FIASCO

The following is a copy of my “Rule of Life” which I worked on during the recent staff spiritual retreat.

FIASCO Rule of Life

By the power of God, I will strive to keep the following FIASCO Rule of Life from this day forward:

FOOD

Uphold good nutrition & well-being as my new spiritual practice. Eat one meal a day prayerfully, as if it was my last meal. Plan to share a meal with a friends each week.
IRINA (PRAY FOR PEACE)
Create a moment for prayer for people & concerns every day involving my own developed ritual. With Irina, schedule a time weekly to pray and reflect with each other about our concerns together.
ADVENTURE
Explore new disciplines regularly, strive to deepen existing ones, and do both of these with creativity & joy.
SCRIPTURE
Hang out a little time each day to read from Scripture.
COMPANY
Seek out companions & mentors who are dedicated to spiritual practice to share with and learn from.
OUTDOORS
Take regular retreats into nature to meet the divine with all my senses.

---

Fiasco: a complete and ignominious failure.

Matthew Swain
Church Planter/Pastor

Developing Yourself, to Help Develop Others

Editor's note:  In this posting, we are pleased to feature our new Young Adult Leader, 
Emily Whitworth, with her first contribution to What's the Good Word.  We welcome Emily and trust this will be the "first of many."

As a young adult with a new leadership role in the Church, I question myself often. Am I doing what I have been called to do? Are people satisfied with the work I am doing? Did I say the right thing to the teenager that came to me for advice?

Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend The Spiritual Formation Retreat at Kirtland Temple in Ohio. I left with an overwhelming feeling and find it difficult in truly expressing what a powerful and uplifting  experience it was. At this retreat many of the questions I had been struggling with were answered. The support and knowledge that I gained from the many new friends I made that week was far greater than anything I had expected. One daily exercise we did during the week was Group Spiritual Direction and I quickly developed a strong bond with the three other members of my group. 

I left the retreat with many new skills, friends, and answered prayers.  I hope that others will have the opportunity to a similar experience at one of our many upcoming retreats and camps. I thank all those who make retreats like this possible.  

 I look to the future of this Church with so much excitement!

Emily Whitworth

Young Adult Leader

Retreat

The recent staff spiritual retreat was an amazingly healing experience. Being both a young man and a fairly new employee to Community of Christ, my spiritual health is questionable at its best. For the first two years working on my current assignment as a church planter, I’ve pushed myself both physically and mentally, but always seem to neglect my spiritual development. I rationalize that I was doing spiritual stuff while performing other duties or that that was something I could put off for a future date.

I was not nearly prepared, however, for suffering a miscarriage with my wife because I had so neglected my spiritual side. Three month after our lost, both Irina and I were still suffering even though we had healed physically and come to terms with it mentally. During the five days engaged in individual and communal spiritual practices, we were able to begin to regain a fuller sense of God’s peace.

Beyond my spiritual healing, I was surprised by my realizations that the solution to an enormous problem I was having concerning my work responsibilities could be miraculously found by deepening my spiritual practices. Prior to the retreat, it seemed to me that I was at my maximum capacity concerning the amount of people I was able to include in my ministry. I was searching for any way to stretch that capacity, but was not able to see how it was possible. By the last day, I understood that I would be able to effectively minister to more people if I paid more attention to minister myself through my personal spiritual practices. In a sense, I could see that my ministry could be stretched further outwards by stretching further inwards.

Moreover, because my wife was able to attend, we were able to grow a little bit more together, heal more fully as a couple, and learn how take time to breath together as one which I am certain is something that will keep benefiting our marriage way into the future. Irina and I are sincerely grateful that such an opportunity was available to us.

Blessings,

Matt Swain

Enlivened

 

The following post is from Kerry Richards, the new Mission Centre Financial Officer for Canada East Mission of Community of Christ, effective August 1, 2013.  We look forward to Kerry's ministry in this new role.

