Spiritual Exercises - Part 2

I want to begin this post by sharing the "Principle and Foundation" of Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises. Then, I will share with you the way in which I have modified the second exercise of the first week for myself.

"Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.

And the other things on the face of the earth are created for man and that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he is created.

From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to it.

For this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things in all that is allowed to the choice of our free will and is not prohibited to it; so that, on our part, we want not health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, long rather than short life, and so in all the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive for us to the end for which we are created."

Basically, the Spiritual exercises are designed to lead one to remove any material or earthly hindrance that is an obstacle to the kingdom of God. Ignatius doesn't typically use the "kingdom" terminology, but since it is important to me, I've included it.

Basically, after one has offered the first prayer (as in the previous post) - the idea is to move through the morning activities trying to stay aware of our thoughts, words and actions, and how they are consistent with the kingdom of God. Then, in the afternoon, and once again, in the evening - we enter into the second exercise - which is basically a prayer of accountability for the day. Something like this.

"Father God, I thank you for the good I have received from you today. Help me to bring to mind an accounting of my thoughts, words, and actions and especially those areas in which I have fallen short of the kingdom. Where there is sin, help me to cast it away from me.

My thoughts today...

My words today...

My actions today...

Father, I ask forgiveness where I have failed. Now, I commit to you again my will and my intention to amend, heal, and to make noteable progress by the strength of your Spirit in my inner being.

In Jesus Name, Amen.

Of course, the actual wording of the prayer is not as important as it's intent. The basica idea, again, is to offer accountability. In our first prayer of the morning we committed to God our desire to serve His kingdom with our thoughts, words and actions. The second prayer is simply a bringing of an account before God for cleansing (where necessary) and strengthening.

I'll continue to work through the month of Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises if I can - and where appropriate, I'll try to keep you "posted."

Have a great day!

Spiritual Discipline - Ignatius of Loyola (Part 1)

Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the Society of Jesus (or Jesuits) in the 1500's devised a daily/weekly plan of spiritual discipline. One of them (the first week) is principally designed for the elimination of sin in one's life. I won't give you all the details, but I will say that during the first week, Ignatius encourages the participant to offer prayer first thing each morning - literally as one first arises from bed each day for the first week. The prayer is relatively specific, but I have modified it to sort of "fit the day" or more specifically to "fit me." This is the prayer I am offering to God each morning this week. Today especially, I repeated the prayer several times, emphasizing different elements each time and perhaps altering the wording or elaborating on a theme when desired. But here it is in a nutshell.

Week 1 - Morning Prayer

"May all my thoughts, words, intentions, operations and actions be directed purely to the service and fulfillment of Your Divine Kingdom here on earth as it is in Heaven.

I stand this moment in your very real presence, Father God. Here I call to mind the rebellion of Adam and Eve and their exile from your Paradise. I acknowledge that in my sin, I deserve no less.

I pray, Father, that I might feel the weight and the shame of my sin and know the depth of its injury.

I kneel also, before your cross, King Jesus. Abiding here, I acknowledge that you died for MY sin. And so, I ask forgiveness, for the grace to amend the sin in my life, and for the gift of your Holy Spirit that I may repair by your strength in my inner man what is broken in me."

I loved this prayer yesterday (day 1) and today. I notice how it takes a person from complete submission before God in a desire to pursue God's pursuits (the kingdom) into the very presence of God. There one becomes aware of his position (sin and deserving of death). From that point, the prayer takes us to the foot of the cross - recognizing the gift of Christ and what it brings. Finally, the prayer beseeches and even "invokes" the blessings of the Christ - forgiveness, guidance, and Spirit strength.

I began this prayer yesterday and I could tell immediately the difference it made in the course of my day. And today - though it is only 10 am - I can already tell that things are going God's direction by his direction.

Anyway - I thought I would share the prayer with you friends. I would be interested to see if any of you practice the prayer, or a variation of it for a week - how it effects your life. Let me know if I have any takers.

I'll be posting later today or tomorrow the afternoon and evening prayer Ignatius recommends. Then, of course, the assignments for weeks 2, 3, and 4. I can hardly wait.

Bringing People to Jesus

We Christians absolutely have to get over the idea that bringing people to Jesus is the equivalent of bringing them to church. And skeptics have to get over the idea that all of us Christians are trying to covert them to "church." It just ain't so. Jesus and his church. The ideas certainly are not diametrically opposed, but they aren't the same. They aren't the same any more than attending a wedding ceremony is the same thing as going through the wonder of courtship, falling in love and enjoying a life of wedded bliss with one's soulmate.

I think of the occasion when people were bringing their children to Jesus for him to bless them. How he welcomed them. I close my eyes and imagine Jesus on his knees before the children - embracing them - placing his hands on their heads and kissing their innocent foreheads. I imagine him looking at them and seeing all of the potential that they had within them. I imagine that he could look into their eyes and see the possibilities that existed within them to bring joy and healing to their fellow human beings.

Friends, we are those children. Or at least we should bless ourselves with just a moment of imagining it to be so. O for a faith that would be like a moment in the street with Jesus instead of a moment in the pews with a bunch of strangers. For an experience at church that would feel more like a loving God looking, smiling, embracing - and thinking in his heart of what we could be, instead of judging us as a critic for what we have been.

