I ended my Agape Prayer book with the following statement:
“The basis of the spiritual meaning of agape comes down to the powerful conclusion in the First Letter of John. “No one has ever seen God. If we share agape with each other, God remains in us and God’s agape is made perfect in us.” (1 Jn. 4:12 CEB) “Let’s share agape with each other, because agape is from God, and everyone who shares agape is born from God, and knows God. The person who doesn’t share agape does not know God, because God is agape.” (1 Jn. 4:7 CEB) “God is agape, and those who remain in agape remain in God and God remains in them.” (1 Jn. 4:16b CEB)
“And when we look back 2000 years, we see that so many people had lost all hope in experiencing a connection with God that Paul wrote his great message of hope that God poured agape into our heart through the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 5:5) So it is by means of giving us agape that we experience being intimate with divine Presence. In a similar way, as I look at the period of massive change of our age, and as I see so many people struggling to find hope, I agree with Paul that there is hope in the spreading of spiritual agape. That spread helps reduce the violence and destructiveness we hear about around the world. And so a new era of history is dawning.”
One of the main conclusions I came to through all my work with agape has to do with its universal human commonality. That allowed me to take another, deeper look at the writings of Paul. I began to see that even though his work resulted in people coming together to support one another, I don’t think he saw his work as starting a new religion. Instead, I think he believed he was opening up the teachings of Christ to all people. It was the social conditions of generations after his time that forced the organizing of protectionist exclusivism.
Paul came to the great realization of agape being poured into people’s hearts as part of his hope for all people. So I have come to see agape as of the essence of the created being. The profound awareness that comes when agape is allowed to work in a person’s life leads to the realization that it is found everywhere, in the heart-center of all people.
So agape is not confined to Christians. I think that Christians would make a terrible mistake if we get to thinking that somehow agape is only for Christians. Even though the Christians of the First Century arrived at a historical breakthrough in recognizing agape, that was not just for Christians. It was only in later centuries that some people began to try controlling agape power so that only certain people could have access to it.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Agape Prayer conclusion
In the final chapter of my Agape Prayer book, I started with the following statement:
And then by using “the spiritual influence of divine Presence” as a much better translation than “the Kingdom of God,” I used the mustard seed metaphor from Jesus to conclude:
After these seven steps of this different approach to prayer have been completed, there is a deepened understanding that there is a basic reality in the heart-center of all people. It is important that we are able to awaken a deep awareness of a common reality that we all share.
“But like all understandings that come to us in life, the expansion of this understanding will go on for years, possibly the rest of a lifetime. Each of us may have to go through the seven steps again and again to gain the deep realization of how connected are all people. When the awareness of that basic reality has been awakened, the possibility has opened before us to begin to fully comprehend what all people have in common. And further, it is possible to gain the sense of how we are connected with all of Creation.”
And then by using “the spiritual influence of divine Presence” as a much better translation than “the Kingdom of God,” I used the mustard seed metaphor from Jesus to conclude:
"spiritual agape ‘has been planted’ in our hearts to nurture our awakening as we slowly grow in our consciousness of spiritual power in our relationships. Such growth could then be called ‘agape consciousness.’ That’s how we become aware of “the spiritual influence of divine Presence.” So as we act on that influence in our relationships, feeling the power of patience, and experiencing the growth and power of kindness (1 Cor. 13:4), we truly realize that there is a divine influence “within us” (or “among us”). That is what Jesus was describing. That is what Jesus was waking up in people’s lives. And so that is what we need to open up to and allow to happen in our lives.”
Monday, September 10, 2012
Peace Prayer revision
In the Conclusion of my Agape Prayer book, I used the following revision of the famous international Peace Prayer (it appeared in many languages beginning in 1912 and was finally translated in English in 1929 in a Quaker magazine, where it was attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. In that translation, the expression “sow love” was used in a spiritual way that seems to mean what we have come to recognize as agape. So on this 11th anniversary of the 9/11/01 massacre I offer the following revision):
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow agape.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to receive agape, as to spread agape.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.”
There also was a variation delivered by Mother Theresa of Calcutta when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 1979 and when she addressed the United Nations in 1985. Because of her work, I think I can keep the meaning by changing ‘love’ to ‘agape’ as follows:
“Make us worthy Lord to serve others throughout the world,
who live and die in poverty and hunger.
Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread
and by agape give peace and joy.
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace.
That where there is hatred, I may bring agape,
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony,
That where there is error, I may bring truth,
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith,
That where there is despair, I may bring hope,
That where there are shadows, I may bring light,
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted,
To understand than to be understood,
To spread agape than to receive agape.
For it is by forgetting self that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,
It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Amen.
(quoted in Wikipedia, “Prayer of Saint Francis”)
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow agape.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to receive agape, as to spread agape.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.”
There also was a variation delivered by Mother Theresa of Calcutta when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 1979 and when she addressed the United Nations in 1985. Because of her work, I think I can keep the meaning by changing ‘love’ to ‘agape’ as follows:
“Make us worthy Lord to serve others throughout the world,
who live and die in poverty and hunger.
Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread
and by agape give peace and joy.
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace.
That where there is hatred, I may bring agape,
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony,
That where there is error, I may bring truth,
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith,
That where there is despair, I may bring hope,
That where there are shadows, I may bring light,
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted,
To understand than to be understood,
To spread agape than to receive agape.
For it is by forgetting self that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,
It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Amen.
(quoted in Wikipedia, “Prayer of Saint Francis”)
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Agape for Creation
Because I finished a very rough first rough draft of the book, I continue commenting on each chapter by now turning to chapter 7. With this chapter I finished describing the 7-step agape prayer practice.
Here are a few excerpts from this final chapter:
From our very limited human perspective, our spiritual development is enhanced by accepting a visualization of participation in agape expansion. To aid in this visualization, STEP 7 can be thought of as a series of expansions as ‘the circle of agape’ is understood to expand out and out to ever larger ‘groups.’ To be able to put it into words, imagine Step 7 involving six expansions:
For example, by going from your neighborhood or housing complex out to other areas of your town or city or suburb. Also you could go from one school out to whole school districts.
Another expansion of prayer concern could flow out to a whole state, then out to regions of a country. Further expansion would be to nations near yours. Imagine how a future could unfold in which the consciousness of agape could spread and aid in bringing about creative methods for promoting justice and better understanding between antagonistic cultural groups and eventually produce creative ways to solve problems in relations between nations.
Then expand your prayer for agape to continents and then out to the whole world. Let your imagination open up to creative ways for spiritual development throughout humanity. Envision the possibility of a world in which people could come together to produce long-lasting, creative ways to deal with international problems so that nations would no longer need to resort to military conflict to try solving problems. When the inspiration found in John 3:16 is studied backwards and forwards, the implication becomes the following: God’s agape is for the world [in Greek, “cosmos”], and Christ was sent to start spreading the eternal Life power of agape to all.
And finally, as we remember parts of the Bible where concern is given for non-human creatures, we realize that eventually we need to extend our agape prayer beyond human communities. So we need to realize that, in the spiritual sense, Agape Prayer gives the feeling of following God’s agape as it spreads out to Creation itself. So the last part of Step 7 is to follow God’s agape to all of Creation. That’s why it’s been important throughout all these steps to keep in mind that we are not the originators but are sensing the flow of God’s agape.
Here are a few excerpts from this final chapter:
From our very limited human perspective, our spiritual development is enhanced by accepting a visualization of participation in agape expansion. To aid in this visualization, STEP 7 can be thought of as a series of expansions as ‘the circle of agape’ is understood to expand out and out to ever larger ‘groups.’ To be able to put it into words, imagine Step 7 involving six expansions:
For example, by going from your neighborhood or housing complex out to other areas of your town or city or suburb. Also you could go from one school out to whole school districts.
Another expansion of prayer concern could flow out to a whole state, then out to regions of a country. Further expansion would be to nations near yours. Imagine how a future could unfold in which the consciousness of agape could spread and aid in bringing about creative methods for promoting justice and better understanding between antagonistic cultural groups and eventually produce creative ways to solve problems in relations between nations.
Then expand your prayer for agape to continents and then out to the whole world. Let your imagination open up to creative ways for spiritual development throughout humanity. Envision the possibility of a world in which people could come together to produce long-lasting, creative ways to deal with international problems so that nations would no longer need to resort to military conflict to try solving problems. When the inspiration found in John 3:16 is studied backwards and forwards, the implication becomes the following: God’s agape is for the world [in Greek, “cosmos”], and Christ was sent to start spreading the eternal Life power of agape to all.
And finally, as we remember parts of the Bible where concern is given for non-human creatures, we realize that eventually we need to extend our agape prayer beyond human communities. So we need to realize that, in the spiritual sense, Agape Prayer gives the feeling of following God’s agape as it spreads out to Creation itself. So the last part of Step 7 is to follow God’s agape to all of Creation. That’s why it’s been important throughout all these steps to keep in mind that we are not the originators but are sensing the flow of God’s agape.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Agape for groups
After finishing a rough draft of the book, I continue commenting on each chapter by now turning to chapter 6.
This chapter, of course, is about the 6th Step in the 7-step agape prayer practice. It is an expansion of what I said for individuals. Now I turned to groups.
Here are a few excerpts from this chapter:
Choices of groups might be a church, school, family, study class, neighborhood or housing complex. Pray to experience how agape is manifested among them. When I say pray for the well-being of that group, I mean in the same way that you prayed for a person in Steps 2-5. Prayerfully hold with your attention a group you choose, and visualize participating with this group in the spiritual flowing of agape. Then let agape flow into that moment of prayer. As you hold the group in prayer, you may pray the words, “Let agape flow among …”
And remember, being in ‘agape contact’ isn’t effected in any way by distance or time. Practice this exercise until you are able to experience the power of agape flowing into the center of this group’s life and work.
You might want to expand to other groups by using similar categories to the ones in those previous steps; for example, expand from the spiritually meaningful group to consider a group of friends, then expand to a group of strangers, and finally expand to a group of people from a culture or nation considered to be enemies of your own culture or nation.
As the Agape Prayer Practice develops for you, it helps to constantly keep realizing that these steps are only possible because agape does not originate with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. So you are merely following God’s agape into the interactions of a group.
This chapter, of course, is about the 6th Step in the 7-step agape prayer practice. It is an expansion of what I said for individuals. Now I turned to groups.
