Beyond the Hands and Feet of Christ

Beyond the Hands and Feet of Christ

Beyond the Hands and Feet of Christ

 

A recent pastoral prayer I heard reminded me that it’s time to up your prayer game beyond praying to be the hands and feet of Christ. Longing to be a mere appendage of Christ is aiming too low. Rather than being the hands and feet of Christ, aim for the consciousness of Christ.

While Teresa of Avila popularized the idea that “Christ has no body but yours; No hands, no feet on earth but yours,” the scriptures make an even bolder assertion. You “have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor 2:16)

While being the hands and feet of Christ denotes doing good deeds and offering compassionate service, having the mind of Christ denotes unity with God. The truth is anybody can do good deeds. (And thankfully, many, many people do.) But you are called to more than that. You are called to operate from divine consciousness. This consciousness is what enables the move from discipleship to apostleship, and from believing in Jesus to believing like Jesus.

As I write elsewhere belief in Jesus means trusting in his power, his love, his teachings, and his saving grace. This is the kind of faith commonly taught in church. You’ll hear this motif reflected in songs and hymns, sermons and Bible studies, as well as children’s messages and youth curriculum. It is the focus of much teaching on salvation. Belief in Jesus is the stuff of discipleship.

But having the mind of Christ, of believing like Jesus, is more apostleship than discipleship. This divine consciousness leads to a deep knowing that you are one with God and one with the Holy Spirit. With it, you cultivate an unwavering trust in your life purpose. You have rock-solid faith that all things are possible. As a result, you entertain an ever-ready expectancy of miracles. Most of all, with the mind of Christ, you live in constant communion with, and surrender to, God. Here’s the bottom line. When you have the mind of Christ, you operate in an elevated state of consciousness in which there is no separation between humanity and divinity, between you and God.

I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we prayed for the consciousness of Christ. When the disciples moved into the apostolic mode Peter healed a paralyzed man. Paul and Silas sang in jail until the chains broke. Mere shadows of the apostles caused people to heal. The apostles oversaw the rapid multiplication of the church, with thousands upon thousands becoming believers.

What could be possible now, in these post-pandemic times? What new visions might you dream? Are there new miracles you might manifest? New areas of growth you might shepherd?

Learn more about our step-by-step approach that moves you from discipleship to apostleship: Creating a Culture of Renewal®

 

Forty Days of Apostleship: Believe in Your Divine Partnership

Forty Days of Apostleship: Believe in Your Divine Partnership

As the United States slides toward authoritarianism, and the United Methodist Church slides toward schism, it’s easy to be resigned. What can I do, anyway, you might ask? Don’t “they” have all the power? How can I create a divine partnership?

I understand that the news looks that way. And there are even those who would have you believe this. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

As a Christian, you come from a long line of miracle-workers, healers of the sick, and banishers of demons. Your people proclaimed the Gospel of the Kin(g)dom of God since Jesus first walked the earth. So put away the notion that you have no say in how things go. You are a spiritual badass in the making.

After all, Jesus lived under similar conditions. However, one of his primary beliefs lifted him above the fray and activated his agency so that he might dare to make a difference. As you learn to believe like Jesus, this belief will start your agency as well.

The Forty Days of Apostleship is designed to guide you to step into your spiritual power by encouraging you to expand your beliefs from merely believing in Jesus to also believing like Jesus. This vital shift undergirds your evolution from practicing the disciple’s faith to developing the faith of an apostle. This faith expansion gives you access to new perspectives, which provides you with access to further actions.

Believe in Your Divine Partnership

Jesus’ Belief: Divine Partnership

Jesus believed that he operated in divine partnership with God. Jesus believed that he was one with God: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) To those who doubted him, Jesus went on to say that this unity should be apparent through his many good works. I’m paraphrasing his words here, but he said—Look, even if you don’t believe my words, believe the pieces you’ve seen me do. You’ll then know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father. (John 10:38)

Jesus’ belief in divine partnership is manifested through both his words and his works. So, to begin to believe like Jesus, you’ll need to re-consider both your representations and your results as well.

Soul Work 

Here is the two-part process to take this soulful step of belief.

Words: First, personalize and put yourself into the scripture: “I and the Father are one.” For instance, “I, Rebekah, and the Father are one.” Meditate on, repeat, and reflect on the truth of these words. As you do, draw your awareness from your head to your heart. Your head—headquarters of fear and self-doubt—will probably want to talk you out of this. If so, turn to your heart—your local hub for God-consciousness and divine connection. Notice how your heart responds as you repeat these words.

Works:

  1. Second, consider the good works that you have already done.
  2. Include who you have prayed for, cared for, blessed, and contributed to.
  3. Include the projects you have undertaken, the leadership you have offered, and the behind-the-scenes know-how you have given.
  4. Make a list of these good works.
  5. Celebrate them.

I mean, celebrate them! Not for ego fulfillment but as a way of acknowledging your genuine partnership with God. Doing these good works could not have happened without a holy alliance between you and God.

