Last week I began this series I so innovatively (a doug-ism, apparently) entitled, “wisdom for wednesday” - if you haven’t a clue - you can catch up by reading last weeks post, here.

This week our wisdom is again taken from The Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton (p. 25-26).

“A brother asked one of the elders: ‘What good thing shall I do, and have life thereby?’

The older man replied: ‘God alone knows what is good. However, I have heard it said that someone inquired of Father Abbot Nisteros the great, the friend of Abbot Anthony, asking: what good work shall I do? and that he replied:

Not all works are alike. For Scripture says that Abraham was hospitable and God was with him. Elias loved solitary prayer, and God was with him. And David was humble, and God was with him.

Therefore, whatever you see your soul to desire according to God, do that thing, and you shall keep your heart safe.’”

As summer approaches (culturally it is here - with Memorial Day behind us, school ending and AC’s humming all around) I return every year to meditate on the season of heat. With the earth rotating so that the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun - we have longer periods of sunlight, hotter temperatures and unpredictable storms. Growing up in Florida I have come to enjoy the changing of the seasons (in Florida there is one season - hot - okay two: hot and HOTTER & Humid). And it has taken me some time to “warm back up” to Summer. In the past few years I really have come to appreciate the warming of our days (It is still probably my least favorite season - but I appreciate it none-the-less).

With Summer we see the explosion of color - the grass and trees find the greenest of green and the flowers bloom with vibrant yellows, “radish-y” reds, plum-like purples and fiery oranges and every shade in-between. It seems to happen so quickly - one day you plant this tiny plant and it seems overnight what once was so fragile and on the edge of life has blossomed into a vibrant and vital flowering factory. It never ceases to amaze me. Now - I don’t go wild at my home. We are no burgeoning plant nursery or anything - but we plant a few annuals and try to keep up with a simple, tidy garden or two - but the bit we do does me good. It forces me outside. I am connected to soil, air, and water; pulling me from the artificial and controlled environment of my plaster and plastic world. It calls me to the now of watering, weeding, tending and noticing that is essential even in elementary gardening. It reminds me of God: The Gardner, the One who causes growth, the Creator, the Sustainer, and in a mysterious way - Life itself.

The seasons. Summer. Heat, light, sweat, thunder storms, wind, laughter, bright colors and nights full of stars - don’t miss it huddling next to the Air Conditioner, grumping about electric bills and the price of gas to take a vacation to the beach. Get outside your own four walls and put your toes in the soil and water a daisy. I have found getting outside in the summer time is not only fun, but it is good for our insides, as well.

from the sayings of the Desert Mothers and Fathers (a paraphrase by Merton)…

The Desert Mothers and Fathers sayings have been gathered in numerous anthologies by the Orthodox and Roman church. These hermits of the Egyptian desert formed the basis for the formation of formal monasticism and give us a glimpse at a literal following of Jesus’ teaching. The sayings of our spiritual ancestors which I will share on Wednesdays for the for-seeable future are primarily taken from the hermits of Scete who fled the “worldly” habitation of the Roman Empire during the 3rd and 4th century.

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“Once two brothers were sitting with Abbot Poemen and one praised the other brother saying: ‘He is a good brother, he hates evil.’

The old man said, ‘What do you mean, he hates evil?’

And the brother did not know what to reply. So he said, ‘Tell me, Father, what it is to hate evil?’

The Father said, ‘That man hates evil who hates his own sins, and looks upon every brother as a saint, and loves him as a saint.’”

[from The Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton p. 70-71]

“a long loving gaze at the real…”

photo credit from Mike Raether.com

This is completely and utterly fascinating. What a wonderful conversation - Krista Tippett is a wonderful host and opens up a wonderful dialogue.

I listened and watched completely enraptured.

I won’t spew out any of my opinions and muddy this beautiful and helpful dialogue about such a complex issue.

Check it out here.
(you can download an mp3 of the edited version - and you can view a video of the complete discussion - check out the page completely)

ht - Mike King

A couple of weekends ago I had the opportunity to spend some time in a quiet spiritual retreat. It was a much needed and great opportunity. I spent a good portion of my time watching birds and sitting on a porch (when I wasn’t facilitating a couple of sessions).

My awareness of God and my time listening was pretty keen - which shocked me!

I held on to four words from my time… they were:

ALL
Will
Be
Well

The four words heard at four separate times made a pretty cool phrase.

Pretty amazing.

I am/was encouraged.

It is such a beautiful and glorious thing when heaven touches earth. It is always an awe inspiring moment to glimpse some evidence of God’s Kingdom revealed here. It is what I sensed as I read the post written by Jeremy Bouma.

