• Awaken: knowing…

    June 15, 2009

    Posted in: the gathering

    Last night we considered the Acts 9 account of Saul’s encounter with Christ - saying it was truly a “noetic” encounter.  From there, we entered the waters of KNOWING - what it’s been for many of us, and what we hope it might more fully become.

    Again, KNOWING = DOING is quite limited.  We get that, right?  And yet, for most of us, that’s been the default we fall into as we journey with God.  We’ve taken our comfort with a reason based view of the world—and we’ve assumed that really following God is about understanding more about him.  We have in many ways attempted to see transformation in a overly mind focused, modern influenced way.  it’s impoverished.  it’s limited.  and yet our confidences still lie in a view of knowing that is based on gaining facts and words.  

    So many of you shaped the dialogue last night—that it’s difficult to point to just one or two insights that MADE THE NIGHT.  The tone of the night was an vulnerable and healthy struggle with the way of knowing we are familiar with—and the admission that there must be another way.

    It’s the way of intimacy—right?  I shared a few words that might help us to expand our framework around KNOWING:

    *Noetic
    *Deeply Intuitive
    *Full Assimilation
    *Full-Bodied

    DO THESE HELP US UNDERSTAND THE DEEP SHIFT WE ARE BEING AWAKENED TO?  That knowing equals doing is so limited.  It’s a knowing that often leads to conclusions about God - but little life AFTER GOD.

    Reframing KNOWING awakens our entire life!  It leaves the potential that God is working all around us—and we are to EXPERIENCE FULLY  a life with Him—gut-level life with Him.

    Our natural push-back to an emotional, mental, and physical intimacy with God is that it’s so subjective. As if a reason based, highly-studied, “objective seeking” nose in the Book approach to Spiritual Formation is so very insulated from missing God.  Only our modern view of things would place more confidence in encountering God by pursuing the exact and correct conclusion about Him.

    Community - true life together and life within the history of the ‘cloud of witnesses’- is the boundary maker.  Yes, we can slip off to “wackiness” easily—and yet, why are we so suspect of the GUT - of the EMOTIONAL - the Full-Bodied experience of God?  The first 1500 years of Church History show us that Intuition was the viable factor for confidence with God - not correct and reasoned conclusions.

    Ultimately—we are getting at a life that merges INTIMACY WITH GOD, EXPERIENCE OF THE EVERYDAY, AND UNDERSTANDING OF GOD.  None of these can be emphasized above the other.  We long to be AWAKENED - longing to find life together—with God and one another and with the ‘other’ in such a way that we truly See, Know, Sense, and Live with God.

    How are you being AWAKENED? 

    practices that aid in bringing intimacy to the forefront of life are found in Imaginative and Surrendering Prayers - a contemplative life.  We’re encouraging this life in the booklet we’ve created (here).

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    • JeffPlunkett said...

      1

      I truly believe that within each of us is a natural drive compelling us toward an attitude of “garden-like” community. Many people have voiced a similar belief when they have said things to their children like, “I think in your heart you know what the right thing to do here is.” Some might refer to it as a conscience from that perspective. However, I am not merely talking about a “knowing” of right and wrong nor am I reducing life to positive and negative behaviors. Simply put, I think people were created with a natural rhythm that is intended to play out harmoniously with God and other people.

      This philosophy applies to our discussion from this perspective: a “gut-level” knowing of God and the rhythms of community are natural and intrinsic. However, the key for me is that this “knowing” MUST be from a community context. How can a Universal system that is directed toward communion with God and others be experienced in isolation? It cannot. (This is not to say that isolation from time to time is not good, but not as an escape from community, as we often think of it, but as a preparation for community.)

      Summary: Our natural inclinations toward community compel us toward a knowing that is full-bodied. It is an unnatural act of control that tells us we are ignorant and therefore must be taught exactly how to think through endless words, of which over 95% are forgotten. It all comes down to an issue of trust and control. I trust that God has done a great job of putting me together and despite the damages of life experience, my spirit is still fully functional and drawn to Him and you in partnership or shared life.

      06/28/09 8:27 AM | Comment Link

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