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The Long Quiet

January 30, 2013 in Uncategorized with 3 Comments

 

silence

It’s been a while since my last blog post. Goodness, that sounded like the strains of a confessional booth.

It has been 15 days, to be exact, the longest layoff since I began blogging on this platform. There were good reasons…

 

I was preparing 3 retreat teachings and a sermon.

I participated in our staff’s StratOps retreat.

I came down with some crud located in my sinuses and lungs that rendered me without energy or coherent thought.

My wife lost her job and we had to do some thinking about the future.

These are all great and grand justifications, certainly, for setting aside the blog and focusing on other aspects of life and ministry. I would like to say they are the primary drivers of why I didn’t post a single thing for the past 15 days. However, I need to be honest:

I simply had nothing to say. 

I wrestled with this, after reading other bloggers talk about consistent content equals consistent traffic and after thinking through where and when the things I write would have an impact on people’s health and growth and honestly my words and ideas were not well formed or meaningful. Frankly I though they may be dangerous.

So I shut it down. I didn’t write anything outside of my teaching and preaching roles. It was good.

I feel that in our communication media saturated society, the pressure to communicate is far higher even than when we had less immediate means of getting our message to the masses. The pressure to write books in a literate culture without internet was incredibly high, as the primary interchange of life-giving world-altering knowledge came on the printed page.

Still, there were only so many books that could be written – printers that could print them – and audiences with the resources to buy them. With those obstacles out of the way, the field is so wide we often forget about the significance of running in the heather.

So, I think Psalm 46:10 becomes incredibly relevant:

“Be still and know that I am God.”

Being still, being quiet, resting from the relentless compulsion to be visual and verbal, reminds us of the original word.

The one that spoke brilliant light into being.

The one that moved into our grime-stained world.

The one that said “It is finished” and meant every last syllable.

So I have been quiet, thinking, being healed, being loved by the Beloved. I have come to some insights:

1. I am convicted by the lack of beauty and artistry in my own communication. My posts from now on are going to be as much about the art of writing as they are about the content. Not that I am any great artist of the word, but I’ll give it a go to honor my soul’s ache at this point.

2. I need to aim for significance rather than productivity. I am going to trim my blogging back to three posts per week, to accommodate the need for more creativity as well as to honor the responsibilities of my life that override an upward-shooting mark in Google Analytics.

Thank you for reading, thank you for your visual energy, and I pray this is a time of renewal and hope for us all.

As yet to be written, but hope springs all the same.

Peace.

4 Critical Questions in Formissional Life

May 31, 2012 in Spiritual Formation, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you notice I use the term “formissional” on a regular basis. You may wonder what that means and if so then the best way I can sum it up is to have you read my e-book (it’s FREE, did I mention that?) “The Jesus Rhythm.” The best summary I can give is this:

The formissional life is the life that is being formed through retreat with God to advance toward the rest of the world with the message of His Kingdom.

Too often we stay in prayer, meditation, fasting – internal, personal disciplines – and never move toward those who were and are most important to Jesus Christ. I believe that within this formissional life there are 4 diagnostic questions we need to ask in order to keep ourselves moving in the right direction as we advance and retreat.

1. Who am I becoming?

Paraphrasing Dallas Willard, we are all being formed spiritually. We are either being formed into Christ by engaging in the path of discipleship, or we are being formed by the ethos and customs of the world we live in. Formissional life is built on the foundation of personal and community change via the transformation of how we see the world (Romans 12:2) so that we are constantly becoming those who love God with everything we have and who love our neighbor as ourselves. We have to run a constant assessment – am I more or less forgiving than before? Am I more or less content with the “benefits” (Psalm 103:1-2) of God than before? Am I more or less irritable than I was before?

2. Where do I live?

Formissional life requires we know our context, our community, our missional field. As we are being formed, part of the work of formation happens when we engage the unique people and unique challenges those people represent in our lives. Hugh Halter and Matt Smay indicate that living a missional life begins with forming friendships in your context. As we become more like Christ, we will be driven out of our transformed hearts into our yet-to-be transformed communities. How has your inner life change (peace, healing, contentment through Christ) affected your context? How many friendships have you made and how are you living like Jesus in those friendships?

