Deepening our Christianity

the Monday Newsletter of Paul Prins

Edition #19 · 18 September 2023

Blessings Reader,

The Way of Jesus

The way, the truth, and the life. Jesus uses this phrase to describe himself. In His next breath, He tells us that no-one gets to the Father except through Him.

The way, truth, and life.

Of the three things on this list, it is truth that seems most interesting. If not the most interesting, then the easiest to engage with. Engaging with truth takes the least from us. This is not to say it is easy. It is a task without end. The truth of Jesus. The truth of the Father. The truth of the Holy Spirit. The truth of God. Our minds are only capable of knowing the transcendent in part. This is a problem for us. The easiest of these three, truth, is a task that we can never finish.

So many never get to the way. They have bought into this failed idea that our thoughts will change our actions. That a change in understanding changes our behavior. That there is a greater truth we need to go onto the way and the life. Of course, there is always more to learn about God. Yet, far too many of us in practice read this verse as, 'I am the place, the truth, and the life.'

There is motion in these words. Jesus places these three in order. Look at them all together. We see that the way is about movement, journey, adventure, and moving towards something. I believe that we are moving through the truth and into the life Jesus modeled for us. A way of living into the life of Jesus. This is even more work than investigating truth. How do we love our neighbors as ourselves? How do we die with Christ? How do we discern our way forward? What can we do when so many claim to be blessed but look like the world's definition of success? Was not Jesus blessed above all as he was murdered by the empire for his message of love?

I'm not against learning. I love ideas, theology, languages, and so much more. Yet all the learning I have done falls short of the work of following the way of Jesus. I'm not sure how we lift up those whose character models the fruit of the spirit. I do think we should try. I'm tired of seeing people using their 'truth' to justify hate. Of using their 'truth' to excuse violence or abuse. I'm tired of seeing unbroken people claim they have unique access to truth. Unique access to God. They don't. To many of them the way and the life are foolishness. The way and the life get in the way of their truths, plans and power. Jesus has no need for our power.

May you find in your tender brokenness enough of God's love to sustain you. To hear His voice speak to you without agenda or disappointment. To hear him invite your broken life, to pick up your cross and follow the life that went before you. To follow Jesus into the grave and into life everlasting.

Until Next Week

Posted since the last Edition

Urban Monastic Content!

This is not really that exciting. We've put together a set of content guides for Urban Monastics. These guides will help give a common footing to our written work as we move towards publishing this fall. Feel free to check them out!

Read the Content Guides

Unpublished Photo for this Edition

The firefighters came back again. It's been a month. This time they went into our floor neighbor's apartment. This is actually the same way our cat once got into their apartment. Both times, no one was home. This time, it was just a faulty smoke alarm.
**Captured:** 16 September 2023

A Prayer for the Week to Come

Jesus, give me a love for the way you invite me to live. Help me to temper my love of truth, learning, and wisdom. Guide my feet upon the path that leads to death upon my cross. To follow after you with loving faithful devotion. May you become more to me than anything else. That my heart would not hesitate to give it all for love, just as you did.