Page 185 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 7

The Work and Thinking of David Benner

got it right when he declared that the glory of Final Comments
God is humans fully alive! If we are to complete our lifelong journey to
becoming we need many supports in our lives.
This was clearly the message of Jesus. Contra- We all need love and emotional support, add
sting himself to those who come to steal or de- to this courage and hope, an ability to pick
ourselves up and learn from our failures and
stroy life he declared that the reason he came above all - that even in the midst of all our
to earth was to bring abundant life and to help doubts there is the reassurance that God is
people live that life to the full.(John 10:10) So- with us. Jesus often taught that we should stri-
metimes, as for example during his encounter ve for life in all it’s fullness. We must be fully
with the Samaritan woman at the well, he de- awake, live life each moment, seek for expe-
scribed this full life as eternal.(John 4:14) This riences, engage in relationships, and strive to
word eternal is a bit misleading here as it sug- more fully enter into the presence of God.
gests something that would be experienced af-
ter death – some sort of immortality. This is not A concept that has helped me on a daily ba-
sis is that Jesus wants to share our lives, to
what Jesus was offering. The life that he offered be in the middle of all that we do and think,
is the life of the Eternal One. It is the life of God, and so be our companion on this journey of
welling up within as a spring of living water. becoming fully human. Above all I need to re-
mind myself that despite my sins, failings and
The real challenge of humanity is more a mat- cowardice, God actually loves me and seeks
ter of becoming than simply being. It is about for my growth and maturing so that I may
drawing deeply from this inner spring of living finally become an heir of His Kingdom. What
water that vitalizes and allows us to become ful- a promise – what a future !
ly human. It is about living in the present, fully
awake and ready to engage with life, the people
around us, and the world. It is about choosing
life.

Choosing Life
Choosing life is not only foundational to deep References
Thomas Moore, The Soul’s Religion: Cultivating a Pro-
spirituality in general terms, it is a fundamen- foundly Spiritual Way of Life (HarperCollins, New York,
tal part of Judeo-Christian spirituality. Recall 2002), p. 13.
the last words of Moses to the Children of Israel See, for example, Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (Bos-
just before he died.( Deut 30:15 – 20) He de- ton: Shambhala, 2000), and, Integral Spirituality (Boston:
scribed two ways of living – a way of life and a Integral Books, 2007).
way of death. Choosing life, he told them, was Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible quotations are from
choosing God. Equally true, choosing God is The Jerusalem Bible, Readers Edition (Garden City, NY:
choosing life.“ Doubleday & Company, 1966

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