What it Really Means to Listen: Spiritual or Holy Listening

"My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry . . . ." James 1:19

Spiritual listenting is a contemplative undertaking and not a problem solving task. It is essentially prayer....Spiritual listening as a contemplative discipline pushes us...to a level of listening beyond our own powers of analysis to the grace and the gift of divine life itself....To listen this way is to listen with the heart and mind and open wide. It invites us to be changed along with those to whom we listen.

Wendy Wright, "Desert Listening" Weavings 9:3 (May-June 1994)

Desert ascetics cultivated a heart engaged in intense listening. Listening for the Beloved's voice cultivated a wise and compassionate heart, able to yield to the movement of the Holy Spirit. Listening to the ebbs and flows of the Spirit was fundamental to a life of discernment. A still, focused attention was needed for fruitful discernment. True discernment does not presuppose how the Spirit will move, nor what God will say. In this life of cultivated listening, ascetics were open to the unexpected. They were willing to risk being surprised.

Desert ascetics were deeply aware that their cultural  backgrounds, educations, and life experiences framed and influenced listening...Ammas steeped their minds in scripture and other sacred writings in order to cultivate minds and hearts able to listen for God's voice. Growth in self-awareness clarified the lens that filtered and colored their listening. The clearness of the prism was the goal.

~ From Lauren Swan's book: The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives, and Stories of Early Christian Women

What should I do to please God?

Today is the Feast of St. Anthony, Father of monasticism, and here is his advice:

"Somebody asked Anthony, 'What shall I do in order to please God?' He replied, 'Do what I tell you, which is this: wherever you go, keep God in mind; whatever you do, follow the example of Holy Scripture; wherever you are, stay there and do not move away in a hurry. If you keep to these guide-lines, you will be saved.'" 

The Gift of Weakness: Christ's Power Resting on Us

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Sometimes I feel sorry for myself. During those times I recite my liabilities, weaknesses, sins, and station in life to God.

For example:

1. I am a woman. And I love being a woman. I love my husband and daughter and all the goodness that comes from those who surround me. But because I am a woman, people are less inclined to value what I say or write about you (God). People have said, "I am not going to listen to what a woman has to say about God." When a woman speaks the word of God she has less credibility for some reason. It is well-known that people don't read women authors nearly as much nor do they pick up their books nearly as much--especially when like me they are speaking of spiritual formation--of being disciples of Jesus. It's mostly women who read women or listen to women. But women, they pick up both men and women authors and listen to women (although not women pastors so much). So I tell God sometimes, "I am a woman but you gave me the spiritual gifts of men." Well, that's not what I really believe but people in Christian culture label my gifts as male gifts. Maybe I wouldn't have so many problems if I were one of Philip the Evangelist's four daughters. But you oh Lord have given me evangelist/preacher/writer gifts in this century and Philip is not my father.

2. I grew up poor and am poor compared to those in my environment (but I am rich compared to many in the world and U.S.). I am not sure that they know it though. I didn't/don't have the advantages they do. My desire to learn, love of words, education, and surroundings have made me adept at the middle class register.

3. I could write more about severe mental illness and poverty in my family...but I don't think that would be fair to them at this time.

Now I am already tired of reciting my weaknesses or handicaps or social status because of my situation in life. It sounds like I am whining. But  I only share this to show what I every now and then recount to the Lord.

But then he gently reminds me that indeed, he made no mistake with my station in life nor my gender. He reminds me that even before the world began he had good works for me to do, works that would make him glad and bring him honor (Ephesians 2:10).  He reminds me of how over and over he has been faithful to me. And the other night when I was reciting #1 and some others to him, he reminded me that his strength is made perfect in weakness.

So now I am reveling in II Corinthians 12:9. I am very interested in seeing how he reveals his strength through what many in the world deem to be social handicaps or liabilities. I think I have an inkling into some of it. I often feel super needy of him and of his grace because I don't have all those material and status and familial securities to cling to. Would I love him so if I were in a different station in life? Would I love him less if he didn't parent me? I hope that I would. But maybe I wouldn't.

