Summer is almost here, but does that mean we "unplug" from growing spiritually?

Recently, I was reading up on beneficial ways to help your spiritual formation during the summer months. As I thought through them, I began to ask myself some tough questions - and began searching for some answers. I personally found these ideas refreshing, stretching and engaging. So I have decided to pass these helpful ideas on to you as you plan your summer vacations, days off, even possible quick-lunches. 

 

Here are 10 things you can do to enhance your spiritual formation this summer.

 

1. Unplug the T.V.
Isn't it about time we got out of our easy chairs and air conditioned homes and took a walk outside. Turning off the T.V. allows us to let our mind think again. It allows us to wonder, to question, to imagine. To have moments of spiritual growth, we need to allow for that time. We also may find scripture exciting again.

2. Swim in REAL Water
Our lives begin in water, our bodies are made mostly of water. God separated the land from the water. It is an important part of our lives. Find a lake, river or even an ocean and wade on in. Water is healing, cleansing, and freeing. Let it cleanse and refresh your soul. Also, take time to listen to the water as well.

3. Gaze at the Night Sky
Abraham took time to look at the night sky and God showed him the mysteries of his future. Enjoy the beauty of God's vast universe. Take a moment to share a blanket with a friend and take in the enormity of the heavens. Allow this to prompt stories of God's faithfulness.

4. Make Flying Friends
I have always been intrigued by butterflies and hummingbirds. I love to photograph them (when I am able). Their gracefulness teaches us the gentle ways of God. Maybe plant a butterfly garden or hang a hummingbird feeder. Connect with God's creation through birdwatching.

5. Take in a Meaningful Workshop/Retreat
We all need to get out of our everyday environments. Take an art class (be creative - even if you are not), start a book club, find a retreat center and check yourself in. Just go on a road-trip or a vacation with God. Pray. Smile. Breathe.

6. Walk Barefoot
I love the feeling of sand, soap bubbles and warm mud between by toes. The feet sense things differently than the hands. I can relate after being barefoot to the need for "washing my feet" as Jesus did for the disciples.

7. Make or Buy Presents for Loved Ones
Why wait until "Black Friday" to go crazy with your spending. Take time to make or buy meaningful Christmas or birthday presents for those you love during the summer months. It may connect you to the spiritual discipline of "giving" in a new and profound way.

8. Sit Under a Great Tree
As a child, I loved laying under the Christmas tree at Christmas and watching the lights twinkle through the branches. I also find myself still today sitting under a tree and seeing the mighty branches outstretched giving me shade and providing ambiance for my prayer time.

9. Consider Where You are Burning Out
Reflection is almost always last on our lists. Who has time for it? Make time. Count the cost, rethink who and Whose you are, stop and listen to the world flying by. Where are you slowly dying? Give yourself permission to breathe in the depths of God's love.

10. Read Eternally Beautiful Things.
Summer is my time to read. Find books that connect you to your Maker, to the Eternal not the here and now. Begin to experience things from a "eternal eye" instead of your own. It will cause you to see things differently, but it will also help you see.

10 Ideas from Beliefnet.com and expanded thoughts by Bob Henry

Trying To Live More Simply - Earth Day 2012

 

Lately, I have been challenged to live a more simple life. For some of us, breaking out of our habits is very difficult. I have found in my own life making some changes awkwardly challenging. Yet in an interesting and enlightening way, I have found it very spiritual in nature. It has made me more aware and more considerate of my environment, the world and my neighbors. Here are some suggestions or challenges to help you live a simpler life:

• Walk or bike more and drive less. As with most of these there is more than one benefit. Obviously, biking and walking will help you get more exercise and help reduce your stress, possibly help you lose weight, and help improve your overall health. At first you can replace one trip a week with walking or biking. Not only will this reduce the amount of gas you use (saving you money) it will also lower the amount of toxins your car produces. Eventually, you can replace two trips, and then maybe three...

