I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a spiritual person. It all began when I posted reflections a few months ago on What is a Spiritual Practice? and Reimagining our Spiritual Practices
The responses to these posts made me realize how little of my life and of the lives of many others who call themselves Christians really revolve around our faith. Most people don’t primarily encounter God in church or when reading the bible. They encounter God in the daily activities and encounters of life and in nature.
Most people I talk to encounter God much more powerfully when they are walking through the forest or when they are sitting at their work desk struggling with a problem than they do when reading the Bible. Parents see God reflected in the faces of their children, and aid workers see God reflected in the pain and the suffering of the destitute and the homeless. Prayer is more likely to be a few words of blessing or a spontaneous word of appeal to God for the conditions that tear our heart apart than it is to be a half our spent in intercession each week.
What we are not good at is helping followers of Christ to interpret these encounters in the light of the gospel story and the Bible message. Neither are we good at enabling others to recognize these events as an important part of their faith walk that need to be both encouraged and nurtured.
When we only view spiritual practices as prayer and Bible study we really do divorce ourselves from the many encounters with God that occur throughout the day and we make it very difficult for those around us to fully enter into the gospel story as it is reflected in their daily lives. We talk about the life, death and resurrection of Christ but the only place that we enable others to encounter that reality is when they go to church or read the bible. Which reminded me of a comment someone made to me years ago that I have never forgotten -
Don’t you think that pastors and church leaders are preparing us to live in the world they inhabit not the world that most of us live in?
I think that this statement has a lot of truth to it and the ways that we practice our faith and teach others to practice faith really reflects it. I wonder are we blind to the spirituality of the world around us because we live in a world of sermon preparation and book writing in which life seems to revolve around scripture, prayer and the reading of books?
So this post is an invitation. Over the summer I intend to do several posts on “What is a spiritual practice?” and would like to invite you to participate either by posting a guest post on my blog here or by posting on your own blog where I can link to your article.
We all need to learn more of what it means to be spiritual people and how to practice our faith 24/7 in ways that connect to the world we live in and the cultures that we are a part of. So this is an invitation to join a summer learning party and join us in deepening your faith and in sharing ideas that can help others deepen their faith. If you are interested please comment on this post.
Filed under: Christianity, Kingdom of God, life, spirituality Tagged: | Prayer, spiritual practices, spirituality
Great post Christine!
When it comes down to it – I think often our idea of how GOD relates to us is only in certain contexts. Maybe this leads to the idea that we can only be ‘spiritual’ in certain contexts.
Maybe if we can learn to see that JESUS is LORD of all creation and not merely Lord of the four walls of the church (or of my personal devotional prayer time) we can begin to recover the idea that there is no dualism in walking in the Holy Spirit. We are the same people and He is the same Creator/Redeemer whether we are online commenting on a blog-post or singing hymns in a suit on a Sunday.
A new integrity of life and consistency of purpose will mean we learn to see that GOD’s omnipresence is a practical reality – and that we must walk with Him in every aspect of our daily lives. But it is a choice to be hospitable to GOD -we can shun or invite Him always.
GOD will break our boxes if we let Him, but first we must be willing to abandon them. We are less spiritual than we think (in our false contexts) but we are effortlessly spiritual at all times as we learn to be immersed in His Kingdom as we get the mail.
The summer learning party sounds fun! I’m in!
Jason,
A strong amen to all you say here. I think that it is time that we break out of our boxes. I keep coming back to the fact that I once read that Celtic Christians were described as God intoxicated people. I suspect that they knew what it meant to be immersed in the kingdom of God in this way.
I loved reading this post – just what a busy new mother needs to hear! I don’t know how much I have to share but if something comes to mind I would love to participate and will definitely be reading!
Forgot to say – would it be ok if i link this post to my facebook or blog? Some of my family and friends might be interested too.
Mika,
So glad that this spoke to you. I would love it if you would post it on your blog & facebook. I want this to be a way for all of us to learn from each other – especially from those who don’t normally get a chance to share
I find I encounter the Divine when I’m both Quilting and Cooking… especially when it is a gift for another…
I have also sense the “Safe Place” of our Source when travelling alone.
Christine, I haven’t been around the blog world much lately, but I’m so glad that upon coming back into it this was one of the first blogs I read. Such great thoughts. I can totally see in my own life how most of the times that I look back on as being truly spiritual were times that were outside of a church setting and outside of the normal ways I grew up being told I should experience God. I have a feeling this blog will be one that keeps bouncing around in my head for a while, and maybe if some of those thoughts end up in blog form I’d love to join your “summer learning party”
Bethany,
Thanks for the encouragement. I think that this could be a fun and instructive learning time – especially over the summer when the focus of many is away from the church
I have been meandering through a book by Barbara Brown Taylor called “An Altar in the World” where she talks about “being lost” as a spiritual discipline. It really caught my imagination. Not only lost physically, but emotionally, spiritually, relationally. I can relate to that. She sees it as a holy time, a time when God can break in. He specializes in lostness. To see our lost times as GOOD instead of BAD. Anyway, great idea Christine.
I’ve come here to read this at Mika’s invitation. Over at “One Flew” we are talking about something quite similar:
http://www.oneflewoverthechurch.com/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=64
For me, God is in everything. As I write in the above link, God is just as much in the Fibonacci sequence as He is in Dandelions…and all of His creation is delightful! It is this child-like wonder at Him and His Creation that underpins my spirituality. It keeps me humble and aware and expectant; I expect to see God, to hear God, to know God everywhere and at every moment…even at 54 years old.
It is too easy to lose this after a lifetime of “hard knocks”. Life today too readily makes one cynical and hard.
But unless one is as a little child…
I pray we all remember our child-like selves.
Dear Christine, I am very interested in participating. This week is full. I’ll be back in touch next week. In Christ, Tom
Christine, I’m looking forward to the continuing posts on this topic. I firmly believe that going to church or reading the bible or praying can be external practices done to make us feel as though we are good Christians. I love exploring expressions of faith that are real and vital, not expected or practiced.
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