about keeping God happy than it is about allowing God the space to work in your life. You don’t have to do that. But “a life with God”, to use Dillard’s phrase, calls you to make space through these practices for that life to come. It’s not something you acquire so much as something that you experience. You don’t have to come to corporate worship, you don’t have to study, or engage in honest relationships with others, or even serve, but these become the vehicles through which a life of God starts seeping into your life. Once again, in her words, “They work on you, not on him.”
When we begin to want to see God, for who He is in reality, then the efforts to open space for that seeing begin to shape us. Unfortunately our lives are often so full of screens and “to do” lists, not to mention fear of other’s perceptions and expectations, that the days tick by, completely full, with little space for God to engage. He doesn’t (at least not usually) demand the space. But if we don’t create it in our lives often we miss what He might desire to do and be to us and in us.
I love books. I am a bit of a book addict. When I started my D.Min. program I knew that I would need to read quite a bit over the next few years, especially in the area of my research. So I culled some of the books that have gathered dust on my shelves for years in order to make space for the hard bound new ideas that might be coming my way. I think that emptying those shelves is a good metaphor for the spiritual life. Our “shelves” are so full at times there is no room for anything different. Sometimes we need to clear a space for what God might want to bring our way. How full is your shelf? How will you make space for God this week to take you in a direction that you might not have expected. He doesn’t demand it. But it’s the path you were created for, so trust me, it’s worth doing.
