Practice Prayer:
(breathing in) this mind
(breathing out) God’s mind
(breathing in) God’s mind
(breathing out) humble mind
(breathing in) humble mind
(breathing out) empty mind
(breathing in) empty mind
(breathing out) resurrected mind
The Christ Hymn—from which this practice prayer is taken—is a beautiful, ancient synopsis of what God is up to in Christ. Christ empties himself, taking on the form of a slave, born in human likeness, humble and obedient, even to the point of death. And then, God exalts him in resurrection. The Philippians are—with Paul’s help—practicing the mind of Christ. Paul says they are to have in themselves the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, and this mind is to shape how they live in community with each other.
Usually, in biblical interpretation we want to be careful about how we apply the ancient text to our modern context. But in this case, we can say with confidence that just as the Philippians were to be of the same mind as Christ, we too are to be of the same mind as Christ.
this mind/God’s mind
Following Christ’s example of humility, emptiness, and death, we are practicing the mind of Christ today. And just as with the Philippians, when we practice the mind of Christ we are resurrected, relationships are transformed, and God lives through us in this world.
Philippi was one of Paul’s earliest missions after his conversion to Christ. This Christ Hymn was, in all probability, not original to Paul. He inserted it as a familiar hymn that the Philippians and other early Christian communities would have already known. I say this simply to point out how central this pattern of self-emptying, death, and resurrection is for Christians; it is a very early practice. Practicing the mind of Christ is what Luther prioritized in his interpretation of Scripture and in his teaching throughout the reformation, though he commonly called it a “theology of the cross.”
It is important to remember the mind of Christ is a transpersonal mind, a community mind. We say in the practice prayer “this mind” not only as “my” mind, but “our” mind. We need community to remind and encourage us. Practicing the mind of Christ is simple, but it is not easy. There are many attractive distractions that lead away from Christ, and our community helps keep us on track.
For the Philippians and for us, practicing the mind of Christ involves humility. Christ humbled himself by taking human form, and by submitting to a will that was larger than his own. For Jesus, humility was about humanity. These words share the same root—humus—and they have to do with being grounded to the earth. For Jesus, humility meant accepting limitations, confronting the reality of death, letting go of control, and surrendering to a will greater than his own, each of which is a very human thing.
Paul’s words about humility are fairly clear: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition… Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” Think about how much this message contrasts with the rhetoric of nationalism, a rhetoric that prioritizes “American interests” above all others.
this mind/God’s mind
God’s mind/humble mind
Practicing the mind of Christ is also about being empty. For us, to have an empty mind is not to lack the capacity for thought or to be disengaged from reality. Instead, to have an empty mind is to have an attentive mind, an available mind. The fancy theological term for this emptying is kenosis. Kenosis is the great self-emptying of God. What is left is not nothingness, but rather a wholehearted presence, attentive and available. Jesus was empty, and therefore present. Jesus was empty, and therefore open to the will of God.
There is a Zen image involving a tea cup, and the student is to be an empty tea cup rather than a full one. The empty tea cup is ready to receive, but the full tea cup has no more room. Likewise, when our minds are empty, we are ready to listen, to really listen, in order to hear other people. How often do we already know what we will say, even while another person is still talking? In this case, we are like the people from Matthew’s gospel (13:13-14), when Jesus says, “‘though seeing they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.’” That is, until our minds are empty. When our minds are empty, we are of the same mind as Christ. God’s kenosis becomes our kenosis.
this mind/God’s mind
God’s mind/humble mind
humble mind/empty mind
Practicing the mind of Christ is humility, emptiness, and…death. This is unwelcome news for most people, and we don’t hear about it on prime time TV. That’s why Paul, Luther, and ourselves need to emphasize it again and again.
There are many ways to speak about Christian death. In some ways, humility and emptiness are death. When we are humble and empty, we have released the false identities and personas that prop us up on a daily basis. For example:
- Have you ever participated in an argument, only to realize that you actually don’t care about the argument at all?
- Have you heard of the expression “saving face”? The “face” that is saved is always a false face, because it depends on other people’s perceptions instead of God’s perceptions.
- Have you ever resisted apologizing to someone, even when you know you’re wrong? Maybe the thought of the other person’s smug satisfaction is too much to bear. Maybe our own sense of having failed is too much to bear.
These are all examples of refusing to die, of refusing to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. When we are willing to die—even if it’s just by making an apology—we are of the same mind as Christ. Think of how many of the world’s problems today could be avoided if political leaders didn’t worry about “saving face” or needing to always appear as “right” in an argument.
The Philippians practiced the mind of Christ, just as we do, because death is not the last part of the journey. Jesus picked up his cross, died, and was buried in a tomb. God highly exalted him by raising him from the dead. His journey continued among his disciples, and that journey has continued through the ages into this very reading, where Jesus continues to live. Paul gave the Philippians encouragement and reminders that the mind of Christ is also their own mind. We, too, remember that God’s mind is our mind. This mind is a humble mind. This mind is an empty mind. This mind is a resurrected mind.
this mind/God’s mind
God’s mind/humble mind
humble mind/empty mind
empty mind/resurrected mind
Take this practice prayer with you. Read over Philippians, chapter 2. Where are you being called to practice the mind of Christ? Where are you being called to humility, emptiness, and death? We can be assured through each other, the Philippians, Paul, and through the Spirit, that if we practice the mind of Christ, emptying ourselves in humility with a willingness to die, we too will be raised, and God will live through us in this world. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Amen.
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