Friday, September 23, 2005
::Spirituality - Action and contemplation Those of you who have hung around this blog for a while will know that I am a fan of Richard Rohr, the Catholic contemplative activist. He is an activist primarily who has learned the need for contemplation.
His writings and sermons (that I listen to on tape and cd) have revolutionised my thinking and are slowly revolutionising my way of life.
He often quotes St Theresa of Avila, when she was asked what is the most important, action or contemplation. Her response, as many of you would have heard me say heaps of times, was that the most important word is the word “and”.
The art of keeping the two in tension that is the most important. This will not strike anyone as new information, however the thought I have been wrestling with over the last few months is this.
How do we practice disciplines that are appropriate for every day life?
Like Matt, I also am currently rereading Fosters “Celebration of Discipline”. One thing that strikes me from the current rereading is the thought that many of the traditions come to us shaped by the Desert Fathers, and if not them, the archetype of the Desert Fathers.
What I am trying to say is that the disciplines are imagined by us through this prism of an extractionist type mould. Even the Brother Lawrence stuff which is written in the context of engaging God in mundane work type vibe, was written by a fellow who worked within the confines of a monastery.
As I wrestle with trying to lead an emergent community into rediscovering what it means to be the missionary people of God, I find it is not just trying to re imagine what gathering, engaging in our local community and being the people of God looks like, but it also requires a re imagining of what the disciplines look like.
I find that as someone who leads a community on a volunteer basis, working full time, tyring to engage my community and being a husband and father to boot gives me incredible amounts of empathy for the very busy people that I lead, and try to do so by example.
What would it look like were the people doing the bulk of the communication around the practice of the disciplines look like if they were full time executives, full time stay at home mums, builders labourers, corporate workers etc ad infinitum? What are the alternatives to the Desert Father’s archetype in terms of the practice of the disciplines? Posted by Stephen @ 12:11 PM
His writings and sermons (that I listen to on tape and cd) have revolutionised my thinking and are slowly revolutionising my way of life.
He often quotes St Theresa of Avila, when she was asked what is the most important, action or contemplation. Her response, as many of you would have heard me say heaps of times, was that the most important word is the word “and”.
The art of keeping the two in tension that is the most important. This will not strike anyone as new information, however the thought I have been wrestling with over the last few months is this.
How do we practice disciplines that are appropriate for every day life?
Like Matt, I also am currently rereading Fosters “Celebration of Discipline”. One thing that strikes me from the current rereading is the thought that many of the traditions come to us shaped by the Desert Fathers, and if not them, the archetype of the Desert Fathers.
What I am trying to say is that the disciplines are imagined by us through this prism of an extractionist type mould. Even the Brother Lawrence stuff which is written in the context of engaging God in mundane work type vibe, was written by a fellow who worked within the confines of a monastery.
As I wrestle with trying to lead an emergent community into rediscovering what it means to be the missionary people of God, I find it is not just trying to re imagine what gathering, engaging in our local community and being the people of God looks like, but it also requires a re imagining of what the disciplines look like.
I find that as someone who leads a community on a volunteer basis, working full time, tyring to engage my community and being a husband and father to boot gives me incredible amounts of empathy for the very busy people that I lead, and try to do so by example.
What would it look like were the people doing the bulk of the communication around the practice of the disciplines look like if they were full time executives, full time stay at home mums, builders labourers, corporate workers etc ad infinitum? What are the alternatives to the Desert Father’s archetype in terms of the practice of the disciplines? Posted by Stephen @ 12:11 PM
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Interesting that you should bring this up...
Part of the reason I've set up my blog is to explore this very question with my community in 2006. What I thought we do was for the first meeting of each month, pick one of the classic disciplines and explore it together, then spend the rest of the month practicing (doing) the discipline and discussing our thoughts and experiences on the blog. I have the rest of this year to work out how to use the thing properly!
When I reviewed Frost&Hirsch's "Shaping of Things to Come" one of the things that I thought was unusual was a call to return to a Hebraic or Messianic Spirituality. Like you, I think it may be better for us to explore the rebirth of spirituality in our own context rather than try to introduce too much from another time and place. Base it on Jesus, his teaching and lifetyle - absolutuely - but let its expression, and the diciplines we use to mature it, grow out of where we find ourselves.
My review is on my site under the 'Faith' section. I'd put a link here but I'm too much of an ignoramous...
Having said all that, you're right in saying that the AND is important. Just becasue we find time scarce and the classic disciplines hard, doesn't mean we shouldn't do them. They're not meant to be easy. The temptation will always be to find a new expression that makes it a bit more palatable.
So, we explore new forms of spiritual disciplines AND practice the classic ones at the same time. Hamo had a discussion recently about blogging as a spiritual discipline which I thought was quite good.
Anwyay, feel free to join the journey in 2006!
Part of the reason I've set up my blog is to explore this very question with my community in 2006. What I thought we do was for the first meeting of each month, pick one of the classic disciplines and explore it together, then spend the rest of the month practicing (doing) the discipline and discussing our thoughts and experiences on the blog. I have the rest of this year to work out how to use the thing properly!
