LeadershipConneXtions

Patient Trust (by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ)

Here is a very moving thought sent to me from Randy Reimold. de Chardin was a Jesuit who ran afoul of the Roman Catholic officials for some of his less than orthodox theology.

This thought shows some of the profound spirituality the man lived in. If you know the Jesuit way of spirituality, this brief reflection makes even more sense.

For anyone who is interested in the developmental processes of life, you will enjoy this encouragementto be patient in your trust.

Thanks Randy.

bkr

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Patient Trust

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability---and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually--let them grow,
Let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don't try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Self-Denial

Here is a little thought to follow up the message on reJesus: the Way of the Wild Messiah. In Mark 8:34 - 9:1, one of the spiritual practices we must do is learn the art of self-denial. Here is a (as to be expected) profound thought from C.S. Lewis on why we practice self-denial. It is his brief commentary on the command of Jesus.

Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it… Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.   C. S. Lewis

May we learn the art of self-denial and be committed to its regular practice.

Brian Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

p.s.  C.S. Lewis was once asked, "Will we have our books in heaven?" To which he answered, "Only those which were lent out and never returned."  (paraphrased) 

With Jesus: The Jesuit Way

First, it should be noted that the Jesuits are the Society of Jesus (or) the Company of Jesus. It was company in the Spanish language, which was better to communicate the friendship they had with one another and with Jesus. When it was translated into the Latin, it became Society, which sounds more organizational.

It makes sense that those who have the dream (or audacity) to call themselves "a company of Jesus" had better figure out how they are going to be with Jesus in companionship. And figure it out they did.

The main tool was using the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius. Central to this process was the prayerful experience of entering the stories of Jesus through imagination, lectio divina reflections and twice daily examinations of how and where they are experiencing His Presence.

It takes time to learn these spiritual formation practices that bring one into the Presence of Christ. But as you gain experience you begin to discover Jesus, what he is doing and what he is saying to you. Then, the response is called for.

I am (slowly) working on putting these practices in a format that is evangelical friendly, complete with process, and capable of being done without a spiritual director (although having a skilled director is ideal, but not usually possible).

This was, perhaps, one of the most significant themes we discussed the week I was in Carlos Paz and Cordoba. We all had the sense that Christ was inviting us into a deeper experience of himself that would lead to transformative learning and missional engagement in the world.

With Jesus. It is that simple, that vital, that unusual, that difficult. But the world is still waiting to "see Jesus" (John 12;21).

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

With Jesus

reJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church

It is a very good book by two insightful missiologists from Austrailia (Frost and Hirsch).

Before I read this book, I had been thinking about the way of Jesus for developing leaders. A simple but profound pattern emerged for me as I studied the Gospels.

Jesus first invited his disciples to Be With Him. Relationship comes first. Friendship, presence, intimacy are what we are first invited to experience. The Incarnation of Christ (God with us) makes Invitation (us with God) possible. 

Now that we are with Jesus, we are able to engage in Relational Learning From Jesus. This relational learning is holistic and rooted in a context. It is not a simple academic or theoretical learning. It is holistic in the sense of learning of belief, values, character, experiences, vision, passion, relational behaviors... Jesus modeled everything for those who were with him. He revealed a comprehensive WAY.

This kind of learning makes Transformation By Jesus a real possibility and it avoids the prevailing problem of non-transformative learning. This is the way we move into the imitation of Christ the the "re-imaging of our lives" back to what was lost in the fall.

Finally, with Christ-likeness, we are now able to Do the Work of Jesus in the Way of Jesus. As the Father sent Jesus, Jesus plans to send us out into the world with his mission. But we can't and won't do his work in his way until we have been transformed and become like Jesus. That can't happen unless we are learning from Jesus and that won't occur until we are with Jesus.

