spiritual formation

Stretching My Stride

September 12, 2011 By heather 3 Comments

He follows his daddy, knowing that on these mornings, his daddy leaves for the day. His crawl ever quickening, he goes room to room with his daddy. Someday, I know, he’ll practice shaving like his daddy, putting his shoes on, mimicking his daddy’s stride and step.

Photo by MJ Sumner via flickr

Nonconformists, the consummate American adjective (also “eclectic”). We go our own ways, the commercials say, piping products that prove our bohemian ways. We blaze our own paths, dance to the beat of a different drum. Culture expects us to discover bands, fashions, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, but to be trendy as we do so. What would happen if I poofed my bangs, like I did in eighth grade, or checkered my socks (and wore them with a plaid mid-calf, low-waist, formless dress)?

I think of my son, giving us zerberts and tickle kisses like we give him. I think of him studying my mouth, touching first mine then his, forming the syllable “baa,” then laughing when I sing “Baa, Baa Black Sheep” (an appropriate song for a knitter!).

“I never thought my kids would be followers,” someone recently said to me, disappointed that her daughters mimicked the actions of other kids, but who among us is not a follower?

“Follow me,” Christ said, so I teach Keegan to be a follower, even as I put my feet in the footsteps left by Christ, stretching my stride to match his in the snow.

Filed Under: spiritual formation Tagged With: Christ follower, spirituality

On Politics: Taking Christ to a Bull Fight

April 9, 2010 By heather 9 Comments

Disclaimer, part one: I don’t talk about politics here, partly because I don’t like to talk politics, partly because I’m not some talk-show-radio-listening, political-blog-reading expert who has brilliant thoughts to contribute about the subject, but mostly because the topic is vicious. It brings out the worst in people. The conflict (especially between Christians) scares me.

That being said, today, I’m tip-toeing onto the frozen lake of politics. Most likely, the ice will crack, and I’ll plunge into icy water and end up fighting hypothermia at the hospital. I do this because political questions have been plaguing me, and since I believe that part of the role of social media is the opportunity to hash things out and learn in community, here we go.

Let me state my issue up front:

As a Christian, how do I best love the Lord my God and love my neighbor as myself through politics? How can I best contribute to the spiritual formation of others (or, putting it another way, how can I best help others be more human), as well as my own spiritual formation, in this arena?

Disclaimer, part two: Obviously, I believe that spiritual formation (or, as I now prefer to call it, human formation, as spiritual formation is the process of making us more human, meaning more like who God intended us to be) begins in the Church. My desire is not to take this responsibility away from the Church and give it to the government.

In truth, I’d prefer to ignore the whole thing, abstain from voting, and claim "Disclaimer, part two" as my way out. I don’t believe that is what God calls us, too, though. As I incarnate Christ, I do so in every aspect of my life. If I believe that Christ can transform culture, than I’m responsible to participate in his kingdom work through the power of the Holy Spirit in every aspect of culture.

Disclaimer, part three: I do not believe this means that any human government will be the government of Christ’s kingdom. I don’t believe we can rightfully call a nation or government "Christian," nor do I believe any nation or government (except for the Israelites) to be chosen by God. Again, I’d like to use this as my reasoning from withdrawing from the world of politics. But I say this more to assert that I’m not seeking a theocracy or a return to a Constantinian rule, nor am I looking to figure out which political party is more Christian than the other.

I pledge allegiance to God’s kingdom. In other words, I’m not concerned with how I can best serve America but how I can best serve God’s kingdom, specifically in the realm of politics. This means my allegiance to God’s kingdom, not my allegiance to America, affects my thoughts on issues such as healthcare reform, the war in the Middle East, and abortion. It affects my ideas of justice and how, as a Christian, I am to go about working toward justice (or, I suppose, am I to go about working toward justice?).

To be fair, I believe Christians who vote as Republicans and Christians who vote as Democrats consider this in their decision-making. I also suspect that Christians who vote as Republicans and Christians who vote as Democrats don’t consider this in their decision-making.

