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Dialogue
Volume 3 Issue 4
October 2001
The subject:
Living in the U.S.A. as a Christian
This issue expands on a few of our Circle of Hope “proverbs.” Why
don’t you read through them and see if you think we are on to something:
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The skepticism
of others is warranted if our message does not originate from
a community that demonstrates the love of Christ.
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In an individualistic
age, being the church is a counter-cultural statement.
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The church exists
for those yet to join.
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“Friendship evangelism”
is one way to describe our deliberate attempts to make disciples.
Our main method is “incarnational,” so we accept that what we
do will never be instant.
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Life in Christ
is one whole cloth. As we participate in and love “the world,”
we bring redemption from the Kingdom of God to our society.
Jesus is Lord of all, so we have repented of separating “sacred”
and “secular.”
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Any believer who
is not doing their part in the “family business” of redeeming
the world, is missing the point of their ongoing existence.
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We are “world Christians,”
members of the transnational body of Christ, concerned with
every person we can touch with truth and love.
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Those among us
from “traditional” Christian backgrounds are dying to our precious
memories of “church” in order to bring the gospel into the present
with great flexibility.
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We intend to keep
all the great things God has given through the church of the
past and be totally at home in our own time, ready and able
to relate to the people of our day.
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We stretch ourselves
to worship with diverse styles. God is transnational, transcultural,
even transhistorical.
As a church, we have a lively interest in relating to EVERYONE with
love, truth and respect. Sometimes that probably seems a little
grandiose to people who are getting to know us (and getting to know
how incomplete we are!). We look quixotic as well as our usual chaotic.
So,
predictably, this issue has a lot of tilting at windmills in it
as we take on the big issues of how Christians relate to this passing-away
world as people rescued from it and sent back with a message of
reconciliation.
Tim
helps us consider how to throw a wrench in the culture’s consumerism
machine. Anna humorously muses about what it is like to enter the
Philly culture (most of us reading this are probably not native
born, ourselves!). Sheldon cautions us about mindlessly giving into
techno-culture. Clinton gives food for thought on how to help people
think with us about Jesus when the culture has given up on truth.
Ryan encourages us think again about how to stay out of a subculture
and influence the world around us — the catchword is SOWING.
We could
be talking about the heady subject of “Christ and culture.” That’s
been done well, a lot. As fits us better, we are talking about “What
are WE going to do to love people we know around here and tell them
the truth? Do we understand ANYTHING? ARE OUR HEADS ON STRAIGHT?”
Ed. — Rod White
AntiCulture
Have you ever listened to a song (or read a book or watched a movie)
that had such a major impact on you that you knew your life would
never be the same? I had that kind of experience during the summer.
It came as I read a book called Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn. “In the
book, Kalle Lasn, editor of Adbusters magazine, argues that America
is no longer a country, but a multitrillion-dollar brand. America™
no different from McDonald’s, Marlboro or General Motors. It’s an
image "sold" not only to the citizens of the U.S.A., but
to consumers worldwide.” Lasn’s magazine, his website (www.adbusters.org)
and the groups they spawn are trying to throw a monkey wrench into
the corporate system with the hope of returning to a simpler way
of life. All of this got me thinking about our roles as Christ followers
in relationship to the culture around us. Kalle has awakened in
me a revolutionary spirit!
As Church
Planter I have struggled to create a church in the Northeast region
of the city. I can identify many reasons for this struggle, but
the one I want to discuss relates to the themes of Christ and Culture.
Circle of Hope Northeast struggles because we are offering something
that goes against the grain of what people know as church. Christians
in the Northeast are knee-deep in a consumer mentality. They come
with the mentality: “What can I get from this church with the least
amount of commitment?” I hold a similar thesis as Kalle, but in
relationship to the church. I believe that the church in America
is no longer the church, but some kind of trademark or brand. At
times I have a hard time even calling it the church.
Now
I hope you find yourself somewhat troubled by Kalle’s argument:
that maybe America is no longer a country at all. I hope you take
it seriously enough to dialogue about it. Be disturbed by it! Wrestle
with it! But that should pale in comparison to the idea that I mention
today. You should be appalled with the fact that maybe, just maybe,
the church is no longer the church in America. If there are great
numbers of people in our city who come with a consumer mentality
to church that should cause your heart to melt with a Jesus-like
sadness, similar to the moment he wept over Jerusalem. It is not
the way the church is meant to be.
