the church geek

1.) Christine Sine offers an excellent centering prayer.

2.) While we use a prayer of confession in our service every Sunday, I’ve not given much honest thought as to what that prayer might look like for a pastor. The Naked Pastor gets the ball rolling for me.

3.) The ancient spiritual practice of Lectio Divina is becoming popular again as a form of devotional Bible reading. Here is a guide to Lectio Divina as introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference.

4.) All I can do is say “Wow!” when it comes to this photo.

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Life’s been really busy this week, so things are behind schedule a bit and I didn’t have time or energy for a ‘meaty monday.’ But, here are a few links for you today:

1.) I’ve not looked at this thoroughly, but I really like the idea. It comes from the episcopal church and it is called “Put Your Faith to Work.” I discovered this by way of the Church Marketing Sucks website.

2.) My wife sent this link to me a long time ago, but I finally got around to checking it out. It’s a sort of a cyber-devotional site called d365. Looks like a good way to chill out and get re-centered on God.

3.) I’m always interested in making better use of electronic tools to help manage my work and productivity. Well, the smart pastor has done it again by telling us how he uses “Sandy,” his personal assistant, to keep track of what he’s doing. I’ve been meaning to explore ways to use Jott too, so hopefully when I get a free moment I’ll be thinking about ways to take the Smart Pastor’s advice.

4.) It’s not a wednesday roundup without a picture to point you towards.

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1.) Evernote looks like a pretty useful tool. Not quite sure what is the best way to use it, but at a minimum it can probably replace ‘Google Notebook’ whose idea I love but whose functionality has not been that great.

2.) Enjoyed this little vignette about Sunday Breakfast. Gives you a taste for why people are frustrated with church.

3.) The Internet Monk has spun off a new blog: Jesus Shaped Spirituality.

4.) One of my favorite photobloggers has stunned me again with this photo.

5.) In case you get these posts by RSS feed, my blog has undergone a bit of a makeover. It’s not quite perfect yet, but it’s coming together as I have time.

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Earlier this week, I spent two days with the Dominican Sisters at Sinsinawa on a personal spiritual retreat. I didn’t have a lot on my agenda except to relax, read, and pray.

One book I took along with me and subsequently spent a whole day devouring was Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton. I would highly recommend this book if you are looking for some encouragement on how to integrate various spiritual disciplines in your life. Barton’s book is winsome and engaging and by far the best book on the spiritual disciplines that I’ve encountered in a long time.

As a result of my time away and specifically in reflection on this book, here are a few reflections I’ve come away with:

1.) The intrusion of technology on my life has robbed me of significant quality time in other areas of my life. Because of an always on computer: I read less, I spend less time developing my spiritual life, and I spend less quality time in relationship with my wife. So I’ve come away realizing that I need to set limits: No computer time between 9PM and 9AM. Cull down the number of blogs I follow in my google reader. Close the laptop on the desk in my office more often. Check e-mail 2-3 times a day, not constantly. Make Sunday a sabbath day from the computer.

2.) I need to find ways to spend more time cultivating my spiritual life. There are two disciplines that Barton speaks of that seem especially appropriate for me at this time in my life. The first is the discipline of prayer, especially focusing in on the idea of breath prayer and also dedicating specific time each day I’m in the office to just sit in the sanctuary and pray. The second is the discipline of honoring the body, especially getting more serious about excercising three times a week and doing more reading/studying on the connection between the body and the spirit.

All in all it was a great retreat. Even though I initially felt guilty about spending the time away from the office and from my wife, it was time well spent and that will prove beneficial to me, to my wife, and to the church I serve. And, hopefully, I will feel less guilty about doing it again!

Now, I’m going to close the lid on this laptop and head into the sanctuary to spend a few moments in prayer before I spend the rest of my afternoon working on my sermon for Sunday.

Peace be with you.

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This week I won’t be posting a “Meaty Monday” nor a “Wednesday Roundup” Instead, assuming that the weather cooperates (we have yet another winter storm headed our way) I’ll be heading up to Sinsinawa Retreat Center for a few days away from the office for a bit of a spiritual retreat.

