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Be Adventurous - Recognize a mature faith

By Bishop John Schol

With Rudy, faith just rubbed off. Rudy was my senior high youth director. He played basketball with us, organized a basketball league for the church and neighborhood kids, taught us how to drive, let us drive his car (I personally added a dent to his car). He sang songs of faith when we went somewhere, took us to Ho Jo's for ice cream and fried clams, taught the senior high youth group and took us on retreats.

He lived what he believed, and what he believed, he was passionate about. He was open to our questions and asked us good questions. He told us about his faith and how the Bible impacted his life.

I did not believe everything Rudy taught, but his faith rubbed off on me. Other than my mother and father, it was his faith that created the space and place for my faith to mature.

Rudy had a mature faith that evidenced itself in compassion, forgiveness, service and love for youth. His faith helped a number of young people to receive Christ, to be reconciled with parents and friends and to grow to maturity.

The aim of the church is to help children, youth and adults mature in their faith. The following traits are from a study about the nature of a mature faith done by the Search Institute that suggests that a person with a mature faith:

1. Trusts in God's saving grace and believes firmly in the humanity and divinity of Jesus.

2. Experiences a sense of personal well-being, security and peace.

3. Integrates faith and life, and sees work, family, social relationships and political choices as part of religious life.

4. Seeks spiritual growth through study, reflection, prayer and discussion with others.

5. Seeks to be part of a community of believers in which people witness to their faith and support and nourish one another.

6. Holds life-affirming values, including a commitment to racial and gender equality, an affirmation of cultural and religious diversity and a personal sense of responsibility for the welfare of others.

7. Advocates for social and global change to bring about greater social justice.

8 Serves humanity consistently and passionately through acts of love and justice.

The church's spiritual leaders are key to maturing the faith of its members and guests. These include the elected leaders as well as the leaders of groups and organizations.

I encourage you to read more about this study online at www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=771 and identify how your congregation can help to mature the faith of children, youth and adults.

The list from the Search Institute is by Peter Benson and Carolyn H. Eklin, "Effective Christian Education: A National Study of Protestant Congregations."

Spiritual disciplines

Spiritual disciplines provide a time set aside to be shaped by God. In the practice of things like Bible study, prayer, fasting and spiritual direction, we are enlivened by God's spirit.

Seeking God is never easy. It requires intention. Spiritual disciplines give us a pattern that provides structure and direction to grow in holiness.

There is a sturdy and marvelous book to assist you in this process - "The Sacred Way" by Tony Jones. It is highly recommended by conference leaders to everyone who seeks to be enlivened by the Spirit of God.

Contemplative --

Silence and Solitude

In today's chaotic world, it's easy to get lost in the cacophony of noise that is the soundtrack of our lives. But like Jesus, every once in a while we need to seek silence and solitude to be able to listen for "that still small voice" and align ourselves with what God desires of us.

Silence does not mean refraining from talking. It is opening one's heart to God's will. It involves simply being, rather than doing.

Almost every writer on the spiritual life declares that silence is an essential part of a soul's growth. They all commend the command, "Be still and know that I am God."

Writer Henri Nouwen embraced silence and solitude. "As ministers our greatest temptation is toward too many words," he wrote. "They weaken our faith and make us lukewarm. But silence is a sacred discipline, a guard of the Holy Spirit."

Sacred Reading

Lectio is Latin for reading; divina means holy or sacred. The practice of lectio divina, which evolved in monasteries in the Middle Ages, assumes that when we enter deeply into God's holy Word, God will make God's self known to us and shape our lives.

This type of devotional reading often follows a format. The reader begins with a prayer, requesting God's presence and direction. The chosen text is then read, aloud if possible, and savored.

The reader then meditates on the text, and reflects on how that text applies to his life. This reflection can often take the form of a conversation with God that brings the words to life in new ways. As a final step, the reader moves beyond the words and intellect into that "thin space" where God's presence is experienced.

Lectio divina can also be done in groups, having the text read in different voices and allowing people to choose words or phrases in the Scripture that are meaningful to them and sharing those with the group.

The Jesus Prayer

In 18th century, a young Russian man wanted to know if it was possible to "pray without

ceasing," as the Bible commanded. He asked an old monk, who told him that truly ceaseless prayer comes in quieting the mind and making the mind one with the heart.

He gave the young man these words: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," and told him to pray them 3,000 times a day.

When the man completed that task, the monk advised him to pray the Jesus Prayer, 6,000 times, and then later, 12,000 times a day, until it became almost like breathing.

The story of this young man's journey is told in the book "The Way of a Pilgrim" and teachings on the Jesus Prayer are found in detail in the Philokalia.

This prayer is a continuous, uninterrupted call on the holy name of Jesus. Its purpose, say those who pray it, is to unite the mind and heart in God.

Some people also add the phrase the tax collector said to Jesus: "God, have mercy on me, a sinner," praying, "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

To start this practice, sit comfortably in a dimly lit room with your head bowed. Begin the prayer in rhythm with your breathing. Breathe in: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God;" breathe out: "have mercy on me, a sinner."

Guard your mind against distraction. With each repetition, focus on the meaning of the words, praying them from the heart.

For the average person, 3,000 repetitions of this prayer takes more than three hours. Saying the Jesus Prayer between 100 and 500 times is considered a valuable and achievable process.

Spiritual direction

In Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions, spiritual direction is common among laity and mandatory for clergy.

