Exercise #4

Unplugging

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“Spaciousness is always a beginning, a possibility, a potential, a capacity for birth.” –Gerald May

“What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? ²³ All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.” –Ecclesiastes 2:22-23

“¹Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” –Ephesians 5:1-2

“¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.”-Deuteronomy 8:10-11

What is unplugging? Unplugging calls us to leave the virtual world of technology and information in order to become present to God and others.

Excerpt from “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us” by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun:
“It is not uncommon for my first two days after vacation to be technological marathon. Phone calls and hundreds of emails demand attention, swamping all face-to-face communication. I hunker down and proceed to “interact” without ever looking into anyone else’s eyes or sorting out the cues of body language. Once the electronic swamp is cleared away I settle into life as normal. Normal life includes hours of staring at a computer screen, where I answer email and write sermons and talks. The internet is constantly at my disposable to help my “interaction” with colleagues. Normalcy includes having a cell phone, which makes me available and interruptible at meals, in the middle of conversations, in meetings. Normalcy also includes meetings where people type notes into computers-all the while looking down rather than at the face of the presenter. The more I think about this, the more I wonder if Richard Mouw isn’t right when he suggests that there is no “inter” on the Net. The galaxy of information the World Wide Web has offered me has fragmented my world and my relationships and left me alone. Unplugging recognizes that personal beings are created for personal interaction by a personal God. We need to be in the presence of each other. Digital connections are not enough to keep us healthy. We need to be touched. We need nonverbal signals. We need uninterrupted spaces in our lives for the presence of God and the presence of others.

Goal for this week: to be fully present to and uninterrupted in interaction with God and others

Other Resources to consider:
The Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster
The Shattered Lantern by Ronal Rolheiser
The Unknown God by Alister McGath

MONDAY
Answer these questions to help prepare the week ahead
_how has technology influenced your relationships?
_are you online for both work and pleasure?
_what sort of temptations does cyberspace hold for you?
_where are you using technology to avoid face to face encounters?
_how much time do you spend on the computer, the phone, watching tv, etch each week?
*pray for the week ahead as you unplug a little each day


TUESDAY
Plan today as a “no email” day. If you do not have email, decide on another item to avoid today. Do not check, look or respond to any emails at all today. Leave it closed and turned off as you spend 24hrs away. Each time you want to open your email, stop and spend 2 minutes in prayer to God. Instead of ‘catching up’ pray with God.
WEDNESDAY
Plan today as a “no news” day. Don’t watch the newscast, don’t read the paper. Avoid news media in all shapes and forms today. The times you would spend reading the paper or watching the news, pray to God for at least 5 minutes. When you are tempted to check the headlines on the computer, pray to God for 2 minutes. Instead of being connected to the news of the world, connect to God and share news with Him.


THURSDAY
Plan today to write a letter to someone. Perhaps it’s your spouse, child or friend. Instead of an email or a phone call, sit down and write them a hand written note. Instead of writing someone quickly and ‘efficiently’ with an email or phone call, write someone personally and more intimately with a letter.


FRIDAY
Plan today as a “no phone” day. Turn off the cell phone, don’t answer the home phone. Avoid the phone today. Don’t worry. It’s for only 24hrs and I guarantee you if you are needed, someone will find you. Against all beliefs, we do not need phones to survive. I promise. Each time you want to answer the phone or call someone, spend at least 5 minutes in prayer to God. Take that time to pause for a moment and talk to God rather others over the phone.


SATURDAY
The big challenge today is to have a “no electronics” day. Turn everything off. Avoid everything. Don’t it all off and leave it off for one day. But, maybe you’re not ready. That’s ok. Choose one thing you will turn off today. Perhaps it’s something you exercise earlier in the week or something else you’ve thought of. Turn it off and keep it off for one day. When you are tempted or want to use it, stop and pray to God for at least 2 minutes each time. Remember, the whole idea is to connect to God more than things.

