November 2024

Part 5 of the series ‘Desert Spirituality’  Gratitude Begets Gratitude Submitted to Red Rock News for 11/29/24 Rev. Dona Johnson |November 24, 2024 Are you feeling grateful this Thanksgiving? If so, what are you grateful for? Henri Nouwen suggests gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are not an “accident,” but a divine choice. “It is important to realize how often we have had chances to be grateful and have not used them. When someone is kind to us, when an event turns out well, when a problem is solved, a relationship restored, a wound healed, there are very concrete reasons to offer thanks: be it with words, with flowers, with a text, a card, a phone call, or just a gesture of affection. . . ”Every time we decide to be grateful it will be easier to see new things to be grateful for.        Gratitude is one of the identifying virtues for any follower of Jesus Christ. An enemy of gratefulness focusing on what we don’t have. Better said, living a life of lack. Maybe someone or something in your life is not meeting your expectations. So, rather than focus on the goodness in a person or situation, we become obsessed with what we feel is lacking, and that morphs into feelings ungrateful and resentment—a vicious cycle.        Sometimes we can become so focused on what we think is wrong around us that we lose sight of God’s blessings. We develop an attitude that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence that stymies a life of gratitude. We become less grateful and thus less gracious and this leads to complaining. This can happen without our ever realizing it. Who wants to be around a person who complains all the time and a person who is not gracious? Gratitude is the opposite of resentment, in Latin it means gratia, favor. Gratitude is not an occasional ‘thanks be to God,’ but the way of the heart, a heart turned towards God’s favor.  Gratefulness takes away our fatigue and the apathy we often feel when we become distracted with discontent. Much of the discontent we feel towards others flows out of the dissatisfaction we have with ourselves.        But moving away from resentment requires moving toward something that is life-giving, and that something is gratitude. Gratitude looks towards the future, towards what could be and sees new possibilities. What are some of the little things you are grateful for? Maybe it’s having that first cup of hot coffee in the morning. What about a beloved friend who is always there to support you? What about the breathtaking view of the mountains out your window? What about thanking God that you have eyes to see, ears to hear, legs to move and hands to grasp?       Gratitude…goes beyond the “mine” and “thine” and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift, a gift from God to be cherished in ourselves and in others. In the end “gratitude” is a choice we make.Jesus modeled gratefulness perfectly! He continually, raised his head and eyes upward thanking his heavenly Father, whether it was multiplying a few loaves of bread and fish to feed 5000 people (Matt. 14:19), or breaking bread with the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke24:30), or the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:41). Again, before Jesus was to be arrested and crucified, Jesus gave holy communion to his disciples at the meal of the Passover—the Last Supper. He lifted the bread and cup towards heaven and gave thanks (Matt. 26:27). In fact, in many congregations, every Sunday, holy communion is celebrated at the climax of each worship service. It is called the Great Thanksgiving—because it is “great,” it is God’s amazing grace penetrating the human heart in the bread and the cup. It is a foretaste of the gloriously feast to come for all God’s people.       So, as image bearers of Jesus, on this weekend before Thanksgiving, wherever you are in life and in whatever situation you find yourself, reach out to someone and share something of yourself with others— be kind, be generous and look for the goodness of God in others. Celebrate life, the living. You have a Savior, Christ the Lord who adores you. And in him, you have more than you could ever imagine. Remember, gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love. May boundless blessings of God fill your heart with gratitude! Rev. Dona Johnson |November 24, 2024

Part 4 of the series ‘Desert Spirituality’: The spiritual practice of proximity  overpowers greed  Submitted to the Red Rock News for 11/22/24 Rev. Dona Johnson |November 17, 2024 Greed is a vice that distorts the natural desires that, when unchecked, lead to significant personal and communal harm writes author Rebecca DeYoung. Greed deals with the compulsive consumption of material wealth. A good example, you may have a huge nest egg of financial investments stored away, but there is always this nagging voice that says, “Oh if I could have just a little bit more.” We accumulate because of an underlying insecurity. We fear that we will run out of money before leave this world. And this is surely a legitimate fear. And yet the more we have seems to create more anxiety and dissatisfaction, a vicious cycle.       Henri Nouwen makes an interesting point; the two main enemies of the spiritual life are anger and greed. “Greed and anger are brother and sister of the false self—the self we fabricate by the compulsions of an unredeemed world.” Maybe deep down, we are angry because we are not the people we want to be. So we keep accumulating more of just about everything in hopes that we will quell the unspoken dissatisfaction we have with ourselves. Nouwen continues, “Anger paralyzes a generous heart.”       