My intent for this post wasn't to whine. It was really just to share why I am currently reveling in II Corithians 12:9. I want to contemplate it, digest it, and see what nourishment comes from it. Maybe Christ's power will rest on me if I truly see them as gifts instead of curses.

But the thing about Christ's power is that he doesn't always allow us to have full glimpses of  the power  that is resting on us and flowing through us. Otherwise we might become arrogant or even proud like Satan. There is no grace in pride.

Are you weak too? Maybe for different reasons? God promises to give grace to the humble and to never turn away those who call him. Maybe together we'll discover just how present and powerful and good God is as we meditate on his word and allow him to be our strength.

I liked the Message Version of this passage too.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (The Message):

Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it's all you need.


My strength comes into its own in your weakness.


Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

At Home With Christ

Read this beautiful meditation by Caryll Houselander found at the inward/outward blog sponsored by the Church of the Savior.

http://www.inwardoutward.org/2011/12/10/home

What Is Choking The Jesus Life Within?

Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”  Mark 4:15-20

Every now and then it hits me: there are thorns growing in the garden of my life. Thorns that threaten to choke out gospel life, the life of Jesus within. St. Mark tells us that some of these thorns are the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for things other than Jesus and his life.

Worries of this life. These can be terrifying days with wars, rumors of war,  hate, sickness, family problems, unemployment, and lack of money to make ends meet. We are tempted to allow these concerns to consume us, to become idols that control us. Worry (the cares of this life) feeds our fears and if we don't cut it off, it becomes a powerful force that chokes off God's life in us. It chokes out the gospel. We start to believe our worries are accurate reflections of reality and we bow to them instead of to God. Our eyes become paralyzed. They become laser-focused on our trials and can't move instead focusing on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Like Peter, we sink.

This is when we need to turn to Scripture and prayer and to the community of believers so that they can speak truth to us. However, let me not limit truth telling to these avenues. Reading all sorts of literature including stories of saints who have overcome trials can encourage us. But let us cling to God and his word so that our minds will be transformed--because his word cuts deep into us and sets things right (Hebrews 4:12).

When I feel especially overwhelmed, when I worry there is no way out, I think about the Israelites with their backs up against the wall. Pharaoh's army is behind them and the Red Sea in front of them. At that time God did the unimaginable, the unthinkable. He made a way through the sea back then and he does the same for us today. Can you remember a time when God rescued you from a difficult situation even if it was internal?

When I feel trapped, my mind turns to the question God asks in Jeremiah 32:27, "I am the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me?" I know he is directing that question to me. I have to answer. Eventually, I have to say, "No, Lord there is nothing that is too hard for you, not even this situation." And so again, I place my trust in the goodness of God (note: placing my trust in God doesn't always happen in an instant. It can be a struggle, but these are things I think about when I am in a difficult situation.)

The Deceitfulness of Riches. We are all tempted to find our security in money instead of God. Jesus said we must choose whether or not we will serve God or money. "If I just have all my school loans paid off and am debt free, I will have peace." "If I just had a better job and got paid more money, I would have no need for anything else." We are deceived into thinking money will provide security. Think of the rich celebrities in our culture; many are tormented even though they are swimming in money. Allowing money or the lack of it to become an idol leads to self-deception and to the gospel being choked out in our lives. We must learn that we cannot find our security in money and instead trust in God who provides what we need.

(Proverbs 30:8-9)

give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

You can be poor with money as an idol or rich with money as an idol. But let us remember what Jesus says to us in Matthew 6:32, "Your heavenly Father knows what you  have need of."

The Desire For Other Things. As I alluded to in other posts, our desires for other things can choke out the gospel. We become selfish and self-centered. For example, we're in ministry and it starts becoming about us instead of God. Somehow in the process, we've lost our first love. We are more focused on our own notoriety and the largeness of our ministry rather than God. Somehow we kid ourselves into thinking we are living for God when really we are living to promote ourselves or to get a nice paycheck. We chase success (spiritual even) instead of God. We enthrone educational degrees, relationships, or a perfect body. These desires for other things choke out the gospel. But what does God say? To love him with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and of course, to love our neighbors as ourselves.

