A Crying World absent of Solitude.

I have been reading Nouwen’s book “The Way of the Heart…” I have become fascinated with the idea of solitude and retreat. I have read bits and pieces of Augustine, Aquinas, Basil the Great, Bonhoeffer, Chrysostom, Lewis, and Merton as they describe various aspects and disciplines of prayer, silence, and community. I envision myself as one of the Desert Fathers perched upon my pole with that ever so stoic look of content plastered across my face. To be fair, I once imagine myself as the Buddha only to be destroyed by the vision of Keanu Reeves in Little Buddha.

I wonder what it would have been like to be alone surrounded by the single task of prayer and devotion. There would be no news of Kim Jong, President Bush, the ravages of war and civil strife, murdered families on a highway, homosexual this or that, Palestinians, Israelis, terrorists, air travel, denominations, doctrinal differences, or celebrity comings and goings. I would be there before God and have not a care in the world. This would be lovely! This would be ideal. This would be boring. This would be an exiguous task for anyone to take up in this fast paced, high tech world that we occupy.

In my desires to go deeper and become relevant, emergent, or real with my faith I often want to check out and cease to be apart of the Body. I get tired, overworked, overcommitted, and over simulated by life. I find myself daydreaming for a place to be still, a place to relax, a place to recharge. I peek at the latest self help novels gleaning knowledge on how to quite my life and gain refugee status from the depraved and chaotic world to which I exist. What does it mean to be a spiritual refugee?

A refugee can be defined as one that has no other option as to leave their native land. The physical, environmental, and political stresses influence ones decision to flee and seek refuge in another context. Often refugees are battered, abused, or victimized when they are seeking sanctuary. This is often foreign to us in America as our understanding is compounded by the readily available choices when hold as citizens of this nation. I saw we are spiritual refugees.

A spiritual refugee is one that has no other option than to lethargically seek a set of rituals, traditions, and dogma absent of that life transforming power of Jesus Christ. In America we are faced with a polarized gospel. One with two options liberal or conservative. We are shackled to a separation of self in religious activity and state manners. We are bombarded with a systematic way of purpose, emergence, and orthodoxy. When in fact, we have the ability to be transformed.

There is no greater solitude than to be surrounded by a world crying out to be transformed and you seeking to escape it. In my quest to find solitude, silence, peace, and God I believe that in the midst of the chaos and doldrums of life we are called to be a still voice among the flood of impatience, entitlement, aggression, and lethargy.

In the face of Kim Jong, President Bush, the ravages of war and civil strife, murdered families on a highway, homosexual this or that, Palestinians, Israelis, terrorists, air travel, denominations, doctrinal differences, or celebrity comings and goings we are called to be the presence and voice of God. I am personally convinced that our actions and voice need to be one of calm, patience, and providence. This voice cannot be one of judgment, aptitude, exclusion, or possession. As these are attributes of Christ alone. We can participate in these attributes…never can we own these attribute. We can possess forgiveness and understanding, but only with Christ as our anchor. Without Christ as our anchor we sail a tumultuous sea seeking calm waters as we pilot the ship. When we need to trust that Christ is with us in these rough seas and walks calmly along, hand in hand, loving us and loving us.

In recent events we may see this principle in action with the Amish community which suffered a tragic loss in the last few weeks. They attend the funeral of the man that inflicted massive amounts of pain. They calmly answer questions to the “English” world as we seek to understand why they are not seeking justice, vengeance, revenge. In a place where it is abnormal not to display anger and judgment these brothers and sisters offer a transformed perspective of peace, forgiveness, and love. I think they have it right. We could learn a lot about transformation by this example. This is one way to be repatriated to the Kingdom and end our stay as spiritual refugees.