Who is on the God journey?

Solo or together??

I’ve been enjoying the podcasts I have been listening to from Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings. (www.thegodjourney.com)

They are two Americans who have been on significant individual personal journeys with God and each week record a dialogue that bounces off emails they have received, current events or things they have encountered.

There is one aspect of their dialogue though, that I am not completely convinced about.

Brad and Wayne  poke fun at the normal trappings of ‘religion’ and continually remind listeners of the loving Father who wants a personal relationship with us.

I find myself encouraged and challenged each time I listen to one of the podcasts.

However as I said, I have a sense that there are a few aspects of faith that are a little underdone.. at least in the dialogues I have heard so far, and they seem to come back to one particular ingredient that is missing.

Time and time again, Wayne and Brad focus the personal relationship with God.

I actually haven’t heard them say anything that I deeply disagree with, it’s just that as they focus the personal relationship with God they follow a pattern that has evolved mainly through the protestant church over the years, that takes a direction along the lines of “My God, My bible, My way”.

Now I know they would want to respond and say, “No it’s God’s way”, and of course that is true, however I am limited to my understanding of God and his way which is why a faith that is mainly personal is also an immature faith.

Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father” not “My Father”.

There is something about opening myself to the messiness of other people, and allowing myself to hurt when they hurt, that is essential for faith to grow.

Brad and Wayne rightly point out that community is a by-product of faith, what I don’t think they have grasped fully though, is that faith is also a by-product of community.

Ephesians 4 talks about the gifts given to the church so that we might be built up to maturity.

Throughout the bible, and particularly in the New Testament, we are exhorted to give ourselves for the sake of others. If I end up just being willing to give myself for God without giving myself for my brothers and sisters, I actively work against what the bible is saying.

Check out Galatians 6:9-10

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

or Philippians 2:1-4

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

or James 3:17-18

Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

Our faith is both deeply individual and also fundamentally communal. Like the trinity it is actually impossible to separate the two facets of faith. My concern is that Brad and Wayne are so often dialogue about unhealthy aspects of the community of faith that the focus becomes too much on the personal side of things. As I read my bible it’s not possible to have one without another.

I will continue to listen to the God journey and I encourage you to have a listen too. Like most things though, neither I nor they, nor any one of us, have the absolute truth, there is only one person who does and that fundamentally is why we need each other.

As I open myself to the community of faith, I am forced to face the rough edges and inconsistencies both in me and also in my picture of God.

God is so much bigger than I can fit in my head. Thank goodness!