Here are a few excerpts from this chapter:
Choices of groups might be a church, school, family, study class, neighborhood or housing complex. Pray to experience how agape is manifested among them. When I say pray for the well-being of that group, I mean in the same way that you prayed for a person in Steps 2-5. Prayerfully hold with your attention a group you choose, and visualize participating with this group in the spiritual flowing of agape. Then let agape flow into that moment of prayer. As you hold the group in prayer, you may pray the words, “Let agape flow among …”
And remember, being in ‘agape contact’ isn’t effected in any way by distance or time. Practice this exercise until you are able to experience the power of agape flowing into the center of this group’s life and work.
You might want to expand to other groups by using similar categories to the ones in those previous steps; for example, expand from the spiritually meaningful group to consider a group of friends, then expand to a group of strangers, and finally expand to a group of people from a culture or nation considered to be enemies of your own culture or nation.
As the Agape Prayer Practice develops for you, it helps to constantly keep realizing that these steps are only possible because agape does not originate with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. So you are merely following God’s agape into the interactions of a group.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Agape for an enemy
I’ve been spending so much time on my book that I haven’t taken the time for this blog. But finally I finished a rough draft of the book, so now I can return to the blog. For chapter 5, I enjoyed quoting from M. L. King and Karen Armstrong.
This chapter, of course, is about the 5th Step in the 7-step agape prayer practice. It is the most difficult step to learn, but it is also the most important step for the future of the human race. It is about holding in prayer an enemy -- and not just a personal enemy, but there is an extension of this step that involves holding in prayer an enemy of the nation. So the purpose of this step is to practice letting the flow of agape help you want the well-being of this enemy equally as strongly as you did for the persons you chose for the other steps. In order to accomplish this, you need to visualize participating with this person in the spiritual flowing of agape until finding the spiritual concern that this chosen person will find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.
Here are a few excerpts from this chapter:
As you did in Step 4, spend a few minutes thinking about why there is that difference in attitude between how you feel toward a friend, a family member, a stranger, and a hostile person. Of course, here we have to deal even more strongly with the realization that our attitude toward the other person makes no difference in this prayer practice. That’s why it’s important to constantly remember that agape does not originate with you.
The point of realizing the spiritual basis of agape is that not only are humans created with agape in their heart-center, but as agape works in people’s lives, they find that the deepening of relationships is a divinely-inspired action (is that why John’s section on the Last Supper showed Jesus giving his special teaching that agape is the basis of his “new COMMANDMENT”?). So the power of agape has the full spiritual weight of being given to human beings by God. Therefore, God’s gift of agape has the purpose of helping people become divinely inspired to treat all people equally. So that’s how it becomes possible for you to find the divine power of human relations pouring into your heart.
Even though the existence of spiritual agape in everyone’s heart is the basic reality of human existence, that is not readily understood by a lot of people today. Unfortunately in the modern world a lot of people expend too much psychological energy trying to deny that basic reality of human existence.
A main outcome of these steps is for us to think of people equally and then let agape so transform our approach to relationships that we are able to treat people equally. Isn’t that what Jesus meant when he talked about God treating all people equally? (“For God makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. If you show agape only for those who show agape to you, what reward do you have?” … Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you. If you share agape with those who share agape with you, why should you be commended?” (Mt. 5:45-48; Lk. 6:35 CEB))
And of course, we have this teaching from Jesus: “But I say to you, share agape with your enemies and pray for those who harass you because of your faith so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. … Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing agape to everyone, so also you must be complete. … Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. … Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” (Mt. 5: 7-39; 44-48 CEB)
This chapter, of course, is about the 5th Step in the 7-step agape prayer practice. It is the most difficult step to learn, but it is also the most important step for the future of the human race. It is about holding in prayer an enemy -- and not just a personal enemy, but there is an extension of this step that involves holding in prayer an enemy of the nation. So the purpose of this step is to practice letting the flow of agape help you want the well-being of this enemy equally as strongly as you did for the persons you chose for the other steps. In order to accomplish this, you need to visualize participating with this person in the spiritual flowing of agape until finding the spiritual concern that this chosen person will find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.
Here are a few excerpts from this chapter:
As you did in Step 4, spend a few minutes thinking about why there is that difference in attitude between how you feel toward a friend, a family member, a stranger, and a hostile person. Of course, here we have to deal even more strongly with the realization that our attitude toward the other person makes no difference in this prayer practice. That’s why it’s important to constantly remember that agape does not originate with you.
The point of realizing the spiritual basis of agape is that not only are humans created with agape in their heart-center, but as agape works in people’s lives, they find that the deepening of relationships is a divinely-inspired action (is that why John’s section on the Last Supper showed Jesus giving his special teaching that agape is the basis of his “new COMMANDMENT”?). So the power of agape has the full spiritual weight of being given to human beings by God. Therefore, God’s gift of agape has the purpose of helping people become divinely inspired to treat all people equally. So that’s how it becomes possible for you to find the divine power of human relations pouring into your heart.
Even though the existence of spiritual agape in everyone’s heart is the basic reality of human existence, that is not readily understood by a lot of people today. Unfortunately in the modern world a lot of people expend too much psychological energy trying to deny that basic reality of human existence.
A main outcome of these steps is for us to think of people equally and then let agape so transform our approach to relationships that we are able to treat people equally. Isn’t that what Jesus meant when he talked about God treating all people equally? (“For God makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. If you show agape only for those who show agape to you, what reward do you have?” … Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you. If you share agape with those who share agape with you, why should you be commended?” (Mt. 5:45-48; Lk. 6:35 CEB))
And of course, we have this teaching from Jesus: “But I say to you, share agape with your enemies and pray for those who harass you because of your faith so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. … Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing agape to everyone, so also you must be complete. … Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. … Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” (Mt. 5: 7-39; 44-48 CEB)
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Agape for a stranger
I finished a rough draft of Chapter 4 of my book. For this chapter I bought River Jordan’s “Praying for Strangers” and enjoyed quoting from it.
This 4th Step in the 7-step agape prayer practice is about holding in prayer a neutral person who is either merely an acquaintance or even a stranger. The purpose of this step is to practice letting the flow of agape help you want the well-being of this stranger equally as strongly as you did for the persons you chose for the other steps. In order to accomplish this, a person needs to visualize participating with this person in the spiritual flowing of agape until finding the spiritual concern that this chosen person will find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.
For this chapter, I did a verse-by-verse careful and detailed study of 1 Cor. 13 (especially verses 4-8). Here is a quote from that study: “agape was implanted in each of our hearts for the purpose of making it possible for us to wake up to the trust that God is gently and persistently accepting us and helping us find spiritual power to help us in life. And it’s a good thing that patience is at the heart of agape, because most of us usually make it harder for ourselves to let agape flow in our lives. That’s also why nobody should get discouraged when there are a lot of missteps, start-overs, and stops, and restarts that come with the agape prayer practice. That just seems to be the way it happens when trying to do this in our confusing, overly pressurized modern world.”
When I searched for what caused the negative emotions mentioned in those verses, I said, “So first, agape overcomes any neediness that a person may let build up from the many fears we let grab ahold of us. It provides us with a sense of fulfillment that cuts through any tendency to desire to try building up ourselves by putting down someone else. Of course, Paul never heard of the concept of self-esteem, but when we read those verses after having heard about the modern emotional need to be strengthened in our sense of self-esteem, we can see how connecting with the power of agape can give us a basis more eternally sound than we could ever find by inventing ego-identities constructed from the experiences we have in early childhood and the fears that keep plaguing us from infancy. There is also an underlying meaning running through those verses that agape opens a person’s heart-sense to supply the basis for working to achieve what is best for the human community. That sense of common humanity is meant in the Greek expression ‘to me ta heats’ of verse 5, so that when we translate it as applying to agape, we see it means: ‘agape works against seeking selfish advantage over the common good.’”
Then I got such enjoyment from reading River Jordan’s “Praying for Stranger” that I used several quotes from it.
This 4th Step in the 7-step agape prayer practice is about holding in prayer a neutral person who is either merely an acquaintance or even a stranger. The purpose of this step is to practice letting the flow of agape help you want the well-being of this stranger equally as strongly as you did for the persons you chose for the other steps. In order to accomplish this, a person needs to visualize participating with this person in the spiritual flowing of agape until finding the spiritual concern that this chosen person will find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.
For this chapter, I did a verse-by-verse careful and detailed study of 1 Cor. 13 (especially verses 4-8). Here is a quote from that study: “agape was implanted in each of our hearts for the purpose of making it possible for us to wake up to the trust that God is gently and persistently accepting us and helping us find spiritual power to help us in life. And it’s a good thing that patience is at the heart of agape, because most of us usually make it harder for ourselves to let agape flow in our lives. That’s also why nobody should get discouraged when there are a lot of missteps, start-overs, and stops, and restarts that come with the agape prayer practice. That just seems to be the way it happens when trying to do this in our confusing, overly pressurized modern world.”
When I searched for what caused the negative emotions mentioned in those verses, I said, “So first, agape overcomes any neediness that a person may let build up from the many fears we let grab ahold of us. It provides us with a sense of fulfillment that cuts through any tendency to desire to try building up ourselves by putting down someone else. Of course, Paul never heard of the concept of self-esteem, but when we read those verses after having heard about the modern emotional need to be strengthened in our sense of self-esteem, we can see how connecting with the power of agape can give us a basis more eternally sound than we could ever find by inventing ego-identities constructed from the experiences we have in early childhood and the fears that keep plaguing us from infancy. There is also an underlying meaning running through those verses that agape opens a person’s heart-sense to supply the basis for working to achieve what is best for the human community. That sense of common humanity is meant in the Greek expression ‘to me ta heats’ of verse 5, so that when we translate it as applying to agape, we see it means: ‘agape works against seeking selfish advantage over the common good.’”
Then I got such enjoyment from reading River Jordan’s “Praying for Stranger” that I used several quotes from it.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Agape for a friend
I finished a rough draft of Chapter 3 of my book. That helped me develop even more deeply my understanding of agape as I examined Rom. 12:9-19a and Gal. 5:13 & 22.
This 3rd Step in the 7-step agape prayer practice is about holding in prayer a friend and then a family member.
Part of the deepening of understanding was expressed this way: “As you practice this for many days, try to find a deep sense of your relationship with this person strengthening and growing. If this person is geographically near enough that you can be with them, then let this prayer practice lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing to this person when you are with them. Over the course of several months, you should do whatever is necessary to deepen your relationship. But if you are not geographically near this person, don’t let that be a problem, because God’s agape is not limited by space or time. The important point for you is to visualize what it would be like for this person to receive God’s agape, no matter where this person is. This works because you are praying with the attitude of spiritually following agape as it flows in the person’s life.
