Sniffing out the work of God in the world…
Diane and I just finished a flight through the night to get to LAX. I canNOT sleep well on a plane at night.
We’ve been at a “megachurch senior pastors” conference that is held annually by senior pastors of Christian churches. This year there were five of us (out of about fifty) from Churches of Christ.
It was a good gathering. I’ll try to write more later. But now I’m seriously tired.
Chris has been getting to hang with my mom this week while we’ve been out of town. (More on that later.)
Through the years, Grandma and Papa have been lifesavers. At times, the kids have gone to Missouri; at other times Grandma has come to our home.
When Megan was alive, once a year Mom would keep the kids for a week. It’s hard to explain what a gift that was. Megan, our beloved daughter, was challenging. Mentally-handicapped, of course. But on the go all the time, seldom napping and sleeping very little at night. In her stronger days, she marched around the house getting into things 22-7.
Family was wonderful. But marriage was hard. We were always tired. Those trips always rejuvenated us.
Once we left for 10 days. I was a guest speaker for a Christian group on a cruise. (I believe with politicians we call this a junket.)
When we returned we were tanned and rested. Mom was looking a bit worn. She smiled and said, “I think I’m a 7-day grandma.” We learned later that she had called a friend and offered her a hundred million dollars to come take over for half an hour.
Now it’s not quite so challenging, but there’s still no one better than Grandma to take over when Mom and Dad are gone.
Today, I am interviewing one of my elders, David Wray, for the blog.
There’s so much I could tell you about David. First, the obvious. The guy is tall. Real tall (6′9″). Have you seen “Glory Road”? The year after they won the national title, David played against them when he was ACU’s center.
He’s a godly husband, father, and granddad. As an elder, he is a constant source of wisdom. He has more administrative gifts in his pinkie than I have in my whole body. And he’s been a guiding force of spirituality in my life.
I’ve talked to lots of ACU students who describe his spiritual formation class as one of the most significant times of their lives. So today, I’m asking him a few questions about spiritual formation.
1. What do we mean by “spiritual formation”?
In a sentence, spiritual formation is the process of maturing (some add “yielding one’s self to being conformed”) into the image of Jesus Christ for the sake of others. The objective is integrating the virtues and practices of Jesus into the daily life of every disciple of Jesus. Growing in the Christlife includes spiritual information, spiritual formation and spiritual transformation. Spiritual information requires being people of scripture. Christlikeness requires that Christians live in the gospels and there discover the heart, thoughts, and behaviors of Jesus. If we are to imitate him, we must rationally think through the principles by which he taught, related to people, and practiced disciplines that we refer to as “spiritual disciplines.” Sermons, daily reading and reflecting on scripture, Bible classes, small group Bible studies, and many other forums enhance one’s maturing in spiritual information. Spiritual formation places high value on relationships and spiritual community. In addition to information about Jesus, all disciples need brothers and sisters who provide mentoring, spiritual direction, encouragement, accountability, equipping for ministry, and shepherding. Authentic spiritual community is required in the formation process. No one is able to make the journey of life without brothers and sisters in the Lord. Small groups, shepherding groups, parenting, mission trips, and many other venues provide ideal opportunities for spiritual formation. Spiritual disciplines encourage Christians in contemplative spirituality (listening to God, “wasting time” with God) Spiritual transformation often occurs through losses and times of struggle. Almost all disciples experience times of the “dark night of the soul” as they move through life. These times require that Christians draw on scripture (spiritual information) and spiritual community (spiritual formation) to regain mental, emotional, and spiritual equilibrium.
2. Why has this become such a passion of your heart in your teaching at ACU, at Highland, and around the country?
Historically those associated with the Stone/Campbell movement relied heavily on rational spiritually. Convinced that biblical knowledge leads to holy living, we emphasized sermons and Bible classes. Campbell was fond of saying “come let us reason together.” When problems arose in our congregations, church leaders admonished the preacher to develop a sermon series on the subject or asked educational leadership to develop classes to solve the issue. Convinced that information primarily made disciples of Jesus, we eagerly embraced teaching/learning innovations to insure biblical literacy. We now realize that our sermons and worship assemblies engaged left brained (linear and sequential) people while often ignoring right brained (spontaneous and relational) people. Since Bible study provided our organizational principle we invested billions of dollars on “auditoriums” (our language betrays us–others call their assembly space “worship centers” or “sanctuaries”) and classrooms. Spiritual formation provides a path that appreciates spiritual information, but encourages us to drink from other streams of holiness, social justice, authentic spiritual community, and the inner life (solitude, silence, prayer). Thankfully many Christians currently live more holistically as they grow spiritually through their intellects, emotions, and relationships. This emphasis on holistic spirituality draws disciples out of the fortress church buildings and into the marketplace to live for the sake of others. This natural result of the spiritual formation process requires congregations to transition toward missional principles. Instead of congregations existing mostly to educate themselves and provide members with “goods” and “services,” church leaders are encouraging disciples to welcome, receive, and embrace the reign of God, the kingdom of God, everywhere they find it, inside and outside the church building.
3. How would you help people get started exploring “spiritual formation”? Are there a couple books you could recommend or conferences that you might point people to?