SO . . . it comes down to a simple but urgent question:  How can I be with Jesus?  Frost and Hirsch believe that problems in the church (ecclesiology) are the result of not having a Wild Messiah. Likewise, problems with our mission is not having a Wild Messiah who leads us to mission. Problems with the church and mission are not going to be fixed with a new technique or strategy or method. Those things are the temptations, distraction and idols of our Christian age. They are going to be addressed when we learn how to experience God's presence, work and Word in personal and communal ways.

SO . . . again - How can I be with Jesus?

That is tomorrow's post. And maybe it won't surprise you, but the Jesuits show us one way.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
ww.lci.typepad.com

Letters by a Modern Mystic (Laubach's Experiment)

Frank C. Laubach was a missionary in the Philippines who embarked on a quest to know and experience God in the way Brother Lawrence did. Laubach wanted to have his entire day, every minute of it, focused on God and oriented to doing the will of God in everything. In this short book which is a compilation of letters he wrote to his father, Laubach describes his progress in this goal.

To put it mildly. It is audacious, breathtaking, humbling, scary...

Here is a thought from his letter dated, 9 March 1930 and then one from a letter, 25 March 1930.

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I know why God left this aching void, for Himself to fill... I must do three things:

ONE.  I must pursue this voyage of discovery in quest of God's will. I must because the world needs me to do it.

TWO:  I must plunge into mighty experiments in intercessory prayer, to test my hypothesis that God needs my help to do His will for others, and that my prayer releases His power. I must be His channel, for the world needs me.

THREE:  I must confront these Moros (the Muslim people group among whom he lives) with a divine love which will speak Christ to them though I never use His name. They must see God in me and I must see God in them. Not to change the name of their religion, but to take their hand and say, "Come, let us look for God." . . . . .

What right then have I or any other person to come here and change the name of these people from Muslim to Christian, unless I lead them to a life fuller of God than they have now? Clearly, clearly, my job here is not to go to the town plaza and make proselytes, it is to live wrapped in God, trembling to His thoughts, burning with His passion.

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One question now to be put to the test is this: Can we have that contact with God all the time? All the time awake, fall asleep in His arms, and awaken in His presence? ... Can we do his will all time? Can we think his thoughts all the time? . . . Can I bring God back in my mind-flow every few seconds so that God shall always be in my mind as an after image, shall always be one of the elements in every concept and percept. I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment in answering this question.

Frank Laubach

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I was pretty moved by these words on a number of different levels.

to live wrapped in God
trembling to His thoughts
burning with His passion
mighty experiments in prayer
because the world needs me
they must see God in me
a fuller life of God
I must be his channel

Each phrase resonated with me.

But above all this: 

"I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment in answering this question."

Talk about passion and purpose. I'll test this question with my life. And the question is so important that it is worth the rest of my life to test it to its very end.

Wow... 

You know my question for all of us! 

Is there anything we are so passionate about, so longing to know, so convinced of its central importance, that we will devote the rest of our life as an experiment to test it out?

Mmmmmm .....

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Participation Alone Does Not Produce Maturity

A few years ago (2007), Willow Creek issued a report of a study they had done on the maturity levels of their congregation. They studies how mature their congregation was becoming, how this was happening, what was working, what wasn't working.

Here is the "working assumption" that Willow Creek, and in fact, most churches have.

We create a variety of programs and services for people to participate in. . . . This is our strategy: We try to get folks who are far from God involved in these activities. We believe the more people are participating in these sets of activities with high levels of frequency it will produce disciples of Christ...

After surveying 15,000 people at Willow and 25 other churches, here is what they found.

Increasing levels of participating in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone's becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.

Bill Hybels described it as the "wake up call" of his life.

Of course Willow got a lot of flack for this. The critics of Willow's success swarmed gleefully around this announcement which fueled their own blindness about the same realities being present in their churches. For this is not a Willow Creek problem. This is an issue that is endemic and systemic throughout conservative Christianity.

A few of my observations are this.

(1)  Actually, participation is very important. It is just the nature of their participation and the nature of what it is that people are participating in determines the outcomes.

