Faith Venture

Worship is a Spiritual Discipline. Calling it such implies that somewhere in there is an act that you do, not something that happens to you. I’ve written about people who keep trying different churches (maybe an American thing?) seeking “to be fed.”

Do you go to worship and sit back and expect to be entertained? Or do you put some effort into it?

Let me use an analogy. When I go to a concert, I don’t sit back and get overwhelmed by the overall music. I listen to the whole and all the parts. Listen for the sections of the orchestra that have a “moving” part, that is, where that section leads toward the next chord. At the same time you can hear the entire piece and how the composer has used each section to build the work and how each individual is performing.

That is active listening. I am in the midst of all the creativity, absorbing the entire piece and reflecting on it.

When I listen to people, I concentrate on the person. I hear what she says and how she says it and what she means and where the conversation is going logically so that I can ask the next question. The American writer Ernest Hemingway said, “When you listen, listen completely. Most people don’t listen.” Or as the American philosopher, well, baseball player and coach, Yogi Berra once remarked, “You can hear a lot just by listening.” You can do the same as you develop the discipline of worship.

In your mind, participate in the service. Sing the songs. Be present. It’s not all about you. It’s all about you worshipping God.

Albert Einstein famously once said to make every explanation as simple as possible, but not simpler. Goes along with combining the Discipline of Simplicity with the Discipline of Study. People just love to make simple things complex. I see it where I work all the time. I’m on a committee that sets referee development policies for soccer referees in Ohio. Same thing. There are people who just want to make everything rule-bound and complex.

I was listening to a small group leader last weekend introduce Paul’s letter to the Romans and said it was Paul at his convoluted best. Hard to figure out what he’s saying. Wait a minute! Is this the same letter that, in its simplicity, deeply influenced Augustine, Luther, Wesley, Barth and others? It completely changed the face of Christianity–at least twice.

Humans seem to love rules. It divides people into those who follow the rules and those who don’t. That way comparisons as to whom is good or not can be made.

The last part of the first chapter is exquisite preaching. As you can tell from what follows, it sets the stage. Paul didn’t mean for us to parse through the list of wrong doing, pounce on one (say homosexuality), and then say “There it is. I was right. Paul hates those people I hate. I’m good; they are bad.”

No, Paul wanted us to read through that list and say to ourselves, “Oh my God. I have behaviors and attitudes and feelings that build up a wall between God and me. I am full of sin. What can I do to become right with God?”

We know from the context of the entire letter, that is what he expected and wanted. We know because he answers that last question. Hint: nothing. It’s God’s grace 😉 Or, as he goes on to say, leave the judging to God.

Regarding my practical life, I am a disciple of David Allen’s way called Getting Things Done named after the title of his first book. He describes how to reduce the stress of holding too many things in your head and not knowing what to do next.

In his second book, “Ready for Anything,” he quotes a writer, J. Krishnamurti, who said, “Discipline does not mean suppression and control, nor is it adjustment to a pattern or ideology. It means the mind sees ‘what is’ and learns from ‘what is’.”

I thought this fit very well with the discussion of our small group around the discipline of study. Just last Sunday in another small group I witnessed how people can read an entire chapter of a book and lock on to one idea that reinforced a prejudice they brought to the study. Rather than seeing ‘what is’ and learning from it, many of the people bent the words to fit what they already “knew.”

When you study, approach the text with a receptive mind. But also a questioning one. What did the writer mean? What is the context–historical, social, philosophical? What were the writers contemporaries saying? How does this fit with other things that writer has published?

Dr. Henry Cloud, in his latest book “Necessary Endings,” describes the wise person as one who sees reality and adjusts to fit it and the fool as one who bends reality to fit what he already believes. I think in study we need to practice that discipline of seeing what is and learning from it. Always approach spiritual writings ready to be surprised and having your view of reality shaken. That’s what the Spirit does to us.

We were discussing the spiritual discipline of simplicity this week in a small group. You might think of simplicity as just throwing out a bunch of stuff over-crowding your living space. And that could be one manifestation. But simplicity begins with the mind and the spirit.

While meditating on this, I came across this thought from Lee Segall, “It is possible to own too much. A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure.”

