I have been thinking as I have fumbled about my small farmette quite a bit about the topic of how I approach God. This is a shift in the way I have thought about prayer and worship. For many years I was glad to think about prayer methods and pray forms, as well as, God’s role in prayer - but lately…

I am thinking that our approach to prayer and more importantly our approach to the Person of our prayers is worthy of my consideration. As I have thought about this, I began to think it would be a worthy topic for this blog. So I will be posting some short (or maybe shorter) thoughts on this idea. I am not a golfer - but I know the “approach shot” is critical to beating or making par. I am not a pilot - but the approach to the runway… well it goes without saying. I am a husband and a father - and the way I approach my daughter or my wife makes a difference between tears and a cold shoulder or a smile and hug. So, I think it is with our Creator and Redeemer. So - On the Approach - first take:

Our Approach is Communal:

“He who has not the Church as there Mother, has not God as there Father.” Cyprian

As I approach God I have been thinking that it is important to know that I don’t come alone. Although I may be alone (as Jesus put it - “shut in my closet”) yet, I have been taught to pray, “Our Father,” “Give us” and “Forgive us.” All plural phrases (Mt. 6.6-ff)… I also keep in mind that reference from the author of Hebrews who reminds us that there is a “cloud of witnesses” about us as we pursue our faith (He 12.1,2).

So as I approach God communally it reminds me:
1. It is not about me. There is little room for independence (my way; my wants; my demands or my ‘best interest’) - but acres of area for interdependence.
2. God’s story and mission involves and is big enough to embrace me - but it is not merely for me or featuring me.
3. Prayer involves interceding on behalf of others.
4. Prayer places me in community and incorporates me into God and the Body of Christ. As I approach God communally I find my identity and my purposes in the midst of the Trinity and God’s body - the Church.
5. I don’t come before God alone; I am joined by Saints living and asleep and with Jesus and the Spirit of God on my behalf.

Some recent thoughts on our approach… we approach God in a communal manner and there find communion.

I know it is a leap - but given that you buy into the premise from the earlier post, what are the implications for youth ministry of reconciling a divorce between a rational and systematic theological approach with a more holistic faith and practical theology? That is the topic I would like to make an attempt at addressing here.

1. Restoring doubt as a companion to faith
For too long, doubt has been demonized in Christianity. Doubting Thomas has been ridiculed, doubt is perceived as sin and at times the reason why our lives go awry or prayers unanswered. The problem with this - is that besides being inaccurate, it introduces unneeded stress to young people causing them to wonder, “if I doubt, have I fallen out of relationship with God and Christ?” The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty. In the face of a certain thing - faith is not necessary. We know without faith it is impossible to please God - so faith is absolutely essential in this journey of the Christian Faith. With faith - hoping in the face of uncertainty - doubt will accompany us. This is what we must help young people understand - that when we doubt, it provides the opportunity to exercise trust in our Good, Great and Merciful God. Our teaching must move away from making our faith “bullet proof” and allow for the shadows, the mystery and the dark corners that result in being in relationship with the God of the Universe (who was a “cloud” by day and pillar of fire by night - both images don’t provide the incandescent certainty we might desire!?). Such a view of doubt will allow for young people to enter a relationship built on genuine trust and faith (rather than facts and certainty - that are really not possible this side of eternity).

2. Versus verses - recapturing the narrative
In the past 100 or more years we have surgically dissected the bible transforming it from a narrative to a prescription of points, propositions and principles (NOTE - most things dissected are no longer living?!). It isn’t unusual for a youth pastor or preacher to build a whole message on the basis of one or two verses - out of which a number of points and “living principles” might be taught. While this isn’t the end of the world - I don’t think it gets at the intended purpose of why God gave us the revelation contained in the Older and New Testament. The narrative of the Bible shares one over arching story told to us through hundreds of smaller stories. I would encourage us to get back to relearning and helping young people encounter and begin to live within this story that continues to unfold. I think we need to get beyond the numeric verses to the whole story. Seeing our story shaped by God’s story of creation, incarnation and recreation - this I believe is the purpose of God’s revelation and what can begin to transform individuals, communities and our world.