In his comments, Kerry refers to the Daily Bread devotional story of June 10.  You can find and read that article by clicking here.  If you have not already done so, you may wish to subscribe to receive the Daily Bread in your email inbox each day.

 I am enlivened each day by the Daily Bread reflections and spiritual practices which in today’s reading affirms the sacredness of community. I also daily encounter amongst the many happenings of my life the real world in the church community’s Facebook forums where diverse viewpoints from friends and members are continually shared, debated and curiously posed. I have experienced marvelous insight, challenging perspectives and encountered both gracious and provoking attitudes that evoke both positive and negative responses from within me. These forums have become a lesson in learning the realities and layers of faithful disagreement. I find the Daily Bread for me is a safe haven, a foundational daily beginning for personal blessing that enables me to be open to the challenges of sacred yet diverse community.

Kerry Richards

Circle

Lift up your eyes and fix them on the place beyond the horizon to which you are sent. Journey in trust, assured that the great and marvelous work is for this time and for all time.

Claim your unique and sacred place within the circle of those who call upon the name of Jesus Christ. Be faithful to the spirit of the Restoration, mindful that it is a spirit of adventure, openness, and searching. Walk proudly and with a quickened step. Be a joyful people. Laugh and play and sing, embodying the hope and freedom of the gospel. (Doctrine and Covenants 161:1)

One of the wonderful things about scripture is that it can speak to us in so many different ways. It may speak in one voice on one occasion, but bring a quite different understanding at a later time. The prophetic books in the Hebrew Scriptures, for instance, were written for one group of people, set in their culture with their particular set of problems, issues and circumstance, and yet the same text can often speak to us today. We contemplate the ideas expressed by the prophets with an eye to understanding their issues, but also listen to how the words may speak to us in our day and time.

Similarly, the concepts within a particular text may speak to an individual, a congregation, the entire church, or the global population!

In recent years we have learned to appreciate the insights that can be gleaned from the scriptures through the spiritual practice of Dwelling in the Word. During one of the worship times at the recent CPI retreat, we were invited to dwell in D.&C. 161:1 shown above. I have understood this passage as being addressed to the entire Community of Christ. See this way, verse 1b of the text challenges the church to claim its unique and sacred place within the circle of those who call upon the name of Jesus Christ. During those moments of contemplation, I began to consider the challenge in this text from a slightly different direction.

What if we applied those words on a personal level? What if the words were addressed, not to the corporate body but to you or me? What if we are individually challenged to claim our unique and sacred place within the circle? The suggestion would be that there is a unique place, a sacred place in the circle just for you, or for me. It would be a place that nobody else could fill. Yours would be a voice within the circle with which no one else could speak. The circle would be stronger because you were there, or weaker without you.

Similarly, how would it be if we were to challenge members or friends to step up and claim their own unique and sacred place in the circle? Are there post-congregational persons, perhaps youth or young adults who are passionate about peace and justice that need to be invited to participate in the Canadian National Conference? Are there people who care about feeding the hungry who should be invited to participate in or lead congregational efforts to abolish poverty and end suffering? Are there members and friends who work for peace that need to be nominated for the Canadian National Conference Peace Award? (Note: its not too late; we are still accepting nominations even though the website says the deadline is March 1, 2012.)

It is worth thinking about. Is there someone you need to invite to claim their unique and sacred place in the circle? Have you claimed your place?

Posted by Carman

Together

I have been a regular advocate for people being deliberate about their personal spiritual practice. In fact it is not uncommon for this topic to appear in What’s the Good Word, like this piece from December 30.

The need for deliberate and regular spiritual formation seems obvious for any disciple, however that importance is multiplied for anyone in a church leadership position. How can leaders lead unless we are seeking to be in touch with the one whose name and Spirit the church bears? Having served as pastor in more than one congregation, I can personally attest to the foolishness and futility of trying to lead any other way.

