Faith Venture

Imagine a community of people. A church, a neighborhood, a town, a society.

Imagine incorporating a teaching from James (the brother of Jesus found in 4:11 of his general letter)–

Do not speak evil against one another.

We fall into morning routines whether intentionally or not.

We can waken to an alarm, rush around, grab a breakfast bar to eat in the car, and hurry out to work.

We can train ourselves to rise without an alarm early enough so as to avoid rushing. Read something inspirational. Meditate. Eat something healthy. Be ready for the day.

People who have asked a wide variety of people about their morning routines find that successful people have definite, intentional routines. Curiously, for the most part executives rise early and exercise and prepare for the day. Creative types, for example writers, rise early and write then exercise a little later.

I have a routine for when I’m home and one for when I travel. The difference is that when I travel I need to fit into the rhythm of the conference or host or vacation or whatever.

I never use an alarm (exception, catching an early flight or have an early meeting following a late night). Make coffee. Read and meditate. Do some writing. Eat a light breakfast. Exercise.

And I have a routine for exercise. These warmer days, I head to a local park to walk or run. Then the Y. Three days I do strength training. Everyday 15-30 minutes of Yoga. Then the sauna.

Twice this week, the fitness center at the Y has been crowded with someone on almost every machine. Yesterday, I looked at the possibility of standing around waiting for a machine to free up. Decided not to wait. Went up to the running track area where I do Yoga on the mats. Already out of sorts, I blew that off and went straight to the sauna.

All day I was unsettled. Couldn’t sit and focus at all until preparing for an interview late in the afternoon.

Amazing how creativity and deep work actually craves order and routine. Body, heart, mind, soul–they all need to live in harmony. Throw out one, and all of you is out of balance.

A TV series featuring detectives solving old cases (from England) shows the detectives narrowing in on the motive and people involved in killing someone. The motive they are uncovering concerns revenge for past wrongs.

People vote for a publicly immoral political candidate hoping for a morsel of moral outcome from that candidate.

These explore an ancient conundrum. Does the end justify the means?

If we put this in Biblical terms, is it OK to break God’s Law now hoping for a result that might glorify God?

Asked another way–

When I begin to do immoral things, how long before I am intentionally immoral? What happens when I am an intentional sinner (to use a church word)?

Paul the Apostle asked, “Should I sin more in order to receive more grace?” He said, “No.”

God told kings who tried that tactic he wasn’t happy because–they didn’t rely on him.

Peter drew his sword to protect Jesus on the night of the arrest. He struck and wounded one of the arresting group. Jesus told him to put away the sword and went on to heal the wounded victim. That was not the right “means”. The cross was the right “means.”

I have been amazed since I was quite small that so many people who profess great faith in God have so little confidence that God wins in the end.

In Getting Things Done methodology, one of the most important things is to determine and write the next action.

Yesterday I wrote about how posture influences how we feel. Posture can also prepare us for the next action.

We teach infielders in baseball to assume a posture with their feet ready to move quickly and their gloves toward the ground. Their next action most likely will be to field a ground ball. If they are in a posture to react quickly, their chances of success are enhanced. If it is a pop fly, they have time to react.

I use a pose called Downward Facing Dog in Yoga both as a pose in itself and as a transition from standing poses to poses on the mat, say plank. When we get to Downward Facing Dog, we know we are prepared for the next pose.

When I sit in a particular chair, I know that I’m there to meditate. At another chair or at my standing desk, I know the next action is work.

I also know that if I sit in another chair in my office that I won’t be reading. I’ll wind up taking a nap.

Charles Duhigg in his book The Power of Habit calls these “cues.” If I’m an infielder in the proper posture, it cues me to be alert for a ground ball. If I’m have my book, sitting in that chair cues me to be ready to read or at my desk to study and take notes.

Choose your posture with intention. It will determine your outcome.

Two people walk in the door at a gathering. You immediately judge one more competent than the other.