But
wait it gets worse. Even the people who are not Christ followers
are educated by this way of thinking. When I tell unbelievers that
I am not a religious man, but a Christ follower, I usually see an
initial twinkle in their eye. It is almost as if I can see them
thinking, “maybe there is something to this Jesus guy after all.”
I see the wall go down for just a moment. Then as quickly as it
went down, it goes back up. In my discussions with unbelievers,
I get the impression that they think this language is just another
sales pitch to get them involved in yet another traditional church.
You see? They have been educated by the church on how to think about
church. There is, however, some hope here. They’re not buying it!
They refuse to come to the church as a consumer. In a weird irony,
they may end up being better believers than those who call themselves
Christians.
With
all of that said, there remains the question of what we should do
as Christians in our consumer oriented culture and churches. I think
we should do something very similar to what Kalle and Adbusters
are doing – we need to jam the culture, especially the American
Christian Culture. We need to throw a monkey wrench into the whole
system. I have a friend who is an expert on systems and he is always
quick to observe that you can pull out any element of a system,
point to the problem it has, and know without a shadow of a doubt
that the whole system has the same problem. In simple terms, a system
is made up of single components or, for the purposes of our dialogue,
a church is made up of individuals. You can throw a monkey wrench
into the whole system by first throwing the wrench into your own
life.
In what
ways do you come to Circle of Hope with the mentality that the church
exists for your consumption? In what small ways can you begin to
reverse that type of thinking? In what areas can you become more
servant-like, Christ-like? Remember these things begin one step
at a time, not by getting depressed as you think about the whole
journey ahead of you. Remember to be as gracious to yourself as
Christ is. He understands that you live in a society that bombards
you with consumption.
Kalle
talks much about the dangers of TV in his book. After reading the
book, I determined that I would turn off my TV forever. Now if you
were to come into my house today you would notice that I watch as
much TV as I used to. The revolution didn’t succeed in my own life.
I am a revolutionary failure. At this point, I want to comment briefly
on the revolutionary spirit. This is where I verge from Kalle’s
thinking and find myself aligning more with Naomi Klein who wrote
a book called No Logo (http://www.fastcompany.com/online/38/nklein.html).
Her book is very similar to Kalle’s as it denounces the effects
of consumerism on our culture. But she does it with a humble twist.
She challenges the system by acknowledging that she struggles with
consumerism as much as anyone else. "I have a weakness for
all things pop culture," Klein admits. "I still watch
way too much junk TV. My favorite show is The Daily Show, and I'm
a little obsessed with The West Wing. I love action movies.” In
the end, I think Naomi will succeed more than Kalle because she
shares the same weakness as those she critiques. The problem with
the revolutionary spirit is that it just doesn’t produce lasting
change. Revolutionaries often sit above the people they are critiquing
with a sense of judgment and pride. Jesus, however, came not to
condemn, but to save. His salvation came through incarnation.
And
so it seems the best way for us to do AntiCulture is by investing
ourselves in the very culture we critique and by committing ourselves
to an American Church plagued with consumerism. I am not exactly
sure what that looks like, but I know it is worthy of our dialogue.
I look forward to discovering the answer together. Allow me to end
with a comment to the revolutionaries and activists in our midst.
We need you! You serve a purpose similar to Kalle – you are radical
enough to open our eyes to new realities. Sometimes you have to
do that by hitting us over the head with a 2 X 4, metaphorically
speaking. But after that is done, I really would like to invite
you to join us in the struggle. If you look hard at Jesus’ ministry,
then you will realize that he almost completely ignores the revolutionaries
in his midst. He just won’t be deterred from his mission of suffering
in the midst of human frailties, sin, and weakness. And neither
should we.
Tim Bathurst
Referenced:
No Brands Land in Fast Company Magazine, September 2000.