Despite this rather obvious understanding, there is a related observation that is so equally clear that I am embarrassed to admit it has totally eluded me until now. In a book entitled Missional Small Groups: Becoming a Community that Makes a Difference In the World, M. Scott Boren writes about the importance of sharing our spiritual practice with our community. In small groups, this involves the group (or at least the group leaders) sharing that journey of prayer and discernment together as they seek to understand God’s will for their group.

What about congregations? Would it not be equally important for congregational leaders to share together in the process of discerning where God would like their congregation to go? Especially now with so many churches being led by pastoral or leadership teams, would it not be a blessing for them to be joined together in prayer and discernment for the direction of their congregation?

What if the leadership team were to meet together regularly for prayer and conversation about their church; weekly if possible? It could be a prayer breakfast, or a weekly gathering before church on Sunday morning. With modern electronic communication, it could even be a virtual meeting on a convenient weeknight. Perhaps the team might choose a certain scripture and each commit to dwell in that word daily, then share their experience when they are together. What if each member of the team were to commit to continuing this daily practice of study and prayer knowing that the other members of the team were also seeking the Spirit’s guidance? Can anyone doubt that this would produce a powerful effect upon the congregation? Would it not be a blessing?

I have already noted that this idea seems embarrassingly obvious. And yet, I wonder how many of our congregational leaders meet together in this way. Are you part of such a team? If so, perhaps it is time we tried sharing our spiritual journey together.

Posted by Carman

Transformation On-Line Bible Study

How can congregational leaders provide for effective spiritual formation for their members and friends? The question becomes more challenging when the target participants for the formational activities are young adult professionals, some of whom may get up at 5:00 a.m., leave for work by 6:00 and not get home again until 7:00 p.m.

It is well known that spiritual formation is critical for our personal growth as well as for congregational health. Humans need to be constantly deepening their relationship with God. It would be easy to simply say that we are each responsible for our own spiritual formation, but how can the congregation form community and grow together in this activity? In years past, the answer might have been to hold a mid-week prayer service, but that no longer seems to work in a world where people arrive home tired and late after a 1 ½ hour commute, then have to make supper and do all their other tasks before retiring to bed. What to do? The problem itself calls for prayerful discernment.

This was the puzzle facing Matthew Swain and the leaders of Barrie Community of Christ. A creative solution began to form as Matthew participated in various CEM facilitated on-line meetings via teleconference and Webex; an on-line meeting environment that allows participants to see and hear each other, share documents, etc. Could these same tools be used in a congregational community? Could young adults dealing with the pressures of the modern world come together on-line in a helpful and meaningful way? The answer is yes, and Transformation On-line Bible Study was born. The group now meets regularly on-line to study the lectionary scripture of the week.

If you would like to know more about Transformation On-line Bible Study you can find more information on Barrie’s Facebook page by clicking here.

How does your congregation build spiritual community and foster the spiritual growth of its members? Is this an idea you can also use?

Posted by Carman

Book Review

Diana Butler Bass, The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church (The Alban Institute, 2004)

For the last nearly fifty years we have been hearing a regular stream of reports concerning the death of Mainline Protestant churches. Conventional wisdom seems to suggest that many are in decline or closing while others are embroiled in controversy of one kind or another. Congregational attendance is down, finances are declining, and congregants are getting older. It all paints a discouraging picture. There is some truth to these reports, of course, but there are also other trends which seldom get reported in the popular press.

Diana Butler Bass, in this very readable book, begins to chronicle churches that do not follow this pattern. She opens with the story of Church of the Epiphany, an Episcopal congregation three blocks from the White House in downtown Washington, D.C. This storied old church has seen a lot of history come and go, from the antebellum period to the present, however by its 150th Anniversary in 1992, it had fallen on hard times. Not many people remained in attendance, the old building was decaying, the endowment that paid the bills was dwindling, and there was talk of closure.

