A Short Text

Just testing how this works for me
 

Everyday spirituality

Sometimes I long to sit and reach out to spiritual world. I want to sit and read books and meditate and contemplate life. I want to think about higher things and not deal with the corruption that we face with our physical world. But, I think that I am learning that this will never happen unless I remove myself from all reality. Spirituality must be able to deal with reality and importantly it must be able to deal with our physical reality.

The heart of the matter

The Lord said, “I myself will dream a dream within you. Good dreams come from me, you know. My dreams seem impossible, not too practical, not for the cautious man or woman. A little risky sometimes, a trifle brash perhaps. Some of my friends prefer to rest more comfortable in sounder sleep with vision less eyes. But for those who share my dreams I ask a little patience, a little humour, a little courage, and a listening heart – I will do the rest. Then they will risk and ponder at their daring, run and marvel at their speed, build and stand in awe at the beauty of their building. You will meet me often as you work – in your companions who share your risk, in your friends who believe in you enough to lend their own dreams, their own hands, their own hearts in your building: in the people who find your doorway, stay awhile and walk away knowing that they too can find a dream. There will be sun filled days and sometimes it will rain a – little variety-. Both come from me. So, come, be content. It is my dream you dream. My caring you witness. My love you share. And this will be the heart of the matter.” (Author Unknown)

Yesterday we were the part of a new venture in the spirit. Soul Whispers. No web page yet but when it comes I will let you know. We all have a dance and for each of us it will have a unique tempo and rhythm. This was handed out to all of us who were there to encourage Bruce on his journey.

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Rediscovering our workplace soul

The industrial revolution changed not only manufacturing processes it also changed the very fabric of society and these changes continued through the 20th century and into our present time. As society moved from being farming communities and we began to spend long hours working in factories the way that families related changed. Life was no longer so integrated. We were moved from the source of our food production. Families were reduced to the immediate context of mother, father and children. Communities were substituted for housing developments that in suburbia became dormitories. They were the retreat that people came to after spending eight or more hours at work and up to 3 or 4 hours more commuting to their work. To live in these suburbs requires no commitment to its well being or function. This is all done by other community developers.

I like what Tim Costello says in his chapter on vocation from his book Tips from a Travelling Soul Searcher.

“Perhaps life is not a race whose only goal is being foremost…. Perhaps the truth lies in what most of the world outside the modern west has always believed, namely that there are practices in life, good in themselves, which are inherently fulfilling. Perhaps work that is intrinsically rewarding is better for human beings than work that is only extrinsically rewarded. Perhaps enduring commitment to those we love and civic friendship toward our fellow citizens are preferable to restless competition and anxious self defense. Perhaps common worship, in which we express gratitude and wonder in the face of the mystery of being itself, is the most important thin of all. If so we will have to change our lives and being to remember what we have been happier to forget”. (Holiness of the Heart, quoted by Costello)

Today most jobs are regarded as commodities. Once what teachers, lawyers, bankers other professions did was seen as a benefit to their community. Their value was not just tied to the size of their pay packet. This has changed and a profession has become a commodity their where their services are contracted and tied to their economic production. Security, community, belonging are gone replaced .Many professionals are mourning their loss of vocation not just because they have lost their security but because they no longer have a tangible contribution to the benefit and welfare of their community

The key to discovering your workplace soul will be to discover that sense of vocation. To be able to remember those things that seem to be forgotten in today’s fast paced world. To relocate ourselves in the context of a meaningful community were we once again learn to talk and listen, and where we are able to be valued because of our spirit and not what we produce

It will be those organisations who are able to provide such a context that will provide an enduring contribution for the future. And those people who are able to contribute to such a context will rediscover something of the true intention of “work”. For them it will be transformed from what is often seen as a derogatory term to a sense of rediscovered calling and vocation.

Finding purpose in life – connecting beyond ourselves

Finding an adequate life purpose for many is a lifelong quest. It can create a dull ache that pounds away and results in an endless succession of activities for the seeker. In the end it can leave many of us feeling dissatisfied and disillusioned.

The issue for us is finding a purpose that is big enough to sustain us through life. So a job in a world that no longer holds the promise of lifelong employment is not good enough. A marriage in a world that has a 50% divorce rate is also inadequate. Personal growth in a world that has a 100% death rate also has obvious limitations.

Once you discover and embrace your life purpose, are you set for the rest of your life? Do you keep fulfilling that same purpose until you die? Or can your purpose change over time?