• Eat less meat and dairy. This will not only assist in lowering your cholesterol it is also better for the environment. Meat and dairy products take more resources to produce and create more waste (toxins) than grains and vegetables. Try cutting out one meat dish a week and try passing on the cheese, eggs and milk.

• Eat at home and pack your own lunch more frequently. It generally uses far fewer resources (no plastic containers, no wasted food, etc) to eat at home and it is often far better for your health. When you cook at home you can see, and control exactly how much butter or sugar (or other ingredients) go into your food.

• Bring your own cup to your favorite coffee shop and ask for Fair Trade Coffee.

• Bring your own bags to the grocery store.

• Watch less television. Watching less television will free up your time to do more productive and healthy things like building relationships, exercise, reading, housecleaning, gardening, etc. Less television also reduces your exposure to advertisements causing you to "want" less, and spend less.

• Recycle all the things you can think of. You can recycle your paper, glass, plastic, clothes, shoes, electronics, etc. Find new ways to recycle as much as possible and make it a goal to throw away less and less.

• Buy locally when you can. Farmer's markets are a good way to meet the people growing your food, support your local economy and reduce the amount of energy it takes to put your food on your table. Food that is shipped long distances creates far more pollution than food that is grown in your area.

• Buy less and buy better. So much of what we buy is made to last just a short while (disposable). Try buying less things all together, and when you have to buy something, try buying something that will last a long time and that can be reused and recycled.

• Replace some of your household cleaning products with environmentally friendly alternatives (almost all stores offer them now).

I pray as you begin to think through a simpler life, you take the time to ask God to help you see where in your own life you need to simplify! May God bless your journey and happy Earth Day! 

A Thought on the Resurrection from N.T. Wright

The bodily resurrection of Jesus isn't a take-it-or-leave-it thing, as though some Christians are welcome to believe it and others are welcome not to believe it. Take it away, and the whole picture is totally different. Take it away, and Karl Marx was probably right to accuse Christianity of ignoring the problems of the material world. Take it away, and Sigmund Freud was probably right to say that Christianity is a wish-fulfillment religion. Take it away, and Friedrich Nietzsche was probably right to say that Christianity is a religion for wimps. Put it back, and you have a faith that can take on the postmodern world that looks to Marx, Freud and Nietzsche as its prophets; you can beat them at their own game with the Easter news that the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Those who celebrate the mighty resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, have an awesome and nonnegotiable responsibility. When we say "Alleluia! Christ is risen!" we are saying that Jesus is Lord of the world, and that the present would-be lords of the world are not.

When we sing, in the old hymn, that "Judah's Lion burst his chains and crushed the serpent's head," are we ready to put that victory into practice? Are we ready to speak up for, and to take action on behalf of, those even in our own local community, let alone farther afield, who are quietly being crushed by uncaring and unjust systems? Are we ready to speak up for the truth of the gospel over the dinner table and in the coffee bar and in the council chamber?

-N. T. Wright, "Grave matters," Christianity Today, April 6, 1998.

"I Don't Know How to Talk to Gay People"

Why the first step is to stop focusing on the differences.

Over the summer, a friend of mine took a job as a waiter in a local eatery in a major city. He kept in contact with me by email most of the summer, and in one of those emails he shared that he was being challenged—the reason being that the majority of the wait staff he worked with belonged to the GLBT community. Actually, six of the 10 wait staff considered themselves GLBT. Yet, my friend did not express the typical Christian response to his challenge. Instead, he talked about how he was able to develop relationships with his coworkers by first laying down disagreements and looking for elements of common ground. Amazingly, some of that common ground happened to be issues of faith and God. He quickly found himself in respectful conversations and building relationships of mutual trust. Not only did he learn the first principles of relationship, he also demonstrated a positive method of communication with people different than he.