Yet 10 years later, by its 160th Anniversary, Epiphany bustled with new vitality. The congregation no longer attracts Washington’s political elite, rather…

“a congregation of incredible diversity with multiple races, ethnicities, classes, generations, and sexual orientation now inhabits its pews. The bills are paid through surprisingly generous congregational stewardship (the typical pledge at Epiphany is nearly twice the national average). They sing their songs to God guide by Taizé music, gospel songs and spirituals, Bach cantatas, Native American and African chants, and Anglican hymns.” (P.8)

It sounds just like a church I would enjoy.

An accomplished historian and researcher, Bass brings to light many of the reasons why Christian churches are in such transition, and seems to suggest that, in part at least, it is because we have lost our way. When Christianity was dominant and practicing religion was expected, churches could get by quite nicely because they were in the political and economic driver’s seat. Now, however, that has all changed and we need to rediscover the practices to which Christ has called us. In that sense, the book is reminiscent of Steve Veazey’s 2011 call for the Community of Christ to embrace the five Mission Initiatives.

The good news is there is hope; decline and closure does not have to be the inevitable end for congregations. Bass points to research that makes a connection between personal spiritual practices and congregational vitality. She quotes David Roozen, a researcher who states,

“The study does confirm that the more emphasis a congregation gives to the values of home and personal religious practices the higher the congregation’s vitality and the more likely it is to be growing in membership.” (P.67)

While Bass’s book does not promise easy transitions to church health and growth, it does offer hope. The Practicing Congregation should be required reading for anyone searching out the path to congregational renewal.

Posted by Carman

Practice

I am not sure if it has anything to do with the fact that New Year's 2012 is now upon us, but I am thinking a lot about “spiritual practice” at the moment.

Practice is an interesting term is it not? It suggests that we must actively work at our spiritual disciplines, repeating them again and again. In other words, it is not enough to simply be spiritual; we have to work at it in order to develop our spiritual giftedness.

The classic work on spiritual practice is the book by Quaker theologian and author Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. Foster offers guidance about three categories of practice, which he identifies as inward disciplines (meditation, prayer, fasting, study), outward disciplines (simplicity, solitude, submission, service), and corporate disciplines (confession, worship, guidance, celebration). Although this book is now more than 30 years old, it still has a lot to recommend it.

Of course there are more spiritual practices then the twelve outlined by Foster. For example, the practice of music may be of great benefit to many people, whether singing or playing an instrument. While I personally do not enjoy singing the way some others do, I find it a blessing to occasionally include a Taize recording as part of my morning quiet time. The repetition of melodic phrases may either inspire of quiet the soul.

There are benefits to be gained by regular or daily participation in our spiritual disciplines, no matter which ones we choose to practice. For example, much has been written about the practice of meditation in the last few years. Many people have learned to still the mind and discovered the benefits of this activity, including a sense of inner peace and connection with the universe. The benefits go beyond being centred in spiritual peace and tranquility however. People have discovered they are also physically healthier as a result of this (in)activity. Practitioners often find they lower their blood pressure and reduce stress, lessening the likelihood of heart disease, stroke, and other physical ailments.

Spiritual practice has important benefits for congregations as well. Diana Butler Bass, in her helpful book, The Practicing Congregation, notes the following correlation.

One of the lesser-noted findings of the Hartford Institute for Religious Research’s massive Faith Community Today (FACT) study was a link between “personal spiritual practices” and congregational vitality. According to study codirector David Roozen, “The study does confirm that the more emphasis a congregation gives to the values of home and personal religious practices, the higher the congregation’s vitality and the more likely it is to be growing in membership.” (The Practicing Congregation, p67).

Do you have Spiritual disciplines that you practice regularly? Do you find it a blessing? If you do not, let me encourage you to find practices that work for you in the year ahead.

On behalf of the staff and leadership team in the Canada East Mission of Community of Christ, I wish you a very Happy and Blessed New Year.

Posted by Carman

Poem

The following poem is from Jeremiah 20 in the Hebrew Scriptures. I invite you to spend some time in it today. It is, for me at least, powerful and compelling. You might want to read it several times, picturing the prophet/poet in his room or in the streets, wrestling with the words and with God.

