How do we remain grounded when things around us keep shifting? In the midst of accelerated cultural change, Pete Scazzero, author of “The Emotionally Healthy Leader”,
offers two lessons we can learn from the Desert fathers and the Book of Revelation that will help leaders overcome discouragement and exhaustion during this season of upheaval.
Significant life disruption invites us to change
We are living through times of significant disruption, where the changes in the world can have a dizzying impact on our lives. Pete Scazero however points out that when we consider world history, significant tribulation is not new. He offers several recent and historical examples: wars in Syria and Iraq, the world wars and the fall of Rome that all indicate the vulnerability of the world’s system and that great difficulties and hardships are a part of life. Pete reflects,
“We are in a sacred time and a sacred space as the church.”
In this season we find ourselves under great pressure. The Greek word for pressure is thlipsis, and is found throughout the New Testament but especially in the Book of Revelation.
Pete Scazzero believes that God has two invitations for believers during this season. The first is to become a dead man and woman according to the wisdom offered by the Desert Fathers. The second invitation is to stay at your post, where this invitation is found from the Book of Revelation.
The first invitation: Die to self
In learning how to stay grounded in this cultural moment, Pete says we can glean a lot from the Desert fathers and mothers who lived in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The Desert fathers and mothers were predominantly from North Africa and decided to flee to the Egyptian desert as the dominant culture had become so worldly and had infiltrated the church. By living in the desert, the Desert mothers and fathers undertook a spiritual journey of cleansing their hearts and getting rid of idols that had not been visible to them while they lived in cities of the Roman Empire, learning a “holy indifference” to the things of this world.
Pete draws upon an important lesson that comes from one of the says of the Desert Fathers. When a brother came to Macarius and asked him for a word to be saved. Macarius responded and said to go to the cemetery and abuse the dead. The brother went to the cemetery and assaulted the cemetery stones. Macarius asked him whether they responded to him. Then Macarius asked “Did they answer you?” and the brother said “No.” Then Macarius said to them.
“Is the shallowness in our churches because of the shallowness of our prayers?”
In Ephesians 3:14, Paul says “For this reason I kneel before the Father.” The Apostle Paul’s revelation of who Jesus is and what He has done for us caused him to have such reverence before God. Francis questions whether we are approaching God, the Creator of heaven and earth in the same manner as Paul:
“Do you know how you insulted them and they did not reply? And how you praised them and they did not speak? You too, if you wish to be a holy man, you must do the same and become a dead man. Like the dead, take no account of either scorn of people or of their praises and then you will be holy.”
Like in today’s modern world, the highest worth of the city in those days was a careful cultivation of your reputation by investing your time and energies into what you owned and what people thought of you. The Desert Fathers and Mothers understood the importance of “apatheia,” a Greek word to describe being passionless or to master the passions.
To learn not to care for what is not important and care about. Pete reflects that as Christians we are called on a journey to get to God. In that process we are dying to the world’s markers of success, to insults, to praise, to reputation. As we cultivate a life where the peace of God is so deep within us, we will learn to love.
According to Pete, the Desert Fathers and Mothers identified three great enemies of the inner journey that we need to be aware of today: 1) Hurry; 2) Crowds and 3) Noise.
In these tumultuous days that so much is shifting in our feet, we are called to make a space for God, where we develop a deep inner life. This will require structuring our lives differently. Pete continues,
“We are not called to be CEOs, we are called to be great men and women of God. That is the great gift we offer to”
Pete Scazzero suggests our calling is to become spiritual directors “ We point people to Jesus.” A good spiritual director calls people to serve, they are good listeners, they don’t talk too much. They are not full of themselves as they have died to themselves.
The second invitation: Stay at your post
The Book of Revelation is the most quoted book of the early church fathers for the first 300 years as they often had the ground shifted under their feet. It was addressing a concrete historical situation of Christians living in the Roman Empire under the Emperor Nero.
Pete says that Revelation is a pastoral book to help people under intense pressure. He refers to an interesting insight into the book offered by a German Lutheran pastor who wrote a commentary of the Book of Revelation in a concentration camp during World War 11. He wrote:
“People who have not suffered often play with the imagery of Revelation. But people who suffer, never play with the imagery or play games with this Book.”
Pete says there is one central message from the Book of Revelation: stay at your post. We are called to live out our calling despite the disruptions that are around us.
Various scriptures throughout the New Testament exhort believers to live the present in light of what we know will be unveiled when Jesus returns, as outlined in Revelation 19-22. There will be a great wedding feast where every tear will be wiped away and we will see God in all His holiness, swallowed up with an ocean of His love.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote during the turbulent time of living in Nazi Germany:
“I will not live my life as if there is a different future. I will be at my post.”
Pete encourages listeners to stay with Jesus in this turbulent time and to order their lives in light of the Bible’s promise of a new heaven and a new earth.
There are no quick fixes during times of intense pressure. We are all called to orient our lives towards God’s slow work, rather than live in panic and be tossed around by the 24/7 news cycle. The Bible provides us with the spiritual resources to endure through tribulations and have a long perspective on world events.
To listen more to Pete Scazzero, download the podcast here.