Sooner or later, we all personally face the GLBT lifestyle in some vein—whether it is a relative, friend, coworker or in ourselves. Some within Christendom would assume because my friend has a more “free thinking” view of the GLBT lifestyle that the world has broken him down or that “the media has influenced him” over the years. But my friend is not a member of the GLBT community and is not an advocate of a gay lifestyle; rather, he is what I would consider a fairly conservative Christian. He has helped me see the necessity of opening my arms with a loving embrace toward people who may not have my same perspective on sexuality, especially those for whom the concern is not an abstraction but a matter that impacts their daily lives.

As Christians, we should aspire to welcome and create opportunities for dialogue with people who hold differing views on sexuality. Instead of talking so much about the people who consider themselves GLBT, we need to talk with them. 

If we end up with differing beliefs about this explosive issue, it should be after we have heard others speak and respectfully talked about our disagreements. German theologian Johan Howard Yoder said, “… the truth about a given matter often emerges slowly, as a gift, as we make ourselves vulnerable through ongoing conversation with one another.” 

Christians do not always present ourselves as a gift to our neighbors, especially those who differ from us in belief, lifestyle, denomination, etc. Too often I have seen well-meaning Christians, young and old, close the door on people who are different. They take opportunities to preach or teach against those who are different in safe environments like church services or small groups. Or in passing, they stare and tell inappropriate jokes about them behind their backs. Still some simply ignore “different” people as if they were less than human. Wasn’t it Jesus who took His relationships with people of different lifestyles so far as to visit the tax collector’s home, allowed the prostitute to touch His feet and shared parables where the despised of society ended up being the good guy (or should I say, Samaritan)?  

Over the past couple of months, I have found myself asking a multitude of questions regarding the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and lifestyle. Whether the questions came from concerned parents, experimenting youth or activists on both sides of the issue, I have had to do a great deal of listening. My goal is not to present a biblical case for or against the GLBT lifestyle. Rather I want to share some real-life insights I have learned in discussing how to approach this sensitive topic:

Show humility. 

Showing humility is not compromise. In respectful conversation, we seek to express our commitment to certain “truths” with clarity. But we must be open to the possibility that our understanding needs fine-tuning. My friend’s eyes were opened to relationships that could meet under common issues of faith and God—that spiritual formation could continue in the midst of trying to understand a person’s gay lifestyle. We need to ask ourselves as Christians how we can be more aware of this conversation and the balance it takes to be effective.

Show patience. 

Patience is the hope that through ongoing respectful conversations, a greater understanding will gradually emerge as a gift. It is just like when we give a loved one a gift for Christmas. We have put thought into the gift because we know the person. We know their likes and dislikes. We have spent time with them—maybe over several years.
You and I cannot give a “special” gift to someone we just met. My friend found common ground and slowly, patiently, began making in-roads. It obviously will take time and patience, but how can we work with and give space for people struggling with their sexual identity?   

Show love.

Patience and humility need to be further complemented by love. Love is caring deeply for other persons, which must start by allowing them to express their views and their story. My friend still communicates on a regular basis with that wait staff from the summer. He prays for and even with some of them. He has broken down barriers and misconceptions and has been able to share his faith and differing beliefs with the GLBT community—and they are listening and dialoguing. Are we listening, allowing people different than us to share their views, wrestle with their questions and tell their stories?

It takes patience, but it’s worth it to think through the issues, engage the people around us and seek to find better ways to share the gift of Truth with our community—no matter their lifestyles, beliefs or backgrounds.  

[This article appeared on Relevant Magazine's webpage: Click Here]
 
Bob Henry is senior pastor of Silverton Friends Church, in Silverton, Ore., and loves spending a day off with his three boys and his wonderful wife. He also likes to wear caps and dark-rimmed glasses, get lost in a good book, drink bold coffee and make stops to take photos of beautiful scenery and odd roadside vistas. You can connect with Bob at spiritualinform.blogspot.com or vewfromthepew.blogspot.com or follow him on Twitter: @rshenry.

