Disciplines | Faith Venture

Archive for the ‘Disciplines’ Category

Watch Out For Pointing Fingers

April 20, 2017

Our pastor somehow worked the evils of sex into every message. Then one day, he ran off with the wife of the chairman of the Board of Deacons. — Told to me by a friend years ago.

A “Mr. Morality” on TV is now looking for a job after years of sexual impropriety become public.

Hamlet:
Madam, how like you this play?

Queen:
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Gertrude says that Player Queen affirms so much as to lose credibility. Her vows are too elaborate, too artful, too insistent.

Shakespeare

Yes, sometimes we seem to affirm morality so much that others begin to doubt just how moral we are.

Have you ever looked deeply within? Just as Paul describes early in Romans, I have looked and discovered that within me, I am capable of many sins and immorality.

I’d rather spend my energy focusing on me, and my path. It is not for me to point out everyone’s wrongdoing. That is too easy.

As Jesus pointed out, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” [Matthew 7, but also Luke 6]

Or Paul in Romans [2] who is more prosaic and less poetic, “You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”

Like yesterday’s thoughts on an angry mom who tweets, it’s too easy to take shots at others. Better is to take care of our own spiritual house.

Posted in Attitude, Disciplines, Grace | Leave a Comment »

How Do You Use Social Media

April 19, 2017

“All it takes is a tweet from one angry mom.” Overheard on a sports talk show.

One of the best services we can perform is to get involved with youth sports. Coach, referee, manager.

Working with kids at all ages can be satisfying if done with the right end in mind. And that end is human development. Kids are taught responsibility, team work, to perform when people are watching. They get to run and jump and learn a skill.

I’ve devoted 30 years to refereeing soccer and teaching and mentoring new referees. I’ve seen kids at 13 grow into 16s who can make decisions, control their emotions (tough at that age), manage people situations. I keep hoping one will eventually be refereeing on TV, but even so, they’ve become better people because of it.

But I’ve seen the worst beginning when I was about 16 and umpiring baseball and softball in my hometown.

And I thought–why would someone want to coach these days. Or even referee. After all, it only takes one tweet from an angry mom. Or one Facebook post from that angry mom. And your reputation goes down the toilet. People pile on whether they know anything or not.

Social psychologists, I suppose, study why people sitting alone somewhere with Internet access just spout off with any emotion that crosses their awareness. Face-to-face is harder. Online is easy.

I remember when TV came along and the pundits were talking about how this new communications medium can lift the collective intelligence and knowledge of the population. And we just keep sinking to new lows with every new way of communicating.

We could do things that are motivating in a positive way. We could build people up. We could be sympathetic to the plight of people.

Or, we can just bask in raw emotion and “let it all hang out.”

Posted in Disciplines, emotions, Silence | Leave a Comment »

Don’t Miss The Starting Gun

April 18, 2017

No one told you when to run; You missed the starting gun. — Pink Floyd

I was thinking about all the people (guys and girls) gathered around Jesus after his resurrection. They were still thinking about the kind of power that comes from running the country and the religious establishment. (see yesterday’s post from Acts 1)

They almost missed the race.

Jesus told them about the different kind of power that they were to receive.

Read the next chapter. Acts 2 (Willow Creek Community Church, for example, is a church driven by the vision of an Acts 2 church) reports the power of the Holy Spirit in people as it settled inside the followers. And then many more followers.

The apostle Paul loves athletic analogies. He talks about running the race. You can’t run if you miss the starting gun.

What about us? Like Willie Nelson, have we been looking for love in all the wrong places? And then we never really got started in life? Just settled?

It’s not too late.

I just saw an article in The New York Times that discussed research into creativity. Turns out that our creativity does not die off once we hit the age of 30. Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) said at age 22 that middle aged and older people cannot be creative. “All I have is a mattress at home. I don’t have stuff to stifle my creativity.” I wonder if he thinks he has no creativity now. I bet with a wife and babies he has more than just a mattress in his mansion, er house.

The article featured a guy who is 91 and working to invent an entirely new battery to replace alkaline and lithium ion. Looks like he just about has it.

It’s amazing how people can embark on entirely new careers at 50 or 60, or even 70.

It’s not too late to get started.

Posted in Attitude, Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Sometimes You Get What You Need

April 17, 2017

You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you might find
You get what you need — The Rolling Stones

The child uses the persuasive and time-honored technique of screaming to get a candy. Mommy buys fruit.

Followers ask their leader if he is finally going to do what they expect. He says no, but he’ll give them something he thinks is better.