If it helps you, you might want to imagine Danny Belrose reciting this lament in his dramatic style, capturing the rhythm and drama of the piece. Allow the words and images to caress and massage your heart and mind.

May you know yourself blessed today.

*************************

O LORD, you have enticed me,
and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughing-stock all day long;
everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I must cry out,
I must shout, ‘Violence and destruction!’
For the word of the LORD has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
If I say, ‘I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name’,
then within me there is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
For I hear many whispering:
‘Terror is all around!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!’
All my close friends
are watching for me to stumble.
‘Perhaps he can be enticed,
and we can prevail against him,
and take our revenge on him.’
But the LORD is with me like a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonour
will never be forgotten.
O LORD of hosts, you test the righteous,
you see the heart and the mind;
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
- Jeremiah 20:7-12

Posted by Carman

Pre-Dawn

In the pre-dawn darkness, the world is caressed and wrapped in beauty. The air is crisp and clean, delicious to the nostril and welcome in the lung. To the West, the silent, barren moon coolly reflects the light from an as yet invisible sun that burns and boils 150 million kilometres away. To the East, the road falls away before me, and in the valley below, the living white mist winds it way across the landscape. Like currents in an ocean of white, it wraps the land with silence and peace.

Fields and farms are visible by the fences, barns and trees that rise above the stream. Not far away near a neigbouring house, a row of tall young pines stand like sentinels, their silhouette somehow warm and welcoming. The horizon glows with an incredible pink-orange promise or warning that day will soon arrive. Above this glow, a large but solitary cloud wears the colour of blue slate. The scene is incredible, like a living picture created by an artist who understands the beauty of simplicity. For this brief moment, I am part of it, and it becomes part of me. My spirit drinks it in, like tonic for an introverted soul.

Steadily the light increases, and by the time I finish my walk, the sun is already leaking over the horizon. I hurry home. The day begins. There is a blog to write, meetings to attend, decisions to be made, budgets to be prepared, but my mind and heart lingers in this memory of awesome grace and beauty.

May your awareness be blessed by the gift of God today, wherever you may find it.

Posted by Carman

Dust-Jacket

I have recently read a lovely book from Marion’s steadily diminishing library entitled Feed My Shepherds. The book, written by Flora Slossan Wuellner, explores the reasons why burnout is so common in ministers, suggests some ways to prevent this from happening, cope when you are in the throes of it, and ultimately heal. The author’s wisdom is well earned, having grown out of her own experience with the subject.

While I recommend the title highly, especially if you are experiencing spiritual or emotional fatigue, it is the book’s cover that I am thinking about this morning. The paper wrapper or “dust jacket” as it is known in the industry displays a picture of a very pastoral scene; a small stream moving past the gnarled roots and trunk of an old, moss covered tree. The stream brings life-sustaining moisture and nourishment in what otherwise might appear to be a barren and rocky place. It is a lovely image.

I had adopted this delightful little book as part of my personal quiet time, reading a few pages or a chapter each morning for a couple of weeks. I had not thought much about the image or the cover until one morning when I happened to peal the jacket back to reveal the rather plain, imageless hard-cover book underneath. I realized then what a difference the cover made. It was the picture on the cover that caught my attention, intriguing me as a potential reader, suggesting the life-giving nourishment contained in the book’s interior. Without that dust jacket, it would have been just some paper elements with no suggestion of the rich message contained inside.

Reflecting on that this morning, it occurs to me that this is not unlike our everyday experience in human life; one we probably do not spend much time thinking about. The various elements of the package we display outwardly to the world convey messages to those we encounter in our daily lives. For instance, a smile may suggest we are a pleasant, happy person that someone might enjoy talking to. A frown may suggest preoccupation or problems, conveying the impression that we may not be open to conversation. A scowl might simply say, “Keep away, I’m busy or annoyed or frustrated at the moment!” A smile in the midst of scars may convey a life that has learned to cope with life’s hard knocks.