Building Relationships Takes Putting Down Signs

Springtime always reminds me of newness, hope, renewal and life. And that reminds me of an annual event my church participated in when I served in Michigan. We were strongly involved in the local Right-to-Life campaign – specifically the program known as the “Life Chain.”

Every spring our main event was to participate in a “silent protest” at a major intersection in our town. We would hold signs with phrases like “Abortion Kills Children”, “Thou Shalt Not Kill” and “Abortion Kills Two Lives” for nearly two hours on a Sunday afternoon.

It wasn’t until a man running through our silent protest with a coat hanger looked directly at me and yelled some obscenities that I realized that just maybe I was sending the wrong message. Looking at it from a worldly perspective, there is no difference between his coat hanger and my sign. What began eating away at me was that I noticed no one (including myself) even attempted to say a thing to this man (I guess they were taking the “silent” protest seriously). That is, until he left – then everyone around broke out with condemning remarks and name calling.

It was then that I realized that we Christians often do not know how we sound to the rest of the world – and that is when I put my sign down for good. Let me explain.

[Please understand: I am “pro-life” – actually I consider myself trying to live a Biblically consistent ethic of life – meaning all of life is sacred not just those issues dealing with abortion. I would also include issues of economic injustice, euthanasia, capital punishment, and unjust war to be a part of my understanding of being “pro-life.”]

As believers, you and I often like to get on our soap boxes, hand out tracts, hold up signs or place them in our yard, even preach from our pulpits about our “issues,” and often it is to the neglect of actually building relationships with those in our pews, our neighborhoods, and ultimately our world. I will be the first to admit that relationships are complicated, messy and difficult and utilizing these other methods much easier.

But be honest and ask yourself – who are your non-Christian friends? Or who do you consider a friend who has differing views than you do? The guy with the coat-hanger obviously wanted our attention as much as we wanted his. He was crying out for someone to hear him, all while we believed he should “hear” us – this was not relationship building or conversation, it honestly would get us nowhere but into a possible stand-off. The reality was it was possibly my sign that evoked this graphic response from this man.

Just as disturbing and anger-provoking as the message of the man with the coat hanger was to us, I believe we in the church simply do not know what our message often sounds like to the rest of the world. And some of that comes with arrogance. You and I have to admit it – we often could care less what others think. Most of the time we know we are right (and that may be true) - but to add insult to injury, we just will not listen.

If we listened for a minute, we might understand how “Abortion Kills Children” comes across as “We hate confused and stupid women who can only see abortion as the way out of their difficult life situation.” Something a sister in Christ told me she felt because she had been carrying the pain of an abortion with her for 20+ years. She went on to tell me that this misunderstood message stunted her faith development for those years – and remember she was a believer. We never know who may be sitting next to us even on Sunday morning. We must consider what people actually hear in our messages? Our signs? Our sermons?

And what if we don’t think that’s what we are saying? If that’s what others are hearing, what’s the difference? You and I can’t be concerned with whose fault it is – we can’t accept this communication breakdown. We must ask ourselves, “Should the burden be on our lips or their ears?” I guess it all depends on whether you and I want to have a conversation or we simply want to be right. I find Jesus engaging the conversation more often than looking to prove himself right (and if anyone could have proven Himself – Jesus could have.)

I am starting to believe we have a lot to work on in the way we communicate with each other – both inside and outside the church. In our day, Christianity has become a “bad word” with a dubious meaning, especially in American society. Just maybe that is because we don’t care how we sound to those who don’t agree with us. I found Dan Merchant’s question in his book “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers” to be a place to start:

“Are we trying to fit Jesus into what we’re doing as a people, as a country? Or are we trying to fit into what Jesus is doing?”

I think it is long time we put down the signs, the tracts, the “Christian bookstore paraphernalia” which spouts our beliefs for us and begin conversations with real people – that to me was and still is the Jesus Way. We may just find newness, renewal, hope and real LIFE in our Christian walk and be able to share it with those who really need to hear it.

By Dr. Robert S. Henry
Pastor, Silverton Friends Church