3. Beyond spontaneous prayer
In the traditions I affiliated for most of my Christian life - praying was a spontaneous affair (aside from the occasional recitation of The Lord’s Prayer). It wasn’t unusual for people to be labeled as ‘great prayers’ (which actually seems sort of odd - for it wasn’t a designation signifying that they prayed effectual prayers - merely that they were great at saying a memorable and cogent spontaneous prayer). My sense is that prayer is 1. more than saying the first things that come to mind and 2. more than talking to God. Prayer is 1. an act and declaration of faith, 2. a surrendering of our will and way to God’s will and way, 3. communication and communion, and finally (at the very least) 4. an offering of our worship.

If that is a true representation of prayer, then there is room for our prayer to go beyond spontaneous spoken prayer. This makes room for all people (those good at spontaneously speaking to God and those not so good at that discipline) to come before God using written prayers (there is a great heritage of written prayers to be mined from the Church’s history). Written prayer provides a great opportunity to teach us what to pray for and how to pray. Written prayers also allow for us to meditate on the ancient words and allowing for space to listen for God’s voice in the midst of our meditation. Written prayers are a wonderful corporate discipline - helping a community find it’s identity in common prayer and having the encouragement of hearing one another recite the words of faith to God who is listening. Finally, a prayer life that employs both spontaneous and written prayers gains the advantage that when we don’t have words to pray (in life’s disappointments, or moments of doubt, or times of stress) we can rely on those oft recited words we have learned through written prayers.

4. Returning the baptismal and table to a place of prominence
The final implication that I will point out in this post is that a reconciled faith (that brings both the head, heart and hand together under a narrative theology) allows room for mystery and the “unanswerable” (ie. the mystical). In youth ministry we need to push the lectern (or music stand) out of the center of our meeting spaces and allow room for the baptismal and the table. We need to see spiritual formation as a process that takes place outside of just our brain. Right beliefs are important (we need to rightly understand that the God of the Universe is good, gracious, great and faithful) - but equally important is a right will and right behaviors and right relationships.

For too long we have educated individuals into the community of Faith, but this in my estimation is wholly inadequate. Jesus invited by both example and command to honor the practice of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist) as practices that would shape our Christian identity. In too many places these rites have been stripped of any enduring power to transform our lives and relationships and become merely acts of obedience. Baptism has lost any sense of identity formation and become a way to testify to the world of our changed relationship to God and Communion (Eucharist) has become a monthly remembrance of Christ’s death on our behalf (a memorial). While I wouldn’t argue that those are wrong reasons to practice baptism and communion - I would say that there is much more to the story. I would argue that Baptism ushers us into a new relationship with God that allows us to be IN God and God to reside IN us (we rehearse and participate with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection). I would suggest that in communion we do remember the death of Christ, but that in that meal we are also ushered in a mystical way into the very presence of God that is unique to sharing the bread and wine. We commune with God in this meal - we are ushered INTO God and God resides IN us - it’s a paradox, a mystery, a new way to relate to God (each time we partake of this meal).

The sacraments of Baptism and Communion need to find new space and new meaning in our youth ministries. These practices need to be seen not merely as symbols - but also practices instituted by God to restore us to our original image.

Again, enough for now. Peace.

I may be slow on the uptake. It is a realization as I grow older that I am not as quick to change my ways as I would like to think. The latest way this has dawned on me is in my thinking and appropriating the reality of my evangelical/traditional upbringing. I have heard for years now and even at times taught about the intellectualization of the Christian Faith. I have at times been very adamant about the detrimental effect of making the Faith a rational and verifiable enterprise. Yet, the older I get the more I realize the roots of one’s tradition are very difficult to uproot?!

Recently, the implications of this rationalized faith have become even more graphic to me as I began to see how a faith that is unduly focused on right belief and doctrinal purity begins to erode a faith that finds any moorings in emotion, intuition or behavioral practice. In the evangelical world I grew up in and was educated in - the premise was our Faith had reasons. Our entering into a life with Christ was no “leap in the dark” I was told - Christianity was a rational faith that was soundly rooted in facts verifiable by science and history and archeology and, and, and… The result of such a presupposition was that our Faith moved away from the story of Scripture to be situated on premises, principles and propositions taken from Scripture. Our theology moved from the story of Creation and Promise; Incarnation and Atonement; and Community and Restoration to one of Justification and Sanctification among other theological constructs (now I know that this is not necessarily incompatible - but the move away over time can become one that is irreconcilable). I grew up in a faith that taught me to trust in my positional standing before God on the basis of a forensic justification. Right belief provided me a right standing - and it was something that was true - the evidence demands a verdict.