So what do we do with this dilemma? Turning to Scripture, it’s surprising to learn that out of Jesus’ 38 parables, in 16 of them he mentions money and possessions more than faith and prayer (Matt. 18:23-25; 25:14-30; Mark 10:17-30…). Why? He knew all too well the weakness of the human heart. We want eternity but we also want the worldly benefits of what money can buy for us right now! But Jesus’ concern was not about our having money per se, but our obsession with it. And to be overly focused on money endangers our spiritual lives.       If greed is the vice, then generosity is its virtue. Generosity is a fruit of the spiritual life. Christians among all people, are called to be over-the-top generous with their money and possessions towards the church, other Christians and all who suffer. Looking back centuries ago, several of the early church fathers who fled the distractions of ecclesiastical life, made pilgrimages to the desert to be closer with God. They intentionally took vows of poverty, lived meagerly to get away from the earthly compulsions of greed, money and living a false Christian witness. St. Basil the Great came out of his desert experience after twenty years so transformed by the voice of the God, that he vowed to use his life, his God-given natural abilities and resources to help the suffering, to care for the orphans and widows. In 386 A.D. he built one of the first hospitals. He also went on to build orphanages and homes for the elderly.      Chris Hall, author of the video series “Desert Spirituality” asks: If Basil were to sit with us in our living rooms right now, what advice or spiritual practice might he suggest that we undertake to become more generous? I believe he would suggest the spiritual practice of ‘proximity.’ Proximity, to be close to and not distant from people who suffer. In other words, to be so deeply moved by the suffering of others that you feel it in your bones. It opens your heart and opens your purse strings. When you truly take in the suffering and poverty of people, animals and creation, you can’t help but give, and give generously. When you understand that their suffering by the grace of God is not yours—it moves you to radical action. Reformer Martin Luther was on point when he said, “People go through three conversions: The conversion of their head, their heart, and their pocketbook. Unfortunately, not all at the same time.”      Thanksgiving is almost upon us. What is the Lord asking you to see that you are not seeing? Each of us can become a more generous person, holding what we possess lightly. The result of which is freedom— freedom from the sin of our own greed and abundance for others.Prayer: Heavenly Father, you are so extremely generous, you hold nothing back. Lord make me a generous person, if there is any greed within me, cleanse me and make me whole. Amen. Rev. Dona Johnson |November 17, 2024

Part 3 of the series ‘Desert Spirituality’ God’s Love Overpowers Our  Envy and Jealousy  Submitted to the Red Rock News for 11/15/24 Rev. Dona Johnson |November 12, 2024 Envy is one of the currents within the heart that makes deep grooves in the human soul. Scripture calls out envy as a vice and we need to understand its power and destructive nature. So, what does envy look like. In Proverbs 73:3-6, we are given a description of someone who is envious. “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.” The wisdom of this passage depicts a person who was envious of those who had healthy and beautiful bodies. A person who was envious of those who had accumulated wealth, and especially envious of those who seemed to have no problems in life—life made in the shade.       So, what is envy? Envy is wanting some aspect of someone else’s life. You may want their fame, status, character, accomplishments and or wealth. Rather than be happy for them, rather than rejoice in the gifts and blessing which have been bestowed on them, you have contempt for and begrudge them. A whole host of things can make us envious. For many, money is a big one. We can easily be envious of people who live in bigger homes, drive expensive cars and have more education. Acclaim, fame and popularity can make a person envious . Envy can make you obsessed with what others have and if left unchecked, fuels resentment and hatred towards others.       Cyprian of Carthage an early church father from the 3rd Century said this about envy, ““But what a gnawing worm of the soul is it, what a plague-spot of our thoughts, what a rust of the heart, to be jealous of another, either in respect of his virtue or of his happiness; that is, to hate in him either his own deserving’s or the divine benefits…”       Gavin Ortland, author of Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness writes, “There is no joy in your life that cannot be destroyed by envy. No matter what you have, envy can say, “Yes, you might have X, but you don’t have Y.” . . . “Yeah, you might have gotten into that college, but you didn’t get into that one.” “Yeah, you might be making good money, but you don’t have enough time to enjoy it.” “Yeah, your church might be growing, but you don’t have the opportunities that so-and-so has.”        