A Newbie in Philly
As a Southern
California native, deciding to move to Philadelphia in 1999 was
a huge leap geographically and a drastic change in my day-to-day
existence. San Diego and Philadelphia couldn’t be two more opposite
cities. They are foreign to each other in every way. In the initial
weeks of living on the East Coast, I felt like a guinea pig in a
science experiment where a scientist would determine whether or
not the two locales could collide and be embodied inthe life of
Anna. Wasn’t there a Philly 101 class that I could enroll in to
make sense of this new culture that surrounded me? Not only was
this move radical for me, but it also came as a shock to many that
I met — “Why in the world would you leave San Diego, California,
the most temperate, sought-after place to live, with sunny skies,
beautiful beaches, fish tacos, Baywatch, etc., and move to dirty
old Philly?” – was the most common question I received when I first
got into town. As I first got my bearings in the City of Brotherly
Love, I felt like Dorothy in Oz, knowing that I definitely wasn’t
in Kansas anymore. Revelation set in…
I will
frequent a store called WaWa. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine
that I would shop at a store with such a silly name and continually
use this store without chuckling to myself by the pronunciation
of the establishment.
Old
stuff. Doing a menial task, like buying Q-tips, takes twice as long
to do in Philadelphia as it does in California. Reason being: in
California everything is new (which equates with boring) and in
Philadelphia everything is old (which equates to fascinating, that
is, if you are a wanna-be historian like I am). So, of course, I
have to read every one of those blue historical signs that I pass
on the way to my local CVS. I confess, I am one of those slow, annoying
people on the sidewalk that amble aimlessly, staring at the architecture
in awe, bumping into people who are in a hurry, who demonstrate
no appreciation for their surroundings (and should be arrested for
sidewalk speeding, if you ask me). Thus, running errands takes a
long time due to Philadelphia’s vast history, or perhaps due to
an over zealous sign guy who has to mark every last thing that happened
here.
Just
say no to flip-flops and say yes to bulky, oversized, fleece laden,
preferably wool clothing. Sadly, I can no longer wear flip-flops
365 days out of the year anymore. And, I realized that winter coats
were not designed to be a fashion statement. They were designed
out of “necessity.” Both of these facts are problematic when one
looks into her closet and sees 15 pairs of sandals and not a single
warm coat, nor gloves, nor scarf, nor winter hat. Obviously, my
summer to winter clothing ratio is slightly more balanced now.
Mexican
food, you call this Mexican food? 24 hour a day, 7 day a week, honest
to goodness Mexican restaurants that will allow me to get my late
night burrito or quesadilla fix do not exist here. And don’t tell
me to just go to Taco Bell – because that is not Mexican food nor
could it ever be compared to the ranks of Albertos, Don Pablo’s,
Rigabertos, Manuel’s, El Pollo Loco, etc. that are on every street
corner in Southern California stretching from the Tijuana border
to East Los Angeles. Sometimes I dream that Circle of Hope will
open a Mexican food restaurant in our new space someday. Heck, we
have Juanita and Gwen among our ranks, who can make incredible salsa
and enchiladas respectively. I’m all for bringing people to Christ
through Mexican food – the people of Philadelphia have been deprived
long enough.
I will
appreciate grease. That’s essentially what a cheese steak is right?
Cheese steaks, hoagies, along with droopy pizza that you must fold
in half to eat will all be new experiences for me. And, buying these
items from a man in a little truck on a street corner is also novelty
unto itself – how does one little truck produce so many savory and
varied entrees? Honestly, I do love how truly anti-non-fat Philadelphia
is as opposed to Southern California. Tasty Kakes truly take the
cake over barley shakes, foie grass and the many forms of tofu that
seem to be popping up on every menu in San Diego.
I will
learn how to walk. Being permanently glued to my car seat while
in Southern California, and not having a car here in Philadelphia
has been one of the welcomed differences. It is a pleasure to know
that I will not be stuck traffic half my life anymore. Instead it
will just be spent waiting for SEPTA or walking of course.
Euro
skin – sun = gray skin. I will no longer wear a summer tan in the
winter months of November, December, January, and February. Instead
I will realize that human skin has a multitude of colors and shades
that I was never aware of. My favorite is the pasty grayish white
that hits around January 27th.
West
Side vs. East Side. Proudly, I break down the West Coast stereotype
that “All east coasters are impatient, blunt and rude.” I just refer
to it as “honesty.” Actually, I have come to love the grit of this
city, it’s people, its neighborhoods and it’s very unique “Philly”
attitude. Sometime we butt heads, but for the most part I just grin
and go with the flow, after all I am from San Diego.