A faith that is proportionally more situated in the head is one that over time grows to be a faith that is cold, less relational more rational, focuses on being right more than living at peace with others and seems to more easily slide into a lifestyle of legalism. A broad brush stroke I admit - but in my experience a brush stroke that contains a good deal of reality (exceptions aside). In this move among conservative Christians moving from a faith rooted in God’s story to a faith rooted in rational, scientific study a divorce has take place - between the head and heart; between Systematic Theology and “Practical” Theology; between scholarship and spirituality.

Over the past ten to twelve years I have noticed a resurgence of concern regarding this “divorce.” I have read much and become hopeful that a reconciliation between Systematic Theology and Practical Theology (would we call this Narrative Theology?) can take place. What I would like to suggest is that a new (really an ancient) conception of faith is needed. Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Certainty is. Our Christian Faith is not first and foremost a provable enterprise that we can know with certainty. If so - than we are not in the business of faith. Faith does demand an element of trust in the midst of UNcertainty (and if that is true doubt seems to be the companion of faith?!). The ancient conception of faith was a holistic acceptance of God’s existence, God’s nearness and God’s involvement in Creation that demanded a response of head, heart and hand. The ancient conception of faith shows that because we believe that God spoke we therefore align our behavior and relationships on the basis of our trust in God’s goodness, greatness and faithfulness (think the birth of Isaac, the blood on the door frame, the walking into the Red Sea and the Jordon, the fire consuming the sacrifice, the Virgin birth, walking on water, etc.) How does this faith grow - I would say it is a wedding of right belief AND right relationships AND right practices. For too long we have emphasized belief with very little concern for the place of practices and community in the development of our spiritual lives. The place of a mystical union with God and the community of God’s people has a necessary part in restoring God’s image in each of us. The place of right practices (baptism, eucharist, biblical worship, serving others and spiritual discipline) also must be elevated to new heights if we are to see God’s people move beyond head knowledge to be transformed into those who are marked with the image of God.

Well I have diagnosed more than prescribed for sure in this post - hopefully I will return to this theme and look at the ramifications such a reconciliation would have in youth ministry.

But, enough for now - Peace.

I have been giving a good bit of thought to the topic of The Gospel; really just attempting to think about clear ways to share the “heart” of God’s story. I have always thought that the Gospel reduced to, “Jesus died for you” was far too diluted and narrow (The Gospel is more than a theory of Substitutionary Atonement). I also think making the Gospel message a couple of steps of actions (1. Accept that God loves you. 2. Acknowledge and Repent. 3. Pray this…, etc.) makes it a far too process oriented thing and too dismissive - “Well, I took care of that.” (The Gospel is more than a golden ticket to the Chocolate Factory - or Heaven, as the case may be).

So I have some presuppositions about what the Gospel is and is not.

The Gospel in my mind is not just a “way to get saved” or the message that merely gets us started in the Christian life. When I think about the Gospel - I am thinking of it in terms of the “heart” of what God is doing in our world. Why is God involved in the affairs of Planet Earth at all? I also am thinking about the Gospel in terms of its ramifications for our lives. I think the heart of God’s story (the Gospel) obligates those who enter into the story on a lifelong journey of both understanding and appropriating this narrative into our life and world. With that in mind, the following is one (of many ways) that I have been thinking about as the essence of the Gospel story (I must acknowledge that the message in our church service yesterday - really helped this bumble of thoughts click to allow me to share them in this fashion).

On to a prepositional gospel:

God is with us - we see this very clearly in both the Creation narrative and in the promise and coming of Emmanuel (God’s new creation). God is near to all of us - will we open our eyes and become attentive to the God who is with us?

God is for us - we see this in the Exodus event and in Jesus willingness to walk toward and endure the cross (To gain victory over sin, death, & the devil). God is not merely with - but he is on our side - will we avail ourselves to God’s power, direction and loving provision?