“Because some relationships that have developed over many years go through different periods of agreements and disagreements, and there may even be times of difficulties or even hurt feelings, you may experience, during this practice, the surfacing of memories that carry with them confused feelings toward the person. If these feelings begin to interfere with your sensing the flow of agape, then you may want to stop the practice long enough to work through any sensation of blockage. In fact, if a memory surfaces of some act that requires forgiveness, then you may actually need to contact the person and seek whatever forgiveness or reconciliation is required. This is necessary because you need to be completely honest with yourself in order to be honest with someone else. But especially, you need to be completely honest with yourself in order to be able to be open to the divine Presence. You need to be honest with yourself in order to truthfully experience the flow of agape.”
Then when I got into the part about holding a family member in prayer, I was able to look back over my family memories, and also I reflected on watching children grow and realizing how completely vulnerable human beings are in the first year of life. All humans literally could not survive without some form of nurturing. Our utter dependence on others is established at the beginning of life, and it is meant to continue on throughout our lives. All attempts to deny that we depend on one another can lead to very destructive behavior in society. If we don’t learn trust and patience very early and then don’t continue developing that into adulthood, we end up having a lot of problems relating with other people.
This 3rd Step in the 7-step agape prayer practice is about holding in prayer a friend and then a family member.
Part of the deepening of understanding was expressed this way: “As you practice this for many days, try to find a deep sense of your relationship with this person strengthening and growing. If this person is geographically near enough that you can be with them, then let this prayer practice lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing to this person when you are with them. Over the course of several months, you should do whatever is necessary to deepen your relationship. But if you are not geographically near this person, don’t let that be a problem, because God’s agape is not limited by space or time. The important point for you is to visualize what it would be like for this person to receive God’s agape, no matter where this person is. This works because you are praying with the attitude of spiritually following agape as it flows in the person’s life.
“Because some relationships that have developed over many years go through different periods of agreements and disagreements, and there may even be times of difficulties or even hurt feelings, you may experience, during this practice, the surfacing of memories that carry with them confused feelings toward the person. If these feelings begin to interfere with your sensing the flow of agape, then you may want to stop the practice long enough to work through any sensation of blockage. In fact, if a memory surfaces of some act that requires forgiveness, then you may actually need to contact the person and seek whatever forgiveness or reconciliation is required. This is necessary because you need to be completely honest with yourself in order to be honest with someone else. But especially, you need to be completely honest with yourself in order to be able to be open to the divine Presence. You need to be honest with yourself in order to truthfully experience the flow of agape.”
Then when I got into the part about holding a family member in prayer, I was able to look back over my family memories, and also I reflected on watching children grow and realizing how completely vulnerable human beings are in the first year of life. All humans literally could not survive without some form of nurturing. Our utter dependence on others is established at the beginning of life, and it is meant to continue on throughout our lives. All attempts to deny that we depend on one another can lead to very destructive behavior in society. If we don’t learn trust and patience very early and then don’t continue developing that into adulthood, we end up having a lot of problems relating with other people.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Let Agape flow in the heart of a special person
After finishing a very rough draft of Chapter 2 of my book, I realized that the very act of writing the book is helping me understand how to communicate agape. This 2nd Step in the 7-step agape prayer practice is about holding in prayer a person who has a special part in your spiritual development. Of course, as I've mentioned in previous postings, calling this a 'prayer' is a little misleading, because it is not what people normally mean by 'prayer.'
In order to get a feeling for what kind of praying could be involve with this approach, I advised the reader to practice this step rather than merely reading about it. I explained that the first time this phase of the agape prayer practice is begun, you can come at it from an attitude of honestly and truly visualizing the well-being of one person you choose for the focus. So from this unusual perspective on prayer, imagine specific ways for well-being to develop in the life of that person.
But also I mentioned that the person ‘praying’ is not asking for ‘something’ to happen, but is holding that special person in prayer. In a sense, when Step 2 is practiced, there should be a visualizing of spiritually sharing with that person in a way that a picture is created in the mind's eye of what it would be for that person to connect with agape deep within them and let agape flow in that person’s life.
An insight I came to when writing that chapter has to do with agape coming through another person relating to you. I put it this way: “You may sense God giving you agape through that person. That is one of the beautiful aspects to the spiritual power of agape, that God can bring it into your life through other people, and especially during a deeply moving worship service or a time of intense discussion about spiritual concerns. The more you work with agape, the easier it will be to feel like agape is ‘flowing’ from the person you choose for this step, especially when you are studying with that person or with a group in which that person is a member.”
As I was trying to find a way to describe the kind of prayer attitude I was meaning, I wrote: “St. Paul wrote some 2,000 years ago that the gift of agape is already there in your heart. So this type of prayer comes as a method for waking up to what is deep within you. And one way for a lot of people to know that they need to wake up happens when they see that they are denying that this special spiritual energy is pouring into their heart.”
The very process of writing this book has opened me to see so much more to the deeper dimension of agape.
In order to get a feeling for what kind of praying could be involve with this approach, I advised the reader to practice this step rather than merely reading about it. I explained that the first time this phase of the agape prayer practice is begun, you can come at it from an attitude of honestly and truly visualizing the well-being of one person you choose for the focus. So from this unusual perspective on prayer, imagine specific ways for well-being to develop in the life of that person.
But also I mentioned that the person ‘praying’ is not asking for ‘something’ to happen, but is holding that special person in prayer. In a sense, when Step 2 is practiced, there should be a visualizing of spiritually sharing with that person in a way that a picture is created in the mind's eye of what it would be for that person to connect with agape deep within them and let agape flow in that person’s life.
An insight I came to when writing that chapter has to do with agape coming through another person relating to you. I put it this way: “You may sense God giving you agape through that person. That is one of the beautiful aspects to the spiritual power of agape, that God can bring it into your life through other people, and especially during a deeply moving worship service or a time of intense discussion about spiritual concerns. The more you work with agape, the easier it will be to feel like agape is ‘flowing’ from the person you choose for this step, especially when you are studying with that person or with a group in which that person is a member.”
As I was trying to find a way to describe the kind of prayer attitude I was meaning, I wrote: “St. Paul wrote some 2,000 years ago that the gift of agape is already there in your heart. So this type of prayer comes as a method for waking up to what is deep within you. And one way for a lot of people to know that they need to wake up happens when they see that they are denying that this special spiritual energy is pouring into their heart.”
The very process of writing this book has opened me to see so much more to the deeper dimension of agape.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Agape from the human perspective
Each day the way I prepare to write more of my book is by going into a tree area at the far end of a park near my home and meditate on Rom. 5:5. As I’ve mentioned in previous postings, this morning prayer time includes a ritual to open myself to receive agape. This meditation practice has helped me deepen my awareness of agape. But I started this practice almost 3 years before the thought entered my mind to write my book.
That’s how I came to realize agape as a spiritual power that opens up my awareness of divine Presence manifesting to me. But what should have seemed obvious to me, and yet has only become obvious recently, is the point that this is an explanation from the human perspective.
Oh you might say, “Well, duh. What other perspective could we possibly have?” And yet, it’s important not to think it’s anything other than that. My attitude was that something was starting to happen in the morning, and yet there was something wrong with that perception.
So I went back to the Bible to look up the verse. The first mistake I’d made was glaringly obvious. It had to do with the human sense of time. I'd forgotten that the verse was not in the present tense; in fact, what usually gets called past, present, and future are there in that 1 verse: “and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s agape has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Rm. 5:5 New Revised Standard Version) What I’d forgotten is this -- Paul said, “has been poured....”
The second mistake came to me when I realized: God’s agape is not limited by time. Agape is ‘there’ in human hearts, agape has always been ‘there,’ agape will always be ‘there.’ The change that has come to me has to do with the eternal essence of agape.
So what should be obvious to me is the flow of agape from the center of my being has always been happening. Just because I started to become aware of it does not mean that it just started. That’s my own perception problem.
That’s merely another example of how people tend to see identity. What I needed to realize is I could not find my identity with God’s Presence as long as I expected an event that I thought was somehow God 'coming to my ego-identity.' But instead, what agape was doing for me was opening me up spiritually -- I merely had not been open to that awareness. So I needed to be made aware.
I’d tried to explain that this way in a Nov. 22, 2011 posting: “I came to realize that through that action of God's agape, (which came to me as a spiritual sensation that I was being ‘caringly’ and ‘lovingly’ drawn into a close, intimate relationship of divine Presence) I was experiencing an opening up in a deeply devotional way to becoming increasingly aware of a Presence that is always ‘with me’ because there is no way that the eternal Presence is ever ‘not there.’ Any sensation of ‘not there’ is strictly my own lack of awareness, and nothing more.
That’s how I came to realize agape as a spiritual power that opens up my awareness of divine Presence manifesting to me. But what should have seemed obvious to me, and yet has only become obvious recently, is the point that this is an explanation from the human perspective.
Oh you might say, “Well, duh. What other perspective could we possibly have?” And yet, it’s important not to think it’s anything other than that. My attitude was that something was starting to happen in the morning, and yet there was something wrong with that perception.
So I went back to the Bible to look up the verse. The first mistake I’d made was glaringly obvious. It had to do with the human sense of time. I'd forgotten that the verse was not in the present tense; in fact, what usually gets called past, present, and future are there in that 1 verse: “and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s agape has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Rm. 5:5 New Revised Standard Version) What I’d forgotten is this -- Paul said, “has been poured....”
The second mistake came to me when I realized: God’s agape is not limited by time. Agape is ‘there’ in human hearts, agape has always been ‘there,’ agape will always be ‘there.’ The change that has come to me has to do with the eternal essence of agape.
So what should be obvious to me is the flow of agape from the center of my being has always been happening. Just because I started to become aware of it does not mean that it just started. That’s my own perception problem.
That’s merely another example of how people tend to see identity. What I needed to realize is I could not find my identity with God’s Presence as long as I expected an event that I thought was somehow God 'coming to my ego-identity.' But instead, what agape was doing for me was opening me up spiritually -- I merely had not been open to that awareness. So I needed to be made aware.
I’d tried to explain that this way in a Nov. 22, 2011 posting: “I came to realize that through that action of God's agape, (which came to me as a spiritual sensation that I was being ‘caringly’ and ‘lovingly’ drawn into a close, intimate relationship of divine Presence) I was experiencing an opening up in a deeply devotional way to becoming increasingly aware of a Presence that is always ‘with me’ because there is no way that the eternal Presence is ever ‘not there.’ Any sensation of ‘not there’ is strictly my own lack of awareness, and nothing more.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Wondering about Agape
Writing this book has helped me deepen my awareness of agape. Also I have found myself aware of how much I don’t know about agape.
And as usual with me, what I don’t know is what bothers me. Partly, I’m bothered because I’ve been working on this blog for over 2 years and the book for 2 months, and yet I’m just starting to see that I’ve been missing a lot of the depth of spiritual meaning in agape.