Too much stuff clutters  your mind and you’re never quite sure where you are. Perhaps it pops out in your life as the need to talk too much–to justify your meaning. Jesus told us to simplify your speech in order to become more trustworthy. He said to let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no. Don’t overcomplicate your life and your speech.

An uncluttered workspace allows you to focus on what is the task at hand. An uncluttered living space soothes the mind. An uncluttered mind allows you to relax and think about what’s important. An uncluttered soul is full of peace and joy and is a blessing to others.

I’m starting another study of Romans. I haven’t spent time in the letter for many years. It is a guide to spiritual formation.

Socrates famously said, “Know thyself.” Paul begins his letter to the Romans (after the greetings and his bio) with a list of all the bad things that humans are capable of–and in fact do. I think every writing I’ve read by people who have seriously taken the spiritual formation journey have experienced somewhere early on the fact that they are capable of much sin.

The same happened to me years ago. And the images still live. I was deep in meditation and suddenly before me was every type of sin (well, almost all I suppose). And I was convicted of sins I’d done, sins I’d thought, sins that I was capable of committing. It wasn’t until then that God became the most real to me.

Paul must have written Romans out of a similar experience. First he became aware of the immensity of sin and how it separates one from God. Then he began the journey to God which led to the Damascus Road experience with Jesus.

As long as we deny that we do things that are selfish, indulgent, hurtful, we will never clear the path to recognizing God. When I finally got around to reading the Desert Fathers–those weird guys who escaped to the deserts of Egypt and Syria in the first couple of hundred years after Jesus–I expected tips on spiritual insight. What I found was a guide to how to overcome layer after layer of sin that separated them from God.

By the way, I sort of dislike the word “sin.” It is perhaps overused and can become “church speak” that might lose its power over people. I have not come up with a better word that will drive home the fact that there are things you do, thoughts you dwell on that separate you from being free to live in the Spirit.

In my other “life” of process control in manufacturing, there is a phrase you can’t control it if you don’t measure it. Well, in spiritual life, if you don’t recognize the things that separate you from God, then you will not have true communion with God. You’ll be like Adam, who knew God, but he didn’t live with Him.

Jesus gave some advice about keeping your integrity and living simply. He said to not swear oaths with many words, but to, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no.”

Just now I am studying deeply the Disciplines of Simplicity and Solitude (or Silence) from Richard Foster’s book, “The Celebration of Discipline.” These Disciplines seem to go together quite nicely. You go into solitude and silence to discover what God wants you to say and do, and them you act simply without fanfare and self-centeredness.

As I contemplate upon these, I grabbed some time from my travels this week to check the headlines. We’re in an intense political season, and this week is a big one what with President Obama giving his State of the Union address and the Republicans lining up to blast it (even before they heard it). In checking Tuesday’s headlines, I saw some congresspeople spouting off many words that were actually contradicted by other news headlines about the economy on the same front page of the newspaper.

And I thought, how can all these people get up and say what they say with a straight face? No wonder the American people by and large long for a leader who speaks simply, with force and depth. One who isn’t merely trying to score debate points or make himself or herself (although there are a noticeable lack of females in this election cycle) look better than they are.

I sincerely hope I don’t come across that way. Or that you do. Live simply. Say what needs to be said–no more. Speak from the fruits of your solitude as you seek God’s guidance.

I’m just glad I chose a different career path than that of politician.

Anticipation. What does it mean to anticipate the coming of the Messiah–of Jesus? We know that it means expectation of some future event. But the word actually means more than that. To anticipate further means to live today and make decisions today based on the high probability or belief that something will happen in the future. It’s like when I’m about to undertake a home improvement project, I look ahead and anticipate that I’ll need a certain set of tools. I go to my toolbox in the garage and gather all the tools that I anticipate that I’ll need.

Yesterday I pondered the tension of living in the present while anticipating the future. I wondered how you get yourself into the proper mood of focusing on Jesus–wondering if it’s easier to anticipate the coming of Santa. Today I’m diving deeper into the word.

Advent merely reminds us that we should live in anticipation of Jesus’ coming. This should really be our lifestyle year ’round. We place special emphasis at this time of year, partly because we need a “feast day” or time of celebration in our corporate worship life to remember and celebrate Jesus’ coming. Corporate celebration is actually one of the classic spiritual disciplines.

