[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”78985″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]Do you ever find yourself pining for the good old days? There’s no doubt that the last couple of years have been tough. Many of us are wishing for a normal life again, and maybe holding on to some unrealistic dreams for the future.
One of Australia’s deepest Christian thinkers, Dr Charles Ringma, is concerned with issues of the heart. In his new book, ‘A Fragile Hope’, he invites readers to identify their inner struggles of faith and to voice their anxieties and pain.
Dr. Charles encourages believers to wrestle with God, and nurture what he calls a ‘fragile hope’. We are called by the gospel to nurture an inner life that responds with faith and courage to the brokenness of our world.
As well as starting many drug addiction and welfare programs, 50 years ago Dr. Charles founded the first Teen Challenge in Australia. He joined us recently on 20Twenty to share his insights on how we can all benefit from nurturing a fragile hope in Jesus.
Being a very driven person, several years ago Charles decided to take some time out. He believes this is vital for us as Christians because, we can become so consumed by activism that it completely dominates our lives. As a consequence, we neglect a lot of other important things.
“The purpose of that time was not to try to do anything magnificent,” says Charles. “It was just to learn and be still. I wanted to become more attentive and listen to the workings of the spirit in my heart. I also wanted to listen to what scripture had to say. I spent a lot of time just being completely still and quiet.”
Charles believes that we see very much in the life of Jesus that He was an activist. But we also see that Jesus was profoundly contemplative, and spent time in prayer and friendship with the father. The emphasis on both contemplation and action prayer are important themes. The issue is that we need to have a greater balance between these two things.
After his time away, Charles returned back to normal life. But he began to think about ordinary Christians who couldn’t even get away for a weekend retreat, much less a six-month sabbatical. What does developing a fragile hope of the heart look like in the midst of ordinary daily life?
“Spiritual practices and contemplation can belong to everybody,” says Charles. “One of the practices that I do throughout the day is to stop at various points to pray and reflect. It’s a way of coming to a more open, receptive posture. We can all do this within our daily, normal Christian life.”
Charles says he always wants to point people back to the work of Jesus. What strikes him, particularly in John’s gospel, is that we get a very clear picture of Jesus’ incredible attentiveness to the father. It’s to such a degree that Jesus proclaims he and the father are one.
The profound friendship and solidarity between Jesus and the father impacted what Jesus did, and the passion He had for people. He loved those who were on the edges of society. The Bible suggests that prayer and meditation are about fundamentally developing a listening attitude towards God and towards scripture.
“What I learned working on streets,” says Charles, “was that people with alcohol and drug issues just want to be listened to. People in the drug scene are really there for each other as a community. The Bible is full of stories about the importance of community and caring for one another.”
The Christian life is about being different. We are in the world, but we’re not of the world. We need to be transformed more and more into the likeness of Christ.
“We need to seek to live with the passion we see in scripture,” says Charles.
“To become different, I believe that we have to live a life of both retreat and engagement.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title_align=”separator_align_left” border_width=”3″ title=”Read More”][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” style=”load-more” max_items=”10″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1644979648490-988f5579-693b-4″ taxonomies=”742″ items_per_page=”3″ btn_title=”Load more”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
