Dale Cresap's blog

Have you ever engaged in competitive prayer? Perhaps you don’t think of prayer as a competitive event, but have you ever been in a meeting where prayers are offered publicly, and there seems to be a sense of escalation where one prayer tries to out-do the previous one? Does this make you wonder if the prayers are really directed to me or if they are for the benefit of others present?

Do you think of productive time as time spent making money? But you do necessary and worthwhile things that do not produce an income. So there can be value in non-monetary activities. What about rest? You know that you can’t survive without sleep, and the fact that I created the day and the night is a recognition of this. What about play? You can argue that this is not productive, but nearly everyone does it. Do you admire those few who do not as having superior lives to those who do? Play for adults is more often referred to as recreation. Does your time of recreation re-create you?

Have you heard a courtroom analogy used for the final judgment? In this case you are the defendant, the accuser is the prosecutor, the Father is the judge, and I am your defense attorney. This is a common way to present divine justice. You expect to win with me on your side, but do you find this model in the Bible? Is the real purpose of my justice to render a verdict on guilt or innocence, or is it to bring about your transformation? In keeping with the courtroom analogy, how effective are courts on earth at doing this? Can you imagine another version that would be more effective?

Do you believe in toleration? This was not always prevalent. In times past it was considered normal to attack and dominate those who disagreed with you, even to the point of violent bloodshed and torment. So it was progress to accept the idea that you could live in peace with those who disagreed with you. Does this still leave room for improvement? Toleration implies indifference. Can you go beyond toleration to the point of active engagement with those with whom you have differences, and do it in a cordial and respectful way? What else would it mean to love your enemies?

Are you friends with everyone? Being friendly is highly rated in your culture, and if your friends are the dearest thing to you then presumably more is better. I told my disciples that no man had greater love than to lay down their life for their friends. This takes the concept of friendship to another level. Are you willing to lay down your life for everyone that you consider to be a friend? This isn’t a criticism or a suggestion that you reduce the number of people that you refer to as friends.

I sent my disciples to get bread and when they came back I told them that I had bread that they knew not of. I wasn’t referring to a snack that I had hidden in my pocket. I had had a spiritual encounter while they were gone and it nourished my soul. You need bread or some other form of calories to sustain you, but that is not all you need. As I also spoke, man does not live by bread alone. What about you? You use the term ‘starving’ to refer to extreme hunger, but the same term is used to refer to other human appetites and appropriately so. What are you hungry for?

Are you familiar with the story of the woman at the well? We had a chance encounter and ended up talking about the Kingdom of God. In the course of the conversation I revealed that I knew her story, concerning her marital status and history. This was apparently a subject of shame for her and she changed the subject. There are hints in the story that she lived a life of shame because of this, coming to draw water when she did not expect anyone else to be around.

What do you consider to be the essence of faith? Theologians develop proportional truth claims concerning me and my birth and life and death and resurrection, and these are propagated as essential truth, with those affirming them being accepted as believers and those who do not as outside the faith. Is faith only about doctrine? I commended a Roman Centurion for having greater faith than anyone I had found in Israel. Consider the magnitude of this statement. Was his doctrine superior to all others? His only expression was that I could heal his servant at a distance.

Does your church teach you how to worship? In most churches this is a guided process, but without instruction as such. You know that you benefit by instruction in other things you do. Do you think instruction would be helpful here, or would you expect it to be totally intuitive? I have given you the standard to aim for in worship, that it should be in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks those who will do this. My disciples asked me to teach them to pray, since this was a common practice, and I did. If you ask me to teach you how to worship in spirit and in truth I will do so.

My word teaches you that in Christ there is neither male nor female, Greek nor Jew, bond nor free, and goes on to mention other categories. Do not think that this list was meant to be exhaustive. It is a starting point from which you can add any other distinction that divides people, including liberal and conservative, and if taken seriously spells the end of racism, tribalism, nationalism and others. The fact that this is such a radically profound statement is an indication of the human propensity for group identification and exclusion. Where are you on the spectrum?