What is choking the Jesus Life in us?

Kitchen Scraps and Tractors

This is a meditation from my friend Susan Green the Executive Director at Scenic City Women's Network in Chattanooga, TN USA

“We are – each and every one of us – a tangled mass of motives: hope and fear, faith and doubt, simplicity and duplicity, honesty and falsity, openness and guile. God knows our hearts better than we ever can. He is the only one who can separate the true from the false; he alone can purify the motives of the heart. But he does not come uninvited. If chambers of our heart have never experienced the healing touch, perhaps it is because we have not welcomed the divine scrutiny.

The most important, the most real, the most lasting work is accomplished in the depths of our heart. This work is solitary and interior. It cannot be seen by anyone, even ourselves. It is a work known only to God. It is the work of heart purity, soul conversion, life transfiguration.

Though we cannot see the work itself, we can detect some of its effects. We can experience a new firmness of life-orientation. We experience a settled peace that we do not fully understand and cannot fully explain. We begin seeing everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good. And, most amazing of all, we begin to feel abiding, unconditional warm regard for all people.”

- Richard Foster – Streams of Living Water

A few years ago I bought a CD, “singing bones”, by The Handsome Family. I don’t remember now who introduced them to me, but their music and lyrics are interesting and tell intriguing stories. Lyrics and credits information is wittily followed by their contact information for “the curious or angry.” I’d count myself in the former category.

One of my favorite CD selections is “The Bottomless Hole”. In the song “kitchen scraps and dead cows…tractors broken down” have for years been thrown down a hole in the backyard of a man from Ohio, and he’s never once heard them hit bottom. So he rigs himself a roped chariot to ride down the hole in search of its bottom. The rope could only take him so far, so he kisses his wife and children goodbye, and continues his pursuit. The song ends with him still sinking down that hole.

As I listened to this story it made me think of the depths of darkness in each human heart and of our continual pursuit of dark things that always cut us off from what is real, important, and beautiful, and from the people around us who need our love.

In the song, it had become a perpetual habit for the man in Ohio to toss things down that hole. The tossing started small, just kitchen scraps, and then tossed away things got bigger, and throwing things down that hole became a free-falling, black and consuming abyss. Pursuit of those things became more important than his wife and kids.

Doesn’t this scenario seem a bit extreme? Like the man from Ohio, habits and patterns do become a life pursuit for us, so we should be honest about the kind of life we are pursuing. In the gospels, whenever Jesus came on the scene, out of love, He put his finger on the things keeping people from a bottomless free-fall life imitation.

If we allow God to look with us at what is really true about us, He will show us, and our free-falling can end. Light exposes darkness and love overcomes fear. But just seeing truth, like the rich young ruler, isn’t enough. We have to make a choice about the truth we see. We have to want a certain kind of life and pursue it.

We have an enemy who longs to see us in perpetual free-falling. But, we have a God who will help us see the bottom of our big hole if we want to see it. We can only see truth with God’s help and we can learn from Him how to fill our lives with good things. And seeing truth needs to become one of the habits we pursue.

It’s hard to imagine that we couldn’t see something as big as a tractor – but sometimes, even things that big, we can’t see without God’s help. Only God can help us unearth, redeem, and see that good can be brought out of big scary things. The cry of David for God to know us (Psalm 139) and to be led in the everlasting way isn’t something we should fear, but something for which we should long. Richard Foster calls this way of allowing God to look with us at our life “a scrutiny of love.” The image evoked by those words brings tears to my eyes. Jesus wants you and me to daily experience true life. Only with God’s help can see that our kitchen scraps that lead to tractors, and work with Him to change, to discover our firm foundation for standing. Lives filled with light overcome darkness, the Kingdom is brought to earth, and God is glorified.