What started this latest realization is my recent re-reading of the Bible quotes with ‘agape’ left untranslated. I started to see that the point being made there is this: agape is spiritual because there is the divine intent that humans must act on agape. That is a requirement -- that’s the point of calling the 2 Great Commandments and the New Commandment by that designation. We are created to live by agape. Humans are commanded!
When in my last posting I used a couple of quotes from my 1st draft of Ch. 1 I was expressing ...
To try seeing what they might mean, spiritually, I strung some of them together and came up with the following:
And as usual with me, what I don’t know is what bothers me. Partly, I’m bothered because I’ve been working on this blog for over 2 years and the book for 2 months, and yet I’m just starting to see that I’ve been missing a lot of the depth of spiritual meaning in agape.
What started this latest realization is my recent re-reading of the Bible quotes with ‘agape’ left untranslated. I started to see that the point being made there is this: agape is spiritual because there is the divine intent that humans must act on agape. That is a requirement -- that’s the point of calling the 2 Great Commandments and the New Commandment by that designation. We are created to live by agape. Humans are commanded!
When in my last posting I used a couple of quotes from my 1st draft of Ch. 1 I was expressing ...
“This type of prayer comes as a method for waking up to what is deep within you. It came to me as a deep spiritual sensation that was a way for finding, in the way that the ‘Kingdom Parables’ of Jesus are about finding what is at the true heart of Life. And in a similar way, the act of sending follows from a deep attitude of finding what is truly best for the ultimate well-being of people.”After I had posted that, I read it from the attitude of a reader finding it by exploring the internet. What struck me then was the thought that those words didn’t seem to come from me. They must have been inspired because I don’t know what they mean.
To try seeing what they might mean, spiritually, I strung some of them together and came up with the following:
Agape is meant to “wake us up to what is deep within” -- “at theThat shakes me up, because even though I do believe that agape is at the heart of what is “truly best for the ultimate well-being of people,” I don’t yet have a handle on what that means.
true heart of Life,” and for “finding what is truly best for the ultimate
well-being of people.”
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Agape Prayer book Ch. 1
I finished the 1st rough draft of Chapter 1 of my book “The 7 steps of Agape Prayer.” Here are a few excerpts.
“This type of prayer comes as a method for waking up to what is deep within you. It came to me as a deep spiritual sensation that was a way for finding, in the way that the ‘Kingdom Parables’ of Jesus are about finding what is at the true heart of Life. And in a similar way, the act of sending (that will be described in later chapters) follows from a deep attitude of finding what is truly best for the ultimate well-being of people.
“Let yourself feel the spiritual joy as you begin finding a vision of your well-being. Let a picture develop in your imagination of what would fulfill your life. Try to sense what that would feel like as your living is effected. Then sense how the spiritual power of agape is part of that. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of your being. Let the spiritual sensation come to you so you experience being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity.”
Most of the chapter used the methodology of Bible study. I used the approach advanced in this blog of leaving ‘agape’ untranslated so as to see the full impact of what agape means to Christian understanding. Of course, the main NT passage I concentrated an intense study of was 1 Cor. 13, but I also studied parts of Matthew, Luke, Romans, and Galatians.
“This type of prayer comes as a method for waking up to what is deep within you. It came to me as a deep spiritual sensation that was a way for finding, in the way that the ‘Kingdom Parables’ of Jesus are about finding what is at the true heart of Life. And in a similar way, the act of sending (that will be described in later chapters) follows from a deep attitude of finding what is truly best for the ultimate well-being of people.
“Let yourself feel the spiritual joy as you begin finding a vision of your well-being. Let a picture develop in your imagination of what would fulfill your life. Try to sense what that would feel like as your living is effected. Then sense how the spiritual power of agape is part of that. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of your being. Let the spiritual sensation come to you so you experience being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity.”
Most of the chapter used the methodology of Bible study. I used the approach advanced in this blog of leaving ‘agape’ untranslated so as to see the full impact of what agape means to Christian understanding. Of course, the main NT passage I concentrated an intense study of was 1 Cor. 13, but I also studied parts of Matthew, Luke, Romans, and Galatians.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Agape Prayer Practice -- the beginning of a book
I’ve decided to write a book based on these postings of the last couple of years. I’ll structure it using the form of extended prayer practice that I call Agape Prayer. The last time I reported in this blog on the “Agape Prayer practice” was in the April, 2012 and July 27, 2010 postings.
I developed 7 ‘steps’ with the practice, as I prayed for an expanding list of persons (a few of the ‘steps’ took a long time to develop, so I didn’t move from ‘step to step’ until I was fully ready). The book will give a general summary that makes this prayer practice available for anyone else to follow.
The general outline and extensive notes for the book are quickly falling in line. As the writing is developing, the book structure will be 7 chapters that correspond to the 7 steps of Agape Prayer. So far, I added also an 11-page introduction, mainly explaining my theory that ‘agape’ should not be translated in the Bible as ‘love.’ I plan to add an appendix that gives a selection of the main scripture readings where 'agape' appeared in the original Greek, and I will leave 'agape' untranslated in the listing.
I developed 7 ‘steps’ with the practice, as I prayed for an expanding list of persons (a few of the ‘steps’ took a long time to develop, so I didn’t move from ‘step to step’ until I was fully ready). The book will give a general summary that makes this prayer practice available for anyone else to follow.
The general outline and extensive notes for the book are quickly falling in line. As the writing is developing, the book structure will be 7 chapters that correspond to the 7 steps of Agape Prayer. So far, I added also an 11-page introduction, mainly explaining my theory that ‘agape’ should not be translated in the Bible as ‘love.’ I plan to add an appendix that gives a selection of the main scripture readings where 'agape' appeared in the original Greek, and I will leave 'agape' untranslated in the listing.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Agape Prayer Practice -- the beginning
For a couple of years, I’ve been developing a form of extended prayer practice. My prayers were enabled by what St. Paul referred to as the spiritual power of agape. As I worked with the prayer, it extended into a series of steps (or phases or expansions).
This series begins with RECEIVING, and the rest of the practice involves SENDING or praying for people, as is recommended in scripture.
The last time I reported in this blog on the “Agape Prayer practice” was in the 7/27/10 posting. (Most of the postings in this blog for the last 2 years have been about the receiving that makes up this first step in the series.)
As St. Paul explained in his letters: for those who open themselves to be receptive, the spiritual power of agape flows to us as a gift from God; then agape flows through us out to other people, then to the rest of Creation in patient, kind, caring, compassionate, accepting, loving, respectful, joy-filled ways. Even though we know that the flow does not originate with us, but our faith development is strengthened by praying that process.
I developed 7 ‘steps’ with the practice, as I prayed for an expanding list of persons (a few of the ‘steps’ took a long time to develop, so I didn’t move from ‘step to step’ until I was fully ready). I’ll now give a general summary that makes this prayer practice available for anyone else to follow.
STEP 1 begins with receiving agape from God. We need to practice becoming fully aware of what agape feels like as it opens us up spiritually and then draws us close to God’s Presence.
Honestly and truly pray for God to use the power of agape to give you a vision of your well-being. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of your being. Let the spiritual sensation come to you so you experience being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity.
Of course, these steps are only possible because agape is not coming from you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. Obviously, this prayer practice should lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing through your life’s work, out to actively helping the lives of people and to the care for Creation.
This series begins with RECEIVING, and the rest of the practice involves SENDING or praying for people, as is recommended in scripture.
[As the reader goes ‘down’ the postings that ‘come after’ this one in descending order, there will be 6 posts, with each one focusing on one step.]
The last time I reported in this blog on the “Agape Prayer practice” was in the 7/27/10 posting. (Most of the postings in this blog for the last 2 years have been about the receiving that makes up this first step in the series.)
As St. Paul explained in his letters: for those who open themselves to be receptive, the spiritual power of agape flows to us as a gift from God; then agape flows through us out to other people, then to the rest of Creation in patient, kind, caring, compassionate, accepting, loving, respectful, joy-filled ways. Even though we know that the flow does not originate with us, but our faith development is strengthened by praying that process.
I developed 7 ‘steps’ with the practice, as I prayed for an expanding list of persons (a few of the ‘steps’ took a long time to develop, so I didn’t move from ‘step to step’ until I was fully ready). I’ll now give a general summary that makes this prayer practice available for anyone else to follow.
STEP 1 begins with receiving agape from God. We need to practice becoming fully aware of what agape feels like as it opens us up spiritually and then draws us close to God’s Presence.
Honestly and truly pray for God to use the power of agape to give you a vision of your well-being. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of your being. Let the spiritual sensation come to you so you experience being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity.
As St. Paul wrote: “God’s agape has flooded our inmost heart through the Holy Spirit … given us.” (Romans 5:5 New English Bible, with 'agape' left untranslated, as it was meant to be)
Of course, these steps are only possible because agape is not coming from you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. Obviously, this prayer practice should lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing through your life’s work, out to actively helping the lives of people and to the care for Creation.
Step 2 of Agape Prayer Practice
Of the 7 steps involved with the Agape Prayer practice, STEP 2 begins the process of SENDING agape to other people. It starts with praying that the feeling you experienced personally in Step 1 happen in the life of a person you feel close to and respect.
This should be a person who is especially important in your life, possibly someone who had an influence on your spiritual development (maybe even a mentor or teacher). You should choose a person with whom you already have such a strong relationship that you deeply want that person to receive God’s agape in her or his life.
Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of that person. Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of that person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both God’s Presence intimately and the vastness of God’s Presence spreading throughout all Creation.
As you pray for this person, you should experience the spiritual concern that this person will find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.
Next, as you slowly, steadily practice steps 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, you will find yourself developing the deep, spiritual attitude of benevolence which seeks the well-being and happiness of others.
You should practice these steps from an attitude of realizing that agape is not originating with you; but instead, you are merely following the divine Presence manifesting the power of agape in the life of the person you are holding in prayer. Over several months spent prayerfully following God’s agape to bring well-being and deep joy to others, you will begin to experience a spreading of peace throughout your life.
As you continue this practice the power of agape should be felt flowing through your daily life, out to strengthen your relationships.
This should be a person who is especially important in your life, possibly someone who had an influence on your spiritual development (maybe even a mentor or teacher). You should choose a person with whom you already have such a strong relationship that you deeply want that person to receive God’s agape in her or his life.
Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of that person. Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of that person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both God’s Presence intimately and the vastness of God’s Presence spreading throughout all Creation.
As you pray for this person, you should experience the spiritual concern that this person will find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.
Next, as you slowly, steadily practice steps 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, you will find yourself developing the deep, spiritual attitude of benevolence which seeks the well-being and happiness of others.