Understanding
this city and all it’s anomalies has been interesting to say the
least. But clothing preferences, food, horn honking, and accents
aside, Philadelphia came to be home for me because I discovered
the body of Christ in this place. I was blessed to find a Christian
community that is passionate about living an honest urban faith
life, who seek to know Christ in the deepest way imaginable, who
choose to be enriched in God’s love, and are excited to be His children
right here and right now. We each have our own individual stories,
our place of origin, and cultures that we cherish. But, we all are
able to see eye to eye in this place through Jesus Christ – thanks
to his boundless grace and overarching love that transcends culture
or geography. God is present in this city. He’s bigger then our
differences. In fact, he delights in them. He celebrates our roots,
our various styles, and the many places from which they come – east
or west, north or south. I feel His Holy Spirit. And, I feel compelled
to say that I feel it largely because of this city in particular.
The bleakness of Philadelphia, or “complexity” as I prefer to look
at it, avails itself to these ends. In California you’re too worried
about your tan.
Anna Mulgrew
Questioning Technology
Recently, I saw in Newsweek that they've come out with "disposable
cell phones". So now we can all learn to discard our phone
as unthinkingly as we have our used-up phone cards. We should all
buy these now, not because we really need them, but because they
are possible. It's moments like this when the absurdity of modern
life really hits me. But don’t worry, we'll get used to this latest
technology, just like we have for all the others.
In the
past few years, I've begun asking myself questions concerning my
use of technology that don't have easy answers. Please keep in mind
that by my use of the word "technology" in this article,
I confess I'm mainly referring to that particularly obnoxious kind,
constantly advertised on TV and billboards, promising a better,
easier, more comfortable life if only you will purchase the newest,
silvery, techno-gadgetry available on the market. We've all seen
them. They're unavoidable, urging us to "Get connected",
with the implication that if you aren't as "connected"
as the latest technology makes possible, then you are doomed to
be irrelevant, forgotten, virtually non-existent in our society.
We, as Americans, are particularly susceptible to this "cult
of the new", and I am not the least lured. But I'm reaching
my limit. I'm not alone, am I? Haven't most of us, at one time or
another, had the feeling that our life is being overrun by a constant
deluge of pointless technological devices and services, that too
much technology is infringing and cluttering up our life, our time,
our relationships, and our peace of mind?
Now,
if I'm not careful, I could easily launch into any number of weary
rants about the dangers and costs of increasing technology in our
lives. But I can't. I don't have the space. Suffice it to say for
now that the case can certainly be made on many fronts: cultural,
environmental, and economic, among others.
This
issue is obviously too huge to be dealt with in any depth at all
in a short article like this. It's also too huge, I think, to not
start addressing it more effectively as a church community in group
discussions and teaching. The negative effects of technology in
our culture are unavoidable and do have a major and lasting impact
on our culture, our environment, and our economy. In addition to
common sense alone telling us that we should be concerned for these
things, I also believe scripture makes it clear that these are things
God is concerned with. I submit that if the church is going to serve
a prophetic purpose in society and not just blindly follow where
the market leads, and if God wants us to love justice, to consider
the plight of the poor, and to value and care for His creation,
then we should be looking more closely at the effects of increasing
technology in our lives and asking ourselves some tough questions
as to how and if we should be participating in it. If you don't
know where to start in asking the questions, or if even questioning
technology seems absurd or a bit off the deep end (after all, it
does a lot of good in the world, too!), then let's talk. And also,
let's read. The books listed at the end of this article may be a
good place to start. They may challenge your thinking like they
did mine. Of course, I'm missing some good ones, but these are just
a few of which I'm aware.
It is
a complicated thing to reconcile our participation in modern culture
with our life in Christ. And sometimes there may be no way to reconcile
the two. It takes wisdom to work through these questions, wisdom
that I don't think any of us has alone, which is one reason I need
to be asking them in the context of a trusted community.
Recommended Books:
"The
Technological Society" by Jaques Ellul,
"Technopoly"
by Neil Postman,
"What
Are People For?" by Wendell Berry.
Sheldon Esch
Book Review On:
Finding Common Ground
Possibly one of the most insightful prophets of our day, Tim Downs,
assesses the need to rethink our role as spiritual gardeners in
our culture, and the necessity to develop our “art” in gardening.
His book, “Finding Common Ground,” falls in second place to the
Bible when it comes to discovering the hope and urgency in communicating
with the non-Christian world.
