Category: Reflect Actively (Page 8 of 8)

What are we to do when we hear about the killing of another Black man or woman during a traffic stop? A stop that I, as a White male, would make it home from to see my family. Many of us are uncertain.

Soong-Chan Rah in Prophetic Lament says our lack of fruitful engagement comes from our loss of the practice of lament to the “triumphant and success oriented narrative” (Rah p.72) in American evangelicalism.

The worship life of Israel took seriously the role of lament. In contrast, the worship life of American evangelical Christianity is often devoid of lament. We ignore a key expression of worship and prayer and the opportunity to speak to God out of the midst of suffering. (Rah p.177)

Without re-engaging this discipline we will continue to be stuck in uncertainty. Like any new thing we need teachers, we will stumble, but with God’s help we will begin to meet God and be led by him in the midst of the brokenness surrounding us.

It is easy as we read the Bible to resonate with the disciples and others who follow God in scripture. What could be wrong with this?

As a White American Christian I (we) am so used to centering myself (and being centered by others) in the story of God that I’ve forgotten a crucial element brought up by Willie James Jennings in The Christian Imagination. “Someone allowed us [Gentiles] to draw close enough to hear that there was a conversation going on between God and a people in the first place.” (Jennings, 252)

His challenge to me (and us) is to rediscover the position of reading scripture as an outsider brought in on an ongoing conversation in which we are not at the center.

My first two months of sabbatical were full of reading, reflecting, retreating, working on my office and engaging with family. Often, I’ve thought, “I should do this more when I am not on sabbatical”. As I continue to engage in this time would you pray for clarity on how to include these life-giving practices regularly in my work?

On a recent retreat hike with Jadon we walked near the Meramac river. We were startled to find an enormous tree, the largest we saw on our hike, in the river flood zone. As I put my hand on the tree I thought of all that went on around this tree over its years on the banks – floods, droughts, exploration, and exploitation.

God’s invitation for me (and us) is to be like this tree planted by streams of water (Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17). May my (our) faith grow to withstand all that we face and be a testament to the grace of God.

One of my sabbatical projects is reflecting on the ways I’ve partnered with God in mission as an InterVarsity staff. As I sorted through 19 years of ministry updates, gratefulness for the faithfulness of God came up in my heart. (Also laughter as my kids mistook my earliest ministry picture on the bottom as a picture of their cousin Sam:)

Praise the Lord for his work and thank you for your partnership over these 19 years!

Often we long to be close to God but often many distractions get in our way to encountering him in the way we desire.

This week I incorporated a spiritual practice of ascending degrees of silence in a retreat. One version is at this link. At its conclusion I had a deep attentiveness to God’s presence with me and a longing for more time with him in this way.

For each of the twelve steps you ‘shut off’ the element that is raised and dwell there for 5-10 minutes. In that time you reflect on what the purpose or meaning is of that step (in the version linked above some thoughts about each one are shared).

Continue with each step adding to the previous, like the ascending of stairs. As you end the time your hope is to be present, silent, and attentive to God. It is hard work but opens us to hearing from God. What could a practice like this do for you?

Over the last couple of months when I’ve deadheaded the flowers on my deck I’ve just pulled out the flowers. Recently I learned to deadhead I need to pinch the stem below the flower to remove the chance for it to go to seed.

So for the last few weeks I’ve been at work making up for incomplete pruning of my plants. This has given me time to think about the incomplete work (due to misunderstanding or haste) I’ve done in my own life to prepare for future fruitfulness. As I work pinching off flowers I’ve asked God to prune that which is needed for my future growth as well.

Over the last several weeks I have unplugged things around my house signifying the unplugging that is happening in the first part of my sabbatical.

After unplugging my email and work platforms from my phone I continued to pick up my phone to check on what I had waiting for me. Surprise, there was nothing. Then I looked for non-work things to fill the void I felt from unplugging. As I continued in this pattern it struck me how programmed I’ve become to the work rhythms and engagement over these last nine years.

In order to experience what God has for me in this time I continue to find new things to unplug and refrain from plugging in something else to fill the void. Can you pray with me towards this end?

As I thought of the impact of my sabbatical on my family, I had an image of laying mulch around a bush.

Mulch provides temperance, nourishment, and covering that helps root development and overall growth of the bush. My prayer is that the impact of my sabbatical would be the same for my family. Would you join me in this prayer?

This week marks the beginning of a five month sabbatical for me. What does that mean? Lots of time at the beach, writing a book, sleeping in?

Actually none of that except for a bit more sleep hopefully. Every seven years InterVarsity gives the opportunity for staff to go on a sabbatical to take in lessons learned from the last season and prepare for the years of ministry ahead.

It is a tremendous gift to step away from day to day ministry responsibilities, which are handled by colleagues, to spend time in reading, reflection, and projects to see renewal in my life. As partners you enable this time by your continued partnership with time, talent, and treasure. Thank you. I appreciate your prayer for a time of deep engagement with God in this season.

As a note I plan to update this blog once a week with sabbatical related content and I asked another staff to post stories of students and staff engaging on campus once every 2-3 weeks.