Archive for the ‘Spirituality’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

When you are stressed

July 16, 2010

How do you react when you’re stressed? I tend to get snippy with people. Some people probably withdraw. Some react with anger. Did you ever think of it? The first step to controlling yourself is learning how you react in situations. Next you learn to watch yourself and see when you are doing it.

Jesus had to be stressed. His ministry had finally brought him to Jerusalem. He knew that ahead of him were confrontations with religious authorities, trials and death. As a youth, he had been trained by these authorities. Somewhere along the way as a young man, he saw God’s true wishes. He came to oppose the religious establishment.

At any rate, he had made his first entry into Jerusalem and checked things out. Then he was going to a small town outside the city for the night. He saw a fig tree in leaf. It shouldn’t have been–it wasn’t fig season. Who knows. Maybe he felt a sudden hunger for figs and maybe thought that God had provided. Whatever, he saw the tree and went over to it. But it had no fruit. He was stressed, now he was disappointed. He reacted probably like we would have. He cursed the tree–“may you never bear fruit.”

The next day on the way back to Jerusalem, his companions noticed that that fig tree was dying. They pointed it out to Jesus. He always used incidents as teaching opportunities. So, he didn’t explain why he did it. He just said that we, too, could do things if we pray. We could cause mountains to move if we should but pray to God.

Then there is an added paragraph. Seems like a non sequitur. First forgive others, then seek forgiveness, then with a clear conscience you can pray.

Seems like a long explanation from being stressed. But recognizing your situation, clearing your conscience so you have nothing between you and God, then going into conversation with God takes you into a new state of being. You overcome the stress–or whatever else in concerning you–and you can re-establish your direct link to God and find peace.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Christianity, Living, Spirituality | 1 Comment »

Overcoming Distraction

July 13, 2010

This could probably be the topic of a book. Maybe I’ll do it. But I wrote yesterday about how people get worried and distracted by many things. Jesus said, focus on the one thing.

Today this quote was sent to me:

Constant attention wears the active mind,

Blots out our pow’rs, and leaves a blank behind.”

— Charles Churchill: 18th century English poet

Sometimes, we need to just “chill.” Did you ever just sit on the patio and take in the beauty of a garden? Watch the birds? Let your mind drift to nothing?

Or, do you have your TV on constantly tuned either to Fox or MSNBC? Or even other channels? Especially the first two are designed to manipulate you into an emotional frenzy. They want to keep your attention permanently on the screen so that they can serve up more ads.

Take care what you put in your mind. Take care that you have intellectual control of your emotions and spiritual control of your intellect. I have tuned ALL TV news out of my awareness. I am so much more at peace. Focus on Jesus instead. That is far healthier.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Christianity, Living, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Worried and distracted by many things

July 12, 2010

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.”

These words of Jesus to Martha were meant to change her attitude–that is, the relationship of her life with the direction it should be headed, much like the attitude of an aircraft is its relationship to the direction of travel. She needed first to achieve calm. Unless you can put worry behind you, you will never be able to focus on the “one thing.” Worry has the power to change your attitude. Likewise, distraction–the opposite of focus. Just as almost everything you worry about is beyond your control, so is much distraction. We think about this or that. We think about things we need to do. We think about things other people should or need to do.

The foundation to my spiritual and intellectual growth was built from the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 60s. While I still maintain the values of equal rights and peace, I never really was a “True Believer” as the philosopher Eric Hoffer might say. The single-minded fanaticism of many of my contemporaries seemed to me to come at a loss of perspective of spiritual life. Therefore, many hated the “Serenity Prayer” attributed to theologian Reinhold Niebuhr which asks God to grant the serenity to know that some things can’t be changed. This is a continual problem with some people–exacerbated, I might add, by the way “news” is presented on TV–where they are “worried and distracted by many things.”

There is only one thing–God. What matters is your relationship with Him. You cannot worry about other people, or tell other people what to do (well, you can, but what good does it ever do?). You can witness about how your life with God has brought you the fruits of the spirit.

Are you focused on the “one thing?” Or are you worried and distracted?

Tags:, ,
Posted in Christianity, Living, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Roadblocks on the way to Life

June 29, 2010

A wealthy man approaches Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asks if he has kept the laws. “Yes, ever since I was a child,” replies the man. The man here acknowledges that following the law (see all my previous posts about rule-following) does not give him assurance of eternal life.  Jesus sees that. He loves him.