Embrace the Belief

As you re-frame both your words and your works, there is one more step to begin to believe like Jesus. That is to fully embrace this Jesus-belief in divine partnership. For help with this, let’s turn to ancient wisdom.

The ancients have always understood that to be human is to house the Divine within, through the soul. More recent spiritual teachers have gently corrected this understanding: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience.” Whether the soul houses the body, or the body houses the soul, your soul is the spiritual counterpart to your physical being. Together, body and soul are the complete you.

Unity with God is more significant than what happens within your body or soul. As I note in Dream Like Jesus, “…if God is everywhere present, not a discrete being in the sky, but the quality of Being itself, that means that each of you is inside of God, and God is inside of each of you. You are surrounded by and saturated with Divine Power. Consider the vine and branches imagery in John 14:20. ‘I am in God, and God is in me, and you are in us. I am in you, and you are in me,’ Jesus says.”

Beliefs shape your thoughts; thoughts are the vessels of your actions, and actions demonstrate your beliefs. When you believe like Jesus, you will find that you can take new kinds of actions. Click To Tweet

Apostolic Action

Jesus taught the apostles of old how to do the things he did. And how to tap into the zone of the miraculous to do so. The apostles cast out demons, healed the sick and proclaimed the Kingdom. They had to believe as he did to accomplish these things.

Beliefs shape your thoughts; thoughts are the vessels of your actions, and actions demonstrate your beliefs. So, as you begin to believe like Jesus, you will find that you can take new kinds of actions.

As you grow in your belief in your partnership with the Divine, pay attention to new actions, the Spirit is prompting you to try. Again, preference the encouragements of your heart over the cautions of your head. For instance, what evil or injustice would you address? What kind of healing would you offer? What words of love or acts of hospitality would you risk?

Next, dare to put your emerging belief of divine partnership into action as we journey together during this Forty Days of Apostleship. Be sure to let me know how it goes!

Adapted from the forthcoming book, Believe Like Jesus © copyright 2020 Rebekah Simon-Peter

 

Should Gender Matter in Christianity?

Should Gender Matter in Christianity?

When addressing Gender and Christianity, a particular example comes to mind.  Specifically the role of women in church leadership.  After telling wildly popular evangelical bible teacher Beth Moore to “go home,” influential fundamentalist preacher John MacArthur clarified his thoughts on women in church leadership. He warned that “empowering women makes weak men” and “weak men make everybody vulnerable to danger.”

Wait a second.  Studies around the world show that empowering women is the key to developing economies, family well-being, better nutrition, and equal rights.  So how could this move be anti-male, anti-social or anti-Christian?

When you take the long view of religious development, I believe MacArthur had it exactly backwards.  Rather than derail Christianity, the full participation of women in all aspects of Creation is the fulfillment of the Christian impulse. 

A look at Judaism reveals why.

Judaism is built on the power of distinctions.  The creation stories exemplify the distinctions between the first six days and the other days of the week; between the sun, moon and stars; between plants and animals; and between humans and God.  The evening prayer in Judaism plays on those themes by glorifying the distinctions between night and day, and between sleep and activity. Havdalah, the blessing that ends the Sabbath, lauds the differences between holy and secular, and between Sabbath and the rest of the days of the week.  Ancient Jewish prayers even prompt men to pray with thanksgiving that they were not made a woman, a gentile or a slave.  Distinctions matter in Judaism.

Christianity goes in a decidedly different direction. 

Rather than playing on distinctions and dualities, Paul has a vision of integration. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) Indeed, women play a major role in the Gospels.

This theme of unity and integration is further celebrated in the New Testament. Consider the story of Pentecost.  When the Spirit comes, all hear a unifying message in their own language. This unity is celebrated as people share in a common life, a common purse, and a common purpose.  Finally, we see in Revelation 7:9-10 that all tribes, peoples and languages have a common trajectory—unity within the oneness of God.

So what’s with the stink about gender distinctions?  Truth be told, MacArthur isn’t the only one who forgets the integrative impulse in Christianity.  Mainline Christian churches have their own version of his call for strong women leaders to “go home.”  Women are called the “B word” and sent packing in more ways than one.

I wonder if the focus on gender isn’t indicative of deeper problems in the church. Like decline in worship, influence, and imagination.  Todd Anderson, a District Superintendent in the West Ohio Conference, told me, “The church is only in decline where the status quo is enforced.”  He should know.  Every District Superintendent is painfully aware of how the status quo stifles new life.  That’s why Todd is working across state lines, district lines, and conference lines to create new, experimental ministries. And they’re bearing fruit.

Decline is not a Christian value. The status quo is not a Christian value.  Women preaching, turning things upside down, is. That’s what lets new life in.

Interestingly even Judaism itself has moved toward integration.  While distinctions still matter, female clergy are beginning to be ordained in the orthodox world.  Even transgender clergy are being welcomed.

Bottom line:  if empowered women are threatening some men, perhaps those men need to deepen their own sense of self, rather than seek to bring women down a peg.