This is enough for now. On another day, I’ll work up the courage to ask specific questions on specific issues. I’ll perhaps even confess my struggles in the political arena (an appropriate term, conjuring up bull-fighting or rugby). Today, let’s leave things here.

Filed Under: Christianity, incarnating Christ, politics, spiritual formation

Roamin' with the Romans

April 16, 2009 By heather 6 Comments

Recently, two friends and I decided to form a small group for spiritual formation. What we’re using incorporates lectio divina with spiritual disciplines and accountability. But all of that is neither here nor there.

Caveat: I’m a nerd.

Image by bunchofpants via Flickr

Today, I sat down to do my daily reading for the group–Romans 12:1-2 (which we’re to read out loud five times today). Around the third time, I wondered, "What does it mean to ‘test and approve’ God’s will? Do I don a lab coat and put it in a petri dish or crash it into a wall a dozen times to make sure the airbags work?" So, I pulled out my Greek (I warned you about my nerdiness!), which is rusty. But then I saw the coolest thing (you know how writers will use specific words and phrases on purpose to hint about things–Paul does that, too, and this ‘test and approve,’ which is only one Greek word, by the way, is one of those cool literary things). Then I read other parts of the verse in Greek and saw a couple of other cool things. Then (because I’m really a nerd), yeah, I pulled out this huge commentary I have on Romans (I don’t have commentaries on all the books of the Bible, but I happen to have one on Romans, and another that
covers Romans 1-8, but that wouldn’t help me here, so I only pulled out that one). And the guy who wrote this commentary is frakkin’ brilliant and showed me another couple of amazing things. So then, I thought, why don’t I write out my own translation/paraphrase in my own words to try and capture some of all of these incredible things? (I recently finished Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson.)

And I did.

(Side note: The writing in brackets isn’t directly in the text, but it’s what I
learned from how Paul uses the language and compares it to things his readers would have known and things he talked about earlier in Romans.
Also, the last bracket, I get a little silly, but I think God
appreciates humor, especially when it comes from excitement about him.)

Romans 12:1-2 (my translation/paraphrase)

Because of all of this that I’ve been talking about [have you been listening at all, people? I’m talking about the new life God gave you where you were dead, rotting, decaying, corrupted, wasted, worthless and unable to distinguish fine Shiraz from a glass of piss], I highly encourage you, those of you who belong to Christ and have this new life, in light of God’s sparing us the consequences we deserve, to give your entire lives—your entire selves—as sacrifices [instead of just those cultic sacrifices killing animals you did at certain times in the temple]. These sacrifices—your very lives, every part of you, how you think and act every day—are alive [not like the dead animals], committed to God [set apart—we’re going to seem odd to the people around us!], and acceptable to God [ironically enough, all things God has made us—alive, set apart, and acceptable to him]. This is how you truly and genuinely worship God.

So how do you do this?

Stop frakkin’ thinking and acting like citizens of a nation that is dead, rotting, decaying, corrupted, wasted, and worthless! [For the love! Stop drinking piss when you can have fine Shiraz!] Allow yourself to be changed [by God] by reprogramming the way you think [just so you know, this will be a lifelong process].
Then, [instead of considering what God wants to be a waste of time, like those ungodly people whom I talked about in 1:28 do, or thinking you consider what God wants to be worthwhile but acting completely opposite, like the Jewish leaders I talked about in 2:18 do], you’ll be able to understand what God wants, and you’ll totally think it’s worth it. What he wants is incredible, the best EVER, and perfect [maybe even better than the gnocchi my friend Heather had at Villa Barone in Collingswood, NJ, which she says is the best stuff she’s ever eaten—or, even better! It’s better than an appetizer of the pumpkin soup she had at some restaurant in McKinney, TX, followed by a main course of Villa Barone’s gnocchi, accompanied by fine Shiraz, topped off by dark chocolate cake {without partially hydrogenated oil, of course, and homemade, with lots of layers} with tequila . . . but I digress].