When I reviewed Frost&Hirsch's "Shaping of Things to Come" one of the things that I thought was unusual was a call to return to a Hebraic or Messianic Spirituality. Like you, I think it may be better for us to explore the rebirth of spirituality in our own context rather than try to introduce too much from another time and place. Base it on Jesus, his teaching and lifetyle - absolutuely - but let its expression, and the diciplines we use to mature it, grow out of where we find ourselves.
My review is on my site under the 'Faith' section. I'd put a link here but I'm too much of an ignoramous...
Having said all that, you're right in saying that the AND is important. Just becasue we find time scarce and the classic disciplines hard, doesn't mean we shouldn't do them. They're not meant to be easy. The temptation will always be to find a new expression that makes it a bit more palatable.
So, we explore new forms of spiritual disciplines AND practice the classic ones at the same time. Hamo had a discussion recently about blogging as a spiritual discipline which I thought was quite good.
Anwyay, feel free to join the journey in 2006!
Hey Matt, I actually posted today based onthe conversation yesterday and today, as well as the background precipitating events.
I find having worked in a Forge context for a few years now, it is becoming easier and easier to get people out of the "desert" (church buildings, private meetings in homes etc) and into the bazaar (the cafe's, the pubs etc).
When we get there though, the behaviour we engage in is somewhat modified, but still very similar to the forms we adopted in the "desert".
The point where the mental engine seizes up is trying to figure out what a spirituality for the "bazaar" looks like.
Does proximity just mean we are doing exactly the same thing, but in a different location? Or does it mean getting into a new location, and then trying to determine what forms are appropriate?
Not sure if I am making sense but let me try something.
Prayer. The person in the office in the CBD says "pray that I get the promotion".
At what point do we ask the person who works in the CBD office to attempt to reflect on their role, and somehow conceive and translate the notion of the coming Kingdom of God right where they are?
As they are attempting to perceive the conjunction of these two realities, they somehow sense the prompting of the spirit to... work in a different way, ...challenge management for the inhuman way in which employees are treated, ...re imagine how the current delivery of their product needs to be modified in order to reduce the impact that they are having on the local indigenous people in the country where they are being manufactured etc ad infinitum.
How do we as communities of faith help people develop this kind of "prayer discipline"? How do imagine what it would look like? How do we encourage those who are working in offices in the CBD to realise that this is what it means to practice the prayer discipline in their context? How do we create a learning environment in our faith communities where these kinds of experiments can fuel our collective imaginations?
This I suspect would be the beginings of reimagining the disciplines in an engaged, incarnational way.
Thanks for letting me think out loud.
By the way, is this the Matt at Mitcham, like down the road from where I work most of the week? If so, I would love to come and have a chat!
I find having worked in a Forge context for a few years now, it is becoming easier and easier to get people out of the "desert" (church buildings, private meetings in homes etc) and into the bazaar (the cafe's, the pubs etc).
When we get there though, the behaviour we engage in is somewhat modified, but still very similar to the forms we adopted in the "desert".
The point where the mental engine seizes up is trying to figure out what a spirituality for the "bazaar" looks like.
Does proximity just mean we are doing exactly the same thing, but in a different location? Or does it mean getting into a new location, and then trying to determine what forms are appropriate?
Not sure if I am making sense but let me try something.
Prayer. The person in the office in the CBD says "pray that I get the promotion".
At what point do we ask the person who works in the CBD office to attempt to reflect on their role, and somehow conceive and translate the notion of the coming Kingdom of God right where they are?
As they are attempting to perceive the conjunction of these two realities, they somehow sense the prompting of the spirit to... work in a different way, ...challenge management for the inhuman way in which employees are treated, ...re imagine how the current delivery of their product needs to be modified in order to reduce the impact that they are having on the local indigenous people in the country where they are being manufactured etc ad infinitum.
How do we as communities of faith help people develop this kind of "prayer discipline"? How do imagine what it would look like? How do we encourage those who are working in offices in the CBD to realise that this is what it means to practice the prayer discipline in their context? How do we create a learning environment in our faith communities where these kinds of experiments can fuel our collective imaginations?
This I suspect would be the beginings of reimagining the disciplines in an engaged, incarnational way.
Thanks for letting me think out loud.
By the way, is this the Matt at Mitcham, like down the road from where I work most of the week? If so, I would love to come and have a chat!
The last time I took our group through an intensive study of the disciplines was about five years ago. Since then, things like observing days of fasting and prayer are reasonably common (we had one this week). The sort of things that people can do anywhere as well as when gathered.
It has fostered a more intimate relationship with Jesus and launched us into new mission, and new expressions of our church are now emerging around the suburb. And that brings us back full circle to examining again what the diciplines should look like.
For instance, we have a skate group that are now struggling through what prayer, worship and so on look like in the skating context. Darn hard questions, but good ones to wrestle with.
