Obedience

I attended a meeting recently where the discussion was on obedience. Most of my colleagues in that meeting were strong on obedience, particularly obedience to the church. I shared with them that obedience is not an easy spiritual discipline for me. Discernment must come before obedience because I need to know that I'm being obedient to the presence of Christ as I understand that. I'm not as trusting of a "system"--even a religious system as my colleagues seem to be. My grandparents were "churched" (1930's) for selling tobacco in their grocery store and my parents were asked (early 1950's) not to bring my mentally handicapped brother to Sunday School because the "church" didn't know what to do with him. I grew up with these 'stories' of church so I'm not so quick to give obedience to the 'church' or any religious system. I have learned that understanding the presence of Christ certainly means hearing what my "community" has said and is saying about a particular behavior, option and/or direction. It seems to me that discernment must involve listening and patience. Listening to those who are not in the "power structure" is absolutely crucial in my thoughts.

I guess obedience is a growing spiritual edge for me. First of all, I'm from Oklahoma--you know the "don't fence me in" attitude. Secondly, somewhere in my Seminary education process, someone said that I have a strong "rebellious child" part that acted out frequently. That's probably true. In the end, I'll probably obey, if I think it is the right thing, but just give me time and don't push. O yes, once I'm "on board," I tend to stay for the long haul.