So what is the roadblock in the way of the man from the assurance of Life? Jesus sees the symptoms. This man cannot live a life with God because his wealth occupies too great a part of his life. He needs to focus first on God. Remember Jesus’ two “commandments.” First love God, then love other humans. It’s very simple, but very hard to do. For this man, there was a roadblock to living with God. He needed to put God first, his wealth second. He could not do that.

This passage is often rationalized these days. We in the West are wealthy beyond the dreams of ancient (and not so ancient) people. We know from other stories in the Bible that mere wealth is not the stumbling block. But having wealth–many things, money, possessions–can occupy too much of our time and attention. We need to remember where our attention needs to be.

Now, I’m preaching in that last paragraph. But, I’m a very busy person. I’m trying to build a business. Traveling much (today, it’s Dallas, last week Detroit, before that Phoenix, before that Los Angeles…). When I have much to do, it’s hard to remember my time with God at the beginning of the day. I’m sure that it’s similar for many. We have much to do, livings to earn, money to invest, shopping for more things to do. And so on. The real question is how do we make an appointment for ourselves to be quiet, alone with God, focus on eternal things?

This man? He couldn’t. He went away sad. Outsiders would think he’s perfect from the way he lives his life. But inside, he just can’t open a space to live with God. How about me? How about you?

Tags:, ,
Posted in Christianity, Living, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Where to focus

June 21, 2010

I used to have to pass running tests to maintain my grades and certifications as a soccer referee. First you ran a distance within a certain time limit, then you ran sprints. It sort of simulated how well you could run at the end of a match. Since I really don’t like distance running (even the short 1.5 miles of the standard test), I think about how to do the run. Every morning when I face the 3.5 miles at the park, I can’t think about the end. I have to think about one step at a time. Otherwise I wear myself out. Sprints, on the other hand, especially the shorter 40 or 50 meter ones, entail focus on the finish line. I just start as quickly as possible and try to keep going faster until the end. 200 meters is about where I can see the goal but emphasize the stride.

Putting this is the context of patience (and perhaps adding perseverance–the ability to keep going even when you’re tired), sometimes life is like the distance run. You know there is a goal ahead, but you need to focus on a day at a time. The Buddhists have a phrase, “Wherever I go, there I am.” Jesus also said to not be worried about the past or the future. Just live in the moment. And be there in the moment.

Jesus tried to teach us–don’t be burdened down worrying about all the rules of the Pharisees (and the modern pharisees who surround us). Just live each moment in the Spirit. You’ll know what to do. Things will be taken care of. The things of the future you worry about don’t happen. Or, if they do, they are not what you were afraid of. That’s because you just live in the moment with God in you and leading you. And that’s all you need.

Just take one step at a time in the direction of your goal.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Christianity, Living, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Spiritual Experiences

June 3, 2010

Do you know someone who must fill every silence with words? Someone who just can’t let two or more people experience something or just sit together without adding sound? My mother-in-law was that way–charming, but just had to have conversation. Plus, you never knew what she might say. Sometimes she could be surprising.

Poor Peter was that way. He was the one who said something memorable at each new experience as they were all puzzling out what was happening to them. Mark puts three straight of these experiences together. He probably knew exactly what he was doing. First we had the group at that den of paganism–Caesarea Phillipi–where Peter proclaims Jesus as the Messiah. Next when Jesus talks about the Messiah suffering and dying, Peter blurts, “Say it isn’t so.”

In the teaching after Peter’s comment, Jesus concludes by saying that some people in the audience will not die before seeing the Son of Man in his glory. The next story (another of Mark’s “immediately” transitions) describes a high spiritual experience of Jesus, James, John and Peter. We call it the story of the transfiguration–where Jesus glowed in the Spirit and the three disciples saw him with Elijah and Moses. And God told then that Jesus was His son. There’s a lot of theology here–the meaning of putting Jesus in the same line, and perhaps the fulfillment of, the two greatest prophets–and the disciples knew it. So Peter fills the awesome silence with the first thing that pops into his head–we should build a monument. That’s what people historically did. He wasn’t out of line. Perhaps thinking too short-term because he didn’t know the outcome of the story, yet. There was a greater monument coming.