For two years I taught middle school in a rural Virginia school. It was a meaning-filled and life-changing experience - one I treasure to this day, with great memories, so many lessons learned and besides what I gained, I loved teaching. It also gave me a new perspective on what kids (and my child) endure at school - the stresses, the competitiveness, the social pressure and for many the cruelty of their peers. I also witnessed the special kind of rudeness that many kids reserved for the lunch room (often at the expense of those who served them).

So it was especially touching to read Jeremy’s post, here is how he begins,

So about a month ago a high school senior whom I mentor at the church I’ve begun interning at wrote me an email. Here is a piece of it:

Oh! And I have a question for Jon, but I’ll run it by you quick too. I want to organize a dinner for our lunch ladies at school. Do you think it’d be possible to use the kitchen and tables at Fellowship? Cam and I have been chatting about it a little bit, and thought it was a good location, if it all worked out.

I positively melted!

Two graduating seniors from a local public high school wanted to love on the ladies who have served them for four years by providing a dinner at our church!

How
cool
is
that?!

Continue reading Jeremy’s post entitled, This Is Why I Do What I Do here.

ht - light lady

The Association of Youth Ministry Educators published a study back in 2002 and I just stumbled across it. It would be terrific for someone to follow up and see if the findings are still true. They measured a ton of stuff among active and former youth workers - studying length of tenure in youth ministry locations; age when a person began the ministry; salary information; as well as satisfaction or “well-being” in a number of categories.

The issue that jumped out at me for obvious reasons was, most former youth workers (over 70%) reported that their relationship with God improved dramatically upon leaving full-time youth work.

That should tell us something.

It seems to me that the current or dominant models of “doing” youth ministry are not healthy for those who are carrying it out. Or the majority of those who are carrying out the dominant models of youth ministry are employing the current ministry models in a fashion that is detrimental to their spiritual health.

Something needs to change. This is unacceptable.

It is an older study - but I have a hunch based solely on my own anecdotal evidence gathered over many breakfasts and lunches with youth workers over the past few years - and I bet a new study would find very similar findings.

———————–
ADDENDUM - by the way my own experience reinforces the findings of this study.

Do you get those crazy questions or thoughts that won’t let you go? They just keep rolling around in your mind - hitting you when you least expect it or hounding you when all you want to do is “veg-out?” Those mosquitoes on the mind just keep buzzing and buzzing in a threatening kind of way. I have had one of those suckers poking about my mind and heart the past couple of days - don’t know where it came from or when it will leave cause the question gets too close to “what it’s all about.” It is a question that I think right now I can’t answer the way I “should.” The answer is too revealing and disappointing.

I wish I could just smack this mosquito and put an end to this buzzing in my head.

The question:
Am I living from a posture or position of willfulness or willingness?

[Willfulness being a posture of stiff-armed distance that projects, “I am in control here;” and willingness is the position of the Gethsemane prayer, “not my will, but Thine be done.”]

Ministry can be a deceptive thing. We can begin to do ministry as a big fish in a small pond mentality pretty quickly (starting to think ministry is about us - rather than the bigger picture of being a small part of God’s grand epic - the unfolding and revealing of God’s Kingdom). We can begin to have poor motives - ambition; success mentality and using people to forward our own agenda can all start to seep in and get mixed into our “ministry approach.”

So how do we avoid or at least attempt to keep our motives and ministry approaches fresh and pure? Regular time away with God and laying our motives before Him can be a great practice. Another simple practice is inviting a trusted friend who knows you and your ministry for feedback providing us another perspective on how we are doing. It takes rigorous discipline and some uncomfortable practices to serve God well and according to His will and way.

In that spirit here are 10 questions that could help in revealing and correcting our motives that can cloud and corrupt our best ministry.

Ten Questions: Ministry
By Craig Groeschel

1. Is our vision so big that we obviously can’t accomplish it without God?

2. Am I doing ministry from memory or from fresh direction from God?

3. What ministry (or program or meeting) has lost its effectiveness and should be stopped?

4. Is there a person who needs to be moved to another role (or removed), and I haven’t done it?

5. What faith risk is God calling me to take?

6. Have I repented to my team at least once in the last year for a failure in leadership?

7. Have I done everything in my power to make sure my team is living without unconfessed sin?

8. Am I expressing love and care for my team members’ families?

9. Am I living with delayed obedience toward God in any area of leadership?

10. Is Jesus my sole motivation for ministry or has my motivation become clouded?