Jesus’ followers, talking with him after his resurrection, ask, Well, now that you pulled off this coming back to life thing after suffering a cruel death, are you going to finally put on the king’s robes, grab a sword, and drive the Romans out of Israel. In so doing, are you going to re-establish the line of legitimate kings and also restore the Temple to the glory it knew under Solomon as the dwelling place of God? (see Acts 1:6)

Jesus said, No.

But, I’ll give you something better. You will get the power of the Holy Spirit from God and then you will go around telling people about me–what I did, how I changed your lives, and what I offer to other people. (apologies to Acts 1:7-8)

As Christ-followers, we are living in a post-Easter world.

Maybe we should get over the childish tantrums of arguing over which theology is more correct–even (throughout history) raising armies and fighting to the death among ourselves to prove whose theology is the best, and actually do what Jesus said and accept his gift.

Come Holy Spirit, enter the hearts of your faithful goes the old prayer.

And we’ll tell people about the power that came over us. Not the power to argue a point. The power of living a full and free life. With-God.

Posted in Christianity, Disciplines, Witness | Leave a Comment »

Remember Me and Do This

April 14, 2017

Remember is one of God’s favorite words. We discover it often in the Bible.

Maybe that’s because his people forgot him so often? It seems to me that the Old Testament is as much about the Jewish nation forgetting as it is about remembering.

Do you think Jesus was worried that his disciples would forget him? Ten years later, “Jesus? Oh yeah, that guy. Forgot all about him. Wasn’t he killed or something?”

He gave them just a simple act, like a memory trigger, whenever you eat bread and drink wine remember me. That would be like, what, at least one time a day? Maybe more.

It is amazing how humans have taken that simple act and run with it.

Some have a highly mystical experience officiated only by guys who have had a special blessing by their church to perform the mystical rites. [I’m not knocking it. I like “high church”.]

Some are more plain in reaction to the high pomp and circumstance.

Some say only our people can eat with us.

Some say anyone who comes in can eat with us, trusting each individual to decide for himself or herself if they are of the right heart.

Jesus, as we remember, gave the simple meal to all his friends. One who would betray him. Some who would deny ever knowing him. Some who just hid. There was no litmus test for who shared the bread and wine with him.

The thing is, we haven’t forgotten him. In the whole world, he is remembered.

But we always live on the edge of forgetting, don’t we? It’s so easy. Something comes up in life and we forget all about him. Or act as if he had never come. Denial, desertion, forgetting. They are companions waiting to take us in.

But we remember.

Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Cultivate The Need for Prayer and Reflection

April 13, 2017

The Archbishop once told me that people often think he needs time to pray and reflect because he is a religious leader. He said those who must live in the marketplace—business-people, professionals, and workers—need it even more. From The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World (Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa)

There are people we hold in high regard because of their position or their calling. We attribute to them qualities that are often beyond human possibility.

The Governor of the state of Alabama (fervent Religious Right Christian, I guess) just resigned after a moral failure became public. America’s leading morality policeman (I am told, I know nothing about him and have never seen his TV show) if facing the end of a career and lucrative speaking and book fees after moral failures became public.

We think of preachers and priests as spiritual beings, praying and meditating all day. But then think of clergy, some famous, some not so, who have fallen quite publicly when their human failings were revealed.

Business people and professionals face ethical choices daily. Should the engineer point out dangerous design flaws? Should the business owner dump chemicals out back by the creek rather than dispose of properly? Should the executive take advantage of people under his power–perhaps sexually or by threatening their livelihood?

The temptations are many and insidious.

Only through constant prayer and reflection can we maintain our focus and moral equilibrium.

Posted in Disciplines, Ethics, Prayer | Leave a Comment »

Just A Step At A Time

April 12, 2017

Psychologists seem to be mostly trained under the influence of behaviorism. Originally it was called the science of the soul.

I think about that when I contemplate dreams. They say it’s just random neurons firing over night.

Perhaps they are a way of working things out. It depends on what you’re thinking about all day and as you go to sleep.

That is why political leaders, in the Bible for instance, had dreams that impacted the country. That is where their attention is all day and their concerns all night.

I have a long To Do list. Many things that need to get done before leaving for Germany in a little over a week. And Easter is in the middle.

Last night I had a typical dream from these periods of my life. I’m running toward a goal, but my feed seem stuck to the ground. Then I just put my head down and concentrated on one step at a time. Next thing I knew I had passed the finish line long ago.