You should practice these steps from an attitude of realizing that agape is not originating with you; but instead, you are merely following the divine Presence manifesting the power of agape in the life of the person you are holding in prayer. Over several months spent prayerfully following God’s agape to bring well-being and deep joy to others, you will begin to experience a spreading of peace throughout your life.
As you continue this practice the power of agape should be felt flowing through your daily life, out to strengthen your relationships.
Step 3 of Agape Prayer Practice
STEP 3 expands the prayer practice to include one more person. You choose to pray for a person who is a dearly beloved friend. You should choose a person you deeply wish for the well-being and happiness of that person.
While praying for this person, you should focus on experiencing the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into her or his heart. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity. Pray for this person to find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.
Follow the prayer process from Step 2 with this person. Practice praying for agape until you can genuinely feel the ‘soft, warm,’ comforting feeling of agape for this person. Imagine what you think would make this person happy, then hold that image in your heart as you pray.
As you practice this for many days, try to feel your relationship with this person growing and deepening. If this person is geographically near enough that you can be with them, then let this prayer practice lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing to this person when you are with them. Over the course of several months, you should sense a strengthening of your relationship.
But if you are not geographically near this person, don’t let that be a problem, because God’s agape is not limited by space or time. The important point for you is to pray for this person to receive God’s agape, no matter where this person is. In your time of prayer, picture a very specific way that agape is helping in this person's life.
Step 4 of Agape Prayer Practice
This is the 4th of 7 steps involved with the extended prayer practice using the spiritual power of agape. As I developed this practice, I prayed for an expanding list of persons (a few of the steps took a long time to develop, so I didn’t move from step to step until I was fully ready).
For this 4th step, choose to pray for someone who is a neutral person. Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of agape to come into the life of that person who is merely an acquaintance of yours, but who otherwise you are not especially friends with.
Follow the prayer process from Step 3 with the neutral person. Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of that person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence of God and the vastness of eternity. Desire that person to find personal well-being and happiness.
Remember that agape is not coming from you, but is a flow that moves through you. Your sense of prayer is not one of directing, but is more like you are merely following where God is sending agape.
So this prayer practice is not meant to stay inside you. Instead, there is a motivational force to it. You should feel inspired to actually follow agape out into the relationships of your life -- to feel the power of agape moving through your daily activity, out to actively helping lives.
For this 4th step, choose to pray for someone who is a neutral person. Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of agape to come into the life of that person who is merely an acquaintance of yours, but who otherwise you are not especially friends with.
Follow the prayer process from Step 3 with the neutral person. Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of that person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence of God and the vastness of eternity. Desire that person to find personal well-being and happiness.
Remember that agape is not coming from you, but is a flow that moves through you. Your sense of prayer is not one of directing, but is more like you are merely following where God is sending agape.
So this prayer practice is not meant to stay inside you. Instead, there is a motivational force to it. You should feel inspired to actually follow agape out into the relationships of your life -- to feel the power of agape moving through your daily activity, out to actively helping lives.
Step 5 of Agape Prayer Practice
Some people think the 5th step is the most difficult of the 7 steps in this series of the Agape Prayer practice, and so it requires a little different treatment.
This time when you expand the prayer practice to include one more person, choose to pray for a person who has done something irritable to you, or who might feel hostile toward you (even as an enemy).
(In case you are unable to immediately bring someone to mind as your choice for this step, try thinking through your acquaintances, and if someone comes to mind who you hesitate about when considering that person’s well-being, choose that person to pray for.)
It helps if you practice praying for this person as you did for the person in Step 3 -- for the spiritual power of agape to flow in the life of this person until you can genuinely feel the ‘soft, warm,’ comforting feeling of agape for them. Truly pray for the well-being of this person.
Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with this person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of the person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity. Desire that person to find personal well-being and deep sense of joy and peace. Practice Step 5 until you are able to honestly and truly think of this person equally as you do about all the people in the other steps.
As the Agape Prayer Practice develops for you, it helps to constantly keep realizing that these steps are only possible because agape does not originate with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. Obviously, this prayer practice should lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing through your life’s work, out to actively helping the lives of people.
This time when you expand the prayer practice to include one more person, choose to pray for a person who has done something irritable to you, or who might feel hostile toward you (even as an enemy).
As Jesus said, “But I say to you, share agape with your enemies and pray for those who harass you because of your faith so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. … Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing agape to everyone, so also you must be complete. … Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. … Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. … Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. … You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer; but if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. ... I give you a new commandment: Agapao each other. Just as I have agapan you, so you also must share agape with each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples.” (Mt. 5:44-48, 7-39; Jn. 13:34-35)
(In case you are unable to immediately bring someone to mind as your choice for this step, try thinking through your acquaintances, and if someone comes to mind who you hesitate about when considering that person’s well-being, choose that person to pray for.)
It helps if you practice praying for this person as you did for the person in Step 3 -- for the spiritual power of agape to flow in the life of this person until you can genuinely feel the ‘soft, warm,’ comforting feeling of agape for them. Truly pray for the well-being of this person.
Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with this person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of the person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity. Desire that person to find personal well-being and deep sense of joy and peace. Practice Step 5 until you are able to honestly and truly think of this person equally as you do about all the people in the other steps.
As the Agape Prayer Practice develops for you, it helps to constantly keep realizing that these steps are only possible because agape does not originate with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. Obviously, this prayer practice should lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing through your life’s work, out to actively helping the lives of people.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Step 6 of Agape Prayer Practice
STEP 6 takes us beyond the individual approach of Steps 1-5. So while each of those first 5 steps (or expansions) had us focusing on one person at a time, Step 6 is to expand ‘the circle of agape’ out to a group of people.
A good group to start with is one that you feel especially close to in such a way that you get a sense when you’re with that group that agape is flowing among at least a few of those in the group. So it becomes easy for you to pray for the well-being of both the individual members and the group as a whole. Pray for the spiritual power of agape to flow through the group in a way that increases the caring, compassion, and closeness among the members. During this prayer, begin imagining how the increase in agape becomes evident in the way the members relate to each other.
For my agape practice, the first example is a church because I use the agape prayer every morning with the Colorado churches that I pastored and the one I attend in retirement. Because I’m still in contact with these churches and they are still in my prayers anyway, it was a natural progression for me, as I developed Agape Prayer, to let them be the first groups for me to think about for praying for agape to spread throughout their members and their ministry in their neighborhoods. So I pray for God to strengthen their well-being and their sense of mission.
Other possible choices might be a school or family or neighborhood or housing complex. Pray to experience how God sends agape to them. When I say pray for the well-being of that group, I mean in the same way that you prayed for a person in Steps 2-5.
During the next 5 postings in this series, I will spend each posting focussing on one step.
As the Agape Prayer Practice develops for you, it helps to constantly keep realizing that these steps are only possible because agape does not originate with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. So you are merely following God’s agape into the interactions of a group.
We can imagine that if enough people throughout the world practiced such a prayer practice, a profound change would come about in the way groups, making up diverse backgrounds, would treat each other. Just imagine what would happen as huge numbers of people experienced a warm-hearted feeling of fellowship, sympathy and compassion. That could grow boundless and become the basis for overcoming all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers. At last a new kind of world would begin to become possible.
A good group to start with is one that you feel especially close to in such a way that you get a sense when you’re with that group that agape is flowing among at least a few of those in the group. So it becomes easy for you to pray for the well-being of both the individual members and the group as a whole. Pray for the spiritual power of agape to flow through the group in a way that increases the caring, compassion, and closeness among the members. During this prayer, begin imagining how the increase in agape becomes evident in the way the members relate to each other.
For my agape practice, the first example is a church because I use the agape prayer every morning with the Colorado churches that I pastored and the one I attend in retirement. Because I’m still in contact with these churches and they are still in my prayers anyway, it was a natural progression for me, as I developed Agape Prayer, to let them be the first groups for me to think about for praying for agape to spread throughout their members and their ministry in their neighborhoods. So I pray for God to strengthen their well-being and their sense of mission.
Other possible choices might be a school or family or neighborhood or housing complex. Pray to experience how God sends agape to them. When I say pray for the well-being of that group, I mean in the same way that you prayed for a person in Steps 2-5.
During the next 5 postings in this series, I will spend each posting focussing on one step.
As the Agape Prayer Practice develops for you, it helps to constantly keep realizing that these steps are only possible because agape does not originate with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. So you are merely following God’s agape into the interactions of a group.
We can imagine that if enough people throughout the world practiced such a prayer practice, a profound change would come about in the way groups, making up diverse backgrounds, would treat each other. Just imagine what would happen as huge numbers of people experienced a warm-hearted feeling of fellowship, sympathy and compassion. That could grow boundless and become the basis for overcoming all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers. At last a new kind of world would begin to become possible.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Step 7 of Agape Prayer Practice
The final step continues the extended prayer practice of Step 6. Even though I called them ‘steps,’ they are more in the form of expansions sensed while praying.
In that spiritual sense, Agape Prayer gives the feeling of following God’s agape as it spreads out to all of Creation.
STEP 7 is actually a series of expansions as ‘the circle of agape’ is understood to expand out and out to ever larger groups. So you might say that Step 7 involves 6 expansions: as you pray to ‘follow’ the flow of God’s agape, you imagine how agape spreads ...
1) to communities (beyond the expansion experienced in Step 6),
2) then to regions of a country,
3) then to nations,
4) then to continents. (When John 3:16 is studied backwards and forwards, the implication becomes the following: God’s agape is for the world [in Greek, “cosmos”], and Christ was sent to start spreading agape to all.)
5) then to non-human creatures,
6) finally to all of Creation. (You can begin this final expansion by choosing a place where you already feel especially close to the wonder of Creation, then practice feeling the flow of agape throughout that place.)
Obviously, that list is not meant to be in any order, because God’s agape goes where it will. And praying to ‘follow’ it is a long, drawn out development.
At first reading, these 6 expansions of Step 7 may sound like something that is completely different from Steps 2-5, but actually these expansions are what agape power is all about. During deep prayer you let the realization come to you that the spiritual power of agape flows through you as it flows through All of Creation. Each of us is merely part of Creation, but the important point is that you ARE part of Creation. Agape is how God draws you into connection with All of Creation.
So the 6 expansions of Step 7 are the way you pray yourself into your participation with the flow of agape, slowly and steadily, to bring you into All of Creation.
In that spiritual sense, Agape Prayer gives the feeling of following God’s agape as it spreads out to all of Creation.
STEP 7 is actually a series of expansions as ‘the circle of agape’ is understood to expand out and out to ever larger groups. So you might say that Step 7 involves 6 expansions: as you pray to ‘follow’ the flow of God’s agape, you imagine how agape spreads ...