“Many
of our modern church and evangelistic movements were founded during
a time when the American fields were abundantly white for harvest.
Over the last forty (some argue twenty) years, many para-church
organizations and churches have struggled with a thinning harvest
in America.” It’s obvious Christianity no longer holds the “most
favored religion” status in America. Sowers need to slowly and thoroughly
undo the “structural unbelief” embedded in our culture.
Tim
Downs also recommends that we recognize the distinction between
a grain harvest (where we sweep through the field and scoop up everything
in order to winnow out the grain) and a fruit harvest, where we
carefully pick the fruit and leave the vines or trees intact for
future years. He points out that not enough Christians are enrolling
in film schools, graduate schools, law school, educational careers
or specific training to sow for the long term impact in our world.
We all must learn to effectively communicate on a thousand topics
of interest to unbelievers with our faith “hidden,” in the art.
Tim Down defines this as intentional “indirect communication” (the
same technique the media uses to make us better consumers).
We need
to be honest with ourselves and find out what barriers there are
between us and sharing our faith. Personally, I’m so caught up in
the fast pace of life that I make little time to go below the surface
in my friendships. As a believer, I seriously need to check my transient
lifestyle of moving around and bouncing from relationship to relationship.
I’m slowly learning that the quality of our friendships reflects
on the quality of God’s kingdom we’re building into them. That also
means committing to living in the same place geographically, so
people can reach you when they need you (and friends really do need
each other!) Even the basic motivation to share my faith really
needs to be checked. Sometimes it’s by guilt, sometimes it’s just
because I think God commands it and I don’t want to disappoint him
(or look like a unproductive Christian to others). How can we challenge
each other to go beyond that level? In a sense, we need to be comfortable
with ourselves before we can comfortably sow in the lives of others.
Someone once pointed out we need to ask ourselves, “who is sowing
in me?”
Also,
most folk are very likely to get in a conversation and just argue
someone’s belief system till they’ve got all their theological and
intellectual ducks in a row. I’m not busting on apologetics, but
at the same time, I think Jesus showed us that what people claim
to believe doesn’t usually equate with who they really are. That’s
the place where we need to take our friendships…beyond the bubblegum
to the real meat (with out giving the false appearance that we’re
“deep”). Tim Downs is into really good questions, both to start
conversation and get at the heart of where our hearts are. In developing
our own stock of good questions, it would be really cool to brainstorm
with someone else.
One
question I’ve been wrestling with is this question: As a local,
citywide, and global church, are we unified with our different roles
as sowers and harvesters, summoned to working side by side on God’s
field? Can evangelicals, mega churches, house churches, campus organizations,
cell groups, social action groups and music ministries be more effective
in farming and cultivating this land? One of my spiritual fathers
once told me that though it’s nearly impossible to network with
other groups on “outreach” events, there always seems to be an open
door for networking with other churches or groups in ministry training
and equipping. Are our churches ready (and willing) to train alongside
other churches with personalities and agendas that don’t exactly
look like are own?
For Reflection:
Sowers
need to also learn how to harvest, too. We need to push our interactions
with people in our jobs and lives to a deeper level. As the body
of Christ, how good are we at keeping one another accountable on
the quality of our interpersonal relationships? Is that a major
focus of our church, and do we all have someone in our lives that
challenges us in that area (and someone we are challenging)?
What
if one of our cells made a joint effort to work with a small non-Christian
organization (or college organization) on a small service project
or activity to create dialogue?
What
newsletters, films, and books are our churches producing that we’d
feel comfortable giving to our non-Christian friends?
Do our
churches have a library or list of movies and sowing books that
we could use in movie nights or cell groups to initiate discussion?
(my new favorites are “The Big Kahuna” and “Pay it Forward”).
Are
our churches and organizations continuing their education on Islam,
new Age philosophies, postmodern thought and newly emerging competing
world-views?
Ryan Bowers
Anger, Greed, Prayer
Many of us have been
thinking about the causes of war for the past month or so. It’s
nothing new to Christians that the causes lie in none other than
the human heart. From Osama bin Lauden in the secluded hills of
Afghanistan to George Bush in the White House, human hearts are
filled with greed and anger; love and forgiveness. We pray for the
latter two to take hold in these tenuous times.