When you read the story, what is your reaction? Have you ever had a spiritual experience? Or, do you think they are bogus? Some academic disciplines teach that there is no such thing as a universal spirit and that such experiences are delusional. Or just random neurons firing in the brain. Others are just the beneficiaries of a few centuries of rational, scientific thought–sometimes unknowing. They are suspicious of spiritual experiences lumping them in with overly emotional responses.

In the major debate of the 19th Century, German philosophers decided to explain the forces that have driven human history. Hegel said that it was the movement of the Spirit. Marx said Hegel had it all wrong. It was physical forces, especially economics, that was the  foundation of human history. Most people, including many Christians, seem to be unwitting Marxists. Not in the communist sense, but in the sense that they think what’s real is what they can see. They can read the words of the Bible and say they agree they’re true. But they are suspicious of the existence of a God, through His Spirit, working directly in history and in individuals.

I discover this when I sometimes teach on this subject. But as the psychologist Carl Jung said when asked after his long journey into the psyche whether he believed in God, “Believe? No. I know.”

Just so, these three disciples had a spiritual experience that is like your summer camp campfire experience exponentially heightened. It was so memorable, that’s why it was recorded. And if you spend quiet time with Jesus, you too can have spiritual experiences. They don’t come often, and they aren’t always that high. They’re real nonetheless. Bill Hybels, senior pastor of the Willow Creek Community Church, calls many of these experiences “whispers.” Watch for a book coming soon from him about God’s Whispers. From the descriptions and stories he’s shared so far about the book, I think it will help take some of the fear or misunderstanding out of these experiences.

Posted in Christianity, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Who is Jesus

May 28, 2010

Some guy who grew up in the neighborhood and went off to college returns and sets up a little business teaching people how to live. They call him teacher. Plus he does some pretty amazing party tricks. He gathers a small group of loyal groupies who follow him around to learn more from him. Then one day he stops just outside a hall of fame memorial and asks his group, “Who am I?” Hmm. Was that a trick question?

The biographers of Jesus, as we read in the Bible, never tell us where Jesus studied. Did he have a master with whom he studied? Did he travel far (as is taught in India that he went there to learn from spiritual masters)? We don’t know. He just showed up one day obviously having studied the community’s scriptures better and more deeply than anyone before (or since). And he started teaching to anyone who would listen. He assembled a core group of students obviously meant to get trained to carry on after him. His works were more than just pretty amazing. So he’s a man living openly, yet a man of mystery.

One day outside the Temple of Pan in the region of Cesarea Phillipi with all its pagan deities represented, he asks his students, “Who am I?” They struggle with the answer. Finally Peter blurts out, “You are the Messiah.” That is, he’s the long-awaited leader of the Hebrew nation. The saviour who will lead the nation back to political prominence. Peter says that, but he obviously didn’t have a clue as to what he meant. It just sounded right at the time.

Who is Jesus is the question we still struggle with. Pope Benedict (while he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) wrote a book attempting to answer the question. He harkens back to Moses (the greatest prophet, who also spoke directly with God) who said another prophet is coming who will be greater than I.

I’m not going to answer the question in a 500 word essay. But I do know that when I’m meditating I forget to focus on this question. Answering this question within my life will help me focus my life–I know from past experience and in anticipation of future experiences. That’s why I love to study the gospels. Forget about Paul’s theological arguments. Just focus on who is Jesus.

Posted in Christianity, Living, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Breaking the flow of thought

May 24, 2010

Have you ever had your thoughts flowing in a direction and someone comes along with a comment that seems to fit–but it doesn’t? It breaks the flow and makes you wonder–or ponder. In my profession as editor of a technical magazine, I practice this often. People come in with a PowerPoint presentation of 50 slides or so, where 45 slides are preamble designed to impress me with the speaker’s knowledge of the industry and technology–stuff I already know. I’m impatient for them to get to the important stuff. I ask a question that points to the heart of the matter. Almost always, they’ll say something like “I’ll get to that, I have to build up to it.” In other words, they have to stay within the script that they’ve already planned.

Well, Jesus’ closest friends also had that problem. Mark (Chapter 8) writes about a time when they were apart from the crowds. Jesus had just fed 4,000 people with physical bread along with the spiritual bread he always distributed. This time, though, someone forgot the bread. And they were getting hungry. Boy, a piece of bread and some hummus would really go well right now. Who forgot to pick up the bread? What are we going to do without bread?