The Speed of Godliness vs. The Speed of Technology

Technology is speeding things up and people feel like everything in their lives should speed up. Spiritual formation takes time. Here’s a quote from an interview with Dr. James Houston in the Denver Seminary Magazine, on spiritual formation and integrity. Responding to a question about speeding up the process of spiritual formation, Dr. Houston says:

"Well, I think the vocabulary is wrong, because it’s all part of living in a technological society. And so processes, procedures, programs are all, in a sense, technical devices or a technical mindset for fixing things. So we want to fix things quickly.

But the very nature of integrity is that we have a speed that is appropriate to what we are doing. The speed of gaining information is very fast, but the speed of godliness is very slow. Or the speed of making a friend is very slow in comparison with other forms. So we lose integrity when we use the wrong mindset or the wrong speed at which we’re operating. My problem is that I can think faster than I can speak, I speak faster than I can act, I’ve got more acts than I’ve got character for… so maintaining integrity is acting appropriately."

These are notes from my friend Peggy Reynoso that we took at one of our Renovare Conferences. Thanks Peggy!

8 Principle Thoughts & Temptation

The Words of Abba Evagrius (d.399)

"There are eight principle thoughts, from which all other thoughts stem. The first thought is of gluttony, the second, of fornication; the third, of love of money; the fourth, of discontent; the fifth, of anger; the sixth, of despondency; the seventh, of vainglory; the eighth, of pride. Whether these thoughts disturb the soul or not does not depend on us; but whether they linger in us or not and set passions in motion or not--does depend on us."

The Gift and Discipline of Listening

Do we listen to others?

"Listening is one of the most basic ways we submit to each other. In fact, listening is minute-by-minute submission to others. I clear away what is going on in my mind and I follow what others are saying. I 'die' to my own desires and 'live' to theirs. Loving God and loving others are tied together. Said Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 'He who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and in the end there is nothing left but spiritual chatter.' But as we live life in union with God, we become steeped in empathy and genuinely care for other persons. We begin to live our lives in Jesus' attentive presence. This is what life in the kingdom of God here and now is meant to be."

~ Jan Johnson in her book Invitation to the Jesus Life: Experiments in Christlikeness

Life-Transforming Silence

Only silence will allow us life-transforming concentration upon God. It allows us to hear the gentle God whose only Son "shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice above the street noise (Matt. 12:19) It is this God who tells us that "in quietness and trust is your strength (Isa. 30:15 NAS).

~ Dallas Willard from The Spirit of the Disciplines

 

Children Following Jesus in Ordinary Time

My friends Lacy Borgo and Ben Barczi are writing a curriculum of Christ-likeness for children through Renovare. They are both gifted writers. Lacy is especially gifted with communicating to children and in writing for parents who want to teach their children about Jesus. I look forward to their work when it comes out. Go ahead and check out her work here:

 

http://www.renovare.us/WHATWEDO/Community/Blogs/tabid/2334/EntryID/180/Default.aspx

It is instructive for all adults whether or not you have children.

They Always Say It's The Little Things

I've been away for nearly two weeks. I've had little access to the internet. I don't own a laptop, so I am dependent on the availability of the internet and of time wherever I am staying. But it has been a good two weeks. In Rochester, NY I conducted a workshop on writing as the mission of God in the world at Northeastern Seminary's Annual Conference on Ministry. Andy Crouch, who wrote Culture Making, was the plenary speaker. He was fantastic, genuine, and knowledgable.

While there, we visited our friends (who are indeed family). I certainly cannot thank God enough for the role that the body of Christ at Rochester Christian Reformed Church has played, and continues to play, in our life. They are our mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and children. 

As we left Rochester, we headed west to Toledo, Ohio to visit my husband's family. We stayed briefly. Just over night, for we were headed northwest to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a wedding. It was beautiful wedding. Our daughter was the flower girl.

We arrived home late this afternoon. Daddy and daughter nap while I catch up and offer some thoughts. I will soon have to wake them for dinner.

