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Life in the Heart of God

Balboa Press

Chapter One

Is faith relevant in your daily life? These pages represent a journey that will put you on a path to Relevant Faith and Life In and From the Heart of God.

Before your birth, where were you? After your body dies, where will you be? You know the answer to both of these questions. Deep within you know, but you have forgotten. You are functioning detached, to some degree, from the source of your existence. I recently asked a ten-year old these same two questions. Without hesitation she answered, "With God" to both questions. I asked the same question of a thirty-year old and he answered this way: "Before I was born I didn't exist and after I die I will be nowhere, just dead." My pastoral heart was uplifted by the answer of the ten-year old and my heart sank when I heard the answer of the 30-year old.

There is undeniably a serious disconnect for many between what traditional religion endeavors to teach and what is internalized and becomes spiritually relevant. Going through the motions, enduring the experience of church, is woefully insufficient to awaken us to the truth of our spiritual identity. For many the faith we hold during childhood is simple, carefree and uncomplicated. As we grow in years, our simple knowing is abandoned and replaced by a flood of contradictory information. Some of the information we receive is the truth, some of it is laced with fear passed on mindlessly from generation to generation, well-intentioned, but fraught with misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Additionally, our personal experience often contradicts what we once believed to be true.

When we were young, information shared with us by someone we trusted, we accepted as fact. As a child I believed everything I was taught in Sunday school.

• God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh.

• God created all people, including me.

• God gave us ten commandments – rules to live by.

• Break any of those commands and God would punish you.

• God caused a flood and saved Noah's family only because they did what God told them to do.

• Jonah didn't do what God said and he was swallowed by a whale.

• Lot's wife disobeyed God and she was turned into a pillar of salt.

• Daniel obeyed God so the lions didn't eat him.

• God sent Jesus because so many people didn't keep God's commands.

• Jesus loved everyone, but because he embarrassed the church leaders they talked Pilot, the Roman Governor, into killing him.

• Jesus died for our sins, but he came back to life so that we would be forgiven and go to heaven, not hell.

Jesus loved me and that's all I needed to know. Then I went to college. Yes, it took that long for me to begin to question my childhood faith. I had a fabulous idea for my Humanities project. I compiled what I was sure would be an awe-inspiring slide show, nature at its best. To top it off I put the entire slide show to music. And not just any music but good old church hymns. The theme of my project was, "Irrefutable Proof of the Existence of God." The room was very quiet and then I detected snickers scattered around the room. I was mortified. How could something that meant so much to me be funny to my peers. Nineteen and naïve as I could be, I did my best to cope with the reality that not everyone found my beliefs to be intellectually credible.

As I began my teaching career I quietly maintained my childhood faith with little alteration. I learned not to talk about it. Secretly, I had wanted to be a pastor from the age of eight or nine. Back then Lutherans did not ordain women. In fact, women were not allowed to hold any office in the church, and little girls were not even allowed to light the candles. Needless to say, I gave up any notion of ever being a pastor, but it didn't stop me from pretending when no one was home.

In 1970 the Lutheran Church in America, to which I belonged, made the landmark decision I had longed for since I was a child. They approved the ordination of women to pastoral ministry, and the first woman was ordained that same year. In 1978 I left my teaching position and entered Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California. I was certain there would be unwavering support for my unquestioned faith within the hallowed halls of this credible traditional institution. Ha! Little did I know I was entering religious boot camp. Piece by piece all the elements of my simplistic Sunday school faith were examined, sifted and reassembled.

One question applied to every biblical text, every doctrine, and every religious practice: What does this mean and how will you interpret and teach this to others? Martin Luther started this whole thought process back in the sixteenth century. "What does this mean?" At thirteen in Confirmation class, I didn't have to answer the question myself. I only had to memorize Luther's response to his own question.

During my seminary years my faith was dismantled and rebuilt. I thought I was all set, but in truth, the transformation of my faith was only beginning. Over the next thirty years as a pastor, endeavoring to empower the faith of others, I became a witness to both the inadequacy of institutional religion to instill relevant faith, and a feeling of futility and resignation among many people of all ages about religious faith all together.

Left to my own natural rhythm, I wake up slowly, gain momentum through the day and truly shine in the evening. The same has been true of my spiritual awakening. It has taken me nearly a lifetime to awaken spiritually. And I attribute my awakening in great part to my own family members, members of the church, friends and even acquaintances.