(2)  For many years, we have been designing transformative processes (vs. learning events) for people to participate in. Unfortunately, the conservative church has been obsessed with transferring information to the minds of people and believing that leads to renewal and maturity. It does NOT. I'll say it again. A teaching event does not lead to transformation. And teaching events are our bread and butter model in the evangelical church. 

(3)  We have been thoughtful about helping people know how to participate in (engage, experience, respond) to what it is they experience.

(4)  We equip them with spiritual formation skills and perspectives.

(5)  We design curriculum that guides them in the exercise of these skills.

(6)  We provide leaders who facilitate the process and mentor them through their experience.

(7)  We have outcomes that are our aim and regular feedback assessment for progress toward those outcomes.

(8)  We have the desire of helping people learn how to be with Jesus (together with others) in relational encounters.

(9)  It takes an enormous amount of hard work. If you want to do this well, you have to understand the dynamics and processes of leadership development, spiritual formation, mentoring and pedagogy.

(10)  And I do think we live in a culture that is increasingly interested in entertainment, who functions mainly as a consumer, and who prefers products that are fun, fast and easy. None of this is conducive to making disciples.

Obviously, we don't do all of this even close to perfectly. We have a "bell curve" of quality of experience and results seen in our attempts to do this. But we are getting better and better at it.

And it sure helps if the Holy Spirit shows up. After all, the original 12 disciples had everything mentioned in the above paragraph and they showed a remarkable lack of maturity during the days surrounding the death of Jesus. Pentecost made the difference.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Conformed to His Image: A Book Review (and a Proposal for My Friends)

I am going to be extravagant and almost hyperbolic in what I say in this post. Even though there is the danger of me over-promising on something and it under-delivers, I ignore that possibility and I make a bold proposal and a heartfelt request

Read this book - for it can change your life.
This book can help you discover the life you have always wanted.
It can do that, if you use this book in the right way (which I, happily, will just happen to describe in some detail).

First I'll tell you what the book is and what it contains.
Then I'll give you my recommendation on how to use this book.

*******************************************
 

Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation
by Kenneth Boa
published by Zondervan
cost - about $25.00
pages - 466, plus another 80 pages of appendices, resources and indices 
 

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This is a big book. It can be a bit daunting looking at its size and thumbing through its pages.

This book is a labor of love from Ken Boa.  

(Ken - a personal thank-you. I am sure you will write many more books and add them to your list of publications, but this one may be your Magna Opus. If you surpass it with a later book... !).

Boa has sweepingly studied and understood the wide gamut of Christian spirituality in all its many traditions and expressions. And he has nicely summarized his findings in a well organized, biblically rich, pastorally sensitive, spiritually wise offering.

Make no mistake, this book is solid theology and savory spirituality. Boa invites you to think wisely and experience widely of God's manifold richness. It is always grounded in the Scriptures and yet always oriented toward the practical expression of truth.

This book is substantially informed with nuggets of gold from the great spiritual writers and devotional classics, both ancient and contemporary. it is warmly Evangelical and widely Ecumenical in its scope.

Every single page, in fact (really) every single paragraph, and (truly) almost every single sentence is a stepping stone for reflection and prayer.  

Boa has woven together the traditions of sacra pagina and lectio divina  (read Chapter 15 to see what I mean).

This book (if you let it) will undo you and be used by the Spirit of God to remake you from the inside out (Larry Crabb) and reorder your disordered world (David Naugle)

I don't know what else I can say to entice you to read this book.

Organizationally, it has twelve sections which Boa calls "facets." Metaphorically, he is describing Life With Christ as the gem/pearl of great price and uses 12 facets to explore the depth and breadth of that life.  They are:

1. Relational Spirituality
2. Paradigm Spirituality
3. Disciplined Spirituality
4. Exchanged Life Spirituality
5. Motivated Spirituality
6. Devotional Spirituality
7. Holistic Spirituality
8. Process Spirituality
9. Spirit-FIlled Spirituality
10. Warfare Spirituality
11. Nurturing Spirituality
12. Corporate Spirituality

Then, each facet or section of the book is further divided in to several chapters, for a total of 36 chapters, of 12-18 pages in length for each chapter.