Back to anticipate. We live in anticipation of Jesus breaking through into our lives and our world by ordering our life believing it will happen. I decide today to pray where I haven’t. I decide today to serve someone in Jesus’ name in anticipation of Jesus’ coming. I celebrate today that Jesus came.

I mentioned “mood” in the beginning of this meditation. In reality, it’s not an emotion, it’s an action. There is an old praise song that says, “Love is something you do.” That is the meaning of anticipate. Advent reminds us to live in anticipation, that is, to live as though Jesus were coming to live with us this month. It’s something we do, not something we feel.

Henry Cloud was the speaker today on my iPod during the morning workout. He is a prolific author, fantastic speaker and very deep spiritually. His new book, Necessary Endings, discusses signals and times when you need to call an end to something (relationship, job, career, and so on). Although today he talked about recognizing when it doesn’t have to end.

One thing he discussed which really stuck is the need for structure in your life. My daughter is a therapist who works with troubled adolescents. One thing that is constant in her clients is that they grew up in a family without structure. Even if there were a “traditional” mom and dad, their lives were not structured. My wife taught elementary school. The biggest change she saw over the years (aside from lack of parental support) was the lack of structure in her students’ lives.

By this I mean no regular meal times, no regular study times, no regular bed times. We all need to organize our lives so that we don’t have to think about these things and then we are free to concentrate on our work, our relationships, our hobbies, on God.

If you stop by regularly or subscribe, you’ll notice that I am absolutely terrible about posting regularly. This is partly due to the fact that I travel a lot. When I travel, my life has little structure. I may have breakfast meetings, then meetings all day, then dinner with customers, then return to my hotel room late facing an email inbox of 300 messages to sort through.

That sure sounds like an excuse…a poor one. And you’d be correct calling me on that. One reason I’m preparing to teach a course on spiritual disciplines is that I need to remind myself to continually work to develop them.

Where do you need to put some structure in your life so that you then have freedom to get closer to God and to others? Must be time for us all to get to work.

Are you totally self-sufficient? Does all of your success come because of you–your intelligence, your work, and so on? We live in an age that glorifies the strength of an individual.

Charles Darwin studied evolution. One day he hit on an idea that seemed to explain observations of nature that he and others had noticed He called it “survival of the fittest.” Within 10 years, social theorists picked up on this thought and translated it into human experience. This was “liberalism” in the 1880s, now it is “conservative” in our day in the US. I know many people who attribute their relative success in life (at least financially and socially) to being “fit.” Poor people? They just aren’t fit. See, it’s all about me.

Today, we still live in the shadow of those ideas. We celebrate strong, self-sufficient, wealthy people.

We’re not unique. King David had it all. He was “fit.” He was King. He commanded and people moved. As I discussed yesterday, he commanded that a woman be brought to him and that act started a chain of evil acts.

In Psalm 51 where David pours out his heart after realizing how bad he had become, he writes, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit.”

Our society hates that image. Had I started this meditation with that thought, many would have skipped it. And they would have because they misunderstand strength. Only when you come to the realization that on your own you have too many weaknesses–often that bury themselves and surface as supposed strengths–will you be “fit”. To realize your weaknesses and the things you do that are wrong is really a sign of strength.

Only when you see “there but for the grace of God, go I” rather than praying like the Pharisees “Thank you God that I am not a miserable sinner like them” will you be able to tap into the greatest strength in the universe–God.

Here’s a different type of post for this blog. It’s not explicitly spiritual. Doug Kaye is a “geek.” I’ve read some of his books on computer programming. He is the founder of a podcast network related mostly to IT topics–computers, engineering, science. But he was present at one of the more important events of current history–the overthrow of the entrenched, authoritarian ruler in Egypt.

This podcast (best downloaded to your iPod or other mp3 player, but you can listen over your computer) is his story of a trip to Egypt on a typical vacation tour (I’ve done that, as have many of you). Except he just happened to be there when the protests began. It’s a fascinating story.

What is happening in the Middle East these past few weeks is analogous to the United States in the mid-1770s. A combination of wanting some self-determination, economic freedom, a better life and religious freedom. Doug Kaye’s first-person account is first of all a good story told well and second a look into another people’s struggle.

Or, click here and listen:

Doug Kaye On Egypt