Such is discipline. Focus on one thing at a time and you will accomplish much.

Posted in Disciplines, focus | 2 Comments »

You Get It, You Give It Away

April 11, 2017

In the world of Website design and business, the best model is the Google model. You go to Google, and it sends you away. Yet, you return. Only to be sent away again. And they make a profit. A large profit.

Have you heard of the two “seas” in Israel? There is the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Guess which one gets water in and then sends it on its way.

Right. The Sea of Galilee is fed by mountain streams. Then it send water southward via the Jordan River to the Dead Sea. Where it stops. The Dead Sea is in one of the lowest places on Earth. Everything goes in. Nothing goes out.

The Sea of Galilee is a vibrant place for water sports and fishing. I’ve eaten fish along the shore. Great place.

The Dead Sea supports no life. It is so mineral dense that you cannot sink if you go in. You float.

The Dead Sea is shrinking. All the water from the Jordan flows in, and nothing goes out, yet it is shrinking.

These stories are just like us. If everything is about me, if everything comes in to me, and nothing goes out, well I shrink. Emotionally, spiritually.

Thinking first of others before ourselves actually increases our own happiness. Teenagers who serve, whether they want to or not, live better lives, suffer less depression, and are more prone to be servers throughout their lives.

You’ll never deplete your supply of love by giving it away. Hoard it to yourself, and it will shrivel and die.

Posted in Disciplines, Love, Service | Leave a Comment »

Teach Your Children Well

April 10, 2017

Teach your children well. –Graham Nash

If you’re like me, you can’t hear those words without the famous steel guitar intro by Jerry Garcia.

What started this line of thought was a comment by the Dalai Lama in The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World. “The problem is that our world and our education remain focused exclusively on external, materialistic values. We are not concerned enough with our inner values.”

I remember being adolescent. Of course, I got over that disease much earlier than today’s younger people. It seems to linger into the 30s anymore. But any thought of values meant conservative things designed to prevent fun. I remember students in the education departments who did not want to be role models, only instructors of their subject matter.

So, teachers no longer model good behaviour. They often dress like slobs or like the “women of Wal-Mart” videos.

I’m not so sure that churches in America are all that often modeling and teaching inner values. Everything these days seems to be political–here’s my political belief system, memorize it and you will be saved.

The Book of Joy is a conversation between two of the world’s greatest spiritual leaders held about two years ago. There was the Buddhist, the Dalai Lama, and the Christian, Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

There is much to learn from these two men. Each has suffered greatly at the hands of people. Yet, each emanates a deep spiritual calmness. And the ability to laugh.

We often mistake the source of joy and happiness. Later, the Dalai Lama said, “Most people never pay much attention to the ultimate source of a happy life, which is inside, not outside. Even the source of physical health is inside, not outside.”

It is time to pause, look inside, find that spiritual core that connects to God. We sometimes call that mindfulness. Being intentional, aware, senses sharpened, awaiting the whisper of God.

And then pass it on.

Posted in Awareness, Disciplines, Meditation | Leave a Comment »

What Leadership Means

April 7, 2017

Fridays are often leadership day here at Faith Venture. This week I ran across an essay by Sally Blount, Dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

She was approached by people with differing views on education and leadership. After researching and thinking, she concluded:

When used properly, at least in educational contexts, the word leadership now refers to high character, and the people who are leaders are those who think and act intentionally on behalf of the organizations and communities in which they live and work. They commit to using their lives to engage beyond the self, to engage in the call to human progress, by building up and strengthening the quality of human work and human organizations, rather than tearing them down.

That is a good description of what ought to be. And certainly leaders can be everywhere at any rank or position. It’s like I once quipped to a manager who thought he should be respected solely for his position–you’re respected for who you are not what position you hold.

But Blount looks at the “leadership” in Washington, on Wall Street, and other highly visible places and is disturbed by what she sees.

So, while the word leadership may be overused today, we are still not seeing nearly enough of what it stands for. In my mind, excellence in character shouldn’t be optional for those fortunate enough to be selected or elected to lead from the top. And if we believe in the power of human progress, somebody has to model true leadership—that is, leadership in rank and in character—for the next generation.

She is right to look at our national leadership (broadly speaking) and cringe. But we permit it.

I think leadership examples for the next generations begins with each of us. Lead where you are. In her terms, exhibit character where you are. We don’t need only one model in Washington or in business; we need a hundred million models in every walk of life. Beginning here. Beginning with us.

Posted in Disciplines, Leadership | Leave a Comment »

Faith Venture