Gary Thomas talks about the Spiritual Pathways, Richard Foster discusses the six (or seven) Streams of Christian Spirituality, numerous authors write about 10 or 15 or 30 Spiritual Disciplines. Ken Boa's approach is different. He uses the word "facet" and I might use the word "theme" or "approach" to spirituality.

That is what the book is. Now, the next important question is - how to use this book? And this is a crucial question.

Intense Contemplation

One thing that happens for me whenever I do an intensive course or a conference on a core theme, is that the core ideas just hang over me constantly and I am doing non-stop processing and reflection on those themes.

The Spiritual Leadership course is the one that generates the most reflection and self-awareness every time I do it.

The time I just had with the United World Mission staff in Hungary was similar. Our theme was on spiritual formation for leaders. I simply could not turn off the processing, reflection, thinking mode I was in. And in these intense times of reflection, God usually winds up working in some significant ways.

I can't talk about a renewed Vision of life with Christ, of high intentionality about the pursuit of Christ, about the means of spiritual formation, about friendship with Christ, about below the water line stuff in the heart, about lectio divina, Daily Examen, spiritual friendship AND having good conversations with others on these matters -- without having this stuff soak into my soul.

So I came away very renewed and refreshed. Sometimes, when I teach on these themes, it is more of a struggle, but not with this group and not this week.

So I am grateful and I am also longing for more of Christ.

May we all have the same.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Ruthless Trust . . . an unerring sense (Brennan Manning)

Brennan Manning has been one of my favorite writers for many years. His story is powerful, relevant and so illustrative of the journey for so many of us.

It is hard to pick a favorite book of Manning's, but if I had to, it would probably be Ruthless Trust. Here is a section that Manning writes on the last two pages of the book. 

My only caveat is this. These concluding words come at the end of Manning telling his story. It is a story of great pain, of numbing confusion, deep doubt and great grace that came to him in his time of need.

It has much more power as the summation of his well told story. But, with that said, and without his story, here is his summation.

Ruthless Trust is an unerring sense, way deep down, that beneath the surface agitation, boredom and insecurity of life, it's gonna be all right. Ill winds may blow, more character defects may surface, sickness may visit, and friends will surely die. But a stubborn, irrefutable certainty persists that God is with us and loves us in our struggle to be faithful. A nonrational, absolutely true intuition perdures that there is something unfathomably big in the universe (kabod/glory), something that points to Someone who is filled with peace and power, love and undreamed of creativity -- Someone who inevitably will reconcile all things in himself. . .

Why does our trust offer such immense pleasure to God? Because trust is the pre-eminent expression of love. Thus, it may mean more to Jesus when we say, 'I trust you,' than when we say, 'I love you.'

Where am I in all this? With you, clasping hands each morning and crying out in union, "Lord Jesus, I trust you, help my lack of trust."  (pp. 180-181)

This is well worth some reflection time.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

A Life-Long Learner's Prayer

I came across this very moving prayer for wisdom and learning in Reordered Love, Reordered Lives by David Naugle (pp. 155).

Creator of all things,

true source of light and wisdom,

lofty origin of all being,

graciously let a ray of your light penetrate the darkness of my understanding.

Take from me the double darkness in which I have been born --

an obscurity of sin and ignorance.

Give me a sharp sense of understanding,

a retentive memory,

and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally.

Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm.

Point out the beginning.

Direct my progress,

and help in the completion.

I ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen

For all of you who long for clarity of insights, the wisdom of Christ, the gift of discernment and then the thoughtful ability to express yourself, may this prayer be useful.

