CARDIO-CHRISTIANITY

We take the condition of our heart seriously. I remember about five years ago when I had an annual checkup that my family doctor referred me to a cardiologist. He saw something on an X-ray he did not like. It turned out to be nothing, but my visit with the cardiologist was enlightening. I got to actually see the chambers of my heart beating and the blood flowing through the valves, thanks to the latest technology.

God takes the condition of spiritual heart seriously. In fact, I ran across a compound adjective that is used of God only twice in the Scriptures. The word is “heart-knowing.” We have a lot of traditional ways that we understand the Bible describes God: God is love, God is everywhere, etc. Probably the description of God as “heart-knowing” does not immediately come to mind.

The fascinating thing is that this adjective describing the character of God is found twice in Acts: 1:24 and 15:8. The idea of “heart-knowing” (καρδιογνώστης, kardiognostes) means one who is a knower of hearts and understands what is on the inside of human beings. This affirmation of God’s character is found once in the Apostolic Fathers:

“For those, then, who were called before these days, did the Lord appoint repentance, for the Lord knows the heart (literally in the Greek it says: for the Lord being a heart-knower), and knowing all things beforehand he knew the weakness of man and the subtlety of the devil, that he will do some evil to the servants of God, and will do them mischief” [The Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate IV. 3.4; The Apostolic Fathers, Loeb Classical Library, Volume II, page3 84-85].

From Acts and the Shepherd of Hermas we find out that this essence of God is discussed within the context of the weakness of humanity & sin, Judas being replaced as an apostle, and the Jerusalem Council in which the Gentiles were accepted without keeping the Jewish law.

God knows about the presence of sin in our life. God knows about who should be a leader in the church. God knows about what the converted heart should do to be faithful to him.

Yes, cardio-Christianity. We serve the greatest cardiologist in the world. God knows our hearts. May that awareness bless us moment by moment.
In Christian love, Curtis

MOVING TOWARD OUR GOAL

While moving toward a goal, someone at sometime needs to be still. Listen to Kent Ira Groff describe it:

“Every good action arises out of contemplation, as a surging waterfall originates in a still spring. As a weaver contemplates the design for a rug before and while moving the shuttle, so action and contemplation need not be separate but two movements of a seamless whole. ‘Be still and know that I am God!’ (Psalm 46:10). It is ‘The Practice of the Presence of God’ to be present in the world”
(The Soul of the Congregation: Weaving Spiritual Practices in Ministry Together. 2000. Nashville, TN: Upper Room Publishers; page 17).

Surging waterfall and weaver. Both have their still point of beginning. Out of stillness is born power and design. Out of stillness one hears the voice of God. Out of the context of stillness the goal and journey are recognized.

We are such a busy-oriented culture that we barely have time to stop and be still. It is more than just the idea of stopping to smell the roses. It is an intentional stillness that goes to the heart of spirituality. It is choosing to be still so we can know who God is! Too often much of our “church work” is frantic action covering up the fact that we do not know God.

With respect to our visioning process going here at Highland View, we all need to spend some intentional time in stillness before God to know God. Out of such contemplation we believe wholeheartedly that the direction for “good action” will arise! You have heard of the saying that “still waters run deep.” It is out of this depth that we drink from the Spirit of God the life-giving water that fills and refreshes our soul.

One of the most significant blessings from our visioning process should be that of spiritual nourishment and refreshment. At this point we do not know what the configuration of shape and color will define the rug. But the Divine Weaver knows, and asks us to be still long enough for that vision to materialize before our very eyes. Action and contemplation—both are the seamless whole of a congregation seeking and immersing itself into the presence and power of God.
In Christian love, Curtis