I don’t have much planned except to sleep, read, and pray. I am taking two books with me to guide my reflections:

The Crucifixion of Ministry by Andrew Purves

Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton (thanks Dave Winner for the great suggestion!)

I’m not sure yet what I’ll do if it looks like I can’t make the two hour drive to Dubuque tomorrow. We’ll have to punt and come up with another plan.

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At the end of the last year I asked my session to allow me the privilege of two spiritual retreat/study days a quarter away from the office. I’m more than pleased and grateful to report that they graciously and generously granted my request. So, next week Monday and Tuesday I will be heading over to the Dominican Sisters monastery/retreat center at Sinsinawa.

Perhaps later in the year I will use this time away to do some sermon planning and thinking specifically related to my current ministry within my congregation. This first time around, however, it’s my goal to simply get some rest and to spend some time seeking God in the hopes of being spiritually rejuvenated.

As I think about my two days away, I realize that I have one problem: I’ve never really done this sort of thing before. Now I know some of you out there have (or would like to!) so, how would you recommend I use my two days? What sort of books/resources should I bring?

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My church has never had a Lenten study before at least not in recent years. I’ve been pondering offering something, but I’m not quite sure what that would be. I know of a handful of folks who have been dealing with issues of forgiveness and wondered about offering an in depth course related to that, since I think studies around lent ought to be about some of the more meaty issues of our faith.

I’m wondering what have you done in the past and what has worked in your congregation?

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The National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Program recently sponsored a Wilderness Photo Contest. I have one photo in the slide show:

Wilderness Contest

My particular photo entitled Psalm 1 came from my project 365 series. As part of the contest you were supposed to write something about how nature connects you to God. Here was my reflection:

The title of my photo is Psalm 1. The Psalm extols the blessedness of those who meditate on God’s laws saying they are like trees planted by streams of water. I find the opposite of this passage is true as well. As a pastor, I find it important every so often to get away from all the busyness of life and ministry just to spend some time in the natural world. Immersing myself among the trees and next to the waters makes it possible for me to be better rooted in God’s word.

And here was the photo:

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In Sex God, Rob Bell explores the ‘endless connections between sexuality and spirituality.’ Sex is a topic that has not been treated very well by our faith and Bell helpfully kicks off the conversation in the right direction. I will say though that while this is a good book, it left me wanting him to say much more (i.e. it is far too short and not quite deep enough).

By far, the best line in the book comes from Bell’s wife in answer to their five year old son’s question “what does sexy mean?” She responds:

Sexy is when it feels good to be in your own skin. Your own body feels right, it feels comfortable. Sexy is when you love being you.

This is a helpful start to balance out the problem I perceive with most of our talk about sex and sex education: it almost always boils down to mechanics. One side says you’re going to end up doing it so here’s how while the other side says you shouldn’t do it and here’s the list of horrible whys. It’s all about the physical act and not much about the emotional or spiritual connection.

In his remarkable and inviting style, Bell explores the scriptures to set sex into a much more helpful and wholistic framework; seeing our sexuality as integral to who we are and as especially integral to our spiritual health and well-being. Devastating things can happen to us and to others if we don’t figure that out some where along our journey of life.

This is one book I wish I had when I was trying to figure it all out, but I’m thankful for it now and I applaud Bell for writing it. It’s my hope now that other authors of faith will come along, pick it up, and go a bit more deeply.

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Take this Bread is the story of Sara Miles, a liberal, lesbian, journalist, and political activist who is ‘unlikely and inconveniently’ converted to the Christian faith; first in a moment of radical encounter with Jesus at the table of communion and then through continued conversion as God works with in her and calls her to start a food bank ministry in her church.

Sara’s is not the traditional I met Jesus and he cleaned up my life sort of conversion. Nor is this a subscription to what many would regard as ‘orthodox’ faith, belief, or practice. Instead this is an I met Jesus, things got really messy, and I’m still trying to figure it all out sort of conversion.