By the way, the prayer is by Thomas Aquinas and it can be found at:  Lux Veritatis: Thomas Aquinas.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

the message // remix: SOLO

This is the latest HIGHLY RECOMMENDED devotional resource that I am adding to the review of these resources that is posted two weeks ao and available by clickign here. Deb Turnow, spiritual director at LWCC told me about it.

This resource is incredible.

It is a year long devotional using selected TEXTS from The Message. Each devotional is two pages. On the left hand side is the biblical text (Message version) and on the right page are guided thoughts organized around the Lectio Divina method of:  

Read

Think

Pray

Live

This devotional will be an excellent choice for several reasons.

One, it will take you through over 300 biblical texts covering Genesis through Revelation.  So you will be immersed in the Bible

Two, it will use the Message translation and so, give you a fresh reading of the biblical text. I recommend that you read the Message text first and then do a second reading in your usual translation.

Third, it will help you move past an information orientation to a heart engagement with God's Word

Four, there is plenty of room on each page for you to jot down thoughts and notes as you encounter God. Why this will be good is that it is a nice way to get involved in journaling or "logging" your journey.

If anyone starts to use this, give me some feedback on how it is workign for you after about a month of using it.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Deep Meaning of Happiness

Reordered Love, Reordered Lives:

Learning the Deep Meaning of Happiness

by David Naugle

Oh my!   What a book!

I am almost afraid to speak of it. For I cannot do it justice. It is beyond my ability to describe it to you in brief words. And because I want you to read this book, relish it, and through it connect with the deepest longings of your heart . . . I am afraid. For it will require thought and work on your part.

We prefer to have our truth presented to us in sound bytes and pithy slogans. Short, to the point, practical, enjoyable, quickly attained. David Naugle's offering in this book is none of that (except enjoyable).

It has been said that every author has ONE BOOK in them which they are born to write. Several years ago, David Naugle wrote a book (Worldview: The History of a Concept) that seemed the obvious canidate for him. It was so good that it won the Christianity Today 2003 Book of the Year Award (quite the accomplishment). And if you assumed that was the book David Naugle was born to write, then it is easy to forgive you for your error. For I thought the same things as well. 

Reordered Love, Reordered Lives is the book David Naugle was born to write.

I (almost) do not know how to describe it to you since it is so sweeping and magisterial in its theme and scope and depth. How does one describe wisdom... describe what is profound... describe what is wonderful and beautiful?  For that is what this book is.

It is wisdom, prose, poetry and story... It is philosophy and theology... It is spirituality and psychology. It is sociology and cultural anthropology...  It is all this seamlessly merging together. Naugle is able to pick up the many diverse fields of fabric and threads and weave them together into a tapestry masterpiece that is far greater then the individual pieces.  It is all these things in an intelligent way without being academic. Keep that in mind. It is intelligent but not academic. I know intelligence is a quality associated with living beings, but it is the best word I can come up with at the moment.

David Naugle opens up the heart of God and the human soul and tells the story of Original Happiness, Lost and then Regained.

He carefully, yet boldly, names our deepest longing and its distortion, its corruption, and its loss. He describes our "now" condition of disordered loves and disordered lives built around those confused loves, and how unhappiness grows ever deeper. He diagnoses our condition like a spiritual doctor of the soul and then he guides our way forward as a spiritual director.

He uses (almost) all of my favorite authors who have wondered about and written on this theme of original happiness, now lost.  Augustine, Lewis, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Donne, Bonhoeffer, Calvin, Chesterton,  Edwards, Piper, Kreeft, Sayers, Plantinga, Rolheiser, Tolkien... and so many more. I have loved these authors because they have written of the great things that matter most. As I read Reordered Love, Reordered Lives, David Naugle seems to be as a conductor who gathers these magnificent instruments and voices together into a delightful symphonic orchestra. If the individual solist was good, when joined with her/his peers, together they are transcendent.

