Getting From Sunday to Monday, 3/4

Getting From Sunday to Monday
3/4 Opening Yourself to Guidance from God / Am I on the Right Path?

Sermon approach

This is not a sermon on thanksgiving or being thankful. Rather, this message is about the deepest way that you and I can express our gratitude to God. We can give our lives as an offering of praise and thanksgiving to God.

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of people.’  At once they left their nets and followed him.  Mark 1:16-18. 

In calling disciples, Jesus acts relationally, rather than legalistically. His first instruction is not "Here is how you must live." His first words are, "Follow me."

The church has been inviting people through the centuries to make this connection with Jesus. We have too often messed it up. Yet, the mission has always been to invite people outside the body of Christ to connect with Christ and believe in Christ. We want people to connect with the body of Christ so that they can grow as disciples of Jesus (I will make you). We want people to serve Christ and others in in this world (fish for people). It is a simple, but it is not easy.  

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.  ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’  Jesus asked the Twelve.  Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.’  John 6:66-68. 

Acts 4:32, we read, “All the believers were one in heart and mind.  No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” 

In order to bridge the gap between belief and experience, between the head and the heart, between our Sunday pronouncements and our Monday ordinary life, we need to find practical ways to practice the presence of God in our lives. God has placed each of us here for a reason. We might call it our true or authentic self. We need to embark upon the journey of bringing the purpose of God and our lives into closer harmony. We can offer our greatest gratitude to God by opening ourselves to the guidance God wants to bring into our lives.

We discuss listening to God or obeying God. Yet, we struggle with how God guides us and therefore to participate in the transformation God wants to bring into our lives. We need to learn how to go with the divine flow rather than against it.

Last week, I shared about our resistance to change. Now it is time to explore concrete practices that help us in our transformation.

The Walk to Emmaus is a discipleship program within the United Methodist Church built around the Roman Catholic Cursillo. One of the clergy talks discusses the means of grace. One of the images used is that of imagining the spiritual life as a huge house surrounded by light. Opening the "windows" of the spiritual disciplines will let in the Light of God. We do not have to open all the windows at once; we can choose those practices that seem natural to us, that "call" to us. All let the light in.

The book Soul Feast by Marjorie Thompson takes a comprehensive look at each discipline in a "user-friendly" way.

We will review a few of the disciplines briefly:

PRAYER -

Of course, our words are important. We express thanks with words. It is appropriate to approach God with petitions. We need to express the desires of our hearts to God. Yet, our prayer life is incomplete and without real power if we limit it to the spoken word. If we think of prayer as "loving attention to God," it can take an infinite number of forms, depending on our personalities and the need of the moment: Listening to music that stirs us can be a prayer; staring at the water alone; breathing a quick prayer and imaging the breath of God -- all can deepen our connection. We don't have to use eloquent words; in fact, we don't need words at all.

Prayer is relationship and therefore cannot develop only from one side. We need to talk to God, but we also need to listen for God. Prayer is not manipulating God (God is already in our corner!); instead, it is more like building a friendship.

"Be still and know that I am God."  

"Gradually, after deliberately choosing quiet times with God, our heart begins to sharpen its perception of God's presence. The quiet of God begins to speak and direct us, and our heart becomes more finely tuned to the frequency that God uses to speak to us." – Thomas Merton 

SCRIPTURE - For spiritual formation, it is vital to practice reading the Bible in a way that forms us as well as informs us. Academic study has its place; the truth is, however, that we can be Bible scholars and avoid letting scripture transform our lives. To be transformed by scripture, one lets go of all preconceived ideas and allows God to speak personally through the Word. Bear in mind that when the gospel message is read slowly in this way, it becomes not third-class mail, marked occupant, but first- class mail, marked personal.

JOURNALING - Journaling for spiritual growth is not a matter of keeping a spiritual diary of events or writing for publication. Instead, it is getting thoughts, dreams, hopes and feelings on paper without fear, without judgment, and without evaluation. Just work straight from the heart to the page. Oddly enough, over time, it forms a continuing conversation with God. A pattern emerges. If a journal answers just one question, it is this: What is God doing in my life?

            DAILY EXAMEN  - Forms of the daily examen can serve as discernment tools -- good for discovering how you're wired, what your particular personality responds to, what your passions and talents might be. At the close of the day, one explores questions like these: 

 1. What surprised me today?

 2. What touched or moved me today?

 3. What inspired me today?

 4. What was "life-giving" to me today?

 5. What felt "life-taking" to me today?

 6. What did I learn about God and myself today?  

      If you follow Jesus in this way, how will you know you are on the right path?

