Living somewhere between the Already and the Not Yet

We know we cannot bring the kingdom and yet we are committed to work for its coming. Living and working in the sinful here and now, while believing in the coming of the sinless kingdom, is a uniquely Christian stance. Care needs to be taken that we understand that we are being asked by God to be obedient, not successful.

--Bryant L. Myers, Walking With the Poor

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right

If I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life

And supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen.

--Rienhold Niebuhr 1926

Out of the mouths of my babes

I always get a kick seeing God through the eyes of a child.

Here are some recent quotes:

1. Daddy: Alicia, do need your sweater? It's cold outside.

Alicia: No, I'm strong. But God is stronger, He doesn't need a sweater. He's not cold, He's hot. He wears shorts.

2. I asked Charis if she ever hears God speaking to her, either audibly or to her heart. She said, "Yes, to my heart, but mostly on Mondays and Wednesdays."

3. Mommy: Josiah, why didn't you finish your dinner?

Josiah: I'm saving it for Jesus. He's hungry.

And here's a video of Josiah reciting a prayer:

Spiritual Direction

For the next two years (2009-2011), I will receive training in spiritual direction through a program called Selah. Most people that I’ve talked to from the Christian circles I’ve grown up in have never heard of spiritual direction, or if they have, know very little about it. I had never heard of it either until just a few years ago. The subtitle of one of my all-time favorite books about pastoral ministry, The Contemplative Pastor by Eugene Peterson, is Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction. Peterson pleads with pastors to revive this ancient ministry of the church that has been lost in many evangelical circles. Pastors are reminded that their role as pastor is not simply to “run a church” but to engage in the difficult work of “curing souls.” Fortunately, today there has been a growing awareness of this vital ministry, and more and more pastors and lay-leaders are not only receiving spiritual direction, but also offering it to others.

So what is spiritual direction, and what does a spiritual director do? Although spiritual direction can happen spontaneously between friends or with a pastor/mentor/discipler, spiritual direction in a formal sense is a one-to-one ministry where typically a person meets with a trained director for a one-hour session once every four to six weeks. Henri Nouwen says, “A Spiritual Director is not a counselor, a therapist or an analyst, but a mature fellow Christian to whom we choose to be accountable for living our spiritual life and from whom we can expect prayerful guidance in our constant struggle to discern God’s activity.” So when would a person seek spiritual direction? One reason might be that the person is struggling to pray. Or maybe someone is trying to discern how God is moving in his/her life, and is looking for a companion to listen/discern alongside him/her. Maybe someone can detect that she is angry with God or has become cold in heart, and does not understand what is at the root of this anger/coldness. Many times we have questions about “Where is God in this situation?” “What is God trying to say to me right now?” “

So a spiritual director is someone we turn to when we want to talk about our spiritual life, our relationship with God, our spiritual experiences with God, our struggles and experiences in prayer, to talk about what we think God might be doing or saying through everyday occurrences or situations, etc. We do not turn to the spiritual director to give us answers to our theological questions, to teach us techniques for the spiritual life, to solve our problems, or to treat our dysfunctions. Rather we seek a companion, a fellow journeyman, who will listen attentively to us and to the Holy Spirit as we share the story that God is authoring in our lives.

The curriculum for the spiritual direction program I am in includes extensive reading, reflection papers, attendance at six 4-day residentials throughout the New England area, being in spiritual direction, and giving spiritual direction. During the residentials, students will be attending teaching sessions, having personal time in prayer and meditation, and practicing giving spiritual direction to one another. Spiritual direction has become a deep passion of mine—I am so thoroughly excited to be pursuing this.

Slight change in degree program

I am changing from the World Missions and Evangelism over to the Master of Arts in Religion program (MAR), with a concentration in Missions and World Religion. The MAR degree is unique in that students can choose their own concentration and have more flexibility to choose classes according to personal goals. I'm also applying for a Certificate in International Mission and Ecumenism through the Boston Theological Institute (BTI), which is a consortium of nine theological schools in the Boston area. Through the BTI I am able to take courses at member schools. With the MAR degree and the certificate, I'm required to write an integrative paper that summarizes my reflection on mission and ecumenical studies. My reasoning in making this change and pursuing the Certificate is to slightly secularize the name of my degree in the event that we move abroad and I wish to teach in a non-Christian setting. I'm still defining my goals, but at this point all I know is that I want to learn to think and live like a globally-minded Christian with the goal of reaching my neighbor for Christ. I hope that one day God opens doors for me to work with immigrants or international students.

Course overviews

I thought I should provide some clarification on our classes, because the course title is not always sufficient.

Dave’s classes:

• Pastoral ministry: the different facets of being a pastor: pastor as teacher, counselor, leader, preacher; studying the sacraments (baptism, communion, marriage)
• Intro to Islam: exploring the history and beliefs of Islam. The coolest thing about this class is that we’re required to interview a Muslim or spend 5 hours witnessing to Muslims!

Cindy’s classes:

• Theology of Mission: we seek to understand the Biblical basis for missions in the OT, the NT and look at current trends in missions.
• Church planting in Muslim contexts: this is really a cross-cultural church planting class. It’s taught by a former missionary to Morocco so most of the case studies are in a Muslim context. I’m hoping to do my research paper and demographic study on church planting among Muslims in Texas.
• Biblical Global Justice: we look at justice from a Biblical perspective, and discuss social justice issues like health care reform, education, abortion, slavery, the poor, human trafficking, etc. This class really tugs at my heart—there is so much overwhelming suffering in the world that I don’t know where to start in action. I’m also convicted by my lack of prayer or concern, because I focus so much on myself and my own worries.
• Intro to Islam: (see above)

In the near future, Dave will write a post about Spiritual Direction--what it is and why he feels God leading him to pursue training as a spiritual director.

Church plant!

Last month, we committed to being part of the core group of a church plant that was started by a group of Christians, the majority of whom have some connection with Gordon-Conwell. This church plant has been such a blessing to us! The vision for North Point Evangelical Presbyterian Church came together earlier this year. The church has a pastoral leadership team consisting of a husband/wife/GC Old Testament professors and an Australian who recently graduated from GC with MDiv and counseling degrees. Dave is serving weekly leading worship on the guitar (and I pitched in last week with my tambourine and shaker, just like the good ole days. It was challenging playing with Alicia and Josiah clinging on to one leg apiece.) We are both a part of the worship ministry team, helping plan the worship service and create the ethos and values of the church. That experience in itself has been so rich. Our planning times have been unexpectedly deep, contemplative, and thought-provoking. We've learned so much about symbolism and form in the worship service, and have developed a greater appreciation for liturgy.

The North Point's vision is to be an equipping and sending church, meaning raising up and training Christians to spread the Gospel and serve God as they feel He is calling them. We had our hard launch (Grand Opening) just two Sundays ago, so the church is still young and small, but we love it and are so glad God led us here!