He invites me to name my sorrows, to know their cause, to see their manifestation, to acknowledge my disordered response to the inconsolable longing inside.

But then . . . like a spiritual Gandalf he leads me through the Middle Earth of my life, with an eye to the evil of Mordor which corrupts all good things. He leads me into the fray against what is wrong with the world, what is wrong with me, and helps me make my way back home to the Shire/Eden and a reordered love and life. I feel like I can say with Sam, "Well, I'm back."  He has come home and so will all who read this book.

I recently re-watched Shawshank Redemption and here is the image of Joy regained. David Naugle wants to you to find this place once again.

Confessions and Post-Secret(s)

Post Secret. It is a community of confessors, posting their secrets on-line at the Post Secret blogspot.

Post Secret. It is meeting a deep need of the human heart. It is a confession and a disclosure. It is vulnerability about the hidden things in our life. It is the anonymous revealing of the fallen spirit, the diseased soul, the heart in pain, the broken mind, the lonely person.

Post Secret. Millions of hits at this site! By who? Who goes here to make their confession? Who goes here to see the secrets posted? Are they voyeurs of the soul looking for a racy tidbit? (And there are some.) Are they just the curious spectators who want to have a little fun? Are they fellow strugglers who want to find their sin named and so they feel less alone?

Our culture suffers from sickness of soul and dis-ease in our spirit. We have slowly lost the very categories to know what is inside us. We have surrendered the idea of original sin and daily transgression. We have lost the places to name our sin and find forgiveness. We no longer have access to places and people who can offer absolution and healing. Philip Rieff told us this in his book, The Triumph of the Therapeutic.

I am a Reformationent.  Think - cross between Reformationist and Emergent. I am rooted in Luther, Calvin and their worldviewish heirs. Unlike some Reformationists, I actually believe the church should always be reforming itself and that includes theological reFormation. I am deeply appreciative of many other traditions as well and am willing to reMix my theology in light of those traditions. But when you peel away the many layers, deep down the Reformation is there.

I believe that Luther's (the Bible's) idea of the priesthood of all believers was a necessary corrective to the the Roman Catholic priestly confessional which held very close and guarded, the keys of the kingdom. But please note the vital word in the previous sentence. It is a corrective, not an elimination. We have eliminated it and are poorer for it.

I am grateful that I have free, unmediated, except through Christ, access to God's forgiveness. But I am also mindful of words like that of James. "Confess your sins to each other and pray for one another so you may be healed." (James 5:11). I believe this is one of those deep expressions of our individuality in community with others.

I need relational connectedness with others. There are times I need to make my confession to another. Not to receive forgiveness from them, but to receive the message of forgiveness through them. To have confirmed and reaffirmed, "your sins are forgiven . . . go and sin no more."

It is not good for man to be alone. Not before the fall and certainly not post-fall. Surely one of the applications of this is when we are consumed with sorrow, hollow with guilt and weighted with the shame of our sin.

But where do we go? To whom do we go?

Psalm 119

I have been doing some lectio divina reflections on Psalm 119 for the last two weeks. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and the theme of the Psalm is God's Word.

For a brief explanation of Lectio Divina read this short web article. For those of you who are at LWCC and have not yet taken the Savoring the Scriptures four week course, make it priority in your year to do this. 

The Psalm is known as an acrostic. It is divided into 22 sections, with each section having the title of the next LETTER in the Hebrew alphabet. Then in each section, every line of the section begins with the same letter. Obviously we miss this in the English translations.

What is more significant is the EXTREME respect and honor the Psalmist has for God's Word. I have been taking one section a day and reading, reflecting, journaling, praying through the day's passage.

(This is what one does in lectio divina, reflectively, prayerfully engage with the Scriptures to discern what God wants to say to you personally.)

I find myself praying that God would give me the same regard and devotion for the Scriptures and that the Scriptures would have the same formative influence in my life that they did for the Psalmist. It has been a very good devotional experience so far.