(Side note 2: I use Zemanta, which automatically generates pictures possibly related to my post, and I can choose which one I’d like to use. The above picture is described as "dude reading a Bible on top of a pumpkin cake." Who can pass that up?)

Filed Under: bible, Bible translation, Paul, Romans, spiritual formation, transformation

Art and Theology Podcast: An Interview with Dr. Reg Grant, Part III

December 9, 2008 By heather 3 Comments

In this podcast, I speak with Dr. Reg Grant, professor at Dallas
Theological Seminary, published novelist, actor, and apparently
tap-dancer. We discuss a healthy artistic life and the formation and
transformation of the artist.

Dr. Grant says something that reminds me of C.S. Lewis, who, in Mere Christianity, said we must lose ourselves and be in Christ, but instead of this making us all the same, "the more truly ourselves we become…There is so much of Him that millions and millions of ‘little Christs,’ all different, will still be too few to express Him fully" (p. 189). The only real personalities exist in God, but we can’t go to him in order to pursue ourselves. Our real selves come when we’re looking for him. "Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in" (p. 190).

I think this applies to our art. The fullness of our creativity can only be found in Christ. This is not to say that unbelievers can’t make beautiful art, but that as Christians fully pursuing Christ, we find our art fuller, more able to express him. But if I pursue Christ for the sake of my art, I’ll find only emptiness.

This podcast segment is 7 minutes.

Filed Under: aesthetics, art, artists, podcast, Reg Grant, spiritual formation, theology, transformation, truth, video blog

Artuality: Bullets Over Broadway

November 5, 2008 By heather 11 Comments

Today’s Artuality day! Our theme this month is movies. How have movies or a movie inspired you artistically or spiritually?

(For more explanation of Artuality, check out this post for more on this month’s theme or this one for the genesis of Artuality.)

For me, there are so many movies I can use to answer this question: how Chocolat inspired joyful living, how Hero portrayed sacrifice, the friendship and resurrection in Steel Magnolias, unconditional love in When Harry Met Sally, creation and creativity in Babette’s Feast, community in Rent, the list goes on.

But today, I want to tell you about a movie I saw last week: Bullets Over Broadway. It’s a Woody Allen movie, and it got me thinking about what it means to be an artist.

Of course, being a Woody Allen movie, part of the greatness lies in laughing at yourself. This movie is about a struggling theater writer who finally gets his big chance to produce a show. Of course, he demands to direct it so that some random director won’t mess it up. Fine, fine. But one thing: since the production’s being funded by the head mafia guy, it has to star his girlfriend. Who can’t act. Heck, she can’t even pronounce most of her words correctly. Oh, the frustrations! The impurity!

As the movie unfolds, we see that the play is really dribble. The story sucks. It doesn’t move. Finally, unable to keep his mouth shut any longer, the mafia hitman who’s been escorting the lovely mafia girlfriend, suggests a change. It’s wonderful! It’s exactly what the play needs! Everyone loves it!

Except, of course, the artist, the playwright.

The movie goes on, and the mafia hitman makes more and more suggestions. The playwright eventually recognizes the hitman’s brilliance and meets with him secretly to improve the play. By the end, the play’s a huge success. But it’s written by the hitman, not the playwright. In fact, the playwright, it turns out, isn’t an artist at all. And the hitman is. As the hitman’s artistry emerges, he can’t take the un-acting of the mafia girlfriend. So he kills her. And when he’s shot by the mafia don, his last words are about his play.

All nonsensical. Yet all true somehow. In the beginning of the movie, another playwright asks, if you’re in a burning building and you can either save a human or the last existing copies of Shakespeare’s plays, which would you choose? The rest of the movie answers this question. The main character (played by John Cusack) asks his girlfriend, do you love me as a man or as an artist? And he has to explore that question.

In some ways, it asks the same questions that Asher Lev asks: do artists have rights that other humans don’t? Are they ultimately responsible to humans or to art? What does it mean to be an artist?

