Good morning…

A good friend of mine missed the communion service on Tuesday night but received “God’s Invitation into Friendship” in a profound and personal way.

Last week, she shared with me over the phone that she has been diagnosed with cancer. We talked for over an hour, back and forth, back and forth, and I felt so privileged to be in her inner circle of friends sharing her heavy burden. Since that phone call, I love texting her, “How was your day today?” and hearing her response. I love exchanging emails that are life giving for both of us. I love knowing we have a date living on our calendars saving sacred space for our next lunch.

Yesterday she wrote me: “I am so sorry to have missed last night. Thank you for detailing the evening in your writing this morning. I am trying to do what I don’t do well–slow down, listen to my body, align my heart-mind-body. Next year . . . next year. I hear the whispers.

I started reading a book by Samuel Wells this week entitled Be Not Afraid: Facing Fear with Faith. Wells is a British man who serves as the Dean of the Duke Chapel and a professor of Christian ethics. He is close to our age, so I find his perspectives interesting. As I read the book and reflect on this moment in time, I have to be quite honest, I am not overwhelmed with fear of this disease that is wrecking havoc; I am also not afraid of dying. I am, however, fearful that I am failing to hear God’s requests of me and responding as he wishes. He leads me through the waters . . . protects me from the fire . . . but when I get to the other side, I am there for a purpose–am I discerning and responding to the purpose?

Wells explores the concepts of forgiveness, healing, and salvation in ways that have left me with a question echoing deeply and profoundly in my soul: Is the blessing (the healing . . . salvation) I am seeking in this time one I am expecting to share with others, or is it something I’m expecting to keep to myself? In other words, if I am healed, am I more focused on the fact that I have been healed or what am I to do with the healed body? I wonder, if I am granted the prosperity of life and time, will I fully seek ways in which others may find blessings from the experiences I share through this deeply spiritual time? What are those ways? What is that calling? I hear it . . . I just need to discern its truths.”
I wrote back: “I felt your absence at the service the other night and hoped it meant you were resting nestled where you needed to be. I love the questions you are sparking in this email about living wholeheartedly through your cancer, for what purpose? What will you be drawn to shed as you listen more attentively to God’s guidance? What unique gifts will you share with the world when you arrive on the other side, whole, healed, complete?

I love that my learning dovetails with yours. For my graduate school course, I am struggling to comprehend the depth and the breadth of Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our Hidden Life in God. Through Willard’s wisdom I am invited to understanding that kingdom living begins growing in our lives like a seed, like a granule of yeast the moment we say, ‘Yes, Jesus take over my life, dwell in me.’ Heaven possesses a ‘not yet’ and ‘right now’ quality. ‘Not yet’ is heaven fully actualized until after we die, when the veil between earth and heaven is lifted and we see our Creator face to face as God has been seeing us in full view all along. ‘Right now,’ we can begin kingdom living, being apprentices to Jesus who learn what he knows and live what he teaches. ‘Clean out the inside of the cup and the outside will be clean as well. Come join the collaborative dance of Father-Son-Spirit. Become God’s healing presence on earth, with your every word and your every deed in sync with God’s healing purposes.’

I am touched by Willard’s paraphrase of John 3:16, one of the most popular Bible verses in our world, ‘God’s care for humanity was so great that he sent his unique Son among us, so that those who count on him might not lead a futile and failing existence, but have the undying life of God Himself.’ ‘Right now’ we possess the undying life of God Himself. Jesus says in his famous Lord’s Prayer: ‘…thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ With the undying love of God coursing through our veins, we can begin living heaven on earth right now. That is what I hear you saying, ‘This cancer diagnosis is making me ask, “How can I begin living God’s love wholeheartedly right now? If Jesus were me, in my body and in my life circumstances, how would he allow God’s undying life to invade his every move? What will kingdom living look like as I live it authentically in my daily life?”‘
My dear friend, you missed Karen’s talk and our special communion, but nestled at home you profoundly and personally received God’s invitation into friendship: ‘Right here, right now, let My undying life invade yours.'”

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
Mark 4:30-32 (NIV),

Sue