My friends
Liz and Pam recently gave me and a few others the “Vow of Nonviolence”
during their teaching on politics and the Bible after the Sunday
PM in Center City. One of the several commitments I am trying to
make for one year is:
Before God
the Creator and the Sanctifying Spirit, I vow to carry out in my
life the love and example of Jesus....by actively resisting evil
and working nonviolently to abolish war and the causes of war from
my own heart and from the face of the earth.
I have never been much
of a political activist, yet I am beginning to face the causes of
war in my own heart. This very personal and interior journey is
conceiving in me a desire to be more of an activist in the tradition
of the mystics. Here is a bit of my story.
My hero
in the peace movement dates to the 13th Century. Francis
of Assisi used to call upon his Brother Leo to remind him of the
worm he was. He would demand that Leo trample upon his pride—and
sometimes his body--by telling him that he was the worst of sinners.
Leo would try to do this and then refuse, but much to his chagrin
Francis would persuade him to go ahead. I’m not sure how our psychoanalyst
friends would handle this. For Francis however, this was simply
another reminder of God’s goodness and the depth of his love. Francis
is always reminding me of the evil that can dwell in our hearts—and
the extent to which that evil can be taken. We not only saw evidence
of that on September 11th. We have seen it in our own
nation’s foreign policy towards Iraq, Columbia and Afghanistan as
we arm and train military leaders and groups, and bomb civilians.
We have found our new enemy in bin Laden, yet failed to see ourselves
as the enemy of others and even ourselves.
When
I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I
reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways
behind me. (I Corinthians 13.11) What a revelation this has been
for me in the past year. I love my two children. They are not grown
up, though. They still want their own way, act out of fear and are
insecure about what I see as insignificant things. I have found
I carry much of the same in my own heart.
Thomas
Keating writes about our early years being filled with a constant
striving to get our needs met: security and survival, affection
and esteem, power and control. He describes the process of growing
up, not getting these needs met, and not learning how to trust God
with them. The result is an adult who is constantly seeking those
things for him or herself. I’m 35 and glimpses into my unconscious
tell me that I spend a great deal of time maneuvering my way through
life trying to get these needs met. It has meant quite a bit of
disaster for me.
I mentioned
earlier anger and greed as the great enemies of the spiritual life.
That’s from one of my spiritual directors in absentia, Henri Nouwen.
He speaks of war being the result of impure hearts that have simply
not spent enough time in solitude. Solitude is a frightening thing.
Remember the film Cast Away? Tom Hanks is stranded on a desert island
and soon all his fears—conscious and unconscious—surround him. He
has nowhere to go and no one to call upon. The camera closes in
on his face. He is terrified. We know there is nothing to be afraid
of on the island—no carnivorous animals or people, no monsters.
However, his own monsters overcome him and it leave him paralyzed
in fear. Have you ever felt like that? I did just the other day.
My fears often get the best of me; and when I act out of them, anger,
greed, manipulation and control are the results. I wonder if our
political leaders undergo the same trials?
Faith
can lead us in a new direction, though. By faith we can go off to
the lonely place and listen. When we find the lonely place away
from others and the dire pressures of our lives, we can start to
hear the comforting, healing, inspiring words of God. Plus, we can
start to develop the practice of finding the place in our hearts
where Christ himself dwells. Prayer without ceasing then becomes
possible.
This
is certainly an abbreviation of the process through the wilderness
of loneliness to the garden of solitude. When I went on retreat
several months ago with John Michael Talbot and he taught the group
a method of breath prayer, he said that daily practice for 20 minutes
over a three month period would result in us beginning to hear the
voice of Christ. I wondered if I had three months in me. I am beginning
to see that I do have the strength to keep in the discipline.
This
twenty minutes a day twice a day has been a great place for me to
start. I listen to God’s workings in me and listen to his word in
the Bible. I try to let him direct my prayers. You might want to
check out websites for the Center for Action and Contemplation and
Contemplative Outreach for some more specific guidelines; or talk
to me and I’ll copy materials I have.
I am
certain that the peace movement begins in our hearts. As we organize
and mobilize for peace, let us commit to nonviolence in our quest
for justice. Let us learn to always act in kindness and joy even
when our demands are not met and our rights are trampled. As we
die in this way, may we rejoice that death is our sister, consoling
us until we are born into new life eternal.
Chris Petersen
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