These questions have to do with the spiritual formation of an artist. How do we love artists as the church? In what ways do we hold them accountable both as artists and as humans? As an artist, how do I balance a demand for excellence with loving my neighbor as myself? Obviously, I’m not going to knock off someone when they get in the way of my art, but if my attitude toward them is disparaging, isn’t it the same thing? What is the posture of an artist?

Also, in this movie, art comes from unexpected places. Who would’ve thunk that a mafia hitman who didn’t finish high school would be a brilliant playwright? Who would’ve thunk that the playwright wasn’t an artist at all? I love this part. You never know where God’ll plant beauty. In that way, it shares a theme with Amadeus.

You’re turn! Tell me on your blog about the movies that have influenced you then come back and let me know you’ve posted your entry. Oh, and when you use Mr. Linky, please leave a comment so I know a new link was left. Feel free to participate throughout the month of November whenever inspiration or epiphanies or apostraphes hit.

Filed Under: aesthetics, art, artists, artuality, Bullets Over Broadway, movies, spiritual formation, spirituality, theology, Woody Allen

Incarnating Christ

March 8, 2008 By heather Leave a Comment

My husband and I love to go camping. Of course, you can’t go camping without a campfire, and my husband loves campfires.

He’s a master at making things burn.

The secret to a great fire is getting the big, exciting flames to transform the wood itself and to continue spreading to other pieces of wood as you add them to the fire. As the fire transforms the wood, the wood becomes coal. The fire infuses the wood. These coals are hotter than the huge flames that leap as you ignite the fire. It is with these coals that you can keep yourself warm, cook your meal, and spread the fire to other logs.

It hit me that this is the Christian life.

Christians shouldn’t be in the business of fighting culture or merely trying to keep up with its trends. They should be joining God in His work of transforming it.

The Christian’s hope lies in the future, in the physical resurrection of creation. While we won’t see fulfilment of that resurrection until heaven comes to earth in the culmination of God’s kingdom (Revelation 21-22), God has initiated His kingdom of peace, healing, and restoration. His agents for this redemption are human. The agents are believers.

Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated His victory over death and evil. It is also a foretaste of the physical resurrection all believers will experience at His return. His work on earth demonstrated that the transformation begins now.

It begins in a restored relationship with God, but it doesn’t stop there. That restored relationship spills out into restored relationships with other humans and with the earth. Only in Christ do we discover what it means to be fully human. Only in Christ do we defeat the power of death and evil in our lives and on earth. As we join in Christ’s death, so we join in His victory.

Though at a future time, this victory will culminate in an instant, in the present, it happens in a process of persevering in the faith, acting out in the present our future hope.

This is what I call spiritual formation. Spiritual formation is done by the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us. It’s based on God’s revelation of who He is through creation (i.e. the arts, sciences, beauty, cultures, humans), through community, through Scripture, through the Holy Spirit, and through Jesus’ incarnation–God’s ultimate revelation of Himself in the God-man. We learn of the revelation of the Word become flesh (the incarnation) through Scripture, which contains the witness of God’s people, God’s prophecy, God’s story. We understand Scripture in community, in relationships where God most fully reveals Himself through different personalities and gifts that together present a more full understanding of who He is.

Spiritual formation’s purpose is to become more human. Through formation (or transformation), we become not the same as each other, but more fully ourselves.

In becoming more human, more fully ourselves, we learn God’s purpose for humanity: to love the Lord our God (Matthew 22:37), to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:38), and to care for God’s creation (Genesis 1:28). As we fulfill this purpose using the spiritual gifts God has given each of us through the power of the Holy Spirit, we become agents of God’s redemptive plan for the earth.

We learn how to fulfill God’s purpose from Christ’s ministry. Indeed, as his body, we continue his work, incarnating his love to a hurting world. We seek to live our lives as he lives his. Christ’s ministry included healing the sick, providing for the poor, preaching the gospel, extending forgiveness to the repentant, challenging the sinner, encouraging the discouraged, and discipling the follower.