The more moments we Christians have like this with our Savior - the more depth we will have to share with the skeptics about who Jesus really is. Then, we won't just be bringing people to church, we'll be bringing children to Jesus - being one of the small blessed ones ourselves.

Engaging the Mission

All of, as Christians, are given a mission. It may or may not have anything to do with knocking on doors, preaching from the street corner, playing in the worship band, teaching a Sunday school, serving on the board as elder or deacon, etc. All of these things are mere extensions of the real mission. Even evangelism itself is merely an extension of the mission.

At the heart of what Jesus preached was the message of the simple coming of the kingdom of God. "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near." He would say. A great sermon. It's short, sweet, and even has three points: 1) Repent, 2) Kingdom of Heaven and 3) Near (Now).

One statement I love of the Christ's is his affirmation that we need not look for the kingdom in geographical terms, because he says, "the kingdom is among you." Some versions say, "the kingdom is in your midst." Some say, "The kingdom is within you." It's also noteworthy that Jesus uses the plural "you" and not the singular "you."

In other words - wherever you ALL are (disciples) the kingdom is where you are! Our mission is really pretty simple. To live out the rule of God in our lives. Our mission is to BE the kingdom. To declare him king. To live it in word and in deed.

Just a little insight into myself. I get frustrated with the preacher in me. You see - we preachers are apparently supposed to try and get people to feel bad about themselves so they'll try to be a better Christians - you know, pray more, read more, do more, more more more more. I've seen many preachers come across is being generally dissatisfied with humanity as a whole, not to mention their own congregations and quite frankly - we can be grumpy old men. Basically using a lot of words trying to get people to be better kingdom citizens, and not enough words encouraging Christians with the simple truth that they are the kingdom - already.

But life for me is, like most people, really pretty simple. I wake up in the morning wishing I didn't have to get out of bed sometimes. I do ordinary things. I have a home and a family to take care of. I have people I love, people I don't know, and people I know and struggle to love. I put my pants on one leg at a time - okay sometimes I try both legs at once, but that's just for fun and only on special occasions.

Here's the thing. For me to live out the kingdom of God in my life doesn't require me to be the dissatisfied kind of preacher that the world expects. I don't have to be a grumpy old man. I don't have to look down my nose at "less spiritual" people and try to make them feel inadequate about themselves. I don't even have to waste time feeling inadequate about my own self. In fact - to be in the kingdom of God - I don't have to be ANY kind of preacher.

I could be a grocery store clerk or a plumber, or the President of the United States, or a volunteer at the hospital, etc. etc. But what I find myself called to do again and again is to reach out to young people with a message of grace and compassion. There is something within me that says my calling is there - to reach young people. No, I didn't hear the audible voice of God. And quite frankly the "still small voice" thing is one of those things I have a hard time relating to. I haven't spent hours of prayer deliberating over it. I just feel it.

So what will I do with it? don't know. I think I'll just keep on living out the kingdom in my every day living and see what doors of opportunity God opens up for me to work with young people as a preaching minister whose trying not to be a grumpy old guy. We'll see what happens.

Politics and God's Will

A day after the election and I finally decide to blog about politics.

Well, here goes. I've heard some recent discussions that have prompted me to unabashedly share my theology on politics and "God's will." It ain't perfect - it might not even be right, but it's the best I got at the moment and it makes sense to me.

First of all - what of those whose prayers for the election center on "God's will be done?" Good idea, right? Here's the kicker - I've heard some say that if a particular candidate wins - then God's will is done, and vice versa. Whose right? Is it the folks who vote for the guy with the right opinions about abortion? Or is it the war issue? Or is it taxes? Or is it individual liberty? Or is it "gay marriage?" I'm sorry, but blah blah blah.

Here's what I'm getting at. We live in a democratic society, right? Meaning that our system is set up to favor the popular majority. Basically what that means is that I believe (as an Arminian and open theist) that we have a political system that is not really designed to be first and foremost a reflection of God's will. Sure - individually we can all approach our political views with the desire to see God's will done. But the truth is - we go to the poll and VOTE and there's no voting option that says "God's Will" with a box to be checked next to it.

When we voted Barack Obama is our 44th president - it was the will of the popular majority that won out - not the will of God. That's not to say that folks didn't consider God's will. But - if McCain had won - the same would be true! Let's face it - we do not live in a theocratic monarchy, but in a democratic republic or federation of states. Our laws are going to be a reflection of the direction the people have chosen to go (or have gone by default), and not necessarily a reflection of the will of God.

Truth is - there simply is no perfect earthly system of government simply because there are no perfect people to operate them. Every system is flawed because they are staffed by flawed people. Every monarchy is flawed, every socialist state, every fascist state, every democratic state - all flawed.

Friends, this is good news. Why? Because it reminds us that we are still hopeful for a perfect heavenly government when the time comes to share it eternally with God. And no democracy there. No worried about a change from one kind of policy making to another. In heaven, God is king. He isn't elected. He isn't voted in our out. He's God - always has been and always will be. And his government in Christ is without flaw - and is therefore eternal in nature.

For this reason, we need not fear presidents who belong to the "other" party. We need not fear policies that go against our personal philosophies. We need not fret over any of this earthly political mumbo jumbo because ultimately - we really belong in another place entirely.