On the way home today, I was thinking again about how much little things matter. And isn't the seemingly little things, the things we must do on a daily basis and that our lives are made up of, the hardest? For example, I am to love my the members of my family every day in the little things. Suppose that day after day I don't do that. What role do I then have in the destruction of my daughter's and husband's life? If I don't love them on a daily basis, it'll add up to not loving them throughout my life. Instead of offering them life, I offer them death.

Daily love or lack of love adds up.

Now, I am not responsible for what they do with my love--they could reject it.  However, I am responsible to God for doing my utmost to love them.

I fall short. Yes, I do. But, I need to beg God for the grace and the strength to love them. Then I have to decide to love them in his grace and strength.

It's not only love though. Things like exercise and eating right either add up for the good or the bad.  The little decisions we make every day about whether to eat right or to exercise add up.

Doing our work well or abysmally every day adds up. So does treating others well or harshly.

Daily communing with our Lord or not communing adds up.

I am not saying anything new; I am just reminding myself and whoever happens to glance at these words of the truth of these matters.

How often do we wish to take a vacation from the mundane because it all seems so meaningless?

Yet, it is in loving God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds in the every day details of our lives that makes holy lives--saints.

I think of the lyrics from the song Day by Day:

Day by day



Day by day


Oh Dear Lord


Three things I pray


To see thee more clearly


Love thee more dearly


Follow thee more nearly


Day by day

O Dear Lord! Have mercy on us sinners! Give us strength to love you in the details of our days. Forgive us for loving ourselves and for loving ease. It's in your name, Jesus, that we pray. Amen.

On The Temptation of Power

I will continue to highlight the discipline of secrecy. However, I must say that Sharon Hodde-Miller's article on power is excellent. Here is an excerpt: " . . . worldly power is not a neutral entity. It has the potential to change an individual in the most fundamental ways. It can distort our vision by perverting the way we see ourselves and those around us. This means that Christians are to handle power with fear and trembling. Worldly power is not beyond the redemptive work of God, but it is a great seducer that has ruined the lives of men and women throughout history."

See the rest of the article here: http://blog.christianitytoday.com/women/2011/05/schwarzenegger_strausskahn_and.html#comments

Resentment

Nouwen on Resentment.

Here are Nouwen's comments in the context of Matthew 20:28 where James and John via their mother ask Jesus for the seats to the left and right of him when his kingdom comes.

"We, like the sons of Zebedee, want to be near power and reflected glory. And if we cannot sit on the throne we at least want to sit very close to it. If we do not dare to ask for this privilege ourselves, we let someone close to us ask for it. Jesus's teaching here is a reminder of our temptation to be like God, and of our resentment for not always being first in line or highly privileged. If we cannot attain the first place, we'll settle for the second place in the kingdom. Those who perceive themselves worthy of first place but have to be content with second place can only look upward with resentment and downard with suspicion. And then, in this competitive and jealous place, neither God nor humanity can be served.

When you cling to your complaints, your heart is full of resentment, and there is no room for God to enter and set you free. Resentment curtails the movement of the Spirit and diminshes the kingdom within. It replaces, faith, hope, and charity with fear, doubt, and rivalry. It makes an enormous difference in our personal and communal lives whether we respond to life in anger and resentment, or in love and gratitude."

This is from the book: Spiritual Formation: Following The Movements of the Spirit

--Henri Nouwen's work with Michael Christensen and Rebecca J. Laird. I highly recommend this book. Thank you to Christensen and Laird for putting these pieces of Nouwen's published and unpublished works and lectures together. We are indebted to you!

Monotony

Here in the Midwest USA, it's been frigid and mostly cloudy. Many around me have bemoaned the long cold winter and this present darkness of February. It's the time of year when people get more depressed than usual. Much of the depression is spawned by the lack of sunlight and by remaining indoors. One friend of mine mentioned that she even feels like hibernating. It is a common thing 'round these parts.