1) to communities (beyond the expansion experienced in Step 6),
2) then to regions of a country,
3) then to nations,
4) then to continents. (When John 3:16 is studied backwards and forwards, the implication becomes the following: God’s agape is for the world [in Greek, “cosmos”], and Christ was sent to start spreading agape to all.)
5) then to non-human creatures,
6) finally to all of Creation. (You can begin this final expansion by choosing a place where you already feel especially close to the wonder of Creation, then practice feeling the flow of agape throughout that place.)
Obviously, that list is not meant to be in any order, because God’s agape goes where it will. And praying to ‘follow’ it is a long, drawn out development.
At first reading, these 6 expansions of Step 7 may sound like something that is completely different from Steps 2-5, but actually these expansions are what agape power is all about. During deep prayer you let the realization come to you that the spiritual power of agape flows through you as it flows through All of Creation. Each of us is merely part of Creation, but the important point is that you ARE part of Creation. Agape is how God draws you into connection with All of Creation.
So the 6 expansions of Step 7 are the way you pray yourself into your participation with the flow of agape, slowly and steadily, to bring you into All of Creation.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Special Agape Prayer Practice
For a couple of years, I’ve been developing a form of extended prayer practice using the spiritual power of agape. The last time I reported in this blog on the “agape prayer practice” was in the 7/27/10 posting. I won’t repeat what I said then, but instead will give a brief summary of how the practice has developed since then.
Because I carefully went through all of the scripture references on 7/27/10 (and in many other postings), I won’t repeat that. Instead, I’ll draw out from those scriptures the meaning that applies to agape. This practice involves praying for people, as is recommended in scripture. Specifically, during a time of prayer, I imagine God’s agape pouring into the heart of another person and adding to that person’s well-being.
As St. Paul explained in his letters, the spiritual power of agape flows to us as a gift from God, then agape flows through us out to other people, then to the rest of Creation in patient, kind, caring, compassionate, accepting, loving, respectful, joy-filled ways. Even though we know that the flow does not originate with us, but it helps our faith development to pray that process.
I developed 7 steps with the practice, as I prayed for an expanding list of persons (a few of the steps took a long time to develop, so I didn’t move from step to step until I was fully ready). I’ll now give a general summary that makes this prayer practice available for anyone else to follow.
STEP 1 begins with RECEIVING agape from God. We need to practice becoming fully aware of what agape feels like as it opens us up spiritually and then draws us close to God’s Presence. (Most of the postings in this blog for the last 2 years have been about this step.)
STEP 2 begins the process of SENDING agape to other people. It starts with praying that the feeling experienced in Step 1 happen in the life of a person you feel close to and respect. You should choose a person you deeply want to receive God’s agape in her or his life. Prayerfully feel God's agape flowing into the life of that respected person.
STEP 3 expands the prayer practice to include one more person. You choose to pray for a person who is a dearly beloved friend. Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of that person. Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of that person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity. Desire that person to find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.
STEP 4 is choosing a neutral person. Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of agape to come into the life of a person who is merely an acquaintance of yours, but who otherwise you are not especially friends with. Follow the prayer process from Step 3 with the neutral person.
STEP 5 is the hardest; you should choose someone who has done something irritable to you, or who might feel hostile toward you (even as an enemy). Practice praying (as in Step 3) for agape for that person until you can genuinely feel the ‘soft, warm,’ comforting feeling of agape for them. Truly pray for the well-being of that person.
STEP 6 is to expand ‘the circle of agape’ out to a group of people; for example, a church or school or family or neighborhood or housing complex. Pray to experience how God sends agape to them.
STEP 7 is to expand ‘the circle of agape’ out and out to ever larger groups; to communities, even to regions of a country, then to nations, then to continents. Eventually, pray for agape to non-human creatures, and finally to all of Creation.
During the next 7 postings, each one will focus on one step.
Of course, these steps are only possible because agape is not originating with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. Obviously, this prayer practice should lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing through your life’s work, out to actively helping the lives of people and to the care for Creation.
Because I carefully went through all of the scripture references on 7/27/10 (and in many other postings), I won’t repeat that. Instead, I’ll draw out from those scriptures the meaning that applies to agape. This practice involves praying for people, as is recommended in scripture. Specifically, during a time of prayer, I imagine God’s agape pouring into the heart of another person and adding to that person’s well-being.
As St. Paul explained in his letters, the spiritual power of agape flows to us as a gift from God, then agape flows through us out to other people, then to the rest of Creation in patient, kind, caring, compassionate, accepting, loving, respectful, joy-filled ways. Even though we know that the flow does not originate with us, but it helps our faith development to pray that process.
I developed 7 steps with the practice, as I prayed for an expanding list of persons (a few of the steps took a long time to develop, so I didn’t move from step to step until I was fully ready). I’ll now give a general summary that makes this prayer practice available for anyone else to follow.
STEP 1 begins with RECEIVING agape from God. We need to practice becoming fully aware of what agape feels like as it opens us up spiritually and then draws us close to God’s Presence. (Most of the postings in this blog for the last 2 years have been about this step.)
STEP 2 begins the process of SENDING agape to other people. It starts with praying that the feeling experienced in Step 1 happen in the life of a person you feel close to and respect. You should choose a person you deeply want to receive God’s agape in her or his life. Prayerfully feel God's agape flowing into the life of that respected person.
STEP 3 expands the prayer practice to include one more person. You choose to pray for a person who is a dearly beloved friend. Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of that person. Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of that person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity. Desire that person to find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.
STEP 4 is choosing a neutral person. Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of agape to come into the life of a person who is merely an acquaintance of yours, but who otherwise you are not especially friends with. Follow the prayer process from Step 3 with the neutral person.
STEP 5 is the hardest; you should choose someone who has done something irritable to you, or who might feel hostile toward you (even as an enemy). Practice praying (as in Step 3) for agape for that person until you can genuinely feel the ‘soft, warm,’ comforting feeling of agape for them. Truly pray for the well-being of that person.
STEP 6 is to expand ‘the circle of agape’ out to a group of people; for example, a church or school or family or neighborhood or housing complex. Pray to experience how God sends agape to them.
STEP 7 is to expand ‘the circle of agape’ out and out to ever larger groups; to communities, even to regions of a country, then to nations, then to continents. Eventually, pray for agape to non-human creatures, and finally to all of Creation.
During the next 7 postings, each one will focus on one step.
Of course, these steps are only possible because agape is not originating with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. Obviously, this prayer practice should lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing through your life’s work, out to actively helping the lives of people and to the care for Creation.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Putting Agape teachings into action
This is my 50th posting to this agape blog. So it’s kind of a milestone for me. I don’t need to pause to summarize those postings because I already did that for the 2-year anniversary posting on Jan. 11.
What I want to do is pick up loose ends of what I think I may have missed or just not talked about.
First -- in my last posting I looked at the ‘agape’ passages from the Gospel According to John, to study how agape served as the basis underlying all the teachings there, but I left one loose end.
When I got to the ‘Last Supper’ section, I didn’t mention the emphasis on the ultimate sacrifice that a person living by agape must be willing to make. I decided to hold off my comments about that to this new posting.
The emphasis started when Peter wanted to show that he understood the importance of that new commandment (the agape commandment). He gave it the ultimate sacrificial meaning when he said, “I will lay down my life for you.” But Jesus answers by showing Peter that he won’t fully understand the sacrificial meaning behind agape until he is able to fully put it into action. Jesus says, “before the cock crows you will have denied me three times.” (13:34-38)
And we remember, of course, the sacrificial comment that Jesus made later when he talked about agape becoming so active among a group of friends, such that they must be willing to lay down their life for a friend. The meaning, of course, shows the sacrificial aspect of agape -- that people living by the power of agape must let agape lead them to give their all. And Jesus gave his life as the great example.
Secondly -- the full meaning (of Jesus calling them to a future of remaining in his agape) came when he commanded them to live by agape so that they would become increasingly more aware of God’s power with them.
To my understanding, the most important point that summarizes all of the teaching Jesus gave about agape was increased awareness of God’s power in our lives and in our relationships.
That’s why I interpret the main mission of Jesus as teaching about agape and trying to bring God’s agape into people’s lives in such a way that began to change the world. Then the sad fact that the Book of Acts illustrates is the difficulty people have putting the power of agape into action. Even the closest followers of Jesus did not quickly learn how to live by agape. But slowly, and haltingly, they did learn.
And so the long history of Christianity shows that not only was it not easy, but also that a lot of sacrifice happened. Not very many people learned the importance of living by the power of agape. At least the written record was left for us to read, but even at that, we miss the important point if we end up mistranslating ‘agape’ into words that don’t convey the full spiritual power that can come into our lives.
What I want to do is pick up loose ends of what I think I may have missed or just not talked about.
First -- in my last posting I looked at the ‘agape’ passages from the Gospel According to John, to study how agape served as the basis underlying all the teachings there, but I left one loose end.
When I got to the ‘Last Supper’ section, I didn’t mention the emphasis on the ultimate sacrifice that a person living by agape must be willing to make. I decided to hold off my comments about that to this new posting.
The emphasis started when Peter wanted to show that he understood the importance of that new commandment (the agape commandment). He gave it the ultimate sacrificial meaning when he said, “I will lay down my life for you.” But Jesus answers by showing Peter that he won’t fully understand the sacrificial meaning behind agape until he is able to fully put it into action. Jesus says, “before the cock crows you will have denied me three times.” (13:34-38)
And we remember, of course, the sacrificial comment that Jesus made later when he talked about agape becoming so active among a group of friends, such that they must be willing to lay down their life for a friend. The meaning, of course, shows the sacrificial aspect of agape -- that people living by the power of agape must let agape lead them to give their all. And Jesus gave his life as the great example.
Secondly -- the full meaning (of Jesus calling them to a future of remaining in his agape) came when he commanded them to live by agape so that they would become increasingly more aware of God’s power with them.
To my understanding, the most important point that summarizes all of the teaching Jesus gave about agape was increased awareness of God’s power in our lives and in our relationships.
That’s why I interpret the main mission of Jesus as teaching about agape and trying to bring God’s agape into people’s lives in such a way that began to change the world. Then the sad fact that the Book of Acts illustrates is the difficulty people have putting the power of agape into action. Even the closest followers of Jesus did not quickly learn how to live by agape. But slowly, and haltingly, they did learn.
And so the long history of Christianity shows that not only was it not easy, but also that a lot of sacrifice happened. Not very many people learned the importance of living by the power of agape. At least the written record was left for us to read, but even at that, we miss the important point if we end up mistranslating ‘agape’ into words that don’t convey the full spiritual power that can come into our lives.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Agape teachings throughout John
When I re-read that listing of scriptures, I was struck by how much the ‘agape’ passages from the Gospel According to John served as the basis underlying all the teachings there.
