The Two Standards.

When I was in college, I used to listen to pre-seminary students endlessly debate the "theology of glory" vs. the "theology of the cross." Enough already, I thought. It all seemed like too much religious jargon.

Only later did I begin to discover what could be powerfully relevant about a "theology of the cross," a Lutheran emphasis that insists God meets us not primarily in our accomplishments but rather in our weakness, in our brokenness, in our pain - not in what we have but in what we lack.

Today Ignatius lifts up what Brackley calls "the Two Standards," by which he means something like "the two flags" of armies heading into battle. I'm not sure this kind of language is the most helpful, but the stark division between two options for a way of life may, as Brackley puts it, "throw a bright light over the rocky moral terrain" of our world.

"To be placed with the Son is to be placed where he said he would be found: among the hungry, the naked, the sick, and imprisoned (Matt 25:31-46). It is to opt with the poor. Only in this way will "thy Kingdom come," the Kingdom of life in abundance, new social relations, with no more poverty, hunger, or tears (cf. Luke 6:20-26)."

Ignatius challenges us to think about what this might mean.

Then he goes one step further: He challenges us to actually ask Christ to place us with him: among the hungry, the naked, the sick, and imprisoned - and not in some abstract way, but quite literally.

This is so far from the Call or Invitation of contemporary culture - the call toward wealth and social status - that the idea of "two battle flags" actually starts to make some sense. Are there actually two calls pulling us in two different directions?

I think Luther, shaped as he was by a theology of the cross, might say yes. If it is true that Christ meets us in the crosses and crucifixions of our world - anywhere there is poverty and persecution - then it seems that we must be prepared to head in that direction if we are to continue journeying with Jesus.

So, here's my question for you: Can we begin to practice this idea today?

Maybe there are ways in which we might choose the Way of Christ by living in solidarity with the poor today. Maybe there ways we already do this. Maybe there are ways we might take the next steps along the Way.

Spending some time thinking about what this might look like is the Spiritual Exercise to which Ignatius invites us today.