the drum|rob fairbanks

Come by Here, Holy Spirit

I came across this lovely and challenging poem for Pentecost Sunday by Mark Berry (Here). 

Waiting, Waited,

Flame Breather, Life Teaser,
Sweet Essence, Hard Presence,
Pulsing Blood, Sweeping Flood
Storm Force, Water Source,
Deepest Kiss, Draining Bliss,
Motivator, Love Creator,
Hearts Gripped, Conventions Ripped,
Fire Poured, Winds Roar,

Whisper, Whisper,

Blown Upon, Blown Away,
Burning Up, Burning Out,

Baraka, Ruach, Shanti, Shalom,
Life Spirit, Holy Spirit, Spirit.

r

(The above picture is from Christine Sine's wonderful site. You should really check it out. It is trove of liturgical resources)

Exercising "Indifference"

I've been writing the last couple of weeks about the discipline of listening. I must again admit that I'm a novice at this discipline.

This week I've been trying to put into practice the spiritual discipline of “Indifference.” “Indifference” doesn't mean anything like “I don't care” or “It doesn't make any difference to me,” but has more to do with the idea of holding things lightly. As Ruth Haley Barton puts it,

“This is an ‘interior freedom’ or state of openness to God in which we are free from undue attachment to any particular outcome….There is a capacity to relinquish whatever might keep us from choosing God and love, and we have to come to a place where we want God and God’s will more than anything – more than ego gratification, more than wanting to look good in the eyes of others, more than personal ownership, comfort or advantage.”

As someone with a personal makeup that is fairly intense, I find the idea of listening in general hard and exercising “indifference” towards something a bit of a departure from my core make up. 

While I think there are many nuances to this concept, where it has shown up for me is in the interactions I've had this week. I've tried to move into each one of them holding the “outcome lightly.” The ultimate goal has been to try to listen (dual process – listening to the person and attempting to attune my ear to the voice of God) and not being dominated by what I want or what would be best for me.

One example can be found in an interaction I had with another pastor here in Spokane. As potential result of the connection could have been a significant advantage for myself and for the church plant I'm working on, so I had to prepare myself going into the meeting to not try to move the conversation a particular way or to create a pathway so that I could get it where I wanted. What I attempted to do was stay in a listening posture hoping to hear through what he was sharing and hoping for God's Will to be displayed in some way. I think that was accomplished.

How hard is it for you to engage others while holding your personal aspiration lightly?

r

The Listening Christian Community

As I mentioned yesterday the idea of listening for God's direction in ministry and mission is something that is critically important, but quite difficult.

In thinking about how we are to listen it seems like there are three components that have to be grappled with.

The first one is captured in the word, Immediacy.

When I say immediacy, what I'm referring to is the imperative of obedience. The requirement for the Nation of Israel was to respond appropriately to whatever the “pillar of fire or the pillar of cloud” was doing. If it moved, the people were to move. If it stayed put, the people were to remain still. I think an axiom of this component might be: if we ever expect God to speak to us, we must be willing to unreservedly respond by saying, yes to what we hear. An example of this happened to me a few years ago while I was seeking God’s guidance as to whether I should take the presidency of Christian Associates or not. It was something I emotionally really wanted, but was still honestly seeking God's direction as I much as I possibly could. My process included seeking advise from loving friends, engaging in what the Mennonites call, clearness committees (click the link to see how they work). I was personaly praying and listening as well.  It was a hard, but good process. During one of those nights of seeking God I actually heard audible voice in the middle of the night. Just so you know, I can count on one finger how many times this has happened to me in my life. The voice said, “You're not done yet.” Well, that was not the message I wanted to hear, so I sought to rationalize it several different ways. The realty was, New Community, the church I was pastoring at the time simply wasn’t ready for that profound of a transition. After a few hard days of trying to justify the message to fulfill my emotions, I concluded that I shouldn't expect God to continue to speak to me at all if I'm not willing to obey when he does speak to me. The upshot, I pulled my name from the application process. One year later, I was re-approached by Christian Associates and got a green light from God that time.

The second aspect of listening is that of Intimacy.

The very nature of listening is intimate, isn’t it? To listen to someone is a wonderfully loving and honorable act. Intimacy reflects both relationship and trust. In John 10, Jesus is described as the Good Shepherd.