That thought, of course, especially came to me from the place in the ‘Last Supper’ section where Jesus is giving his final instructions about the importance of agape. He told them that they would be known by how much other people saw agape coming through their actions. (I understand those verses to mean, “Share agape with each other. Just as I have shared agape with you, so you also must share agape with each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you share agape with each other.” (Jn. 13:34-35)) In other words, as I mentioned in a previous posting, their identity as a faith community is based on how alive the flowing of God’s agape is among them.
So, keeping that in mind, I went through the rest of the Gospel. What follows is what I learned.
The first time ‘agape’ is used in John is in the famous 3:16 verse. The implication is that the power of God’s agape to bring eternal Life was made possible through the work of Christ.
To me that implication is extended into the incident with the Samaritan woman at the well. So (especially where he invoked eternal Life (4:14)), I can’t help but think that Jesus was using the image of living water to refer to agape, because the whole incident is an illustration of Jesus using the influence of agape to overcome that ancient hatred that existed between Judaeans and Samaritans. The incident also illustrated Jesus overcoming the old custom of a woman not being allowed to speak alone to a man in public. So that account’s image of living water pointed to the power of agape to overcome hatreds and prejudices.
At another place I think reference is made to the eternal Life power of agape, when Jesus says, “What the Father does, the Son does. For the Father agapao the Son and shows him all his works, and will show greater yet, to fill you with wonder. … so the Son gives Life to people, as he determines.” (Jn. 5:20-21 NEB)
At another place the transformational power of agape is discussed in the difficult verses from 12:24-25, where we see that it is a misuse of agape to try clinging to the old ego-identity self. Instead, a person must turn away from the worldly definition of identity and use agape’s power of eternal Life to form a new identity.
When we get to the ‘Last Supper’ section, Jesus starts his final teachings by saying, “I give you a new commandment: share agape with one another; as I have shared agape with you, then all will know that you are my disciples.” (13:34-35)
To me it seems that Ch. 14 is an extended teaching about the meaning of agape, and when the translation correction is made -- to leave ‘agape’ intact, where it was meant to be -- then the spiritual meaning becomes clear. This is especially obvious when we take into consideration the way 14:15-17, 23-26 link agape with the Holy Spirit, and then 15:9-13 talks about agape dwelling in his followers in such a way that God’s Spirit dwells in them.
When Jesus called them to a future of remaining in his agape, he commanded them to live by agape so that they would become increasingly more aware of God’s power with them. Today, people who want to follow the teachings of Jesus, need to see themselves as also being under that commandment. But of course, agape only becomes a fully functioning, strong influence on life when it is recognized.
That thought, of course, especially came to me from the place in the ‘Last Supper’ section where Jesus is giving his final instructions about the importance of agape. He told them that they would be known by how much other people saw agape coming through their actions. (I understand those verses to mean, “Share agape with each other. Just as I have shared agape with you, so you also must share agape with each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you share agape with each other.” (Jn. 13:34-35)) In other words, as I mentioned in a previous posting, their identity as a faith community is based on how alive the flowing of God’s agape is among them.
So, keeping that in mind, I went through the rest of the Gospel. What follows is what I learned.
The first time ‘agape’ is used in John is in the famous 3:16 verse. The implication is that the power of God’s agape to bring eternal Life was made possible through the work of Christ.
To me that implication is extended into the incident with the Samaritan woman at the well. So (especially where he invoked eternal Life (4:14)), I can’t help but think that Jesus was using the image of living water to refer to agape, because the whole incident is an illustration of Jesus using the influence of agape to overcome that ancient hatred that existed between Judaeans and Samaritans. The incident also illustrated Jesus overcoming the old custom of a woman not being allowed to speak alone to a man in public. So that account’s image of living water pointed to the power of agape to overcome hatreds and prejudices.
At another place I think reference is made to the eternal Life power of agape, when Jesus says, “What the Father does, the Son does. For the Father agapao the Son and shows him all his works, and will show greater yet, to fill you with wonder. … so the Son gives Life to people, as he determines.” (Jn. 5:20-21 NEB)
At another place the transformational power of agape is discussed in the difficult verses from 12:24-25, where we see that it is a misuse of agape to try clinging to the old ego-identity self. Instead, a person must turn away from the worldly definition of identity and use agape’s power of eternal Life to form a new identity.
When we get to the ‘Last Supper’ section, Jesus starts his final teachings by saying, “I give you a new commandment: share agape with one another; as I have shared agape with you, then all will know that you are my disciples.” (13:34-35)
To me it seems that Ch. 14 is an extended teaching about the meaning of agape, and when the translation correction is made -- to leave ‘agape’ intact, where it was meant to be -- then the spiritual meaning becomes clear. This is especially obvious when we take into consideration the way 14:15-17, 23-26 link agape with the Holy Spirit, and then 15:9-13 talks about agape dwelling in his followers in such a way that God’s Spirit dwells in them.
When Jesus called them to a future of remaining in his agape, he commanded them to live by agape so that they would become increasingly more aware of God’s power with them. Today, people who want to follow the teachings of Jesus, need to see themselves as also being under that commandment. But of course, agape only becomes a fully functioning, strong influence on life when it is recognized.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Agape as channel for divine permeating
Recently I read through the scripture quotes about agape that I’d included in my Aug. 20 posting. That inspired me during morning prayer to realize that agape serves for us as the channel through which divine Presence permeates our being. So serving as a spiritual channel, agape opens us to the manifesting of divine Presence in our lives.
Also, it is through agape that we are opened to the vastness of divine Presence. So agape opens us up to having a spiritual sensation of divine Presence so vast that it is eternal and formless. And yet agape allows us to participate in that vast, eternal, formless Essence. It is such a spiritual sensation of participating that shows us how we can identify with the vast, eternal, formless Essence.
That is how agape helps us completely change our sense of identity. We are able to see how to readjust our thinking about identity. Agape helps us start to build a personal identity based on being connected with and participating with divine Presence. Or as the ancient expression put it: each person sees herself or himself as a child of God.
As we let God’s agape work in our lives, it also serves as a channel for spiritual power to flow out to our relationships, and in that sense we serve as a channel for agape to flow in our world. Each of us helps to increase the influence of agape when we let it flow through our actions.
Agape helps us realize that we are participating in something so much more powerful than anything we could have developed by trying to identify as an individual personality. So agape helps us know how much more we are than we ever thought possible.
When I thought about how great that possibility is, I began remembering one of my favorite old hymns. This musical memory took me back to the days before I became aware of the problems with translating ‘agape’ as ‘divine love.’ The hymn was by Charles Wesley and was titled “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.” So I got out my old hymnal and re-wrote the words as follows:
Also, it is through agape that we are opened to the vastness of divine Presence. So agape opens us up to having a spiritual sensation of divine Presence so vast that it is eternal and formless. And yet agape allows us to participate in that vast, eternal, formless Essence. It is such a spiritual sensation of participating that shows us how we can identify with the vast, eternal, formless Essence.
That is how agape helps us completely change our sense of identity. We are able to see how to readjust our thinking about identity. Agape helps us start to build a personal identity based on being connected with and participating with divine Presence. Or as the ancient expression put it: each person sees herself or himself as a child of God.
As we let God’s agape work in our lives, it also serves as a channel for spiritual power to flow out to our relationships, and in that sense we serve as a channel for agape to flow in our world. Each of us helps to increase the influence of agape when we let it flow through our actions.
Agape helps us realize that we are participating in something so much more powerful than anything we could have developed by trying to identify as an individual personality. So agape helps us know how much more we are than we ever thought possible.
When I thought about how great that possibility is, I began remembering one of my favorite old hymns. This musical memory took me back to the days before I became aware of the problems with translating ‘agape’ as ‘divine love.’ The hymn was by Charles Wesley and was titled “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.” So I got out my old hymnal and re-wrote the words as follows:
“Agape, all loves excelling. Joy of eternity come to all. / Fix in us your humble dwelling. All your wonders share for all. / Jesus, you are all compassion, pure, agape you are. / Visit us with your salvation, spread to all, near and far. / Breathe, O breathe your spiritual agape in every troubled breast. / Let us all in you inherit, Let us find your promised rest. / You we would be always blessing; Alpha and Omega be; / End of faith, as its beginning, Set our hearts at liberty. / Come, almighty to deliver, Let us all your Life receive. / Pray, and praise you without ceasing, in agape to believe. / Finish then, your new creation; Pure and spotless let us be.”
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Agape is our hope
I ended the previous posting by trying to project into the future, to a time when agape has been able to transform human living. To me that is the only way there is still a glimmer of hope for our survival.
So many times during the 2 years of this blog I quoted Romans 5:5. But today I want to focus on the way Paul approached that all important statement. He introduced the statement by writing about HOPE. And then he linked hope to agape.
During the years of my increased understanding of the power of agape, hope has taken on deeper meaning. Of course, we today have to see the hope expressed by Paul as only a small glimmer of what we are beginning to see ahead of us. And it all has to do with the transformation in human relations that is being brought about by God’s agape.
Otherwise… the human race is saddled with another method, because our long history shows that there are only 2 ways to accomplish all the ethical commandments of the Bible (or of all the religions of the world, for that matter). One way is by means of complicated systems of crime and punishment. But of course, that long history has shown (sadly) that a complex system of laws enforced by a system of punishment, doesn’t work.
So after thousands of years of trying all kinds of punishment forms, the laws keep being broken -- people still cheat and steal from each other, people still beat up on one another, people still murder, and groups, communities, and nations still make war against each other.
The other method, of course, is for agape to transform the hearts and lives of people.
So my vision of hope for relations between individuals, within groups, between groups, in communities, and even between nations -- relies on agape.
And where does such a powerful, transforming force come from? According to 1 John 4 ….
So many times during the 2 years of this blog I quoted Romans 5:5. But today I want to focus on the way Paul approached that all important statement. He introduced the statement by writing about HOPE. And then he linked hope to agape.
During the years of my increased understanding of the power of agape, hope has taken on deeper meaning. Of course, we today have to see the hope expressed by Paul as only a small glimmer of what we are beginning to see ahead of us. And it all has to do with the transformation in human relations that is being brought about by God’s agape.
Otherwise… the human race is saddled with another method, because our long history shows that there are only 2 ways to accomplish all the ethical commandments of the Bible (or of all the religions of the world, for that matter). One way is by means of complicated systems of crime and punishment. But of course, that long history has shown (sadly) that a complex system of laws enforced by a system of punishment, doesn’t work.
