Showing posts with label Small Group. Show all posts

I'm sorry if that came on a little strong.  It wasn't intended for you.  Really.

Nor was it intended for my cell phone in my pocket, which I was just sure was going to beep with an important text message or ring with a phone call.

It wasn't intended for my clock ticking every so loudly in the next office at church.

I didn't even mean it for the cars going by outside.

No, it was intended for my brain...my wandering mind.

There I sat in the comfy recliner in my office, all ready to enter into my 20 minutes of silent prayer.

I don't "do" silent very well. I knew this would be a challenge.  But, our discipleship small group has covenanted to 20 minutes of silent prayer every day this week. This is all about us trying to find our identity in God amidst all of the other identities we try to put on.

So, 20 minutes.

How hard could that be?

It's JUST 20 minutes.

Well....  for me....  it's a little hard.

My brain kept wandering to the various sounds I'd hear and then to the feelings I was feeling and then the people I was concerned about and the things I had to do today and the walk I was going to take and the fact that I was trying to sit there in the presence of God and I couldn't get away from the presence of my thoughts.

I did, thankfully, keep going back to some of the breath prayers I was trying to hold onto.

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."

And then...

"O taste and see that the Lord is good!"

I kept coming back to them but my mind was kind of like a car driving around on our slippery roads.  Every time I seemed to get a little traction, I'd slip and struggle to get my grip again.

On and on it went. Progress.  A slip.  Traction.  Distraction.

Eventually I broke down and got up out of my seat to check the clock.  I mean, surely, it had to have been 20 minutes already.  Didn't it?

Nope.  17.

So, back I went to pray again.  But at this point it was probably a little late.  With such a short window my prayers never really found any footing.

And then it was over.

This could be a long week.

Now, if I'd just get my brain to shut up for a while.

So, we're looking at Mark Scandrette's book, Practicing the Way of Jesus for our discipleship group. It's in the very first chapter that he really got my attention for what it missing in contemporary discipleship and what we need to replace it.

So many of us want to live in the way of Jesus--pursuing a life that is deeply soulful, connected to our real needs, and good news to our world. Yet too often our methods of spiritual formation are individualistic, information driven or disconnected from the details of everyday life. We simply are not experiencing the kind of transformation that is the historically expected result of the Christ phenomenon. If Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated and taught a revolutionary way of love that is actually possible, alive with healing and hope, then we need a path for experiencing that revolution in the details of our daily lives. Simply put, I believe we need to recover a sense of immediacy and action in our spiritual practices. Perhaps what we need is a path for discipleship that is more like a karate studio than a lecture hall. (14)

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Obviously, Wesley's class meetings and the current practice of Covenant Discipleship comes to mind. Also the new monasticism that is embodied in the work of Shane Claiborne or Elaine Heath. But, where I've always struggled is, outside of having to go join up with a group of like-minded monastics in some inner-city mission, how do we incorporate this into the life of the church today. I'm hoping Scandrette helps.

He says this is like Jesus teaching in a karate dojo. In a karate dojo, people don't just sit at the feet of the master with a textbook in hand, learning all the facts about karate.& Instead, they do it.

You can't learn karate just by watching, and we can't learn to follow Jesus without practicing to do what he did and taught. Jesus didn't just communicate information or ideas, but declared "I am the way" and invited his disciples into a new life that was fueled and inspired by his example, teachings and sacrifice (John 14:6).... So a Jesus dojo is a space where a group of people wrestles with how to apply the teachings of Jesus to everyday life through shared actions and practices. (p. 16)

We'd like to have that space. We need to have that space. For it's in that space that the proverbial rubber meets the road and discipleship happens to change lives.

That's what's at heart here. Those of us who say we're following Jesus, should really live our lives in a different way. At the end of the day, we need to say that following Jesus made a difference in our lives today...that it mattered. People are skeptical of faith that isn't exhibited in life and, for much of the church, me included, there has been a disconnect between what we say we believe about Jesus and what our lives look like. There hasn't been much of a "Jesus-Shape" to our lives.

Knowing the transformational promise of the gospel, it is fair to ask whether a person who claims to have a relationship with Jesus exhibits more peace and less stress, handles crisis with more grace, experiences less fear and anxiety, manifests more joy, is overcoming anger and their addictions or compulsions, lives more consciously or loves more boldly. (14)

It is fair to ask this. It is fair to ask if life is different because you are madly in love with the Jesus who first loved us. And, if it's not, then it's fair to explore how it is that life can be different.

That's what our new group is exploring.

In a twist of the Apple Computer marketing phrase, we don't just want to "Think Different," we want to "Live Different."

Image via WikipediaI saw a couple of blog posts last week from clergy type folk talking about what it is that they are learning about at this point in their ministry.  I thought I'd share some of the stuff I'm learning at this point.

1)  MISSIONAL THEOLOGY -- How the church participates in the MISSIO DEI -- The sending of God.  This is looking at the church as a place from which we are sent.  You have the church gathered (on Sunday AMs for instance) and the church sent (as we go from that place).  So primacy is placed on how people are the embodiment of Christ on the "other" days of the week.

2)  COMMUNITY BASED MINISTRY -- I think this comes before the missional theology.  For the last few years we've been working to turn Girdwood Chapel outward and be a place that is involved in ministry in the community.  Now that we have a new building, we're looking at how that space can be used to "be Christ" to the community and how we can love our neighbors through that space.

3)  MONEY --  We are in debt as a church.  I'm learning about the various ways we got to where we are and am part of conversation about how to get out, knowing that we need to continue to be involved in ministry as we do this.

4)  SMALL GROUPS -- Yeah, I've always known they are important for "disciple-making" and support, but it is taking on an urgency as I question how good a job we've been doing at making disciples.  And since I've been around over 10 years I can't say I haven't had time.

5)  ADMINISTRATION -- You don't go through a church-building process and not learn some of this.  There is a whole lot of coordination that has had to happen to get us where we are.

6)  RELYING ON THE POWER OF GOD -- The longer I've been in Girdwood, the less I've felt like I have the tools, the gifts to make stuff happen.  When I first came into ministry in 1994, I was pretty sure I could do this all myself.  I don't have that belief anymore.  I am dependent upon the power of God to do anything.

7)  TAKING CARE OF MYSELF -- I'm 41 years old, gettin' on 42 (where I think I'm supposed to learn the meaning of life, the universe, and everything).  I'm overweight.  I'm in a high stress job as I enter into people's pains and have administrative responsibility for a 1.5 million dollar facility and the care of the spiritual lives of about 75 persons, not counting community responsibilities for those who won't ever come to church.  Our family's been struggling with schedules with our 5 kids.  I haven't been real good at delegating.   I need to do better at taking care of myself. I'd like to be around for a while.

8)  JESUS -- Yeah, not a bad person to learn from.  But I'm finding the current sermon series on the person and work of Jesus to be refreshing.  Tough stuff.  Good stuff.  


I'm sure I could think of others if I took more time.  I'll probably do a little more reflection on this over the coming week and come back with some revisions. Now I need to go and get ready for worship.

God is good.  All the time.

And he ain't done with me yet.