Week 10, 2013 Formation - Ending Well

I sat on top of this Mayan ruin just a few months ago waiting for the rest of my team to arrive. (It's Lamanai in Belize). It was still and warm at the base of the pyramid. When I climbed to the top I was greeted with some strong winds that made the perch just a bit unsettling.

While I waited I pulled out my journal to record the onslaught of thoughts and reflections God was giving me. I gazed upon the landscape surrounding me, especially the huge trees that were in the valley of the courtyard, rising up over 100 feet in the air.

• When I was walking at the base of the pyramid, I leaned on those trees for support as they seemed to have been a resting stop for hundreds of years and for thousands of visitors.
• When I climbed the pyramid I noticed however, that the tops of the trees were moving sometimes violently because of the strong winds of the area. The leaves on the top of the trees seemed to hold on for all of their might with each burst from the winds.
• The base of the trees were not moving at all (or not to the naked eye) and it brought great delight to watch various animals (howler monkeys especially) swing around the lower regions of the trees with incredible ease.

So what does this have to do with Contextual Ministries and our last 3 weeks of class? Good question!

• Much like the tops of the trees, I wonder how many of you feel a bit tossed by life right now; just holding on? As I watched the leaves move I noted: That which is on the surface is the most susceptible to life's forces. The things at the tops of each tree were the most vulnerable and needed the firmest grip. Whatever you've walked through this semester, my prayer is that God's Grip held you and that you recognized a power, a strength, to hold on despite life's forces. Yet I also pray that...
• You've Grown Deep Roots! These hundred year old trees had very deep roots that allowed some give at the top but anchored that tree! A tree (person) with a solid Anchor could grow and survive no matter what storm they may face!

So let me ask you:

• At what moments did you feel like you were "just holding on?" Describe where you think God was during those times?
• Which of the 12 Spiritual Disciplines, when practiced will help you dig deeper roots, and guide you into God's Presence in a way that you've never experienced before?
• Which of the 12 Spiritual Disciplines rubbed you, irritated you or were so 'normal' for you that you either refused to practice them or 'got nothing' from them? Why do you think that is?
• What have you learned about what is necessary for your life to bear fruit in all seasons? What has this community, these Disciplines and your writings revealed to you about things your soul needs (reflect especially on that which frustrated you)?
• What praise would you offer to God at these revelations?

I offer to you the words from Psalm 1 as my prayer for you this season. Thank you for the privilege of letting me journey with you.

1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; 2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. 3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish

Week 7, 2013 Formation - Loving Self by Resting

Psalm 116 says,

"Be at rest once more, O my soul,

For the Lord has been good to you."

REST
The concept of rest comes up often in Psalms. In fact, the more I read through them as one complete collection of poems, the more I hear "rest" emerge as almost a central posture that the writers are dwelling on, delighting in or pleading for.

"My soul finds rest in God alone." -Psalm 62:1

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone" - Psalm 62:5

"My heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure." - Psalm 16:9

There is something about the Psalmist's relationship with God that "rests" him.

It makes me think of the pauses in between notes in a piano piece. The notes that are played are beautiful, but the rests give the music rhythm, melody and beauty. Can you imagine a song without any rhythm? Can you imagine a piano piece with non-stop key striking? It would sound like...NOISE.

Which makes me think about the quality of my life's musical score. What sound is my life producing?

SEMINARY NOISES
A couple reflection questions for Seminary students, in the middle of a semester filled with life, ministry, work, academics, friends and family:

• Is it possible in this season of life to make beautiful music with your life?
• How does I embrace "resting in God" with productivity? Commitments? 
• Do I justify a season of noise, knowing that it is temporary?
• What does "solitude" contribute to the rest/rhythm of my soul?

RHYTHM
If I may encourage you to find a rhythm for your soul, your body, your mind and your heart this semester that enables your life's posture to embrace a deep centering (rest) IN God.

• What does it look like to balance constant connectivity of online learning with a rhythm of disconnection?
• What rhythms of the Church (Sabbath, Retreat, Daily Office, Community, etc.) can I explore that will encourage my soul's desire to stay in God?
• How can my MinGroup and/or Facilitator assist in balancing it all? What permissions do I need to give them?

PRAYER
May God envelop your soul with grace. May God nurture your resting and your activity. May this season of life produce beautiful symphonies, songs that point to the grace of God in the midst of life's busyness. Amen.

Week 5, 2013 - Formation - Loving God

How do you show love to the One who invented love?

How do you offer soul? heart? mind? strength?

When the expert challenged Jesus on how to gain eternity, Jesus reinforced this idea that one must "love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength and..." Before we get to the last part of Jesus' statement, it would be fitting for us all to first stop and ask, "How do we love the Lord our God?"

In the JDP Torah Commentary's reflections on Deuteronomy 6:5's command to "love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength", offer,

"The idea of commanding a feeling is not foreign to the Torah, which assumes that people can cultivate proper attitudes...Love of God in Deuteronomy is not only an emotional attachment to Him, but something that expresses itself in action...the command to love God may accordingly be understood as requiring one to act lovingly and loyally toward God."

In other words, love for someOne can be cultivated AND evidenced through action. In this case, the action that aligns one's thoughts, actions and passions (heart, soul, strength). Any "feeling" that may emerge is secondary. That is not suggesting that feelings don't matter but that they are only one aspect of our response to God. It reminds me of Bonhoeffer's words in his Sermon to the German-Speaking Congregation in Barcelona (quoted in Meditations on Psalms) on Psalm 62.

"We wait until the mood comes over us. Then we wait and we wait, often for years, perhaps all our life, until we are in the mood and become religious. Behind that way of thinking lies a great deception. Very well, let us allow that religion is the stuff of mood, but God is not dependent upon mood. God is there when we are not in the mood, driving us into closeness with Him." (30).

So permit me to ask:
-How has/does your mood or your emotion affect your ability to love God?
-What actions are present in your life that display your loyalty to God?

The second part of this passage that jumps out to me is a short word, "All."

"Love the Lord your God with ALL your..."

ALL your heart

ALL your soul

ALL your mind

ALL your strength

For most of my life I assumed "all" meant a conscious decision to give God the best of me. But as I grow I wonder if my "all" means the best AND worst of me. Because if I'm honest, some of my heart is yielded to God and some of my heart gets bent toward the temporal. All of my soul includes things that give life AND things that lead to death. All of my mind includes some bizarre memories that I'd rather not expose to God (Oh please God may I one day forget all the lyrics stored in my brain from boy bands and N.W.A.). What would it look like to love God with ALL of these areas of my life?

It's important because what we tend to hide from God are the very things that cause us much shame...they become things that make us believe we cannot be loved.

So somehow, loving God (action and intellect) with ALL of our selves becomes a way for us to experience God's love in return.

This conversation reminds me of the honest line in Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It says, "prone to wander Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord. Take and seal it. Seal it for the courts above." The writer loves God with his doubt, with his fear.

How might you love God with the "prone to wanders" from your life? 
How have you experienced God's affirmation when you've uncovered the 'all'?