This formal role of spiritual companionship is based on the belief that God's Spirit is active in the world and that God communicates with us.

Spiritual direction is not psychotherapy nor pastoral counseling. It is a covenanted relationship in which the director puts himself aside and focuses on the person sitting in the other chair, providing disinterested and loving attention.

The spiritual director is not an expert who speaks for God, rather they help others see how God is at work. This process, which is a structured one that usually costs around $65 per session, is rarely extraordinary and should not be romanticized.

Those who take on spiritual direction should possess a desire to be held accountable for their actions and a willingness to try to discern the promptings of the Spirit.

Active --

Pilgrimage

Christians embark on a pilgrimage when they accept Christ's invitation to "Come, follow me."

The Bible is full of archetypes of pilgrims, including Abraham and Sarah, Moses and the Israelites, Jesus and Paul. In the Bible, followers of Christ are assumed to be citizens of heaven, and are called "strangers and pilgrims on earth."

But a pilgrimage is not just aimless wandering. In religious thought, many people believe that the sacred consecrates its immediate environment, making it a kind of holy ground. In traveling to these sacred destinations, (the two most common are Jerusalem and Rome) people begin to understand and relate to God in new ways.

Pilgrimages, which were traditionally made on foot and lasted six months to three years, have three steps.

The first part of the journey is separation and leaving what is comfortable. The second is the liminal period, in which the pilgrim is at an edge or border and at this spiritual frontier must depend on Jesus to guide them. The third step is returning home and reintegrating into the community.

Today people tend to take smaller pilgrimages, which become outward expressions of inward journeys.

Fasting

Fasting, or going without food, is a spiritual practice in almost every religion. The early Christians practiced it every Wednesday and Friday as an exercise in penitence and sacrifice.

Fasting, done to exercise self control and to purify oneself, does not recognize a body-spirit duality. Rather, it reveals our excessive attachments and forces us to consider their spiritual implications. Food is necessary to life, but sometimes we've made it more necessary than God.

There are many types and intensities of fasts. Those wishing to begin this spiritual practice should start gradually at first.

In addition to food, people also fast from television, shopping, and other things that have a stranglehold on their lives.

Sabbath

Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word shabbat, which means "to cease."

On the seventh day of creation, God rested. His people were instructed to do the same in the fourth of 10 Commandments, the commandment most invoked by the Hebrew prophets.

For Christians, practicing the Sabbath points back to creation, but it also points forward to the peace of Christ. While ceasing from work on the Sabbath, people are called to activities like worship, prayer, family time, reading, naps and walks.

Keeping Sabbath isn't a practice that can be achieved slowly, bit by bit, over time. There must, at some point, be a radical break.

Making this break isn't always easy, but as Dorothy Bass points out, "To act as if the world cannot get along without our work for one day in seven is a startling display of pride that denies the sufficiency of our generous maker."

Service

The best theology often seems empty with an ethic of service. In fact, followers of Christ seem to do their best work when they look outward.

Even the act of leadership in the church takes on some of its finest forms when it is done from a perspective of humble service. For Christians, Richard Foster writes, this is the kind of leadership that is best done not with a scepter but with a towel.

The trick in living out a life of service as a spiritual discipline is in determining what Jesus is calling you to today.

According to Henri Nouwan, "The spiritual life is not something we add onto an already busy life. ... It is to impregnate and infiltrate and control what we already do with an attitude of service to God."

Information about these spiritual disciplines is excerpted from "The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life" by Tony Jones.

Living holy

BY RABBI JOSHUA Martin SIEGEL

Conference Rabbi

How can there be spiritual discipline in a secular world? This is a crucial question for anyone who seeks a truly religious-based life.

The key word in this question is "discipline." How do we teach ourselves to overcome the temptations of the secular world, which cause us to ignore the spiritual side of life?

Some thoughts that might be helpful:

1. Avoid a focus on results alone.

If all our efforts are focused on results, it is impossible to reach the spiritual elevation possible within our life's journey.

The secular world seems obsessed with results. This is not to say that results don't matter.

But the central spiritual teaching is that the journey is more important than immediate results. True success can not be measured and true results are changes in quality of being and closeness to becoming like God.

A true spiritual discipline requires a capacity to transcend requirements and judgments of the world while not ignoring them.

2. Spiritual discipline requires limitation.

We cannot do everything that one wants or is expected of us. To achieve a degree of awareness of the power of the spiritual, or a capacity to live it, requires setting time apart on a regular basis for spiritual needs. This can range from time for prayer and meditation, doing good deeds, truly caring for or listening to others, or listening to God, who is reaching out to us if we develop the capacity to receive him.

None of this will happen unless we allow it to happen. We cannot force it. We must allow ourselves to be open to let it happen to us.

God has a work and a purpose for each of us. However, we will not live it, or even discover it, unless we put away our need to control and be open to allowing God to teach us.

This openness to receiving the wisdom of God for us, which comes from study, prayer, learned teachers or living itself, including our difficulties, is a central path in any spiritual discipline.

3. Spiritual discipline is not the same as spiritual techniques.

So often we think a particular system will itself deliver us to a spiritual dimension. There are many paths to a spiritually based life. But the path itself is not the center - the center is being on the path. This is the ultimate discipleship - recognizing that the way to God is a path, the one path that truly matters; and accepting that there is a path for us if we allow ourselves to discover it.

We need to discipline ourselves to walk and remain on that path, no matter the temptations or distractions.