GPS Navigation as a Spiritual Practice

Tom & I with Gary & Ev in Melbourne

This morning for the series What is A Spiritual Practice I am posting two articles by  Gary Heard .  Gary is pastor at a small in inner city Baptist church in Melbourne Australia called The Eighth Day.   The first article is  What are We Ministering Towards, He and his wife Ev have become good friends through years of sharing ministry interspersed with much fun, fellowship and food.

Jesus picked up and used the hands-on images of his day to depict the work of God – ploughs, pigs, lilies, mustard seeds… Not many of them resonate with our present experience, although they are somewhere within our knowledge bank. What images of the kingdom resonate in our 21st century environment, and how do they help us imagine God’s ideal future? Reflecting on the Navman in my car driving experience is just one example of how we might reconsider our tools as images of God’s purposes. read the entire article

Have you ever thought about using your GPS system to direct you as a spiritual practice?  In this second article Gary reflects on this useful devise that all of us have come to rely on so quickly.

Since Christmas there has been a new voice in our car as we travel, guiding us through the city streets. We have learnt a new language from this voice: “at the roundabout, take the second exit,” and “exit onto highway 82” – not our usual terms for giving directions. The in-car navigation is certainly a step up from a paper map in many ways. After keying in the address, we set off, the silence (or conversation) occasionally punctuated by a friendly robotic voice offering directions. The only problem with this device is its lack of intimate knowledge about directions, often pushing down side streets with speed humps, or directing us toward situations which are known traffic snarls. There are times I’d like it to exhibit a little sass in its personality: “Are you deaf? You were supposed to turn left back there!” where instead it takes a few moments to recalibrate and offer fresh directions.  Read the entire article

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