I even find that I get bogged down by the monotony of things. Perhaps acedia is taking hold. But as I have written before, at least for me, it is these very monotonous days that can serve as our spiritual discipline.
So this morning I thought, "Let's change up our schedule a bit". My daughter Iliana and I played "school" with her little stuffed animal friends. She probably has fifty. Each of course has a distinct voice and mannerisms. Today's lesson was words in the English language that end in "-ing". Ring, sing, bring, and sting. We played show and tell. She showed her little animal friends and  baby dolls two toy trains and a track.

We then went to the downtown library (we live in a very small town but it has a good and friendly library). We signed out a few books.

And this is what I think about. If I am having a dreary monotonous day, I must not allow it to seep into her. Indeed, it is quite a spiritual discipline to be a good mother--or any caretaker really. It is a spiritual discipline to do what needs done throughout the day--to show up. If we would be responsible for our family and friends--for the well-being of the souls around us, although we all have bad days, we must ask God for the strength not to let monotony or the long cold dark winter months get the most of us.

God cares about the simplest things in our lives, like our energy and motivation levels. And he wants us to ask him for enough manna for the day. Like today, I needed motivation and energy to be a good mommy, to not let the weather make me frigid inside and cold (lacking enthusiasm) towards my daughter. I am her world and one of the icons of God in her life (along with my husband and others).

I am not sure where you are today, it may be summer where you live. But know that God cares about the simplest things in our lives and he gives us bursts of energy and the graces to do even the little things faithfully if we'd but come to him (see Matthew 11:28-29).

Am I The Servant of All?

Last year, I asked the Lord to make me a servant. I just ran across these words from Edward F. Markquart's sermon entitled: Having the Heart and Hands of a Servant. You can access it online at: http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/

"A servant always has a loving heart and working hands. Both the heart and the hands. Not just the heart of a servant who sees the needs of others. Not just a heart who feels the pain of those who lost their homes to the hurricanes. Not just a heart who empathizes with those who have lost their jobs, income and insurance. Servants always have good, loving and generous hearts, but they also have hands to do the dirty work. Hands that clean up the tables. Hands that do the dishes. Hands that actually help people in their needs."

God has begun answering my prayer by making me more of a servant and showing me how I would rather be the Master and call the shots rather than take orders I don't like. God always mortally wounds my pride--pride I don't know I possess until I am awakened to its presence by its shrieks of death that result from it receiving God's death blows. If you were to peek behind the veil of my soul, you'd see pride splattered all about and the Lord cleaning up the bloody mess. The Lord, who is truly the servant of all, is cleaning up my mess. He is cleaning me. Here I see the Lord again, being the servant of all, serving me, a most undeserving child.

Jesus' Feasting . . . Our Feasting

These are the words of Jean Vanier from his and Stanley Hauerwas' book, Living Gently in a Violent World (IVP 2008):

"I want to begin by saying something about knowing and not knowing. I love chapter two of the Gospel of John when Jesus brings the disciples to a wedding feast. It is a wonderful moment of celebration and relaxation, showing us that our life is to be enjoyed and that we are all called to feast. At the wedding feast of unity, people drink lots and laugh and have fun. It is a time of togetherness and friendliness. And I imagine that Jesus came to this feast to have fun. I don't think he looked at his watch (which he didn't have) and said, 'I must hurry and do a miracle there because they need me!' No, Jesus at Cana was having fun. Mary saw that the wine was running out, knew that the family would be humiliated, and asked Jesus to do something about it. There's something profoundly human about Jesus--the first thing he does in John's Gospel is to turn water into wine so a bride's father won't be embarrassed." p. 22

Tech-Potatoes.

In 1999, I was an undergraduate resident assistant (RA). At my Christian college, they told us to be aware of persons who were addicted to the computer. "Watch out for them," our supervisors would tell us, "They'll withdraw from others, isolate, and we want them to be invested in others." I now work at my alma mater. And you know what? I am not told to warn anyone about being addicted to the computer. Although, sometimes I hear rumblings from students about being addicted to Facebook.