Perhaps you are feeling inadequate. Down.

Have you ever fought back the urge to walk over to an adolescent girl or young woman and physically pull her shoulders back and admonish her to stand straight?

I can’t count the number of meetings I’ve been in (it’s greater than the number of fingers on my hands) where I began the meeting sitting up straight and attentive only to discover 30-40 minutes in where I have slouched back to where my head is resting on the back of the chair. Guess where my energy went…

Want to change your attitude? Change your posture.

Stand up straight. Activate your abs. Bring your shoulders into proper alignment with your hips. Begin to feel more confident. Project strength.

Same with sitting. Although be careful analyzing people. One pastor criticized me for crossing my arms looking disinterested or judgmental. Actually, I was cold. Don’t crank the air conditioner thermostat down to 65 deg F. If you call a meeting, either keep it short or meaningful. Hopefully both. Or not at all.

Want to meditate? Find a posture that suits your physique. Repeat it. When you assume the posture, your mind knows to get in tune with the Spirit.

Want to pray? Open your hands. Not necessarily raising them, but if you like doing that, it’s OK. But the physical act of opening your hands relaxes you and opens you to hear God.

Your posture determines your attitude.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Steve Carter, Lead Teaching Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, has stumbled upon a weakness of the spiritual formation of many who would be Jesus Followers.

The third person of their trinity is not Holy Spirit. It is Holy Bible.

They read the words. Often seeking verses that sound good. Looking for people who also believe what they believe about the words.

Or, they study to the minutest detail. Reading thick books with lots of footnotes. They know more and more about less and less…until they know everything about nothing as the old joke goes about Ph.D.s.

Or, you can read books like Bob Goff’s “Everything Always” that I referenced yesterday.

A scholar can explore the various meanings of the rabbinic traditions, the Hebrew and the Greek, look at the grammar, tease out previously unwritten meanings of the second command–“And the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.” Or the injunction at the end of the beatitudes where Jesus says that the person who hears his words and does them is a wise man.

Goff is a challenge. He not only treats people well, he becomes a friend. He’s not only filled with the spirit, he spreads it around.

Spring in the US Midwest, probably in any of the temperate zones, is beautiful but frustrating.

There is high wind and driven rain. There is sunshine and flowers and flowering trees and birds singing their spring mating songs.

It looks so inviting outside; you go outside and it’s still cold.

You’re glad to put winter behind; but, it’s not summer.

Maybe why TS Eliot’s most famous line is “April is the cruelest month”, but he wrote that from England. Who knows?

People are beautiful but frustrating, too. (No, I’m not writing to you in particular!) When you expect warm, you get cool. Some days are stormy; some days are sunny.

What do you do?

You take each day as it comes. Don’t look back. Don’t look ahead. Live in the moment.

I just finished Bob Goff’s book, Everybody Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People. He tells great stories. He’s also crazy–or, like us rednecks used to say, crazy smart. Read the book and get inspired. He dealt with some pretty difficult people. Ever try talking to the head witch doctor of a country about Jesus?

That’s crazy.

My body has adapted to sleeping in four different time zones over the past two weeks. I’ve slept in Germany, Ohio, Nevada, again in Ohio, Illinois, and (last night) in Ohio.

I met many nice and intelligent people, renewed old acquaintances, saw four great baseball games (OK, they were 10 year olds, but with more joy at playing than major leaguers), saw family.

This morning I’m contemplating this post and thinking about doing business with men who go out of their way to proclaim being Christian all the while owing me money, going back on agreements, and other nefarious deeds.

Then I look out the window. The flowering trees are in full bloom. There was a rose-breasted Grosbeak in the bird feeder. A little larger than our normal visitor, startlingly contrasted white and black with the beautiful rose breast. They are not frequent visitors. A delightful greeting.

Many people say they hate Mondays. Maybe they really do. I like Mondays. Starting a new week. Wonder what good I can do this week especially after a start like this.