      Your life becomes an offering of gratitude to God. Here is a simple way of saying it.

      In John 15: 12-13, we read, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”  The heart of the reproducer is to help our friends believe in Christ, connect with the body of Christ, and serve Christ and others in the world.  C. J. Mahaney (Humility: True Greatness, 2005) reminds us that true greatness is serving others for the glory of God. Who has helped you to love God, love others, and make disciples? Who has helped you to develop a Christ-centered life, pray, worship, learn, help other Christians, and reach out to others?  

In Matthew 28: 18-20 we find these words: 

(Mat 28: 18-20)  And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  {19} Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, {20} and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

Today it seems a good idea to look at the question that accompanies us on the inner journey, and that is, "How do I know if I'm on the right track?"

1. FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT AND THE BEATITUDES - Jesus said: "By their fruits you shall know them." Spiritual growth moves us toward those fruits of the Spirit, listed in Galatians 5:22, 23 as "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Many of us can talk a good game, can recite the creeds, can state unequivocally what we believe (and unfortunately, by extension, what any "good Christian" ought to believe), but the practice of the actual behaviors is a tall order indeed! Another Biblical indicator of fruits of the Spirit can be found in the Beatitudes. This is not to ask, "Do I have these qualities perfected?" but rather am I moving, however slowly, in that direction? 

2. MOVEMENT TOWARD SIMPLICITY - In the spiritual life, less is more. Not only do we have cluttered closets, but we have cluttered schedules and cluttered thoughts, resulting in cluttered spirits. To be honest, we proclaim our "busyness" to one another with some hidden degree of pride, as if our exhaustion were a trophy and our ability to withstand stress a mark of real character. To whiz through our obligations without time for a single moment of mindfulness has become the model of a successful life in our culture. At some unspoken level, we think it makes us seem more important to others and, subsequently, to ourselves.

3. ATTITUDE OF FORGIVENESS - Spiritual growth is punctuated by an ever-increasing willingness to engage in the forgiveness process. It's important to remember that we forgive persons -- not actions. Forgiveness is not condoning! The failure to forgive imprisons and poisons us. As the old adage goes, "Resentment hurts the vessel in which it is stored more than the object on which it is poured!"

4."NATURAL" GRATITUDE- As one grows closer to God, gratitude spreads from a category of "blessings" into every part of one's life. Seeing through the lens of gratitude affects the way we see each moment. As Meister Eckhert counseled, "If the only prayer you ever say is 'thank you,' it will be enough!"

5. MAKE FRIENDS WITH UNCERTAINTY - It has been said that the hallmark of spiritual maturity is an increasing capacity to tolerate ambiguity, paradox and uncertainty. Certainty is an illusion anyway. The ability to tolerate both/and rather than either/or is a sign of growth and deep trust. 

Romans 8:28 "all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose."

6. EXPANSION RATHER THAN CONSTRICTION - Spiritual growth is characterized by feelings of expansion and inclusion rather than constriction and exclusion. One gives others a wider berth -- more slack. The heart expands. There is less judgmentalism, more understanding.

7. CLARITY OF SELF - With spiritual growth we become clear about who we are and our part in the plan of God. We become less likely to betray ourselves just to please other people. We are less likely to deceive ourselves.

8. LIVE MORE MINDFULLY - Another marker that you're on the right track is that you are present in the moment -- not immersed in the past and not invested in the future. Many of us are always thinking ahead to the next event. The spiritually mature person savors the PRESENT.

9. LESSENING OF ANXIETY - Our degree of anxiety is directly disproportionate to our degree of faith. Scriptures remind us constantly that worry and faith are incompatible. We are told to "consider the lilies" and "be not anxious, o ye of little faith.." Worry and faith are incompatible.

10. EXHIBITS AUTHENTICITY - We become more REAL, less manipulative, more transparent with our spiritual development. What you see is what you get!

A stream of freedom flows beneath each of the preceding attributes -- a freedom that keeps us centered and reminds us who we are and whose we are. With that sense of floating in the wondrous security of a loving God, we are free to take risks for our faith, confident that God forgives our imperfections and accompanies us in failure and success.

What I'm describing is REAL, gut-level TRUST. And that profound sense of trust in God's benevolent mercy somehow heals the split between our Sunday pronouncements and our Monday experience. We come to understand at a very deep level that God is in all of it -- the light and the dark, the joy and the despair, the beliefs and the experience. As we become grounded in who we are as beloved children of God, a harmony slowly occurs between what we say and what we do. A growing authenticity results. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? (Maybe that's why they call it "the good news!") God bless you on your unique journey as you grow toward the person God created you to be.