The Unexpected Road of Repentence

Jan 23 2011.

 

For over two hundred years, scientists struggled to understand the nature of light. When they tried to measure it as a wave, it appeared as a wave. When they tried to measure it as a particle, it appeared to be a particle. In 1905 Albert Einstein was able to show that light was both a wave and a particle. It is something more than what we can presently fully describe. Twenty years later, Louis Broglie went one step further to say that all matter is both a wave and a particle. With that startling statement, the world of quantum physics was opened up like a proverbial Pandora’s box. When you consider the technological innovations we have made since Broglie made his discovery, it is amazing that we did it all without a complete definition of something as simple as what a light beam or a rock really is. While the definitions we use every day are very helpful, it can very unsettling to realize that the way we describe all matter is incomplete.

 

It’s been said that science learns more from what it doesn’t know than from what it does know. That insight is all the more unusual when we recognize how much emphasis our society puts on certainty and having all the right answers. Our education system is based on people getting the right answers. But our educators are struggling with the realization that just having the right on its own is not enough. Our brains are more active when we get a wrong answer, or when we see someone else get a wrong answer. If you never have to struggle to get it right, you aren’t learning as much as someone who has to learn how to expend the effort to find the right answer.

 

Today is decision day in the NFL. The winners of this afternoon’s games will be in the Superbowl. It takes more than just a good athlete to be a good quarterback in pro sports today. You have to be more than a quick play maker as well. The game is played at such an intense level, that the real test is how well a quarterback can react to a broken play. In a split second, you must be able to find other options in order to avoid being sacked. It’s how you deal with the failure of your plans that ultimately leads to success.

 

To be able to learn from your mistakes is a real challenge in a world which prides itself on being right. On being perfect. We live in a society which values self-confidence, and is often woefully lacking in self-awareness. School gym teachers call this Nintendo syndrome. Every fall they see a new crop of students who want to try out for the football team. They’re masters of the game on their Nintendo gaming system. But they are completely unprepared for the physical effort of performing on the playing field.

 

Music teachers call it American Idol syndrome. You can see them every week as they audition for the popular singing contest. They are convinced they are the greatest singer ever. But they cannot bear the criticism that there are out of tune, failing to project, or lack  control. It is hard for these people to hear the news that they are not perfect. And it is even harder for them to hear that the fact they are not perfect is not the end of the world.

 

All too often, we hear criticism as a judgement, as a soul destroying ending, instead of taking critical feedback as the fuel for our eventual success. If you watch a show like American Idol, the winner is usually the one who has grown the most, learning from the feedback given by the judges week by week.

 

We are not that different from the American Idols when we hear the words of Jesus. When we hear him calling out to ‘Repent’, most people duck. We fear the judgement and negative message which usually follows. Jesus’ call to repent is as popular as Simon Cowell’s caustic remarks.

 

But what if we heard Jesus’ words in a positive way? Dallas Willard translates Jesus’ call this way. Jesus says “Rethink your life in the light of the fact that the Kingdom of the Heavens is now open to all.” Jesus is offering us the means to change our lives. He is giving us the template to make a shift. To let go of old limitations. To grow.

 

 

John Wesley called that pattern which Jesus offers us the Path of Holiness. Holiness is the goal of having pure intentions. In every situation, our desire is to make the choice God would have us make. It is to seek to make moral choices. To want to do the right thing. John Wesley did not imagine that we would be perfect in our holiness. He did not think we would ever be completely free from sin. Only Jesus was perfect, and even he was tempted by the Devil. But the goal is what is important. To learn and to grow and to try is what is important.

 

Jesus is inviting us to take stock of our lives. What is holding us back? Are we taking his message to heart? Are we too busy to take the time? The psychologist Carl Jung once said “Busyness is not of the devil, busyness is the devil.” We need to take the time in order to get closer to God. As Socrates put it, “an unexamined life is not worth living.”  We can do this in many simple steps, many of which we are already familiar with.

 

When we say the Lord’s Prayer for example, one of the lines is “Forgive us our trespasses.” Forgive us our sins. Forgive us our debts. Forgive us our shortcomings. When most of us today hear those words, we are thinking “Give us a break’. We want God to let us off the hook. To want God to give us a break is a prideful act that preserves the ego. It lets us say “I’m not that bad of a sinner. I haven’t really done anything wrong.” But we need much more than just a break. We need pity. We need grace. We need forgiveness.

 

If your sense of pride is not challenged when you say the Lord’s Prayer, then you have not yet learned how to ask for forgiveness. You have not yet learned what forgiveness is. You have not learned the liberating potential that repentance and forgiveness can give you.  For we must be aware of what was going wrong before we can learn how to set it right. This is why Jesus said only sick people need a physician. You can’t heal someone who won’t admit they are sick. Only when you know how your life has been changed for the better can you be motivated to offer that same change to someone else in their imperfect state.

 

Doctor Esther Sternberg was trained as a rheumatologist. Her area of specialty was the treatment of arthritis. She has become an expert on the growing field of neural immune science which has emerged over the past decade. With advancements in brain imaging technology, scientists are now able to look inside the brain when it is dealing with different activities. Dr. Sternberg was among the first to measure the effects stress has on our immune system. She is able to scientifically show how stress really does make us sick. 

 

A few years ago, Dr. Sternberg returned to her home in Montreal to attend to her mother who was dying of cancer. As she sat by her mother’s bed, Dr. Sternberg continued to work on her book on stress. Every now and then her mother would ask her questions about the book. At one point, her mother said, ‘well if you can measure how stress makes you sick, why not also look at how belief can lead to healing?’ Dr. Sternberg initially was cool to her mother’s idea. She thought it was too far out of a topic for a scientist to consider. After her mother’s death, Dr. Sternberg was diagnosed with a severe case of arthritis which forced her to take time off of work. It was then that Dr. Sternberg began to take her mother’s words seriously. Today Dr. Sternberg is healthy and back on the job, and she is a leading figure in the study of mind body wellness. What had been considered un-measurable and unknowable a mere decade ago, is now opening a new path for the healing of millions of people who suffer from a variety of illnesses.

 

With God, nothing is impossible. If we are willing to repent, if we are willing to be open to God’s possibilities, great things are possible for you, and for this world.

 

Source: Krista Tippett “Einstein’s God- Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit” Penguin 2010

 http://being.publicradio.org/programs/stress/index.shtml