When I was in high school, I really appreciated a shirt that one of my peers had. On the front it read, "Bow to the new god." And on the back it read, "Kill you T.V." The shirt was meant to communicate that television had achieved god-like status. It could brainwash you. It formed you, without you being aware. Back then, people used to be denigrated for being couch potatoes.

Why do we not similarly discourage others from being computer potatoes? I think that not only the computer, but other technologies malform us in ways we aren't so aware of just yet. Yes, there has been alot of talk about isolation. It's not just that though. I know it's so much more but I haven't thought about it long enough. I do know some philosphers and theologians have though. I need to look into it.

And don't get me wrong. Obviously, I am using computer technology to post this. I rely on a computer for my job. I have to answer e-mails sent to me. But then, I do remember life without all this. And some people, like Wendell Berry, intentionally live a life free of all these gadgets. It gives them peace of mind and allows them to interact face to face. They aren't inundated with information. Eugene Peterson has termed much of e-mail word pollution and encourages people to write letters (hand-written).

I remember how free I felt last year during Lent when I took a sabbatical from posting on my blog and from checking Facebook (I wouldn't say I'm addicted, but I check FB once a day or less). I felt like I had so much time!

And while I so enjoy posting and am nourished by thinking through what I write, it is good to fast and use that time to be nourished by the Lord in different ways. Not posting is a discipline of abstinence.

I don't think I am a techno-phobe. No. But, I do wonder at the ill-effects technology has on us. Technology has implications for our spiritual formation in Christ. We should talk about this in our churches. And of course we shouldn't be tech-potatoes.

Self-Control?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22,23.

Last night I was thinking about the process of sanctification and how the Lord seems to purify me (in a contemporary American colloquialism, "go to town on me")  of certain things over the span of several  years. What I mean is, I can look back on my life and think, "That was a period when I was really learning the basics of trust and peace." By that I don't mean that I've got trust or peace down, but that it seems that the Holy Spirit has lasered in on certain impurities that inhibit Christ from being fully formed in me. The Spirit then goes to work in the only way the Spirit can to purify me of them--to get them out of my system or mostly out.

If I should be tempted to fall back into those ways, the ways of the old self  in a specific area like distrust or anxiety, I reflect on what the Lord did in the past, on the lessons he taught me. I have recorded many of those lessons in  journals and even on this blog. Indeed, I often reread what I've written on here because I need the truth to sink into the depths of my soul, into my inmost being, so that there is truth in the innermost parts. So they are recorded and serve as pillars like the 12 stones of rememberance that the Israelite priests, at the command of God, set up as a pillar when they crossed the Jordan at its flood stage with Joshua at the helm.

Most recently, and generally over the last three years,  I've been learning that God desires that I seek the charism of self-control in a particular area. When others around me are in pain or turmoil--and ask for advice (and unfortunately, sometimes when they don't)--my inclination is to help in word or in deed. However, when it comes to words, I have to realize that words of (what I perceive are) wisdom do not have to be repeated and repeated. I am to say what the Lord has me say and leave it at that. Words quickly lose their meaning when so oft repeated. They become sounding gongs.

So brief words.

Then Silence.

On my part is better.

I can exhibit self-control by silence instead of what I've recently realized is my sometimes-tendency to control others with words--positive and uplifting ones at that--exhortations to follow Jesus.  Each person has a will. He/she can decide whether or not to heed the truth. God forbid that my gift of exhortation become a curse. This is a case where a strength can become a weakness without self-control.

Spiritual Disciplines

Here I have listed some of the spiritual disciplines. They are divided into disciplines of abstinence and disciplines of engagement. This is not an exhaustive list. You need both. At a retreat, Dallas Willard mentioned to our group that if we participate in disciplines of engagement without the disciplines of abstinence, burnout is not far behind.



Disciplines of Abstinence             Disciplines of Engagement

solitude                                                        study

silence                                                          worship

fasting                                                          celebration

frugality                                                      service

chastity                                                        prayer

secrecy                                                         fellowship

sacrifice                                                        confession

obscurity                                                      submission

                                                                         exercise

                                                                        pilgrimage