I am not in any way suggesting here that we wear a false front or try to create an impression that is not true. If we are to be honest and authentic, the package we present to the world will grow out of our everyday life experience. It is the way we choose to deal with that experience, however, that shows in our countenance. Do we convey the image of a gnarled and rocky spiritual landscape, one that is hostile and uninviting? Or does our image suggest that our life experience, whether difficult or easy, is being nourished by the life enriching stream of God’s generous grace? Does the personal dust-jacket we wear suggest that we have a positive and wonderful message we are happy to share with others? Or do we convey a closed or hostile image? The jacket we wear may well make all the difference in determining whether or not we get to share the Peace of Jesus Christ with someone today.

May your personal dust jacket reflect life and grace today, both for you and those whose lives you touch.

Posted by Carman

Clarity

In the blog post Action, I mentioned Kris Judd’s invitation to Dwell in the Word. The following thoughts are offered as a further reflection on that process.

Dwelling in the Word is a practice all disciples can use in their personal spiritual formation. It is a way of exploring scriptural passages more deeply and reflecting on what those verses have to say to us. You can find guidance about using this spiritual tool by clicking here, and scrolling down to “Personal Spiritual Practices.” It is a method you may find very helpful.

For the month of June, those who have joined this journey with Kris have been reflecting on Doctrine and Covenants 163: 1-4. On a recent morning, as I read this page again, my attention was caught, not by the words or phrases in the document itself, but by a sentence in the preamble.

I place these words in the church’s hand, trusting that the Spirit will enable the faith community to hear the call of God today with increasing clarity.

Clarity! Isn’t that what each of us is searching for? Do you, like me, spend huge amounts of time searching for this elusive commodity? Whether walking, driving, working, resting, sleeping, praying, or reading, aren’t we always searching for greater clarity in our lives? Isn’t it a major desire of our hearts to have a clearer sense of our life’s purpose, or said another way, of God’s purpose in our lives? And here is that word, embedded in a document we have read over and over again.

The search for clarity is what calls us to greater depth in our personal spiritual practice. It is what moves us to want to Dwell in the Word, or listen to inspiring music, or mediate. or pray. Without it, we may always harbour doubts about whether our actions are in sync with our life’s true purpose.

But the phrase used by President Veazey is “increasing clarity.” Somehow that seems to sum it up just about perfectly. No matter how much clarity we attain, there is always more to be seen and understood. Our understanding is always partial and we May have just scratched the surface. We can always go deeper. Of course we will need to put the clarity we have achieved into action while we do that, but like scientist probing the mysteries of space, the quest is never fully achieved. There is always more to see.

May you be blessed with increasing clarity as you go about your journey with God today.

Posted by Carman

10,000 Steps

If you get your news from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, you will know the CBC is on a mission. They want us all to be more fit and healthy; a very noble goal. Every day since New Year’s, CBC news on radio, TV and internet has included one or more stories about health problems that are everywhere in Canada, and what we can do about it.

One such story this week featured Terry French, the MHA for Conception Bay South in Newfoundland, and the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. French is 44 years old and has begun noticing little changes to his health, like rising cholesterol and blood pressure. Consequently he has decided he needs to change his diet and walk 10,000 steps a day to get healthy.

10,000 Steps; now that is just the kind of number designed to arouse my curiosity! How far is that? How long would it take to walk it all in one go? After a couple of days of idle wondering, it was off to the treadmill to find out. More on that in a minute.

At the same time, I also began to think about our spiritual walk. In 2010 I was determined to devote equal time to my spiritual practice as to my physical exercise. How would it work to take 10,000 spiritual steps per day? What would that even mean? Can this work as a metaphor?

I thought perhaps it could equate to 10,000 breaths. Hmmm…at 12 breathes per minute, that turns out to be about 14 hours per day. It still might work as long as we looked at everything as spiritual practice, but it is sometimes hard to do that when your boss expects you to focus on the work at hand, and hurry up about it!