Truthfully I think the answer is a little of both. There is a permanent, unchanging aspect of my purpose, and that aspect is growth. I have an undeniably strong sense that I’m here to grow, and that sense has never wavered. I imagine that conscious growth will always be part of my purpose. (Steve Pavlina)

I think that Steve is right that our life purpose does have different aspects. Although I would think that once we find a purpose big enough it will then remain with us.

What can often happen is that we can confuse roles with life purpose. Once again it may be true for us to include what we do as a part of our life purpose. But this will also leave us shortchanged if we fail to connect to a bigger picture that is beyond ourselves.

Purpose therefore must be connected to our spirituality. To connecting to the wider world and to a broader community and a higher authority. Putting these things in place in our lives will allow us give meaning to those subordinate purposes.

Homeless Lessons

Tonight I did my usual Sunday evening routine of feeding the homeless at a popular beach near our place. I have been doing for a few months now and am getting to know some of the people quite well. It is a good reminder when talking with these people to realise that life is capable of giving us all some hard knocks.

As I have listened to the stories of these people I have realised that wherever we live and whatever we look like life can deal some very unfair hands. Who am I to say that I would react any differently if I were placed in the same situation.

What I have also sought to do is to listen to their stories and value these people’s lives. I have learned the value of community and that we all have a need to connect to each other’s story. For example tonight one of the guys told me that he was battling bone cancer. For a year and a half the doctors had treated him as less than human and failed to diagnose and treat his cancer properly in its early stages. Because of this the cancer has spread and has become far more serious. In the midst of this the homeless community has cared for him and shown a genuine concern. What a shame his life wasn’t valued higher at an earlier stage of his cancer.
I have learned that life is about caring and giving. If my faith is just about myself and my knowledge of God then it is sadly lacking. In this situation where I thought that it was up to me to give I have realised that I have also received. But this has not been the case in this work, I have also received greatly through being able to give.

Spiritual Growth

Vygotsky, has brought many new insights to the world of education that can be applied to one’s spiritual growth. The foundational premise of Vygotsky’s concept of development is that the formation of the mind or cognition is dependent on the social context in which an individual lives.

Vygotsky’s sociocultural approach to developmentalism.

The following insights can be gleaned from his writings and it is posited that a integrated application of his developmental principles form a solid foundation for one’s spiritual growth, sustainable ministry and continued attendance to the things of God.

Spiritual growth begins outside the individual. Spiritual growth is not simply an internal process, but is partially an acquisition from the community of faith in which the individual engages. While spirituality is often perceived as an individual or personal quality, it also has a social or cooperate dimension. Most ministers would agree that Scripture asserts one’s belonging to God’s community, the church but its application to one’s personal spiritual growth is uncertain. This dichotomy is expressed by many who preach the need for the church but view the ‘real work’ of spiritual growth taking place privately. Both must be held as true if spiritual growth is to occur within one’s ministry context.

Spiritual growth is holistic. To ensure that one is able to sustain their ministry and guard against burnout requires one to view themselves in a holistic manner. Spiritual growth is not the result of a single factor, but of multiple factors, both individual and social, which coalesce within the individual. Application of a single devotional method or community form does not allow one’s developmental areas to mature. Vygotsky brings a new perspective on the interaction of one’s physical and mental processes that is closer to the Hebrew understanding of knowledge requiring truth to be related to one’s being not merely the presence of rational proofs.

Spiritual growth is not a linear or unidirectional process. Vygotsky’s use of zones of development, rather than linear stages of advancement, adds a new approach to our understanding of spiritual growth. Instead of viewing maturity as a linear process that has some end goal growth and maturity may be seen as the complete integration of one’s developmental zones. Spiritual growth would require relationships conducive to advancing faith.

Teachers and deliberate instruction are essential for spiritual growth. According to Vygotsky, development does not occur on its own; it requires a socio-historical impetus, which for him was education, specifically schooling or intentional instruction. Intentional and unintentional instruction by the church contributes to the spiritual growth of all its members. This is instruction by a more mature member of the faith community is required for an individual to reach their formative potential. In the Church Vygotsky’s approach requires the church to function as a family, wherein the more mature members are placed in a learning context with younger members of the faith community. This is in contrast to the role assumed in many larger churches were management and organization is the main requirements of the pastor. To remain in ministry for the long term requires the Pastor to listen to elders and be teachable by their experience.