Waking spiritually is the most fulfilling event of any human life. We are spiritual beings, having a human experience. We have forgotten who we truly are, where we came from, and where we will return. Connecting or reconnecting with the truth frees and empowers us to be not all that we can be, but all that we are. If Christian ancestry, family tradition, personal experience or personal choice have been your essential faith foundation, these pages may provide a pathway that will lead you through the briar patch of traditional religion, to what can become faith, relevant in your daily life, and home to the truth about yourself and God. The gap may be bridged between what you were taught that has not connected and establishing a new understanding related to your spiritual identity.

If you have very little or no specific faith foundation, these pages offer information that will establish a foundation from which your spiritual core will become visible and enable you to connect with your truest identity. You will enter your personal Spiritual Dawn and Life in the Heart of God.

I thought my religious experience had created my faith. I now know that my religious experience supported what was true before my birth and I had forgotten, and to which we all become disconnected to some degree. I invite you to journey with me, creating a bridge from our earthbound reality back to divine truth which transcends space and time.

Story: The Bible

I loved Sunday school. Well, I loved everything except when I was asked to read. Reading was agony for me. I suffered through the humiliation of reading aloud because I loved everything else. I will be forever grateful to a caring teacher who gave me the tools I desperately needed to overcome my difficulty with reading. I loved the songs we sang and putting pennies in the church-shaped bank on my birthday. Everyone would count the pennies as they dropped with a kerplunk into the little white church. I loved praying the Lord's Prayer together and hearing a story from the Bible.

The start of the fourth grade ushered in a series of events that I remember vividly to this very day. That September Rally Day, the first Sunday back after school began in the fall, marked two milestone events.

A. I was now permitted to sit with the fifth and sixth graders in the back two rows.

B. Best of all, this was the day I would receive my very own leather-bound Bible with my name inscribed by none other than our Sunday school superintendent, Miss Catherine Lucas.

To date it was the biggest day of my life. Yes, I have always been a little over the top related to matters of faith. It meant so much to me because I could now read the Bible for myself. And I could read it without embarrassment, struggling to read as I did. I couldn't wait to find that place where it said Jesus loved me. For this little nine-year old raised in the church, I was sure that the whole book was all about love. Turns out it is, when you see it from the Heart of God.

Spiritual Pause (minimum of 5 minutes)

• Find a comfortable place to sit outside or where you can see outside.

• Place a small mirror in your lap, face down.

• Take two or three deep breaths.

• Look, really look at what is around you.

• Everything you see has, in its essence, been created by God. Take it in.

• One creation is of greater value to God than all others.

• Pick up the mirror in your lap, turn it over, hold it at arm's length in your hands.

• You are God's most valued creation.

• You are God's beloved child. Forever.

• Take it in, it is a FACT!

Remember This

You are a spiritual being having a human experience. You have come from God and you will return to God's loving presence. Living from your spiritual essence (love), your life has no limits and you become a healing light in this world.

Chapter Two

Whether you define yourself as deeply grounded in traditional faith, as marginally religious, spiritual rather than religious, or if you find the whole spectrum of religion irrelevant, taking time to consider what the Bible is as a whole may awaken within you a divine connection that will establish for you a new and profoundly relevant understanding of who you truly are. If you have read the Bible from cover to cover, read only parts of it or none of it, the Bible has influenced your view of life and your part within it.

In western culture the Christian Bible has an explicit impact on those who define themselves as Christian and an implicit impact on those who do not. Basic biblical tenets permeate the fundamental value system of most, whether by conscious choice or simple generic exposure to beliefs such as our having been created by a supernatural force, that actions which harm others are unacceptable, that consequences exist for destructive behavior, and that there is something beyond physical death. One need not be a professed Christian to hold these basic beliefs. What we believe the origin and purpose of the Bible to be and how we interpret what it says accounts for the vast diversity of beliefs and practices within Christianity.

Why are there a multitude of Christian denominations, non-denominational believers, and an infinite number of other "followers of Jesus"? To answer that, let's take a look at what the Bible is and how what it says may be interpreted.

Clarifying Facts

A. What the Bible is

• A collection of 66 individual books.

• 39 Old Testament books, all written before the birth of Jesus.

• 27 New Testament books, all written after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

• The Old Testament books were originally written in Hebrew.

• The New Testament books were originally written in Greek.