Then Jesus says, “Beware the yeast of Herod and the yeast of the Pharisees.” Broke their chain of thought. Caught them off guard. They’re thinking bread. Yeast goes in bread. He must be talking about bread.

We do that often when we read The Bible. We’re thinking at one level. God’s at another. We forget to stop and read with spiritual eyes. When you read Jesus’ interpretations of his sayings, he always goes directly to a spiritual explanation. But spiritual doesn’t mean “otherworldly.” It means how do you live your life with God.

So, yeast? It’s something that permeates the dough. It completely changes the character of the dough. Yes, it’s about bread–except it isn’t. The yeast of Herod? That is the part of human nature that wants power. You want to be in charge. Boss people around. It’s all about me, and “me” manipulating others to perform my will. The yeast of the Pharisees? That’s all about the human nature to want lists of rules to follow. I make the rules. I interpret the rules. I make others follow the rules–or at least judge them by how well they follow the rules. These are both attitudes that interfere with living with God–another way of saying living in the Spirit.

It took Jesus’ friends a couple of years to learn these messages. Actually, they really grew up when he wasn’t there physically to be the teacher and they had to become the teachers. Have you learned, yet? It’s really a life-long process.

Posted in Christianity, Living, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Wash Your Hands Before Eating

May 14, 2010

Don’t know if they were in a hurry. Maybe just lazy. Or sloppy like a kid–but they weren’t kids. But they didn’t wash their hands before dinner. Mom always told you to do that. It’s a health thing. Your hands get dirty and can spread germs from somewhere to the food you eat and make you sick. We know you should wash up before eating.

First century Jews, however, had turned hygiene into a religious rite. Not that it’s bad to pray thanks to God for your food. But they had developed a set of rules about washing up before eating. You don’t just wash, you have to do it the prescribed way. It was a ritual, not hygiene.

These people were with Jesus. He was supposed to be a teacher, yet hadn’t he taught these people the right way to wash their hands? That’s just plain wrong. At least, it’s wrong in the eyes of the “teacher’s pets, rule follower” groups watching Jesus for every misstep. It’s like watching the grammarian to catch each error of grammar. So they made a big stink about it.

But Jesus didn’t reprimand his followers and instruct them in the proper procedure for hand washing. He instead used the situation for two teaching moments.

First, he asked the purpose of the rituals. Is it just about following rules? Or is it about having your heart in the right place. Do you wash your hands in remembrance of God, to honor God? Or do you do it so that you won’t get yelled at?

Then he expands the teaching to all around them. The concept of washing hands is that they are “defiled” or dirty in the sight of God. And therefore the food they touch will also be dirty in the sight of God. But Jesus said that what makes you dirty in the sight of God is not what goes into your body. It’s what comes out. It’s the results of your emotions and thoughts that are dirty and not aligned with God. That’s what makes you dirty.

So, have you washed your heart today?

Posted in Living, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Listen up to learn

April 5, 2010

Have you ever tried to explain something to someone, maybe give some instruction on how to do something? Have you ever seen the look in their eyes of detachment? Or have you had the experience of talking with (not to, but with) someone whose eyes are fastened on you and you can tell that they are listening to what you have to say? Isn’t that a great experience when it happens?

Jesus begins the first parable (story) reported in Mark by saying , “Listen.” He knew that many people would hear sounds and occasional words, but that they would not hear and attempt to understand the message. In fact, he quotes his Hebrew Scriptures that says that very thing.

Listening isn’t an art. It’s not necessarily a gift. It’s something we can all learn. Some are just better at it. It takes practice. The first step is to step outside of yourself–your worries, concerns, how you’ll respond to the words, what you’ll say next. Then focus attention on the other. That is the key. Attention. Life is about where you place your attention. When you are in conversation with another, or in a learning experience with another, place your attention there. Completely. Then you can absorb what they are saying. Response comes later.

Many times, I’ve left a sales call with a salesperson from my company and marveled that the salesperson didn’t hear what the customer said. He was too busy talking. Many times I’ve heard husbands talk about how they wanted to solve their wife’s problems while she was talking to them. I simply say, she didn’t want a solution. She wanted you to listen to her. Listening with your complete attention. Same with God. If you don’t place your attention on God, how will you hear and understand your call?

Listen.

Posted in Living, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »