Here is a monthly post I am adding as of April. Near the end of each month, I'll have a post that has a variety of miscellaneous reflections about things I've been processing during the month. It is a catch-all post where I'll have hodgepodge and tidbits of ideas as well as rabbit trails to run down if you are so inclined.
In part, I am doing this because there are so many "misc." ideas and thoughts I have throughout a month that I never wind up blogging about.
(1) SOME BOOKS. Two books that are theological studies of spirituality that I highly recommend are by the British luminary Alister McGrath. Check out Spirituality in an Age of Change: Rediscovering the Spirit of the Reformers and also Christian Spirituality. These are not easy reads but are designed for those who want to do some theological and historical investigations on this issue. I repeat, these are not practical, easy books, but rather substantial studies of spirituality.
Another book that I picked up with GREAT expectation was Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this book is definitely not it. I have to put it down and come bak to it later and see if it grabs me. I am not saying it is not a good book, just not at all what I was expecting.
The Brazos Introduction to Christian Spirituality is sitting on my book shelf, calling to me. I am still turning a deaf ear to it, but I'll most likely get to it this summer.
The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark. I read this book and really liked it and yet was also really frustrated with it. I think he is profoundly right on many things and substantially wrong on others. But, he says we must question everything and so that is what I did all through the book - I questioned Dark. I had a book review that I decided not to post. Instead, sometime in May I am going to post what I think is both the strength and weakness of his book. For, ironically, I think the very strength becomes its great weakness.
By the way, this is a core leadership principle I picked up from McIntosh and Rima, which was recently reinforced as I read Shane Hipps, Flickering Pixels. Everything that is good also has a dark side latent within it. Strengths have a dark side. And if you push a useful thing too far, it becomes unhealthy. But more on this in another post.
(2) I am also working on
Ignatian spirituality. I am very interested in all things Jesuit. I have done the 19th Annotated Retreat a number of years back. I read a lot of stuff by Jesuits. I decided to sit down and work through a variety of sources, creating a workbook for doing the 19th Annotated Retreat. So I am both studying the sources again and doing the work of prayer and reflection.
Tim Muldoon's book (pictured) is one of the sources I am using. It is like being reunited with an old friend as I revisit in a substantial way this approach to spiritual formation.
I have four different translations/version of the Ignatian Exercises and the one I am using this time through is the edition by Louis Puhl, published by (none other than) Loyola Press (Ignatius of Loyola!!!)
(3) There are a number of very good blogsites I have begun to read on a regular basis.
If you have some Reformed bones in your body, you can't do much better than regular visits with
Steve Brown, the man of the supernaturally rich voice. I've listened to Brown for years (off and on) but now you can get your dose of key life thoughts. Brown is Reformed and generously orthodox in his dealing with others.
If you want to read some
Vintage Faith reflections by Dan Kimball, this is his blog site. I find Kimball to be one of the more helpful emergent voices for my journey.
I have a few others, but I won't overload you with too many new sites to check out.
We are so fortunate to have the Internet as a way to have dialogue with others at a distance. (Although later in May I'll have a post or two on some of the limitations and liabilities of this medium.)
(4) This year was about the sixth year for Living Word Community Church doing our Sacred Space (Labyrinth) experience. We do it as a Lenten spirituality experience. Once again, it was great. Many years ago I had the desire to create a labyrinth that was much more than just a pattern on the ground, but which had walls and spaces and corridors for a person to walk through in a guided spiritual journey. Our early years were good forays into this area of spirituality. But it has grown wonderfully since then.
LWCC now has a great team of artists and spiritually creative directors who design a new one each year. I think my fried DeAnn Roe (Creative Arts Director for the church) will have some pictures available on her blogsite.
Vertical Creativity.Thank you to the entire team who worked on this year's Sacred Space. We probably had 1200ish people who went through this experience.
(5) I continue to work my way through Ephesians for the Monday Morning Bible study group I am a part of. What a wonderful letter with rich substance about Christ and the church. I come away from each time of study, reflection and discussion with a greater appreciation for both Christ and the church.
(6)
Musically I am listening to a lot of stuff. I just watched
Zappa Plays Zappa which is Dweezil's tribute to his dad Frank. What incredible musicianship and virtuosity on the part of the band. I was never a big Zappa fan, but his brilliance was light years ahead of his time. It is not Beyonce (if you watch the DVD, you'll know why I said that). The fusion of jazz, rock, and funk...
I have been working my way through my Al DiMeola collection. Beautiful...
And I did go pop with Kelly Clarkson's CD, All I Ever Wanted.
I have also been having fun with
pandora.com and
the last fm station. If you want to check out music and find artists and albums in a genre you like, this is the way to do it.
(7) Gardening, landscaping, planting new stuff, re-arranging, mushroom soil, mulch... ah, Spring is in the air. We love gardening. Time to get the hands in the humus of life. Now cutting the grass... whacking the weeds... that is a different story.
By the way, to borrow an Old Testament concept, spring is when the Gardener Kings go off to war against the Rabbit Enemies of the Garden. I am absolutely convinced that before the fall, Rabbits were carnivores who never ate one of God's good plants and flowers! But after the fall, everything changed and rabbits became herbivores.... tragic, senseless, mysterious... oh well. (And yes Virginia, I do have my theology degrees from reputable seminaries... I just tend to go mystical eisegesis of the key texts to serve my own agenda.)
(8) Drivers. Is it just my imagination, or are more drivers becoming more aggressive and rude?
(9) When a man (sorry, but I don't know the stats for women) loses his job, within six months of unemployment, depression is becoming a reality for that man. I wonder what that bodes for this time of rising unemployment? Be aware of your friends who are unemployed and be available to keep processing this season of life with them. I talked with the coroner for York County and he said that suicides are really up for this year! Read this article.
(10) Do you subscribe to or regularly read any journals or magazines? My list varies from time to time, but right now I get Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Leadership, Sports Illustrated and my subscription to Rolling Stone has expired but will be renewed. I let my Guitar magazine subscriptions expire in this last year... I also will stop by Borders from time to time and pick up an issue of a journal that is entirely different from the stuff I normally read. It is just one more way to expose yourself to different ideas.
For example: The latest issue of Leadership focuses on the problem of addictions and how the church can be dealing with it. Now, that is not a normal theme I think about, but in about an hour's time, I can read through this issue and get a number of worthwhile ideas.
So, go out to the newstands in the near future and find a magazine or journal that looks interesting. For fun, try a different one every other week. You can look at more than 20 different journals/mags in less than a year. Go ahead, strrrreeeeettttccccchhhhhh yourself.
And that's all for this Podge of Hodge. A new month is upon us. Seize the spring, Enjoy the Days of May. Read a good book, sing a song, bless someone in the Name of Jesus, walk barefoot in the grass, love life, really Love Jesus.
Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