3. Where do disciplines meet needs?

I have made mention of this before, but our spiritual disciplines* (prayer, Scripture, fasting, etc.) should inform our spiritual practices (hospitality, truth-telling, pursuing justice) and therefore meet the needs of those in the context where God has placed us. This is where the interrelatedness of what we do in quiet times with God and what impact we have on the public visible world begins to become clearer. We are never to engage in spiritual formation through intentional discipleship to Jesus simply for self-improvement. As a matter of fact, that would be completely AGAINST the nature of following Jesus. Instead, our inner work needs to feed our outer work so our focus should be on Which spiritual disciplines and spiritual practices prepare me to live out the Gospel in my context?

4. Where is God moving me?

As someone who practices spiritual direction with individuals, I can’t walk away from the formissional questions without making a comment on God’s direction. If the formissional life is becoming like Christ so that we may be sent out to others in a healthy, Kingdom-in-motion manner, we will need to have a consistent and clear way of listening to God. Books such as Dallas Willard’s Hearing God are helpful in getting our heads around the ideas, but having a director or group of people you can turn to in order to objectively discern God’s direction through the narrative of your life is critical. Asking the question regularly of Given my story and my experiences and the context in which I’m planted, what is God preparing for me that I may enter into? Having another person, a wiser and objective individual to help us pray and talk us through the various ideas involved in hearing from God will bring us fully into the beauty of this formissional life.

I pray that you spend some time with these questions and listen to where God may be stirring you to move today.

(*My thanks to Richard Peace’s book Noticing God for the distinction between spiritual disciplines and spiritual practices. A review will be out on Wednesday.)

Book Review: “Noticing God” By Richard Peace

May 29, 2012 in Spiritual Formation, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

As a writer, I appreciate people who begin with the simple and move into the complex. They present ideas and insights, and yet never fully convey that they have all the answers. They admit their faults, struggles, and they are fully in support of God’s mystery as a reality to be accepted and explored through prayer.

Richard Peace in “Noticing God” (IVP, 2012. 189 pages w/study guide) follows that exact formula.

What I appreciate most about this book is that it is a “book in time” for me. It comes in a time in ministry where I am presented on a regular basis with the question “How do I hear God?” or “Where is God in the midst of _______?” Peace’s book presents several fronts on which we can practice the simple art of “noticing” God. We can tune our senses to see Him in a variety of locations, and the support for this habit comes from long-standing classics such as Brother Lawrence’s Practicing the Presence of God in which every space of life is a “thin place” where heaven and the mortal world intermingle.

The opening chapters are thick and rich and holy, presenting seven major areas in which we may “notice” God: mystical encounters, God in the ordinary, the still small voice. the power of community, the written word, creation/culture/creativity, and last but not least the church.

The first 6 sections are well worth the cost of the book. His insights into reading Scripture, while somewhat flawed because of a lack of discussion on reading Scripture in its original context, are engaging and reminded me of the passion I must bring to reading the Bible. The section on creation/culture/creativity showed the intersection between the God who created people to be creative people and the cultural implications arising from the creative intersection. He says,

The gift of creation bears the marks of the giver. The beauty we see in the created world is not God, but as the medieval world knew, ‘beauty is a transcendental form of Gods’s presence therefore…experience of beauty can be understood, by analogy, as experiences of God. (104)

The final chapter on “Church” is interesting as it is notoriously difficult to talk about the standard spiritual practices – which tend to focus inward on the individual – in a community setting that focuses on “the us.” Peace distinguishes between spiritual disciplines such as meditation, fasting, and spiritual autobiography which are more individualistic and spiritual practices such as truth-telling, hospitality, and service which are done in the context of community. Due to my increased attention to the balance of the formissional life, I find the distinction helpful and will hopefully build on Dr. Peace’s thinking in the future.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who is attempting to drill down deeper into their ways of relating to God into a constant, conscious, intentional way of seeing Him and noticing Him everywhere. Take advantage of this resource as soon as possible.

My thanks to Adrianne Wright and the staff at InterVarsity Press for the opportunity to read and review this work.

Divine Wiring #3: The Analytical Ones

May 16, 2012 in Spiritual Formation, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Recently I was presenting on temperaments and spirituality in a class at Parkview and a man asked a question about why he had to think everything through so extensively.

He had identified with the NT (intuitive/thinking) temperament, and he asked if it affected a person’s whole life. I said “Yes” and then asked, “What do you do for a living?”

He smiled and said, “I’m an accountant.” I said, “I had a feeling.”

I’m not psychic (though I know you were convinced I was), the simple truth is that our temperaments determine a great deal of our life decisions. The whole point of this “Divine Wiring” series is to try and see where our temperaments can be harnessed to relate to God.

And now, the NT’s.

Authors Michael & Norissey in their book Prayer and Temperament assign each temperament type a saint that had similar characteristics. They assigned the NT temperament to St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest scholars in the history of Christianity. The reason is that the NT temperament is a thoughtful, rational, and analytical temperament. NT’s need to see the history of an idea and think it through from every possible angle before they can come to terms with it. They love intellectual challenges – puzzles like Sudoku appeal to a NT and they are most alive when they are challenged by an idea or thought that is difficult to process.

The downside of the NT is that moving from thinking to action doesn’t happen naturally, and sometimes the need to think through ideas can be paralyzing. NT’s can also struggle with pride as their academic and intellectual strength may lead them to put those who are not as intellectually gifted or driven at a lower status than themselves. They understand process very well, how to get from point A to point B, but an interruption in that logical movement can be difficult for them to navigate.

Here are some keys to a NT’s relationship with God:

1. Take time in prayer to think on one Biblical idea or aspect of God. Choose grace, holiness, justice, or sovereignty and spend time thinking about how these concepts work. Imagine that they are on display at a museum, and mentally walk around the display noticing the different aspects of each concept.

2. Bring intellectually stimulating reading into your life regularly. God has given you a deep desire to use your brain, and the best way to do that is to stretch it. Reading authors like Timothy Keller, N.T. Wright, and Dallas Willard will bring your mind to focus on ideas and understandings of God that will engage your natural thinking and reasoning skills plus it will give God space to transform you through your mind.

3. Discipline yourself to serve actively on a regular basis. NT’s are typically good at seeing where they fall short and creating a plan for how to fix their issues. This can be a roadblock to depending on God’s grace from time to time, however when it comes to moving from thinking to acting an NT can use that natural discipline to bring regular serving opportunities into their lives. Find a local food bank, soup kitchen, shelter or simply engage in service at your local church. Take the things that you are learning and mull them over as you apply your hands to the work of service.

4. Find a spiritual director to help you soften your “T.” The ancient spiritual writers talked about prayer as “descending with the mind into the heart.” Just as spending time in the mind without action is dangerous, spending time thinking without an avenue to let those thoughts change our motivations can be hazardous to our spiritual health as well. A trained spiritual director can help you move from the thoughts that God is placing before you to how those thoughts should change your motivations for living each day. They will guide you to see how the thoughts God is bringing you through prayer and intuition (remember, you’re still an “N” as well) come together to shape you and your formation into the likeness of Christ. You can find a list of spiritual directors here or you could contact your local church for more resources.

I pray that those of you who wear the NT temperament find God active in your minds, as you take in the world and think it through, may His thoughts be your thoughts and may you move from thinking to doing the bold and beautiful work of the Kingdom today.

If you want to catch up on the other temperaments, you can find them here:

Divine Wiring #1 – The Sensitive Ones (NF)

Divine Wiring #2 – The Driven Ones (SJ)

You can also take the FREE temperament sorter here to find out your temperament.

Do You Think or Feel Your Way to God?

April 25, 2012 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

These are two important, most definitely, because the answer to these questions shapes the way we see the world.

I tend to process the world by how I feel about it – intuition, hunches, nudges. I’m a feeler.

My wife tends to process the world by how she thinks about it – details, facts, tangibles. She’s a sensing type.

Why does this matter at all?

In the conversation about spirituality, discipleship, and growth the thinker/feeler ideas can either help or hinder us as we grow. They can create presuppositions – I’m not a “spiritual” person because I don’t get emotional - or they create barriers – I don’t FEEL God right now so I must be out of sync with Him.

Either way, the thinker/feeler discussion is incredible important. As you read this, no doubt you’re trying to decide who you are. The best way to determine where you land is to think about the last major purchase you made. Did you read reviews and ask other people who purchased the same thing? Did you need to hold it, look at it, test drive it before making a decision? You’re probably more of a sensing type. If you pulled up a mental “chair” and cozied up with a blanket and waited to see what your gut did when you thought about that particular purchase, you’re probably a feeler. If you hit in the middle, I can’t help you.

Now that we’ve established at least a ballpark idea of where you are, here are some challenges for thinkers and feelers. I’m listing these because honestly I believe we will grow most powerfully when we split the difference between the two.

1. Thinkers will want to protect the facts about God, feelers will want to cultivate a feeling of God.

2. Thinkers will strive for efficiency in their spiritual practices (prayer, study, etc.), feelers will get lost in them completely.

3. Thinkers will need God to prove Himself to them, feelers will need God to give them a “buzz” that reminds them of His presence.

The reality is that we need to be aware of how we relate to God if we want to be formed into the image of His son. We must realize, as the Psalmist says,

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Ps. 139:13, NLT)

God designed the very basis of our humanity, and He understands how the various parts of us work together and how we understand the world. He desperately wants to poetically and practically engage those inner fabrics in a way that we begin to become who we were intended to be.

Is it possible that our major hurdles in growing in Christ – in living out the Jesus Rhythm – are based on the fact that we haven’t tapped into our basic personality as a way of relating to God?
Thinkers – would you pray differently if you realized you didn’t have to feel anything for God to listen to you?
Feelers – would you engage the Scriptures differently if you were able to get lost in them without an agenda?
I hope to do a series of “Wednesday” posts on this topic going forward. I’d love to hear from you and know whether or not this is an area you’d like to explore.

A Change in Schedule

April 3, 2012 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Today I’m on a plane – likely as you’re reading this – and so I’m saving some blog material for later this week. I’d appreciate your prayers as I speak and see some old friends this week. Catch you on Thursday!

peace

 

My December 27th Tradition

January 10, 2012 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

It’s a new year and each new year brings on a practice that is totally foreign to a slacker-esque and non-type-A person like myself.

Goal setting.

Every year around December 27th I start thinking about the upcoming 365-day period and wondering: What’s going to happen in the next year and what kind of things can I plan to do and then foolishly ignore, only to read over them next December 27th and wonder exactly what I was thinking? 

That may be a tad more than my actual thought process, but not too much more.

Getting back into blogging has actually been quite difficult (as you can see, no posts since 1/4) for that very reason.

I’ve been forced to think about what I REALLY care about and what I REALLY want out of the coming year.

I’ve been forced to think about what God may want from me in the next calendar year. Who should I be and how do I open myself up to His grace in pursuit of that person?

I created a list of goals on Evernote and haven’t looked at it since. I can see the icon on this very screen, I know the list I made and what it means for this coming year. And as I think about it I ponder this one thought:

Will the Kingdom of God be beautified or defaced by my plans, actions, writings, dreaming, loving, living, hoping and teaching this year?

If not, my piddly weight loss and personal organization goals are useless.

How will the Kingdom of God look after you’re done with 2012?

A Quick Thought on Prayer

December 7, 2011 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I believe that prayer is primarily conversation with God – talking and listening.

I also believe that the biggest challenge in our lives to prayer is consistency – can I do this every day?

My thought for today on prayer is this:

You don’t have the same conversation with your wife, family, and close friends every day. There will be days where the conversation is different, and that’s okay.