Exercise #3

Journaling
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“The meaning of earthly existence is not, as we have grown used to thinking, in prosperity, but in the development of the soul.” -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.” -Psalm 16:7

“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths.” -Psalm 25:4

“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” -Psalm 119:18

What is journaling? Journaling is a tool for reflecting on God’s presence, guidance and nurture in daily coming and goings. Journals can be kept regularly or during time of transition.

Excerpt from “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us” by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun:
“In a consumer society it’s easy to accumulate experiences, believing the more we have the better! Yet experiences don’t necessarily bring wisdom, nor do they automatically transform us. We need to listen and reflect on our experiences in the presence of the Holy Spirit to learn from them. Journaling is a way of paying attention to our lives- a way of knitting the vast ball of our experiences into something with shape that attests to the state of our soul. Fredrick Buechner reminds us in Listening to Your Life that “there is no chance thing through which God cannot speak.” On the pages of a journal, in the privacy of a moment, we can take tentative steps into truth and scour our feelings, hurts, ideas and struggles before God. Over time repetitious themes, sins, compulsions, hopes and concerns emerge. We begin to recognize our besetting sins, limitations and desires. During times of transition, travel, loss, joy, illness and decision making, journaling can provide a way of processing the hopes, fears, longing, angers and prayers of our heart. It can be the place we sound off before God so we don’t sound in an inappropriate way to others. The ongoing nature of a journal catalogs the journey of a soul into God.

Goal for this week: to be alert to life through writing and reflecting on God’s presence and activity in, around and through you.

Other Resources to consider:
An Ordinary Day with Jesus by John Ortberg and Ruth Barton
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life byDonald S. Whitney

*There are no daily questions or specific exercise in journaling this week. Use your journal (a pad of paper, sheets of a paper, etc) as a place for your unedited thoughts, feelings and reactions. Out of this overflow ask the Holy Spirit to form a godly response in you. Write the response you hear from God and speak to him through journaling. Last week was “inhaling,” this week is a concentrated exercise in “exhaling.” It’s an exercise to speak to God and to bring your feelings and thoughts to paper in order to know more fully your relationship with God.

Exercise #2

Contemplative Prayer
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“Prayer is not primarily saying words or thinking thoughts. It is, rather, a stance. It’s a way of living in the presence.’” – Richard Rohr

“Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.” –Romans 8:26-27 (The Message)

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” –2 Corinthians 3:17-18

“This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple.” –Colossians 1:26-27 (The Message)

What is contemplative prayer? It is a receptive posture of openness toward God. It is a way of waiting with a heart awake to God’s presence and his Word. This kind of prayer intentionally trusts and rests in the presence of the Holy Spirit deep in our own spirit.

Excerpt from “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us” by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun:
“We often associate prayer with the words we say. Contemplative prayer is a way of being with God that does not depend on giving the holy One information about what we would like done in the world. Just as friends can enjoy one another without conversing, contemplative prayer is a way of being with God without wordiness. In contemplative prayer we rest and wait. Keeping our hearts alert and awake to the presence of God and his Word, we listen. Psalm 131 contains a wonderful image of a weaned child stilled and quieted in its mother’s arms. A weaned child isn’t looking to nurse. A weaned child comes to the mother for love and communion. The psalmist writes, “I have stilled and quieted my soul; / like a weaned child with its mother, ‘like a weaned child is my soul within me. In contemplative prayer we rest in God, depending on him to initiate communion and communication.”

Goal for this week: to practice an open and restful receptivity to God that enables you to always be with God just as you are.

Other Resources to consider:
The Way of the Heart by Henry Nouwen The Awakened Heart by Gerald May

Monday:
: Is your prayer mostly one sided monologue with God? Do your prayers end to dictate to God what you would like to see happen? Are your prayers a response to God’s initiative in your life? What does this tell you about your understanding of prayer? (answer these questions on a separate sheet of paper)

: Determine a place where you can pray un-interrupted. Sit in a chair and close your eyes. Notice your breathing and nothing else. Take deep, deliberate breaths where you focus on nothing but this. Set an alarm for 5 minutes and allow that to interrupt you rather than looking at a clock every minute. Do nothing but concentrate on your breath for 5 minutes today.

