Tame and Contained

I understand maintaining and keeping predictable as much as we can in our lives. There is so much in life that is not in our influence, and certainly not in our control. It makes sense to operate with things as manageable, familiar and contained as possible. Routine brings comfort. It just does.

Most would like their spirituality to be predictable too. It would be comfortable to keep things formulaic. We would design our prayers, beliefs, and practices, and have the good things we hope for fulfilled. Wouldn’t that be nice? Pray in the following ways—A, B, C. Delve only into the following topics—1, 2, 3. But, here is the thing: One’s spiritual life is the whole of one’s life. It is not an orbiting side topic but the central core of all we do and all we are.

It is common to treat faith as an add-on like other categories: hobbies, entertainment, and the like. By its nature, however, faith involves who we are, who God is, and how we are related to God. Pursuing it fills us and spills over to what we do for others: making us people of compassionate action and justice. People often seem to want their God small, and their practices small and pro forma. They also want this modest practice to result in comfortable and greatly favorable conditions for them:

Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways,
    as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
    and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.
    “Why do we fast, but you do not see?”
    “Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” (Isaiah 58:2-3)

Yahweh confronts them, because they want their manageable devotion, but do not want to change their heart or their behavior. The people want their faith to cost them little and cost their workers and others a great deal. God clarifies a better way:

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers.
    Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.
    Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high…

Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke,
    to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
    Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
    when you see the naked, to cover them,
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly;
    your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
    Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. (Isaiah 58:3-4, 6-9)

The people’s formal and manageable practices of faith need to release into full-blown transformation and action for others. A passion needs to spark them: a faith wild enough to change them and move them into seeking the good for those most in need. God also promises that such a turn is the only way for them to find the fulfillment that will satisfy them with God’s presence and healing, God’s protection, and companionship. Why would you seek the tame and contained when you can encounter “your light breaking forth like the dawn, and your healing springing up quickly?”