David rejoiced, lamented, complained, questioned, inquired and flat out shouted in the Psalms.
Moses pleaded and prodded God in Exodus.
Jesus asked rhetorical questions in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Don’t let the conversation between you and God become rote and routine. Bring what you have, as you are, when you are able, and bring it often.

Pray written prayers. Pray brief prayers. Pray standing. Pray kneeling. Pray while doing other things. Let it be conversation that ebbs and flows out of the depths of your true state in life. Pray sad. Pray thankful. Pray joyful. Pray angry. Pray confused.

Peace

3 Signs You Should Pursue Spiritual Direction

December 6, 2011 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I have written on this blog in the past about “spiritual direction” and there are opinions aplenty out there about whether or not spiritual direction is good and useful to God or if it is in league with New Age teaching and/or the anti-Christ.

I choose the former. I’m planning a blog post in the future to explain why, but for now just trust me.

The question I hear often on the subject of spiritual direction is “what is it and who is it for?” These are technically two questions but I think they feed off of each other so much that it’s worth it to group them together. Spiritual direction is basically the friendship between two people, either two peers or a formally designated spiritual director and someone seeking direction, in which the objective is to ask questions and point out threads or connections in life that help the participants to listen to the Holy Spirit and move accordingly. It is not counseling or therapy in that it does not have to be executed by licensed professionals (though there are licensed directors that may give you comfort) and it does not primarily deal with curing emotional or psychological issues.

I have presented a fairly complicated definition, but once we start to come to terms with what spiritual direction is we can look at the second part which is “who is it for?” I’m including three possible questions that can help you or someone you know to determine whether or not spiritual direction is for you.

1. Are you finding yourself out of answers or saying “I don’t know what God wants me to do”?

2. Can you discern God’s voice and direction as it appears in your life at this time?

3. Are you struggling with thoughts or emotions in your relationship with God that you can’t quite define or understand their origin?

These are just a few ideas to get the ball rolling. If you are interested in spiritual direction via Skype or have more questions about where to find a director please feel free to comment below or use the social media connection buttons at the top right of this page to send me a note. I’d be happy to engage you in a brief conversation and help you determine the best director for you at this time.

Peace

I Assumed…

December 5, 2011 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

The old saying goes, “You know what happens when you assume, right?” I won’t fill in the rest, but if you are the “assume-r” let’s just say you don’t come out as the hero in the end.

Assumptions are an interesting part of life – we all live and base decisions on assumptions.

We assume the car will start when we get in it and turn the key, and so we decide to leave the house a little late.

We assume our spouses are trustworthy and as invested in our good as we are in theirs, so we open ourselves up to them completely.

We assume that we’ll be here tomorrow or the next day, healthy and with all of our faculties, so we put off those big events and decisions to a later time.

There is even a level at which we assume God will be there for us. We assume God’s presence, goodness, forgiveness and grace.

Today, I’m meditating on whether or not that’s a good thing. Is it right to assume God?

Is assuming God’s activity and action the same thing as “faith” – believing what we cannot see but what we hope for?

David talks about meditating on the law of God every day (Ps. 1:2) and there are sentiments throughout the Bible about our need to constantly place our thoughts and desires and meditations on the God, His Son, and His Spirit and the work of truth that they are crafting like fine pottery within our souls.

Is assumption the enemy of that deep and lasting cool spring of water that comes from bringing our thoughts around to God? Or is that the heart of faith?

If I move to forgive someone, do I stop to consider that God will actually be present in that act and give me the strength to do it?

If I give expecting nothing in return, do I stop to think on the generous God who’ll fill my need in the absence of my own generosity in His name?

Could it be that the one thing that is keeping us from being formed into the image of Christ is our assumption of Him and His empowering actions in this world?

Father, help me never to assume you but to give time to intentionally thinking on what you’re actually doing in the moments of grace and goodness, trial and travesty, beauty and majesty that happen nearly every 60 seconds of my life.

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