Tuesday:
: Read John 15:4. What does it mean to remain in Christ?

: Determine a time ahead where you can spend 10 un-interrupted minutes for prayer. Sit in a chair straight up, hands out resting on your legs with your palms up. Notice your breathing, taking deep intentional breaths. Use this phrase and nothing else to keep your focus on God: “Lord, Jesus my Savior, have mercy on me a sinner.” Set an alarm for 10 minutes and let that tell you when time is up rather than looking at a clock every minute. Remember, contemplative prayer is a time to be receptive rather than talking. Let God talk to you while concentrate on him.

Wednesday: : Do you feel like being in the presence of God is not the same thing as prayer? Does it seem like wasting time?
: Again, determine a place where you can have 10 un-interrupted minutes alone. Before you begin, select a passage of scripture (your favorite something at random). Read about 2-3 verses of that passage and notice what word or phrase stuck out to you. Take that phrase into your prayer time. Sit in a chair, close your eyes with your hands on your lap with your palms up. Notice your breathing while you take deep intentional breaths. The only thing you say for ten minutes is the word or phrase that stuck out to you. You could try to repeat the phrase as you breathe in or out each time. Allow that alarm clock to interrupt you.


Thursday:
:Determine a place where you can have 10 un-interrupted minutes of prayer today. Take your Bible, unopened and set it in front of you. Sit in a chair with your hands resting on your lap with your palms up. Keep your eyes fixed on your Bible and nothing else (for this you’ll want to be in a place where you won’t be distracted even with your eyes open). Concentrate on your Bible repeating this phrase and nothing else, “Lord, my God speak to me.” Repeat this phrase with your breathing. Be consistent and pay attention to your breath.


Friday:
: Take a moment and reflect on your four days of contemplative prayer so far. How has it worked or not worked for you this week? What has been beneficial or difficult this week?
:Determine a place where you can have un-interrupted prayer time. You decide how long today. Set your alarm, close your eyes with your hands in your lap, palms up. Take slow, deliberate breaths. Say this as you inhale, “Lord my God have mercy on me.” And say this as you exhale, “A sinner.”


Saturday: looking at Jesus
:Determine a place where you can have un-interrupted prayer time. You decide how long today and see if you can go the longest yet this week. Also, choose the “style” from this week that you resonated with best. Take that specific practice and make it your contemplative prayer time today.

Exercise Guide-Rule of Life

Each week through our "Spiritual Laziness" study, I will post our Exercise Guides here. These weekly guides will help us and challenge us to practice the week's spiritual practice. This week is a bit different from the upcoming weeks. This week will help us reflect and begin to think of ways we can engage God daily.

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“It is my conviction that our heavenly Father says the same to us every day: ‘My dear child, you must always remember who you are.’” – John Stott

“For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.” –Deuteronomy 30:16

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” –John 10:10

What is a Rule of Life? A rule of life offers unique and regular rhythms that free and open each person to the will and presence of Christ. The spiritual practices of a rule provide a way to partner with the Holy Spirit for personal transformation

Excerpt from “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us” by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun:
“We all have rules like “Do your best.” “Never give up.” “Never say never.” “Just do it.” These mottos tether us to certain behaviors and attitudes so we can, in the words of another rule, “be all we can be.” They help us live toward what we most want. Developing a “rule of life” is a way of being intentional about the personal rhythms and guidelines that shape our days. One of the early Christian rules for life is found in Acts 2:42. Here we find that believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” This rule shaped their lives and hearts in the circumstances they were in. It acknowledged the impossibility of becoming like Christ through effort alone. The rule offered disciplines that made space to attend to the supernatural presence of the Trinity at work in and among them. The rule of the early church described distinct practices that were different than the cultural norms. Over the years Christians have developed rules and rhythms for living that center their lives in living Christ rather than the world.”

Goal for this week: to slowly develop a “rule of life” that will begin to engage you into practices that connect you to God. Your rule is not life-locking, but rather a step in this process of not being spiritual lazy, but rather engaging God through various forms so that we can connect more deeply to Him. The exercises of this week can be and probably should be re-visited over our entire study.

