Flowing in the banks

I haven't been nearly as consistent with the Lectio Divina and daily reading notes (Augustine devotional) as with the Daily Office. But I think the emphasis on a God-centered life that this class has required of me (not quite accurate, but it has raised the issue in ways that are more difficult to run from than if not accountable in a class) has been extremely helpful. Knowing that journaling is required has been positive and helped form habits, but the issues that arise from these times with the Lord also become part of my thought vocabulary throughout the day.

It provides a bit of a bank for the river to follow. Or it's like a canal that is built intentionally. God may or may not honor the banks, but it's a starting point. For example, three processes have become part of my meditation in much greater focus. Perhaps I will find that God built this river or he may have allowed me to for a short time to carry his message and then flood in unpredictable ways.

Looking at life as a dialect from Tillich is the first and provides structure for the rest. A dialect is thesis (starting point) → anti-thesis (problem with proposed solution) → synthesis (change). For Tillich life is in a sense a series of closenesses to God → moving away from God, but desiring intimacy → being embraced by God. Jesus is the ground for this to happen. This is love and in the end this series of dialect processes will lead to the face-to-face encounter with God for eternity.

Another canal or river bank has become Volf's ideas on reconcilliation. I see them as dialectics as well. That forgiveness, justice, and ultimately reconcilliation are each processes that form the means for ultimate closeness within humanity. You can live a life of justice to the exclusion of forgiveness, but not honestly for too long. Determinations of innocence and guilt when looking in a mirror are less distinct as we look at Jesus' demands on our life. So often in the Bible we also see that how we respond to others is how we respond to God (I invite you to stop here, let it set for a second, re-read the first part of this sentence two or three times), which makes this even more cosmic in nature. Rather than seeing these as synonymns for each other, each requires a dying to self, a dialect of intimacy lost → thirst for closeness → reunion and love.

The third bank is a life of repentance. I think that daily times with God (not just now, but over the years) has brought a new understanding of repentance. I always lived it out as saying I'm sorry as quickly as possible for a sin and then intending to walk out a different life. What I'm finding is that it is mostly the walking. Much of my center in God is actual a life of repentance. It is humility in recognizing my frailness, but also trust that Jesus has taken the sin and wants an extraordinarily live life. It's walking on water when all the emotion, laws, momentum tend toward sinking. I always saw repentance as transient and negative, but in many respects it is putting reconcilliation in motion. Often one thought, decision, touch at a time.