God is in us - we see this in the promise of the new covenant (a new law written on our hearts) and the resurrection and ascension that leads to the sending of the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. God is desiring to make His dwelling place in our lives - will we allow God to work into us His fruit that we might work it out into our communities - for the sake of others?

Any thoughts? What are the strengths of distilling out the Gospel in this way? What are the weaknesses?

The third day of The Paschal Triduum is also the first day of the 50 days of Easter. As the Paschal Triduum is three parts: Death, Burial and Resurrection so the season of Easter is a three part event: Resurrection, Ascension and Imparting of the Holy Spirit. But the season of Easter (while we may think of it coming with a bang) starts unassuming and “quietly” with people waking up to an empty tomb. It generates questions, concerns, fears and frustration… (the empty tomb convinces and converts no one). And the resurrected Jesus is mistaken for a gardner, a stranger and an impostor (by Mary, the emmaus pilgrims and Thomas respectively). But ultimately over a long period - the people closest to Jesus “wake up” to the fact that “He is not here (in the tomb) He has been raised.”

The Lord is risen.
He is risen, indeed. Alleluia.

Epistle: Colossians 3.1-7

Gospel: John 20. 1-18

Psalm: Psalm 120

Prayer: Almighty God, through your only Son Jesus Christ you have conquered death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: by your grace put good desires into our minds and, in your mercy, help us to bring them to their fulfillment, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

An extremely busy and active week unfolds for Jesus as he approaches the pinnacle of his purpose for coming to live among us. One of the Psalm’s that is rehearsed on every Monday of Lent (an old tradition) is Psalm 23 and I can’t help but think how comforting that song of David might have been to Jesus as he progressed through this week. I also am challenged to think, “Are our churches places like David describes in that Psalm?” My experience unfortunately has been to find the Church competing with the culture around it to gain peoples attention with full calendars and endless activity. Maybe being distinct from our culture and offering a haven of quiet and a refuge of rest is what our stressed and adrenaline-addicted world needs.

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 63.1-19

New Testament Reading: John 12.20-36

Psalm: 22, 23, & 24

Prayer: Please, Lord, guide my mind with your truth.
Strengthen my life by the example of Jesus.
Help me to be with Jesus in this week
as he demonstrates again his total love for me.
He died so that I would no longer be separated from you.
Help me to feel how close you are and to live in union with you.

note: Artwork by Michael D. Obrien

I do believe that, “not all time is created equal.” Value is increased dependent on our understanding and approach to time. My wedding day will always be a sacred day; as will be the day my daughter was born and - well you see where this is going. Next week begins Holy Week - commemorating the last week of Jesus life. I have found great value in setting aside a little extra time for reading, prayer and meditation to observe this monumental time in the life of Jesus which has marked human history for all time and eternity.

It would be great if we went from the season of winter to spring all in one day. But here in my neck of the woods - winter always wants to hold on and spring can be fickle too. So mornings can still be in the 20’s and by late afternoon the temps can reach the 70’s. It would be nice if one day the cold stopped and it was 68 degrees till summer. But it doesn’t happen like that - there is always a bit of a reminder of the pain and starkness of winter as Spring arrives.

Holy Week is a bittersweet week with themes of death and dying and pain mixed with hope, love and promise of the new. Yet too many churches fail to observe the days between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday and miss the sacred and holy steps that fell between Monday and Saturday. They go from the loud shouts and bombast of Palm Sunday to the glory of Jesus’ victory over death the next weekend - with no context for what took place in between. Don’t go from Hosanna to Alleluia without any understanding of the feelings, words, actions and relationships that moved Jesus from the streets of Jerusalem to the road to Emmaus.

Join me next week as I share a very brief devotional thought along with readings and prayers for each day of Holy Week here at Perigrinatio.

Peace!