It says,

“He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When He has brought out all his own, He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow him because they know His voice.” (John 10:3-4)

Ok, here is a toughie - shouldn't it be normal for a follower of Christ to be able to recognize the voice of their Savior, of the Good Shepherd? Isn't that the promise that we receive as Christian? The challenge, however is, many of us do not have our minds and hearts attuned to the voice of the Spirit. I find on a practical level that the Spirit normally speaks through sublte promptings in my mind (like Elijah's still small voice). Over time I've had to sensitize my thinking to recognize and discern what is just my crazy brain spinning in circles, making stuff up and what is the gentle, loving voice of God's Spirit.

Lastly, there is the aspect of Time.

We are all so used to receiving what we want immediately. Whether it is fast food, or pizza delivered to our house, or the reconciling of a difficult relationship. We all want instantaneous results. The reality, however, is in the area of listening it just takes time. And that is where I struggled the most. If you know me well, you know that I am seriously ADD. I know, many people say that. In fact, recently I was bemoaning the fact that I am ADD to my wife (a therapist) to which she responded back, like talk’in trash, you are not any worse than anyone else. Well, at that, she dug up a test for me to take. I have never been good at test, but I "aced" this one. I crushed it!!! Anyway, holding still and listening is just east of torture for me…at least for much of my life. I will admit that I am getting better at it as I get older. The real challenge for all of us is our minds have so much “spinning” going on, that it is very difficult to hear! We must learn to stop, to rest, to suspend input (that suspending includes FB/Twitter/iPhone/email) long enough to begin to parse out the voices in our mind.

That is the charge this new little band of brothers and sisters are attempting to live into…together. To listen for the good voice of our loving Lord to direct us into mission in our city. I can hardly think of a more challenging or privileged calling for a community to have.

Peace y'all!

r

Listen Then Act

“Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.” -Hudson Taylor

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Lk. 5:16)

I think the word “often” is there for a reason.

Catholic theologian and mystic Thomas Merton writes, “My life is a listening, His is a speaking. My salvation is to hear and respond.” What a unique and fantastic approach to salvation and communication.

For Merton, the goal of life is to listen to God and then act. Not just in his communication with God. His goal in life! Listen then act.

Just as Jesus did, we ought to listen to God and then launch into his mission, wherever that takes us. An yet, even after we’ve jumped into the mission we ought to pray more, we ought to pray often just as Jesus did for God is moving.

We make millions of decisions each day. (You’re making one right now by continuing to read this!) How many of them do you ask God to be a part of?

Listen then act. It will change everything. (Sounds like Jesus doesn’t it…)

Phil 

I know who you are

My mom has had cancer for almost five years.  She prays that she will live to see her three daughters get married.  Last summer, the first one of us daughters had her wedding in our front yard.  My mom wept: It was like God was giving back, gift-wrapped, her deepest desire that she had surrendered fully to Him.

 

One of our friends who had been battling brain cancer died last week, leaving her two sons without a parent.  One of her sons has Asperger’s syndrome and will need to live with and be cared for by her other son.  She told me once her prayer to see her first grandbaby…God didn’t grant her request.

I don’t know why God hasn’t healed my mom from cancer, and I certainly don’t understand why He would take this mother away from her young sons, never realizing her dream of seeing a grandbaby

Yet “sometimes the only way to understand is fall on your knees and say you don’t…Because God knows sometimes there is suffering beyond our knowing.

When we want to know answers, God simply wants us to know Him.

The answer to our suffering is so incomprehensible that it has to be incarnated — the Word must come to us as flesh…He came – because in all our pain, we don’t want some answers like we want a Someone”

                ~Ann Voscamp.

J.J. Heller echoes this belief in her song lyrics: “I don’t know what you’re doing, but I know who you are.”

Yet again, we hear the reverberations of this faith in the powerful words of Oswald Chambers: "Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”

This I know with all my heart: The character of God is trustworthy and steadfast.

                And I know He knows our pain: He loved enough to lose a child so we could live.

“Since the children have flesh and blood,
[I] too shared in their humanity –

so that by [my] death, [I] might break the power of him who holds the power of death—
that is, the devil—

and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

~Hebrews 2:14-15 

“There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

Jessica

Thankful

Today as I sit in my house in Portland, sipping coffee, and listening to the sweet sound of rain fall on the ground outside, I am thrust into waves of peace. I am reflecting on a month of learning, laughter, increased friendship, sorrow, and deep joy. The past three weeks I got to spend listening to amazing classmates (who I now consider friends) discuss and grow in what it means to be the church. I again learned that there is no perfect church, mostly because there is no perfect person. And in my most vulnerable moments, I have to remind myself that the church is people. Beautiful, broken, alive, and challenging people. 