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George Carey’s spiritual journey has inspired me at times in my own spiritual journey.

In 1972 my spiritual life was a mess, to put it mildly. I was at that time teaching Christian theology at St John’sCollege, Nottingham, a leading evangelical college which trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England. Perhaps I had been too long in theological education, I don’t know, but whatever the reason I knew that my spiritual life was at a crisis point. My heart hadn’t kept pace with my head. Sometimes when I was teaching New Testament theology, I found myself thinking: “You hypocrite, you don’t really believe this do you?” But I was trapped. I had to go along with the show. I couldn’t let the side down, I had to pretend that all was well’.

In myself I was fairly normal. I wasn’t a psychiatric mess, a quivering bundle of nerves or anything like that. I was 37 at the time, a normal balanced, healthy person with no personal experience of clinical or pathological depression. I was happily married to Eileen, a marvelous person and we were blessed with four delightful children. But the experience of Christianity had somehow disappeared from my life. The great truths of evangelicalism had lost their fire and their power to convince. To all intents and purposes I was all right, but I knew if God did not intervene soon that my whole Christian existence was finished. It was that desperate. (The Church in the Marketplace p.6,7)

Carey goes on to describe he renewal through the work of the Holy Spirit. He describes the difference of this renewal and his restoration to a love of Christ, a desire to read the Scriptures, a longing to share his faith with others and a desire to praise God. Although he would not define himself as charismatic his experience demonstrated many of the features of a charismatic renewal. Mostly, he was thankful that his theology had found a living soul (Carey, p.10).The work of this “crisis” served to allow Him to continue in working with a local parish and then later to be the Archbishop of Canterbury. On concluding his ministry at Durham Carey notes that the last thing that he did there was to talk and pray with a man who wanted to know more about the Christian faith (Carey p.154).

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Journey to the Other Side

• A few years ago now I read Eddie Gibb’s book, “Church Next” and was challenged by what he saw as the future of ministry. I remember reading it to my wife and her telling me that this sounded quite scary.
• Myself – I love a challenge. Life would be boring without a risk or two.
• Every ministry conference that I have been to has suggested that this is where the church needs to be in the future.

 

Connecting with our spirits – Money can’t buy love

There is a great deal that is said that about money not being everything in life. This is so true. And, following up on this is the statement that, “money doesn’t make you happy.” And yes we know that this too is true.

Religious leaders have always established a strong connection between the state of our financial affairs and our connection with the transcendent.

What do you believe is the relationship between wealth and spirituality? Is there a connection between the two?

For years I feared that the pursuit of wealth would hamper my spiritual life, distract me from my spiritual path; that was one of the limiting beliefs I had that prevented me from succeeding. But I realized somewhere in my early thirties that that belief, like all others, wasn’t true in itself. There is no conflict between wealth and spirituality, unless you create it in your mind. I can pursue financial success and still have plenty of time as well for my spiritual life. And, ultimately, they’re not even two separate things: My spiritual life encompasses every moment of each day and night.

Teilhard de Chardin said one of my favorite quotes,

“We are not physical beings who may
have a spiritual experience,
we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.”

We are physical beings with physical needs, emotional beings with emotional needs, mental beings with the power to fulfill our needs, and spiritual beings, every moment. Acknowledging the spiritual in ourselves and in others gives us purpose in life, and puts everything into the proper perspective.

We are not here just to become wealthy, isolated individuals. We are part of a great, mysterious, wondrous whole, and we are here to love and serve ourselves, humanity, and the whole planet, the whole environment. That’s the right perspective; that’s what is important in life.

The single most brilliant phrase I ever heard was from Ramana Maharshi, one of the greatest teachers in India in the last century. He said:

“The end of all wisdom is love,
love, love.”

That’s what is important in life. If your education doesn’t result in love, for all of humanity, for the whole world  then your education hasn’t been complete. Marc Allen

There are a couple of key points I think that this interview brought out:

1. That our physical and spiritual selves are intrinisically connected
2. There is a connection between our physical and spiritual realities – They affect each other
3. Fulifillment and happiness on not dependent on wealth
4. It is always nicer to be rich and fulfilled than poor and fulfilled. But both can provide a satisfied life.
5. Our modern world has confused consumerism with happiness and is the poorer for it because we have not explored our spiritual journey

Ultimately it is love that will prevail – As Paul says it is what will last forever and no matter what else we do and say if we haven’t loved then we have nothing.

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