I feel an affinity to Celtic Christianity for a variety of reasons:

-it was indigenous - first Christian mission that was not first Romanized (Civilized) before being Christianized
-it was about community / very tribal (belonging to the community often preceded having faith in the Christian message)
-it saw hospitality as a means of being Christ to another and placed a high value on the practice
-monasticism was at the center of their practice of Christianity and integral to its expansion
-it celebrated natural revelation
-it sacramental-ized every day acts - the folding of clothes, the making of beds, the awakening of fire/coals, etc (making them acts of praise/prayer)
-it provided a place for beauty and aesthetics
-it was unequivocally trinitarian
-the openness to God’s activity in revealing Himself right NOW

These are things that readily come to mind as I consider what the Celtic Church offers [and much of what they offer is needed in our world today]. For this reason I celebrate today with many in the Church who thank God for St. Patrick and his faithfulness in carrying on God’s story of redeeming and restoring this world.

The prayer that follows is very famous, The Breastplate of St. Patrick (note it’s themes of protection) - it is a prayer of lyrical beauty and carries many of the themes discussed above. I encourage you to pray it today as we remember St. Patrick.

The Breastplate of St. Patrick
(also referred to as St. Patrick’s Lorica)

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through the confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.

I want to continue considering the legacy of Youth Ministry - I am wondering in our current regime, “what are we passing on?” In the first post we looked at what we are leaving students in the area of content. I suggested maybe we need to revisit the tradition of the Catechism. (Read the post here)

In this post I would like to raise (or rant about) the question of: what are we passing on through our approach to youth ministry as it relates to ecclesiology?

How are students leaving our youth ministries thinking about, The Church? Are our youth ministries grounded in a healthy image and theology of The Church? I believe this question is vital in measuring or evaluating the health and value of our ministry to youth. The likelihood of a young person being a part of the Church in the future will be tied I think in large part to this question.

My observation is that in youth ministry we have not done a great job in helping teens be aware of the importance of participation with all the people who are part of the Body of Christ. Equally I don’t think we have helped students see their necessary and unique role in the local expression of The Church. I think we do great at getting kids to come to a church building and be active in the church building (via attraction-al activities; great programs; etc.) - but too often these are age specific experiences sequestered from the rest of what is taking place in that community. In my mind this doesn’t do the church (the priority of and purpose for) justice. This is a very truncated and impotent view of the church (the church as a building or a place to hang out with people like me).

Isn’t the church about being Christ’s body on earth? Isn’t the church mandated to continue the work of Christ in announcing and demonstrating His Kingdom on Earth? Isn’t the Church the gathered people of God - all His people a diverse group (of all races, shapes, ages, and gifts) of sinners in process of becoming saints? Isn’t the Church about gathering to communally demonstrate and celebrate the goodness, greatness and glory of God and then scattering to be the hands and feet of God in the midst of our community?

So what are we passing on to students about the church through our youth ministry? Are they getting it? My prayer is that we will pass on a vibrant picture and experience of the Church so they don’t decide to pass on it when they graduate.

Peace.

This prayer of St. Teresa of Avila kept going through my mind as I was writing so I add it here for all our benefit:

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,

Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.

Laying awake in bed this morning I began to consider the question of this post. What are we passing on? In youth ministry are we passing on the Christian Tradition? What does that look like? I guess I am really thinking about the so-called conservative or evangelical brand of youth ministry - what is the (real objective and measurable) “tradition” or legacy we are handing over to our students.

Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come. [ Psalm 71.18]

When I think of that passage I wonder - what are we leaving the next generation with? (3 reasons to wait? have a quiet time? funny anecdotes? memories of other cultures?) As I was thinking about this I again was struck with the memory of reading Christian Smith’s book, Soul Searching. One of the factoids that I can’t escape is that after interviewing a bunch (that is a technical term) of adolescents about their beliefs - the most theological statement that emerged from his hours and hours of interviewing was, “Jesus died for me.”

This can’t be our heritage.

As a person involved in Youth Ministry - this can’t be the fruit of the hours and the energy and the resources that have been given and sacrificed.

Can I suggest that we return to the legacy of passing on a tradition of Catechism?

Let’s provide youth with a bit more substance than, “Jesus died for me” (that may be a good start but do students understand why Jesus had to die; and do they understand the obligations involved in appropriating that death?) - and augment that with helping them understand the meaning and memorizing the words of:

The Great Commandment
The Ten Commandments
The Lord’s Prayer
The Apostles Creed

Then let’s ensure they understand how to approach and participate in the Sacraments.

Any thoughts?