Like all vices, envy is universal. It is the enemy of love. By definition, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Many a career or ministry has collapsed under too much too soon. Many of us want what others have without considering the sacrifice. Always remember, behind every success there lies a cost, sometimes a great struggle that requires time and effort. Being patient, living every day to the fullest, living every day with the end in mind guides us towards God’s preferred future for us. God will provide!      So how do you avoid or stop being envious of others? First, prayerfully confess your envy and ask God to replace your feelings of jealousy with his peace and contentment. “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones (Proverbs 14:30). Secondly, avoid comparing yourself to others. Look at what God has already gifted you with. Yes, stop and look around you. Take inventory of all you have. If you are honest with yourself, you have much more than you think. God has given you the promise of a glorious future. So, rejoice and be grateful for your body and how God meticulously wove every part of it together, you are his masterpiece, be grateful for what God-given abilities and skills you have, be grateful for whatever material blessings you’ve been given and use them all for good, rather than be discouraged and discontent. May each of us learn how to rejoice in the giftedness, the fortunes and successes of others and our own. Amen. Rev. Dona Johnson |November 12, 2024

Overpowering Vainglory With God’s Love  Part 2 of the series ‘Desert Spirituality’ Submitted to Red Rock News for 11/08/24 Rev. Dona Johnson |November 3, 2024 Have you ever padded your resume when searching for a job? Resume padding is quite a common practice these days—the practice of adding untrue or exaggerated information to your resume to make your accomplishments look greater than they are. A recent LinkedIn survey reports that 72% of job applicants lie on their resumes, while 68% percent lie during their interviews. They lie mostly about academic achievements.       Have you ever heard the phrase ‘vain glory’? In Christian circles it is known as a vice, an excessive elation or pride over one’s own achievements and abilities. Today’s culture sees a person’s worth, value and usefulness in society based on their success and accomplishments, so much so that they are willing to inflate and stretch the truth about themselves. It is such a great temptation to glorify ourselves by exaggerating how good we are. This also happens in every facet of life. A great example of this is our social media hits. We’re so hungry for ‘likes.’ Many of us feel so accepted and important when we receive a great number of likes for our posts.       But all in all, vain glory is a relational issue. Most of us crave affirmation, applause and appreciation. We want so desperately to be loved and liked. Being known, being recognized, being appreciated and acknowledged — these are the things we people live for. So, where do we go wrong? When we put ourselves on display, show off and inflate our goodness, we are actually at that point of manufacturing glory for ourselves by putting ourselves out there, says Rebecca DeYoung, author of Glittering Vices. You might say, we either don’t trust or acknowledge the deep affirmation that has already been given to us by God. Very early, as children we learn to brag about ourselves.  And Christians have no immunity to bragging and seeking a name for themselves. “I am the lead pastor of a growing church; we’re worshiping 150 on Sunday.” Or how about this, “I baptized fifteen people on Sunday.” Or what about this, “I am good person, I would never do something like that, I am not one of those kinds of people.”       Paul in both Romans and Ephesians makes it clear, we are always in every way and every circumstance to give praise and glory to God for our faith, for the grace and countless blessings God continues to shower us with, even as we sin. “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Ro 1:17). “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8- 9). Now faith produces works, no doubt about it but those works and our achievements do not produce salvation, it is faith alone that produces righteousness in us.       The early church Fathers likened vain glory to peeling back an onion. Every time you peel back a layer, another layer of vanity stares you in the face. DeYoung continues, “Augustine’s and Aquinas’s moral insight is that every vice is a sham substitute for some good thing that we try to self-manufacture, rather than receiving as a gift from God. What’s the good we hunger for when tempted by vainglory? Being known and loved. We long for the attentive love of others.”      So once again, the vice or call it the weakness or flaw of vain glory comes down to love. That is what every human being longs for—to be fully known, imperfections and all and also truly loved. As those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus, there is no longer a need to brag, promote ourselves, justify our goodness and compete against others. Faith alone gives us a holy identity with an eternal destiny—that far out weights any worldly gains we seek. God’s love for us is fiercely unconditional and his grace is inexhaustible.   Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to see my worth and value not in competing with my neighbor or all my attempts to self-promote how good I am, but you alone make me good, in you alone is where I find my true value and an eternal purpose. Amen.   We will be starting a new series Desert Spirituality with Chris Hall from Renovare. In this series we will explore the nine vices (or sins) with virtues that bring life. Rev. Dona Johnson |November 3, 2024