Other Resources for a Rule of Life:
Always We Begin Again: The Benedictine Way of Living by John McQuiston III The Way of the Heart by Henry Nouwen Living with Contradiction by Esther de Wall Soul Feast by Marjorie Thompson

Monday: Questions to begin with (grab a sheet of paper to answer these with)
:When and Where do you feel closest to God?
:Pay attention to the experiences, practices and relationships that draw you toward God. Are there particular practices that open you to God?
:What is most important to you?
:What gives you a sense of security and self-worth?
:What would people who know you best say it’s like to live and work with you?
:Where do your relationships need attention?

Tuesday: More Questions that help in developing a rule
:What receives the most attention in your life? Spouse? Job? Family? Friends? Hobbies?
:If you had six months to live, how would you spend your time?
:If you could write your own eulogy, what would you say?
:What do you currently do to realize your goals and desires? Work? Study? Pray? Socialize? Which of these things help or hinder your spiritual journey?
:What spiritual practices suit your daily, monthly and yearly rhythms? What do you do now regularly?
:Where do you want to change? Where do you feel powerless to change?

Wednesday: Read Psalm 16 and answer these reflective questions :What unspoken rules govern your life right now?
:How do you determine what you will and won’t do?
:Does the idea of a rule for your life appeal to you? Why or why not?
:How has being disciplined affected your life?
:How does a rule for life differ from a mission statement?


Thursday: writing a rule
:after three days of thinking more deeply and reflecting on your answers, begin to write a rule of life. Remember this is a rule to help you connect to God. This is not life-locking, but rather a start to our study through these practices together. This is not your final draft, but only a start. If you need help, you can Google “St. Benedict Rule for Life” and quickly get a glimpse of a rule that many are based on today.


Friday: reflecting and changing the rule
:You’ve had an entire day with what you wrote. What do you like most about what your wrote? What do you like least?
:in what ways will your rule of life as it is today encourage you and draw you closer to God?
:how is your rule as it is today get you off the couch and get spiritually actice?
:now, feel free to make changes and alterations to your rule


Saturday: looking at Jesus
:Open up the Gospels and consider the disciplines that consistently thread their way through Jesus’ life. How do they shape what he did or didn’t do?

You Can Change

You can change. But not in a way that may first come to mind. In our world we think of change as "moving up the ladder" or "becoming happier." We are programmed by our culture to change for the "better" and to make your life more "meaningful" through the things you don't have....yet. I believe there is a greater, more Godly event to take place when we truly open ourselves to change.

Let's notice a couple of things of what I just said first. Our world is built on a pursuit of happiness based on possessions and status. I do not believe this is change or change for the better. Real life transforming change occurs when we allow God in. 

This is vital. Change occurs not through the actions of accumulating and taking, but through letting go and openness to God himself.

Now, I am not trying to be presumptuous in this blog by saying, "You must change right now or else." I am not even trying to pretend I know your needs or situation or thinking. What I am assuming, if anything, is that there are areas of all our lives that we may not be satisfied with or actions we take or reactions we often take that do not bring out the best in us. Parts of us we wish we could change, but perhaps we have resigned ourself to the fact we can't change or to the cultural message that we need Axe deodorant spray to truly be happy or to save 15% on our car insurance to make a big step in our financial freedom. 

Maybe more than anything else, I am writing these thoughts because I am someone who often thinks like this and needs to be reminded of God's transforming power and not my changing ability. The areas, the relationships, the actions I take that I am not satisfied with and want to desperately change occur when I open myself to God.

Let's begin with the fact that every day we say "yes" and "no" to God. You will not change by your ability and power, but by saying "Yes, God please change me." You are step 1 of the change process. More than that, the life transforming power. We have to stop saying "no" to God and start saying "yes." Then and only then, when we have allowed God to work we will change.

This is difficult because this requires release. Openness to God I believe comes when we release our self, desire and wants. The things and things we try to acquire are obstacles in our ability to deepen our relationship with God. They alter our priorities and vision. Distract us from God. When we choose money over God, we are saying "no" to God. Essentially we are placing something else above the true God.