I argue that spiritual formation is more than reading and thinking, although both are a part of the process, but not the whole. Maturing Christians need time for reading, meditating, and contemplating, but they also need immersion experience where they walk along side people trapped in poverty and oppression, where they engage in short term (and longer term) mission experiences, and where they engage in spiritual formation groups. I also recommend ministries such as “Walk To Emmaus,” “retreats for solitude, silence, and prayer,” and seeking spiritual direction (ancient practice of gaining spiritual wisdom and discernment for seasoned disciple of Jesus).
Having provided this disclaimer, Richard Foster provides disciples desiring to grow in Christlikeness with helpful literature. Recommended books by Foster include: Celebration of Disciplines, and Streams of Living Water. A second contemporary author of spiritual formation literature is Dallas Willard. Christians desiring to continue growing in the image of Christ benefit from his writings which include: The Spirit of the Disciplines, Divine Conspiracy, and Renovation of the Heart. Most of the thirty plus books by Henri Nouwen provide encouragement for disciples to grow deeper into Christlikeness.
Here are the Cliff Notes to the book of Revelation:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
That’s one way to say it.
Another way is with a zoo (lamb, horses, eagle, locusts, leopard, bear, lion, beast), numbers (3.5, 7, 12, 1000, 144,000, 666), symbols (seals, trumpets, thunders, bowls, plagues, horns, eyes, stars), and cosmic catastrophes.
It is the way of imagination. And it’s critical for people who are needing to be faithful in the face of persecution and the temptation toward accomodation (i.e., the temptation to try to fit into the culture a wee bit too easily in order to blend in — see the letters to the seven churches).
Revelation has little to do with Hal Linday’s The Late, Great Planet Earth and not all that much to do with the Left Behind series. It is not a cryptogram of all things that will break forth in history.
It is a word that speaks to those who feel like all hell has broken lose. Yesterday in class I asked our students if some of them had been there. Heart-breaking stories were shared for about fifteen minutes. Such young lives. Such great pain.
So we ask with John, “Who can stand?” (Rev. 6:1). With our view “from below” it seems like no one can.
But the answer comes immediately with the view “from above”: “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree” (7:1). Who can stand? The angels of God! It may appear to us that all hell has broken lose, but it hasn’t. God, despite all appearances to the contrary, is ultimately in control.
The middle section of Ben Witherington’s excellent The Problem With Evangelical Theology is on the relatively recent, misguided interpretations of Dispensationalism. Here’s part of the introduction to that section:
“Unlike the case with Calvinism [which he explores in the first third], the Dispensational approach to the Bible did not arise after profound study of the Hebrew or Greek Scriptures or detailed scholarly exegesis of the text. It was a system that apparently arose in response to a vision and as a result of a pastoral concern about unfulfilled biblical prophecy, and was promulgated by various ministers and evangelists and entrepreneurs in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. More recently, it has often been wed with the all-too-American gospel of success and wealth, not to mention the belief that America is in some ways God’s chosen instrument, though of course the Bible says nothing about America. Sometimes, in addition, one is dealing with a double problem because some highly influential Dispensationalists (e.g., Jerry Falwell) are also Calvinists as well, which makes things even more exegetically problematic. Then too, there is the problem that many if not most Messianic Jews are also Dispensationalists.”
I’ve read Revelation many times, of course. But it was a different experience this week to hear it on my ipod while working out. Part of my mind was trying to absorb the apocalyptic language, pregnant with symbols and imagery. But another part of my mind kept hearing this:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).
Yesterday, after a few requests, I checked into the possibility of a podcast. Here’s what I found out: we already have one! It had just started, and I just didn’t realize it. You can find it in Itunes by typing “Highland Church of Christ” in the search area. Not many sermons yet, but we’ll add more. I’ll try to make sure Randy’s series is on there. Last night was amazing as he spoke about the need for deep humility as we come before the mysterious God.
Now, on this I’d like your feedback . . . What do you think of the possibility of allowing ads on this site, with the money going straight into mission work? (I’d likely create some account at Highland so the money never came into my hands.) Someone just back from the Mac conference came across this idea. We counted two days this week and there was an average of 2745 “hits” each day — apparently enough to draw the interest of potential advertisers. And no, it wouldn’t be annoying pop-ups. Just a couple ads along the side. But I’m excited about the possibility of having money go straight into the work of Christ in this world. Seriously, I’d like feedback. Maybe this doesn’t fit the nature of blogging.
Tonight Randy Harris, a beloved member of Highland and a gift to Churches of Christ all over the world, is going to begin a three-week series called “Great Is the Mystery: God in the Darkness.” (Come early for fajitas at the Oasis meal, served 5:15-6:30, if you can.)
For those of you who are too far to come tonight, don’t worry. Randy works this material up for his own church and then shares it everywhere! It’s coming soon to a theater, I mean “church,” near you.
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And the guest resource person for next year’s Nashville and Fresno Zoe conferences is . . . Lauren Winner. For more info on this brilliant, God-filled young woman — her bio, her books, and her blog — you can check here.
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Yesterday I taught Revelation 1-5 to our 90 freshmen Bible majors. Tomorrow, it’s chapters 6-22. Then Randy gets to deal with whatever difficult questions may be left–and I intend for there to be plenty! I just keep thinking: I hope I help some of these young ministry students half as much as Neale Pryor helped me.
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To Lee and the Gang at College Church in Fresno: The avocados you sent are ripening, and I’ve made guacamole five straight days. And that’s with a trip to Nashville thrown in. (I made some for lunch Sunday before leaving and then for dinner Monday after returning.)
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Thank you, Coretta.