Sporadic Spiritual Spin

Many of you know that I have a rare condition known as alliteritus. I feel the sickening need to alliterate whenever possible. I've thought about counseling, hypnosis, inner healing prayer...but then again...perhaps it's just my "thorn of the flesh."

Seriously, though...I was just blogging on Xanga which is where I connect more with students in our youth ministry. Here's what I was saying in that blog-arena...

"I have another question...selfishly motivated a bit...but worth considering I think. What are the ways in which we most deeply connect with God...the Divine...the Creator...Heavenly Father...the Spirit...the Son...etc? I would certainly be the first to admit that in the pursuit of connectedness with God...some days (weeks, months, even years) are better than others.
Lately, I tend to really connect with God in a variety of ways. Cycling for a few strenuous hours seems to position me to really converse with God and reflect on life. Just sitting back on this sweet couch in my office with a hot cup of sumatra seems to provide a God-friendly moment. Chasing my daughter around the tennis net while Deb and I try recreate nostalgic courtship moments (pun alert) gives me this sense of wholeness and purpose. Watching a room full of students authentically worship God around the glow of candle light...that definitely connects me with my creator.
The problem is...we tend to unplug ourselves from God as much as we plug into Him creating this frustrating cycle of sporadic spiritual spin...argh! (that's an old comic book word) So back to my question...what are the ways in which you deeply connect with God and stay connected?"

And I have a tendency to deal with the same issues personally as I'm processing them in the context of ministry (with students or others). One of the greatest challenges of ministry in the context of speaking and teaching others is what I would call internalization. In order to passionately communicate a truth or principle to someone else, I have to own it...believe it...consume it...and live it. So I'm wrestling with this issue of deeply connecting with God. I wholeheartedly believe in the power of spiritual disciplines and contemplative practices for positioning us to encounter God...but there's also a bit of mystery in it. I hesitate to give anyone the idea that you can follow these 5 steps and presto...intimacy with God.

Anyone have some different thoughts on this thought of deeply connecting with God and helping others do the same?

Candy-Coated Christianity

I was just surfing around and found Erwin Mcmanus' new project. The tagline for the book is "the greatest enemy to the movement of Jesus Christ is Christianity." As I was admiring someone else's journey the other day, it occurred to me that Jesus might be quite ticked off about what is passing for Christianity these days. It forces me to evaluate my own "version" of Christianity as well.

AIDs...poverty...hunger...injustice...aiding victims of natural disasters...there are plenty of opportunities to follow the example of Christ. Where does living a comfortable middle-class existence fit into all of that?

But on the other hand...all I know to do is faithfully live out the Kingdom as I know it and experience it right now. Perhaps encouraging the Kingdom life in others will bring me closer and closer to living it myself. We get so easily entrenched in the culture and enslaved to our lifestyles with its paralyzing debt and materialistic ambitions. Or is that just me? What would we do for the Kingdom if we were free from those encumberances?

HTML Humility

Honestly...I felt checked by the Spirit to consider following up my last post with an apology. As I read back over it...I can tell my spirit was not in step with the Spirit. Thanks for your comment, DB!

I suppose that reaffirms some of the limitations of this medium of communication though. Perhaps it's a little too easy to rant and rave excessively.

Well, I'm thankful for a chance to hang out with Stetler today and hear some great thoughts from the likes of NT Wright, Brueggeman, and Newbigin (along with Eric of course). I celebrate the journey of those I see living out a radically re-imagined way to be human.

As I've re-entered the world of professional ministry...the battle for margin and balance rages.

Blog Blockage

As you can probably tell from the sporadic frequency of my last few posts, I'm experiencing some kind of bloggers block.

Actually, I just replied to a blog that really set me off and it's got me wondering if this is a valid use of time. In a recent conversation with a friend who boldly questions the value of this form of communication, he referred to most of the blogs he reads as some form of intellectual masturbation. Now if you can thoughtfully consider that phrase for a moment without being offended or defensive, you might have to agree that there's certainly some truth in that.

I know there have been times when I struggle over the wording or vocabulary in my post because of the response I'm trying to affect or produce. Or I labor over the content of my post to be sure that it's more substantial than the mention of daily rituals and events.

The other issue causing me to rant a bit here is the utter lack of accountability and careless spewing of words which passes for profundity. If things are being said in a blog which are not preceded by a willingness to share the same information in person, then stop wasting everyone's time and go do the right thing.

I'll stop before I get any more stirred up. But as a community of blogging believers, let's be careful how we malign the church and stir up dissent.