Perhaps we need to bring ourselves to a point where we are conscious of these choices and what they spiritually mean. Once we realize how our choices are saying "yes" or "no" to God then we can be aware of the obstacles that stand in the way of us being transformed by God.

N.T. Wright in his book After You Believe makes the statement, "Behavior is of course massively habit-forming." This isn't necessarily ground breaking, but a great reminder that our actions, the things we do create habits. In this sense, the things we do create habits of God or something else. Saying "yes" or saying "no."

Now, you are the first step to the change. Perhaps the most shallow prayers to God are the one's that ask God to change them and then sit around waiting for it to take place with no effort or consciousness to those areas separating us from God. It's like the prayer for patience and yet when opportunities to practice patience happens, we grow angry because God isn't answering our prayer. In reality, our prayer for patience creates opportunities for us to say "yes" to God and allow Him to be present in these im-patient situations while we consciously work on our patience. Too often we ask God and wait around and expect God to be a magic genie with no effort or work.

N.T. Wright in the same book makes this point as well by saying, "When people consistently make choices about their patterns of behavior, physical changes take place within the brain itself." His point here is that people's conscious actions "train" themselves, much like an athlete, to take on the virtues of Christ. That again, much like an athlete, conscious practice and time must be spent on realizing the areas that need work. In short (and in my words) change can happen when we consciously practice the areas we are wanting/needing to change.

The prayer for God to change us is a great one. The fault of us is thinking we are done. God's transforming power allows these opportunities of practice, where real change can occur.

I enjoy the home make-over shows. Name one, I like it. The problem I have with these shows is the fact that these homes are renovated so quickly. From experience, home renovations take time. It's a piece here and project there. Take your yard as an example. I've worked on a yard once before and am currently working on getting our yard pretty. In these home make over shows, the yard is at mature, beautiful age within two days. Everything is in place. Everything is green and gorgeous. The problem is, a yard doesn't work that way. Maybe more so today, but trees, shrubs and grass take time and care to cultivate to a mature and beautiful yard.

You get my point here? Change doesn't happen the next morning. Change occurs over time with much attention and work. If I allow the weeds in my work-in-progress yard to grow, they will take over. I think this analogy could be used for many areas of life, but very true for this conversation. You can change, but you have to do your part.

Doing our part doesn't take God out of the picture. I think it honors God. Going back to our prayer for patience; we pray for patience but in order for us to become more patient, we must practice and cultivate patience. Does't this conscious decision and action honor God? It's not taking God away, but recognizing God provides the opportunities and strength for us to change. In our yard, we can plant, manicure and water, but God is the only who can make it grow. The things we don't want to grow will come up without our help, but our attention to the yard will allow God's good, beautiful things to grow.

If you're still reading, thanks. Let me close with a quick example from my own life.

I remember a couple of conscious decisions to change in my life. One of the more recent decisions was when my gentle wife made me aware of the fact that I become "grumpy" and "mean" and "short" when I was hungry or tired. I didn't even notice my behavior during these times. But she did and she noticed it wasn't a kind characteristic  and one that was ultimately hurting my family.

I can remember driving to dinner and being "angry" and having this conversation and realizing it was true. I prayed to God and made a decision right then and there that I would change.

I've messed up since that decision. I've reverted back to "mean" Travis at these times, but when I do I catch myself (or my family does). I pray for God to help. I apologize and become even more aware of the behavior and more aware to not act that way.

Now, I can't tell you what my family would say, but I feel like I've made some great strides in this negative behavior that was hurtful to others. I'm not perfect, but I am conscious. I am aware and trying to cultivate a more Godly behavior rather than a mean spirited one.

It's not a change that I can acquire. But it is one that God can accomplish when I cultivate the pattern for it. When I say "yes" to God through my choices and actions, I provide the groundwork to be in a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God. Not through my possessions.

You can change. I know it's true because I've seen God change me, but only when I open myself to Him.