I think the AND comes into play again when it comes into proximity. The discplines need to be formed in the proximity spaces, but sometimes, as Jesus did when he called the disciples, there needs to be a removal from the proximity space for there to be a sense of the 'otherness' of God.
I like your office worker suggestions. Always a tension, though, when the well being of your family depends on the income and the income depends on you not rocking the boat too much. It's easy to call fro radical discipleship here, but as you know, when you've got kids the talk is easy...
The hardest of all the disciplines for our context though, would surely be the Sabbath rest. What would you suggest it looks like in our context?
Yep. Matt from Mitcham here - send me an email and we'll catch up.
It has fostered a more intimate relationship with Jesus and launched us into new mission, and new expressions of our church are now emerging around the suburb. And that brings us back full circle to examining again what the diciplines should look like.
For instance, we have a skate group that are now struggling through what prayer, worship and so on look like in the skating context. Darn hard questions, but good ones to wrestle with.
I think the AND comes into play again when it comes into proximity. The discplines need to be formed in the proximity spaces, but sometimes, as Jesus did when he called the disciples, there needs to be a removal from the proximity space for there to be a sense of the 'otherness' of God.
I like your office worker suggestions. Always a tension, though, when the well being of your family depends on the income and the income depends on you not rocking the boat too much. It's easy to call fro radical discipleship here, but as you know, when you've got kids the talk is easy...
The hardest of all the disciplines for our context though, would surely be the Sabbath rest. What would you suggest it looks like in our context?
Yep. Matt from Mitcham here - send me an email and we'll catch up.
Steve,
what about bringing the bazaar to the desert? I don't mean something as simple as setting up a cafe in a church as a way of dragging people into church - but more recognising that "hey, we've got this building, let's make the most of it...how can we make this a place people want to be? How can we capitalise on the fact that people know what goes on in here and will come here if they're looking, but lose all the negative stuff that goes with meeting in a church building?" To put it another way - can we stay in the same location and use new forms?
Re: the issue of prayer that you raised - my community has followed the Quakers here, and we make much use of asking questions (never making statements). It immediately directs you towards discernment - rather than responding to that request by simply praying that X got their promotion, I'd ask where they saw God in all that. I think that this contextualises things, because rather than praying about a single "issue", we are constantly thinking about where The Way might be in our context.
I'm not sure whether I'm making any sense or just rambling...
what about bringing the bazaar to the desert? I don't mean something as simple as setting up a cafe in a church as a way of dragging people into church - but more recognising that "hey, we've got this building, let's make the most of it...how can we make this a place people want to be? How can we capitalise on the fact that people know what goes on in here and will come here if they're looking, but lose all the negative stuff that goes with meeting in a church building?" To put it another way - can we stay in the same location and use new forms?
Re: the issue of prayer that you raised - my community has followed the Quakers here, and we make much use of asking questions (never making statements). It immediately directs you towards discernment - rather than responding to that request by simply praying that X got their promotion, I'd ask where they saw God in all that. I think that this contextualises things, because rather than praying about a single "issue", we are constantly thinking about where The Way might be in our context.
I'm not sure whether I'm making any sense or just rambling...
Yeah its an interesting question Steve-how do we train people in disciplines that are portable, that they can take with them wherever they go, not just when they have the chance to have a couple of minutes silence-which isn't often for many.
And how do we encourage people to develop a spirituality that doesn't rely on the church gathering to be nourished, but isn't some individulistis self-focussed life?
And how do we encourage people to develop a spirituality that doesn't rely on the church gathering to be nourished, but isn't some individulistis self-focussed life?
Thanks, this is a timely post for me. Just yesterday I was going through some old files and stumbled upon a collection of materials for a book I never managed to write, on portable spirituality in an urban context. Hopefully your post will spur me on to blog some of those materials in a new light.
instead of trying to create a paradigm if we simply adjust what we can to our context.
for me the first and most important stop was realizing that every moment, every action, was essentially a blank slate. particular actions weren't accomplishing the task for me, at least those tasks in and of themselves. but rather how i did those tasks that contained the importance.
(as background i'm a worship pastor at a church, and a stay at home dad in the day).
for me the first and most important stop was realizing that every moment, every action, was essentially a blank slate. particular actions weren't accomplishing the task for me, at least those tasks in and of themselves. but rather how i did those tasks that contained the importance.
(as background i'm a worship pastor at a church, and a stay at home dad in the day).
Hey Bec, let's try and hook up and follow up the thought of taking the Bazaar to the desert.
Hey Fernando, I am glad the blog has spurred you on. One of the best things I have heard today. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Feel free to comment here (or I could even post them, quoting the source of course)!
Dan, tell me more. I kinda follow but not quite.
Post a Comment Hey Fernando, I am glad the blog has spurred you on. One of the best things I have heard today. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Feel free to comment here (or I could even post them, quoting the source of course)!
Dan, tell me more. I kinda follow but not quite.
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