Richard Rohr – When Things Fall Apart

The word change normally refers to new beginnings. But transformation more often happens not when something new begins but when something old falls apart. The pain of something old falling apart—disruption and chaos—invites the soul to listen at a deeper level. It invites and sometimes forces the soul to go to a new place because the old place is not working anymore. The mystics use many words to describe this chaos: fire, darkness, death, emptiness, abandonment, trial, the Evil One. Whatever it is, it does not feel good and it does not feel like God. We will do anything to keep the old thing from falling apart.

This is when we need patience, guidance, and the freedom to let go instead of tightening our controls and certitudes. Perhaps Jesus is describing this phenomenon when he says, “It is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14). Not accidentally, he mentions this narrow road right after teaching the Golden Rule. Jesus knows how much letting go it takes to “treat others as you would like them to treat you” (7:12).

Richard Rohr on Transformation

When there is the encounter with the other, when there is mutuality, when there is presence, when there is giving and receiving, and both are changed in that encounter, that is the moment when you can begin to move toward transformation. Maybe the word transformation scares you, but it means exactly the same as its Latin roots—to “change forms.” When you allow other people or events to change you, you look back at life with new and different eyes. That is the only real meaning of human growth.

Mark Galli – Are We Transformed Yet?

Mark Galli is a Christian author, former Presbyterian minister and managing editor at Christianity Today. He holds there a biweekly online column called SoulWork. His latest book is titled Jesus Mean and Wild: The Unexpected Love of an Untamable God.

Marks writing is crisp and often surprising. He always has an edge, like any good prophet.