We read the Gospel and understand maybe a tenth of what Jesus was trying to teach and model to us. Reading through Mark 10 and 11 a few minutes ago, I am in awe of how little I seek the Kingdom of God and instead seek the opinion of the world. How often do I stop and listen? How little do I remind myself that joy is a gift and a choice? How terrible am I at thinking of myself as a little child, hopeful that God redeems and saves? How often do I care more for my possessions than I do for my present relationship with God? 

All of these questions I examined this past term and found that there is no greater answer than the person of Christ. And for me, that begins by being thankful and being disciplined enough to listen wholeheartedly to God. So today, I don’t have any huge theological answers to how the church should function better, serve God more, or be wholly united. But I am able to live into the posture of being thankful. Thankful for a class who tested me, encouraged me, and put up with me. Thankful for a Creator who is infinitely more able and loving than I. 

Thankful.

Katherine

Move It! ‘Cause you really ‘ought to

    There is something heartfelt and immediately piercing about praising God with
movement. There is a part of ourselves, our physicality, that we have neglected in our
worship. And because of it we have lost touch with our emotional souls; our movement
and our emotions are intricately linked. It is hard to lie and keep the world out when you
are engaged in authentic movement. I have found that some of my most honest and
vulnerable moments have been when I have used movement as a form of worship.
    Our bodies, our movements, I think, are that last piece in our worship; the piece
that connects it all together. I cannot express how freeing it is to use dance and
movement to pray and worship God, and at the same time, I cannot express how hard it
was to get to that place. It is not natural for us to be open and vulnerable with each
other. It is not natural to be uninhibited in our emotion and movement. So we have
learned to worship unnaturally: keeping everything inside locked up tight. But I don’t
think God wants us to worship only with our voices; I think we glorify Him most when we
are authentic and honest with each other. And I think that we could do that better if we
all learned to move a little more; to dance a little more. David danced, after all, as did
Jesus. So why can’t we?

Zach

Eucharistic Mess

Jessica

The Primary Role of the Church

    Karl Barth’s theological address, God In Action, speaks of the church, “…the constitution and preservation of the Church rests in this, that man hears God. This is what makes it truly great and truly little.” Is this news to you? Perhaps not at first, however it is bizarre when we really think about it. Essentially, Barth is saying that two random people on the other side of the globe could be the church! Two un-ordained people congregated with listening ears and obedient hearts living out God’s mission.

    As I grew up, countless times I failed to listen to my parents, just like everyone else. I found myself joining a selfish mission. This struggle may be the same for the Church today—sheep following voices other than their Good Shepherd’s. After all, there are many voices to hear. Where do we begin?

    "Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; And listen to Israel your father.”  (Gen. 49:2 NASB) Gather together and hear. That’s our command. The Bible is covered with God’s longing for his people to listen, and communication with him is what the we should ultimately want—the Church, the Ship of Salvation, avoiding shipwrecks because the captain is heard. Like a quiet course before a golfer swings, (both the Church and individually) we ought to focus in silence to truly hear our Father speak; the rest will follow.

    Gathering together to hear God is that crucial, sometimes, we as the Church, completely skip over it. Man listening to God is a wacky ordeal. Isn’t it? Truly hearing God can be scary for you just as it is for can for your church. Yet given its mystery and challenge, there is no mission as glorious as our Father’s—our God moving and working in us and in spite of us.

Phil

Overwhelmed? Start with prayer.

By Holly

We have talked a lot about the importance of engaging our cities, neighborhoods and friends by living out the mission of the church in every day life. When God first opened my eyes to his Kingdom, and the immense amount of physical, relational and spiritual needs around me, I became overwhelmed. I am not one who likes to sit back and watch something happen; I want to make change and be a part of these amazing opportunities to love others well. For about two years now, I have struggled with the many passages in Scripture about meeting the needs of the poor and condemnation of the rich. I was constantly frustrated with myself as my wealth weighed heavily on my heart. I kept asking God, how do I live a life that is pleasing to you in my context of wealth, consumerism and materialism? Where do I start?

So, I started to pray. I would talk to God about my struggle to give in my context. I struggle with inequality and injustice. I began to pray for others, for Whitworth, for the city of Spokane. The prayer group I am a part of encouraged me to be honest with God and that when I completely surrender my life to Him, I will find freedom in my context. Through prayer and an honest community, I am beginning to let my  need to control everything go. I cannot control my context and I cannot change the world. God can and He is. As I continue to surrender myself every day to God, I begin to see the light and the hope that dwells within my friends, my church and in the city of Spokane. As I draw closer to God, he leads me to a life of sacrifice and service. You cannot do it on your own, so don’t even try. That kind of life only leads to frustration and heaviness. Pray this prayer daily into your life as you continue on this journey of mission.

“Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10