Well, the Buddhists do a walking meditation, in which one is mindful of every component of their walk: heal, toe, lift, heal, toe, lift and so on. It is a wonderful practice, but again, 10,000 steps would probably take all day. Of course maybe that’s the point. Maybe the problem is trying to separate our spiritual practice from everything else, when it is really all the same. Alas, dear Reader, I am a little stumped on that one and would welcome your thoughts. If you have any brainwaves on what it might meant to take 10,000 spiritual steps per day, click on the comments button and enlighten me, would you please?

Now back to the 10,000 physical steps. Everyone’s stride is different, but it turns out that 10,000 steps is roughly equal to just under 9 kilometres or 5.5 miles. It also turns out that it takes me 77 minutes to walk 10,000 steps at my normal brisk pace of exercise. one hour and 17 minutes; that is a little longer than my regular routine. Alas, if I want the greater benefit, I guess I will just have to put in the greater effort.

Now about those 10,000 spiritual steps…

Posted by Carman

Thoughts

I am thinking about thoughts this morning, and how powerful they are. Our thoughts are the prayers by which we create and shape our reality. As an example, do we see some situation we may find ourselves in as drudgery or joy? Are all those appointments on our calendar responsibilities or opportunities? Is this situation a burden or a blessing? So much depends on how we think about such things.

It was in the midst of thinking about all these and many more thoughts, that I remembered the following poem. The poem is probably familiar to you. It is old, so perhaps we can overlook the male language for God.

I offer this merely as a thought about an approach to your day, and not as a sermon.

Reject all temptations toward guilt.


TAKE TIME TO PRAY

I got up early one morning,

And rushed right into the day;

I had so much to accomplish,I didn’t have time to pray.

Troubles just tumbled about me,

And heavier came each task.

"Why doesn’t God help me?" I wondered.

He answered, "You didn’t ask."

I tried to come into God’s presence;

I used all my keys at the lock.

God gently and lovingly chided,

"Why, child, you didn’t knock."

I wanted to see joy and beauty,

But the day toiled on gray and bleak.

I wondered why God didn’t show me.

He said, "You didn’t seek."

I woke up early this morning,

And paused before entering the day.

I had so much to accomplish

That I had to take time to pray.

- Author Unknown

Posted by Carman

Form or Inform

For some time, I have been thinking about the difference between form and inform, or to put it in its noun form, the difference between formation and information. My reflections on this subject have to do with how we experience worship in church.

I have talked with many people about worship and it is clear that not everyone is blessed by the same approach. For some people, ideas are very important. They feel worship has been good or helpful if they are challenged with a new and stimulating thought or idea; in other words, with new information. For such people, a sermon that offers a fresh perspective about God is often a blessing as it offers them “something to think about.”

For others, ideas are not as important as experience. For these folks, it is important to have a sense of drawing near to God in worship. For them, music and testimony are often more important than sermons because these elements help them come into the Presence or “feel the Spirit.” For these folks, information or ideas appear not to be as important as spiritual formation.

The difference can be surprisingly polarizing. If you attend church regularly or have in the past, you may have instantly identified or aligned yourself with one of these two positions. Whether people find a worship service to be a blessing or a waste of time may be determined by where they are on this continuum. What is more, two people attending worship in the same chapel may have the exact opposite reactions to the service!

My intent here is not to determine that one approach is right or wrong, or that one is more important than the other. What is important is what is helpful to the person, and we cannot decide that for anybody else. Is it possible that we can provide both formation and information in worship? Ahh, now there’s a challenge!

For many worship planners and leaders, it is easier to provide information than formative experience; in fact, they may not have even thought about the difference. Even prayers are often more intellectual than formational, more head than heart. For others, sensing the Holy in worship is everything.

Have you thought about this puzzle? What do you find helpful in a service of worship? Are ideas that give you something to think about more important than experience? Is the experience more important than ideas or teaching? Perhaps you have a different take on the question altogether.

The question may be important. Can we have a conversation on this subject? Will you share your thoughts or experience?

Posted by Carman