So after thousands of years of trying all kinds of punishment forms, the laws keep being broken -- people still cheat and steal from each other, people still beat up on one another, people still murder, and groups, communities, and nations still make war against each other.
The other method, of course, is for agape to transform the hearts and lives of people.
So my vision of hope for relations between individuals, within groups, between groups, in communities, and even between nations -- relies on agape.
And where does such a powerful, transforming force come from? According to 1 John 4 ….
…. “Agape is from God, and everyone who shares agape is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t share agape does not know God, because God is agape. … We have known and have believed the agape that God has for us. God is agape, and those who remain in agape remain in God and God remains in them. … There is no fear in agape, but perfect agape drives out fear, because fear expects punishment.” (1 Jn 4: 7-8; 16-18a)
Monday, January 23, 2012
What is God’s action?
As I continue considering the vast implications of agape as God’s only action, I find myself wondering: how do people personally experience the power of Creation? For my own spiritual awareness, the power of Creation manifests to me as agape. That’s how I see agape personalizing divine Presence. Of course, the power of agape is very subtle; and yet -- is that not how we ‘sense’ divine Presence? Even though I've read about the 'crashing, overwhelming, flash' type of spiritual encounter (for example, Paul on the road to Damascus), I've never met anyone who it happen to them.
I mentioned in my previous posting that I’ve come back several times to that section of the New Testament that we call 1 John. When I started re-reading it by leaving ‘agape’ in its original form (as we were meant to read it), I began to see much deeper meaning opening up to me. Slowly, over the last couple of years, my perspective was transformed as I realized that 1 John used ‘agape’ in a way to convey God's action as it is manifested to people.
So what follows is my reading of the most compelling verses:
As I showed in last April 18’s posting, the very identity of the followers of Jesus is defined by living by the power of spiritual agape, and then sharing agape with each other and also allowing the Holy Spirit to extend agape through our actions out to others. (John 13:34-35) Jesus was demonstrating to his closest followers what that spiritual power could do in human life and in relationships. Also in that Last Supper section of John, Jesus promised, “If you share my agape, you will keep my commandments. I will ask the Father, and he will send spiritual power, to be with you forever.” (14:15-17) So for the Gospel of John, Christian = agape.
I see Paul confirming that with Romans 5:5 -- “The agape of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Paul seemed to be saying that the spiritual power sent by Jesus continued to pour God's agape into the hearts of his followers and into the heart of the community of followers.
The sad realization, about the increasingly violent world, is that not enough of those claiming to be Christians actually do learn to live by agape. When Christians don’t put agape into action, then the potential divine influence (spread through Christian compassion and kindness) doesn’t get realized strongly enough to produce the desperately needed reduction in violence. And yet... God has specifically called us to that work of reducing violence.
I’ve always thought of those verses in 1 Jn. as starting a major new perspective on theology. So now, after 2,000 years, we can begin to see those verses showing that agape is the main action of God.
To me that leaves people throughout the world with the immediate work to come to terms with what that means for the survival of the human race. So it is through agape transforming human living, that we can see there is still a glimmer of hope for our very survival. Such transformation has vast implications for relations between individuals, within groups, between groups, in communities, and even between nations. Otherwise the fearfulness and destructive tendencies of humans will lead us to ruin our communities and our environment, thus jeopardizing the quality of living on the surface of this planet.
I mentioned in my previous posting that I’ve come back several times to that section of the New Testament that we call 1 John. When I started re-reading it by leaving ‘agape’ in its original form (as we were meant to read it), I began to see much deeper meaning opening up to me. Slowly, over the last couple of years, my perspective was transformed as I realized that 1 John used ‘agape’ in a way to convey God's action as it is manifested to people.
So what follows is my reading of the most compelling verses:
“Agape is from God, and everyone who shares agape is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t share agape does not know God, because God is agape. … We have known and have believed the agape that God has for us. God is agape, and those who remain in agape remain in God and God remains in them. … There is no fear in agape, but perfect agape drives out fear.” (1 Jn 4: 7-8; 16-18a)When I read those verses that way (with 'agape' inserted in its spiritual power meaning), I'm able to see a whole new realm of meaning.
As I showed in last April 18’s posting, the very identity of the followers of Jesus is defined by living by the power of spiritual agape, and then sharing agape with each other and also allowing the Holy Spirit to extend agape through our actions out to others. (John 13:34-35) Jesus was demonstrating to his closest followers what that spiritual power could do in human life and in relationships. Also in that Last Supper section of John, Jesus promised, “If you share my agape, you will keep my commandments. I will ask the Father, and he will send spiritual power, to be with you forever.” (14:15-17) So for the Gospel of John, Christian = agape.
I see Paul confirming that with Romans 5:5 -- “The agape of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Paul seemed to be saying that the spiritual power sent by Jesus continued to pour God's agape into the hearts of his followers and into the heart of the community of followers.
The sad realization, about the increasingly violent world, is that not enough of those claiming to be Christians actually do learn to live by agape. When Christians don’t put agape into action, then the potential divine influence (spread through Christian compassion and kindness) doesn’t get realized strongly enough to produce the desperately needed reduction in violence. And yet... God has specifically called us to that work of reducing violence.
I’ve always thought of those verses in 1 Jn. as starting a major new perspective on theology. So now, after 2,000 years, we can begin to see those verses showing that agape is the main action of God.
To me that leaves people throughout the world with the immediate work to come to terms with what that means for the survival of the human race. So it is through agape transforming human living, that we can see there is still a glimmer of hope for our very survival. Such transformation has vast implications for relations between individuals, within groups, between groups, in communities, and even between nations. Otherwise the fearfulness and destructive tendencies of humans will lead us to ruin our communities and our environment, thus jeopardizing the quality of living on the surface of this planet.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Two years blogging about agape
Two years ago I started this blog about agape. I started by struggling with what St. Paul was working so hard to explain about 'agape.' I wondered why everyone seemed to think Paul would need to work that hard to explain love, and yet he never used any of the commonly used Greek words for 'love.' Obviously something was wrong with the usual interpretation.
When Paul found himself being asked by non-Jewish Greeks to explain the teachings of Jesus Christ, he seemed to have realized that some of the words used by Greek-speaking Jews were not familiar to the average Greek. The main one of these words was ‘agape.’ So he spent a lot of time explaining what ‘agape’ meant.
When we read those passages from his letters, it helps our understanding if we start with the basic assumption that he was talking about a spiritual power (and definitely he was not talking about what the average Greek thought of as love).
I came to that conclusion many years ago, when I first started finding out that English translations of the Bible did not bring out the full meaning of the original text. Eventually I found out that the English word ‘love’ did not capture the spiritual meaning that Paul was expressing with the word ‘agape.’ Of course, everything that the average American means by our word ‘love’ was expressed by the words that the average Greek used (such as, 'eros,' 'philia,' and 'storge'). And none of those Greek words for love were what Paul was trying to convey with the word ‘agape.’ That's why he didn't use those words. So I concluded that the reason Paul did not use any of the usual Greek words for love was because he was not talking about love.
During these 2 years of writing, I’ve come back several times to that section of the New Testament that we call 1 John. The more I continue studying those parts of 1 John that deal with agape, the more I see why we lose most of the meaning when we translate ‘agape’ with our common English word ‘love.’ 1 John used ‘agape’ in a way to convey God's action as it is manifested to people. I finally realize that the author's deep awareness of God's action through agape is what led to the great acclamation: “God is agape.”
It is through that understanding that these 2 years of writing culminated on Dec. 19 with the thought coming to me: Agape is God’s ONLY action. During the weeks since then, I’ve been struggling to understand what such a conclusion of spiritual awareness could mean. What would the implications then be for all those other thousands of years of theories about God’s action?
I think such a thought conveys the full meaning that God’s supreme act to any human being comes through not only agape opening a person to divine Presence, but also agape motivating and empowering humans to actions of respect and caring with those around us. That’s how human sensibility becomes aware of agape’s double power!
And so I concluded that by the time Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, he could express this profound insight: through giving agape to humans, God makes it possible for us to be able to find the spiritual reality of intimate, intense affection such that we can give full acceptance and mutual respect to everyone around us. And Paul also explained that it is the power of God’s Presence that can transform a human life to perform such profound actions.
And so I was finally able to say on Dec. 27: the very survival of the human race depends on coming to terms with agape as God’s only action.
When Paul found himself being asked by non-Jewish Greeks to explain the teachings of Jesus Christ, he seemed to have realized that some of the words used by Greek-speaking Jews were not familiar to the average Greek. The main one of these words was ‘agape.’ So he spent a lot of time explaining what ‘agape’ meant.
When we read those passages from his letters, it helps our understanding if we start with the basic assumption that he was talking about a spiritual power (and definitely he was not talking about what the average Greek thought of as love).
I came to that conclusion many years ago, when I first started finding out that English translations of the Bible did not bring out the full meaning of the original text. Eventually I found out that the English word ‘love’ did not capture the spiritual meaning that Paul was expressing with the word ‘agape.’ Of course, everything that the average American means by our word ‘love’ was expressed by the words that the average Greek used (such as, 'eros,' 'philia,' and 'storge'). And none of those Greek words for love were what Paul was trying to convey with the word ‘agape.’ That's why he didn't use those words. So I concluded that the reason Paul did not use any of the usual Greek words for love was because he was not talking about love.
During these 2 years of writing, I’ve come back several times to that section of the New Testament that we call 1 John. The more I continue studying those parts of 1 John that deal with agape, the more I see why we lose most of the meaning when we translate ‘agape’ with our common English word ‘love.’ 1 John used ‘agape’ in a way to convey God's action as it is manifested to people. I finally realize that the author's deep awareness of God's action through agape is what led to the great acclamation: “God is agape.”
It is through that understanding that these 2 years of writing culminated on Dec. 19 with the thought coming to me: Agape is God’s ONLY action. During the weeks since then, I’ve been struggling to understand what such a conclusion of spiritual awareness could mean. What would the implications then be for all those other thousands of years of theories about God’s action?
I think such a thought conveys the full meaning that God’s supreme act to any human being comes through not only agape opening a person to divine Presence, but also agape motivating and empowering humans to actions of respect and caring with those around us. That’s how human sensibility becomes aware of agape’s double power!
And so I concluded that by the time Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, he could express this profound insight: through giving agape to humans, God makes it possible for us to be able to find the spiritual reality of intimate, intense affection such that we can give full acceptance and mutual respect to everyone around us. And Paul also explained that it is the power of God’s Presence that can transform a human life to perform such profound actions.
And so I was finally able to say on Dec. 27: the very survival of the human race depends on coming to terms with agape as God’s only action.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)