DELIBERATELY DIVERSE | Rev. Terry Pierce
Deliberately Diverse represents the individual opinions of a group of Taylor friends who never completely agree about anything but enjoy diverse discussions.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”
My childish understanding of this was that if you want the stuff of the world — wealth, power, waffle cakes and kittens — you will go to Hell or die (depending on who was talking). So you better just sit still and think about God.
Of course, I am not very good at sitting still and I love waffle cakes. It seemed to me I was doomed.
But Paul also said in the First Letter to the Corinthians, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I understood like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.”
So perhaps childish understanding of Paul’s meaning can be updated with adult reasoning.
The word in Romans translated from the Greek as “mind” is phronēma.
Phronēma refers to a person’s perspective that shapes how they see and respond to life in the world. We have all encountered people whose perspective about what to expect in life is negative; the ones who, like Chicken Little, are sure the sky is falling and cannot be convinced otherwise.
Paul urges us to adopt a Christ-patterned mindset by always seeking to see, interpret and respond to the world in the same ways Jesus Christ would see, interpret and respond.
In current turbulent and chaotic times, “living with the mind of Christ” — in other words, adopting Jesus’ perspective and humility — is a daunting task.
In Paul’s letters, phronēma is part of a word-group closely associated with the verb phroneō and the noun phronēsis. Paul urges us to reason together (phroneō) with the mindset or pattern of Christlike thinking and acting (phronēma).
Over time, that practice leads us to practical wisdom and prudence in our decision-making (phronēsis), to faithful and fruitful Christlike actions.
Reasoning together with the mindset of Christ is different from reasoning together with the mindset of our chosen political party, or with the mindset of Fox News or MS NOW. What is the mindset of Christ? He told us, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength… Love your neighbor as yourself.”
When our actions are guided by love of our neighbor, we begin to see where God is creating new and abundant life through our actions. We become cultivators of life and peace in ourselves and in the world.
Credit to John Lewis and Jane Patterson, codirectors of St. Benedict’s Workshop, for the exegesis underlying this column.
Pierce is vicar of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Taylor and can be reached by email at ministry@ stjamestaylor.org.