• The Bible includes a variety of literary styles: prose, poetry, allegory, parables, laments, song, metaphor, narrative, etc.

• Oral tradition (the verbal sharing passed from generation to generation) preceded written texts by hundreds of generations.

• Some authors are known. Many are not known.

• The first book of the Bible, Genesis, was written between 2000-1500 B.C.

• The Bible is published in many different versions:

* Translations from the original languages

* Interpretations of translations

* Paraphrased versions

* Summary versions

* Thematic versions

* Contemporary language versions of translations, etc.

Examples of four different versions of the Bible

Scripture reading: Matthew 5:14-15

1. Translation from original language, King James Version, Oxford University Press: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house."

2. Translation from original language, Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house."

3. Contemporary language version, translation from original language (based on message expressed rather than the translation of individual words). Living Translation, Touch Point Bible, Guideposts: "You are the light of the world, like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on the stand and let it shine for all."

4. Contemporary language version, The Message, by Eugene H. Peterson, NAVPRESS: "Here's another way to put it; you're here to be light, bringing out the God colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand."

• More than 1,000 years separates the writing of the earliest book to the last book of the Old Testament.

• The Old Testament relates to the old covenant between God and humanity.

• The New Testament is all about the new covenant between God and humanity through Jesus Christ.

• The entire New Testament was written over a period of about 100 years.

• The first book of the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark, was written about 70 A.D.

B. What the Bible is Not:

• One book.

• Facts, cover to cover.

• Inclusive of the entirety of God's "Word", God's truth revealed to humanity.

• The final "Word" of God.

C. Biblical Content:

• Old Testament:

* Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

* Writings: Ruth, Lamentations, Daniel and others.

* Prophets: Former prophets and latter prophets.

• New Testament:

* 4 Gospel accounts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

* Acts of the apostles.

* 21 books which are letters from various writers after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

* Revelation, a disclosure, a revealing of God's will for the future.

D. Interpretation, the Great Divide:

• Not all Christians interpret the content of the Bible in the same way.

• How you interpret the Bible dramatically alters your understanding of God's divine intent for all humanity.

Why are there so many different varieties of Christians, different denominations, different church bodies, different understandings of what a Christian church is supposed to be and do?

• All Christians claim the Bible as their Holy Book.

• All Christians say they follow Christ.

• All Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter.

• All Christians say that God created the heaven, the earth and all living things.

• All Christians say that Jesus is the Savior.

On those five things all Christians agree. And that is unfortunately about the totality of what Christians agree on. Who or what is responsible for the differences among Christians? The way individuals and groups interpret the Bible is a central element contributing to diversity.

Below I offer a broad description of two different and distinct ways of interpreting the Bible and how faith is shaped by those interpretations. For some the Bible is inerrant, literally true and directly from God. Those who interpret the Bible in this way represent the most biblically and theologically conservative part of the Christian family. At the other end of the spectrum are those who view the Bible as the inspired Word of God, the living Word. Those who interpret the Bible in this way represent the most biblically and theologically liberal part of the Christian family.

A. The Conservative Approach: Biblical literalism or biblical fundamentalism is the interpretation or translation of the explicit and primary sense of words in the Bible. This method of interpretation often coincides with the belief that the Bible is God's inerrant Word. An example of biblical literal interpretation and inerrancy is that creation occurred in six days exactly as stated.

B. The Progressive Approach: Biblical interpretation based in the historical critical method takes into account when the passage was written, where it was written, its sources, events, places, customs, who is being addressed, and context. The underlying understanding is that reality is universal, accessible to human reason, and that all events historical and natural are interconnected. An example of liberal interpretation would be to embrace the Genesis account of creation as God's revealing divine truth, that God is the creator of all that exists. The focus of understanding is grounded upon how we understand God (our theology) and what the words communicate. The liberal interpreter need not argue six twenty-four hour days. The story supports the belief that God is the Creator.

As we question why there is so much diversity among Christians, additional contributing factors should be considered.

A. Cultural Origins: It makes a difference whether the Christian community/church had its roots in the Middle East, various parts of Europe, Scandinavia, or the United States, and also during which century it evolved.

B. Creeds/Doctrines: Those churches with roots in the early church have as their foundation of belief, and thus practice, many creeds (ancient statements of belief) and doctrines.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Life in the Heart of God by Margaret Duttera Copyright © 2012 by Pastor Margaret Duttera. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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