One of the greatest pitfalls that we face these days is a " rush to judgment".. That's a phrase made (in)famous during the "OJ" Simpson trial by his attorney Johnnie Cochran.
Daniel Kahneman won a Nobel prize in 2002 for his research in behavioral economics, specifically judgment and decision-making. His best selling book "Thinking Fast and Slow" exposes the faults and biases of our "fast thinking"....(our rush to judgment)....the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, overconfidence in corporate strategies, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation!
Each of these decisions can be understood only by knowing how the two systems of "fast thinking" and "slow thinking" work together to shape our judgments and decisions.
Both have benefits: like "fast thinking" keeps you safe in emergencies where you must react immediately.
But most of the time, "slow thinking" is what we most need to flourish.
Unfortunately, as our lives speed up, so do our habits to rush to judgment about someone's appearance, personality, behavior, politics, economic status, or religious beliefs....
We just don't have the time to be present and sort out the thoughts and emotions we are experiencing about the person, place or thing that is in front of us.
We are constantly moving on to the next thing...
And so, we tend to miss or dismiss God's perspective on this person right in front of us,
this season that we find ourselves in,
or this thing that is really hanging us up...
Our default mode is "fast thinking"
In understanding God's infinite perspective in the "present moment" of the person, place or thing that is right in front of us, however, "slow thinking" is necessary.
It requires deliberation and effort.
It requires working through God's word.
It requires prayer.
It requires community feedback in order for us to re-order our thinking from a "jet-skiing"experience to a scuba diving experience...
As you may have watched the Oscars this year (or not) a jet ski was awarded to the person who could give the shortest acceptance speech.
It neatly captured "fast thinking"- How do we move onto the next thing (award) quickly?
It's a pretty good paradigm to turn upon ourselves: Are we going to continue to think fast and furious on our jet skis in our own power and steering, or scuba dive: take the time to dive beneath to discover the mysteries and beauty of all that lies beneath and beyond what we can see on the surface-
Acting in Mercy and the process of learning to love mercy, as God does, requires "slow thinking"....
It requires going down deep and coming up slowly...like scuba diving.
The Trinity reveals this to us in both the parable of the Prodigal Son and the Book of Jonah.
As you will recall, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, the older son called one of the servants and asked about the music and dancing. "Your brother has come," the servant said, "and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound."
When he heard this the older son became "angry and refused to go in."
By stewing in his anger and refusing to go in, the older son in Jesus' parable appears a lot like Jonah.
The Old Testament prophet initially refused to go to Nineveh, and when God was later merciful to the sinful city "it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry."
"This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish," Jonah complained, "for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." Jonah then asks the Lord to take his life, "For it is better for me to die than to live."
Jonah and the elder son both rushed to judgment (of the Ninevites and the prodigal brother).
Kahneman would say that they both engaged in "fast thinking"....
And God confirms that the better way is "slow thinking"
But that it is not EASY!
Skye Jethani writes that we must not get mad at God's mercy.
For when we do get mad, we set up an either/or scenario as the elder son and Jonah did:
"They falsely believe that their elevation necessitates another's condemnation. Therefore, when the Lord shows mercy toward the sinful it is perceived as an attack on their own value. If God is loving towards that terrible person, then maybe I'm not as special as I thought. Maybe I'm not better than everyone else."
Consider this question: If God forgave the person who hurt you most deeply and gave him a party, how would you feel? (See, there's a little Jonah and "elder son" in all of us.)"
Mercy is God's slow thinking, being slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love..
Teaching us how to think about
How to BOTH scuba dive AND jet ski!
I'm a jet skier through and through.
But I know that there is so much more below the surface.
We all live in some sense or depth of this truth.
And Scripture constantly reminds us that we live in the BOTH/AND:
For we know that we are not God (Gen 3), and yet we have the mind of Christ. (1 Cor 2:14-16; Phil 2: 5).
Perhaps we can best understand this paradox the way that Gertrude Stein simply expressed it: A rose is a rose is a rose....
I am imagining that when she looked at those roses, she understood that we are all of the same root: We are all created and grafted into God's rootstock.....His image, His Imprint upon us....His Beauty, his uniqueness in how each of our roses blossom!
And that God's gift of mercy is like a rose....
Justice is its root; mercy is its flower.
that A mercy is a mercy is a mercy...
That's the Beatitude.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5: 3:7.
"not attaining anything by our own holiness but by ten thousand surrenders to the beautiful reality of mercy.
That A lifetime of received forgiveness allows you to become mercy."- Richard Rohr
It's slow thinking.... and Becoming mercy.
Let us dive deep and discover its beauty!
Prayer from Catherine of Siena:
O eternal Mercy, you who cover over your creatures/ faults! Your mercy is life-giving. It is the light in which both the upright and sinner discover your goodness. And if I turn to the earth, your mercy is everywhere...For wherever I turn my thoughts I find nothing but mercy! O eternal Father, forgive my foolish presumption in babbling on so before you- but your merciful love is my excuse in the presence of your steadfast love, slow to anger, relentless in its healing power, bigger than all of my mistakes. Thank you Abba, Jesus and Holy Spirit for lifting me into the Divine dance of your mercy today, and diving down with me into the depths of its essence and beauty. Amen
From Lyn Woodruff in The River Prayer Reflections Texting Group 3/5/2018
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