Christ’s work was creating and recreating. He embodied the sufferings of this world and the resurrection. His victory over death and evil becomes our victory over death and evil. God transforms us, guides our minds, forms our wills, and fill our imaginations. We become more alive in our thinking, in our love, in our creativity and art.

So we participate in transforming culture by embodying His victory as we share God’s story and redemption, as we create and embody theology in art, and as we fight oppression in all its forms.

Below, I’ve provided resources to help facilitate intentional relationships and ministry that carries on Jesus’ work for God’s kingdom in order to glorify God. There’s nothing magical about the resources. The magic occurs in the relationship between God and other believers as they together serve God’s kingdom. As God transforms us, we take these heated coals and start new fires, spreading His kingdom of love and peace. This happens in our art, our workplaces, our families, our neighborhoods, our friends in the physical, messy, daily life.

For suggestions for engaging in art in your everyday life, click here.

Spiritual Formation Resources

Transforming Life series:

About
Download (free): Part One (Identity), Part Two (Community), Part There (Integrity), Part Four (Ministry)
Purchase

Experience the Life

Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri Nouwan

The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives by Dallas Willard

Spirit, Soul and Body

Social Justice Links: Links to help you incarnate Christ’s love to the hurting

Adopt a Legacy, a ministry to the poor, widows, orphans, and AIDS victims of Africa

International Justice Mission, a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression

All God’s Children, an orphanage in Honduras

Blood:Water Mission, promotes clean blood and clean water to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa

People not Profit, an organization that works with artists who donate their art to raise funds for the poor

Imagine Art, an organization that works with artists with disabilities

Art from the Streets, an organization that teaches art classes in homeless shelters and sells the artwork, giving the homeless an income

Arts Link, an organization that connects artists with short- and long-term mission opportunities that uniquely use the gift of the artist to minister in foreign contexts

ICE (International Council of Ethnodoxologists), a group of ethnomusicologists with a vision to see Christians in every culture expressing their faith through their own music and arts

Global Girlfriend, fairly-traded apparel and accessories handmade by women and communities in need

Tom’s Shoes, based on an Argentine shoe, for every pair of shoes you buy, Tom donates a pair to a child in need.

Responsible Shopper, alerts the public about the social and environmental impact of major
corporations, and provides opportunities for consumers and investors to
vote with their dollars for change.

Come Let’s Dance, a non-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to empowering and inspiring the youth of Africa to initiate change
in their own communities, one kid at a time

Arts Resources: Links to connect artists with other artists and to inspire your creativity

Infuze Mag, an online magazine

Artist Melanie Weidner

Artist Makoto Fujimura

Picasso catalogued

Philosophy Cafe

Burnside Writer’s Collective

Early Christian Art: Mind, Body, and Soul Connection, an article on the beginnings of Christian art

Relevant Magazine

The Master’s Artist, a group blog of writers

Belle Aerie, an online forum for artists

Jubilee, a non-profit band with jazz-influenced sounds that donates half their sales proceeds and 10% of their booking fees to International Mission Justice

The Christian Pulse

Image Journal

by Faith Magazine

Holy Week Art and Theology, an article connecting art and the resurrection

Act One Program, comprehensive training and mentorship to train the next generation of Christian artists and professionals

Inspire Me Thursday, "weekly invitation to amuse your inner muse. Be inspired to reflect, connect, explore, journal, and create."

Artcyclopedia,
search or browse art by artist, medium, subject, or movement–a great
place to figure out what movement was doing what and who was creating
in that them

Artchive, same song, second verse

Teesha Moore’s site, art, journal pages, and a blog to boot

A very cool recommended reading list put together by Imago Dei Community on God-centered theology of arts and culture

The Doorpost Film Project, short films on themes such as hope, freedom, love, pain, energy, and others

Ten Dreams gallery of art, specifically art featuring symbolism, magic realism, and fantasy.

Craftster, how to take old items and thrift store finds and create something new with them

Noise Trade, a great place to discover and support emerging musicians.