This is not a tightly written book; at times it is just as messy and unclear as her own conversion seems to be. Yet is a compelling story of a bodily experience of faith. The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist speaks so strongly to Sara because of its physicality and earthiness. The Christian faith she seeks to embody is one that is lived and fleshed out in the reality of this very real physical world. Spirit and flesh are at work together in this story.

This story is also compelling because of its honesty in dealing with struggles, doubts, frustrations, and costs of a life of faith, as well as her struggle with an apparent commitment to ride along in the same boat as those Christians whose expression of faith is way to the right of her own.

For conservative and I bet even for liberal folks alike, this will not be an easy book to read. In fact, I expect it will draw significant ire and criticism. But since Sara has clearly committed herself to this boat we all find ourselves in together, hers is a voice we all probably need to take the time to listen to.

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I wrote the following piece a few weeks ago for our church newsletter. This morning, I got to thinking that maybe my blog readers & especially the photo lovers might enjoy this too.

I haven’t been much of a hobbyist. I haven’t had a craft to work on, and it hasn’t been my habit to collect things (though I do remember being president of the Stamp Club in elementary school.) When asked, “What are your interests?” my list usually boils down to watching movies, reading (good thing I’m a pastor, huh?) biking, and of course eating!

Those are all great and wonderful, but I’ve often felt like something was missing. I was lacking a passion or a ‘real’ hobby. I didn’t have anything I worked and played at or really loved doing.

A few years ago, we bought a digital camera for a trip we took to Scotland. When I returned, lots of folks commented how great the photos were from that trip. I took out our camera on subsequent trips, but after each one it would go back in its case, never to be seen again until the next vacation rolled around.

Late last year, I started thinking that maybe photography was a hobby waiting to be discovered, and then, serendipitously I ran across a photography project called “Photo 365.” The premise of the project was to commit to take and post a photo a day for one entire year. “Perfect,” I thought, “what better way to begin developing photography as my hobby?”

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If you’re a pastor or maybe a Christian education director at a church, then you’ve probably been getting packets of promo material from Fox Faith in the mail.

What have you done with them? I’ve quickly perused through them and then felt some small pangs of guilt as I’ve tossed them in the circular bin. Real Live Preacher has gone a step further and has offered some insightful comments about those packets from Fox Faith.

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Looking for some ideas to improve your life and better your spiritual self? Check out the Ship of Fools’ 40 Ideas for Lent. I guarantee you’ll find something to help you along in your lenten journey.

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This completes my Advent/Christmas sermon series “He came down that we may have life.” about the six streams of the spiritual life.

Sometime this summer, I picked up a little book written by a young fellow by the name of Shane Claiborne. It had captured my attention on previous trips to the store, so I decided to take the plunge. Taking it home, I cracked it open. But I only made it about half way through, before I put it down. To date, I have not finished it.

Many times, I pick up a book, start to read a few pages, maybe a couple of chapters, but then instead of finishing it, I put it down. Sometimes I find it a bit dull or other things might vie for my attention and I forget to pick it back up again.

Not so with this book. It is well written. Shane’s writing is interesting and captivating. It’s not a long book; most of us could probably finish it in an afternoon, or in a day’s time, at the most. It’s even funny; it made me laugh out loud in several places.

All of these things normally make for a good read, and yet I still could not finish the book. Now before I tell you why, I’ll tell you a little bit about what I did read of the book.

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Moving on to the celebration of the Christmas season, I continue in my sermon series “He came down that we may have life” focusing on the various streams of the spiritual life. This sermon is on the evangelical or Word-centered life.

During my freshman year of college, Donald Regan, the former chief of staff during the Reagan administration published his memoirs in a book called “For the Record.” In it, Regan leveled allegations at the President and First Lady about the use of astrology in the White House. In his book, Regan wrote:

“Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise.”

Many were horrified to think that the White House made major decisions based on the movement of the stars. Ronald and especially Nancy became the butt of hundreds of jokes and comedic material on late night television.

In our modern, sophisticated, and scientific world astrology seems like a bit of rubbish and a form of superstition. Of course that doesn’t keep many of us from checking our horoscopes, we just don’t want the White House making important and major policy decisions based on what they read in the horoscope or see in the stars.

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