The love and regard for the Scriptures is striking. May we all become this grounded in the Scriptures. I think this is part of what Bobby Clinton means when he talks about Bible-centered leaders.

I highly recommned that you use Psalm 119 in a similar way in the near future. And pay attention to how your appreciation for and engagement with God's Word soars.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

From Absurd to Obedient

Henri Nouwen was one of my favorite writers on spirituality. It was not because he was the most insightful, or brilliant in his understanding. Others were much more so than Nouwen.

It was because Nouwen was at his very best when he "hung the fruit low for all of us to pick." He knew how to make things simple and say them simply.

I came across another example of Nouwen doing this in Sabbath by Muller where he provides this illustration.  Nouwen said (paraphrased) . . .

Our lives have become absurd. In Latin surdus  means deaf. To be absurd is to be deaf to what we must hear. To be absurd is to be unable to hear or unwilling to listen.

The word obedient comes from the Latin word audiere which means to hear or to listen.

So, in a simple way, the spiritual journey with Christ is moving from deafness to hearing. It is gaining the ability to listen to Jesus.  it is the journey from absurdity to obedience.

To say it bluntly. When I don't listen, I am absurd.  (Even though they are fake, wouldn't it be nice to be able to have spiritual ears like this?)

How have you been these past few days?  Absurd or obedient?  Listening to friends, to Scripture, to God, to love . . . or not listening?  Absurd/deaf or hearing/obedient.

"Let him who has ears to hear, hear."  (Mark 4:9 and five other places as well.)

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

I wonder if this is what we look like when we don't listen?  Kind of absurd looking - isn't it? 

Sabbath Musings (Leaders, Limits and Rest)

It is ironic and appropriate that I do this on Sunday, the Sabbath day for Christians, which turns out to be anything but a day of rest and renewal for many of us.

A few weeks ago when Ruth Barton was with us one of the things she spoke on that grabbed hold of me was Sabbath rest and knowing and respecting your limits. Ok! Sabbath keeping is not in my top five list of spiritual disciplines I practice. In fact, it doesn't make it in the top twenty-five list.

I needed some help with this one. Some motivation if you will. She recommended a book that I picked up - Sabbath: Find Rest, Renewal and Delight in Our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller. I'm not in a rush to work through it. I need some time to sit with its thoughts and lessons . . . and more time and will to make change.

Here are a few musings I have had while reading through the pages of the book.

Many of us (and i am to be counted in their number) wear our exhaustion as if it were a trophy. Being and feeling too busy with work is now a status symbol. If someone asks you how you are doing and you don't answer - "BUSY" - then you are probably slacking off.

The Chinese pictograph for busy is composed of two characters - heart and killing.

(Note: I like this, but I have to admit that I am a little hesitant to say it is actually so. For many years, the idea of the Chinese pictograph for change was said to be composed of two other pictographs - those of danger and opportunity. I've been told this is not true. So, is this one for busy true, or is it a pictograph urban legend? I don't know. But I like it.  You can see it at:  this site.)

(Company Policy:  We strive for professional journalism on this blog site. We only pass on urban myths, fabrications, innuendos, slander, gossip, misleads, premature and thus faulty news and outright error if we like it and it is self-serving. Otherwise, we always tell the truth, as we see it.)

We are consumers and producers living and working in a world where speed, accomplishment, consumption and productivity are the greatest values.  That does not lend itself to the "wastefulness" of down time on a Sabbath.

Here are three quotes and a Scripture text that spoke to me.

"There is more to life than merely increasing its speed."  Gandhi

"God is the friend of silence."  Mother Teresa

"I have often repented of having spoken but never of having kept silent."  Arsenius, a desert father

"Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil."  Qoheleth in Ecclesiastes 4:6

If you are feeling too busy, running on the treadmill and not having time for renewal, rest and delight, then let's join together in pursuing this discipline.

And if you have any ways that are working for you on this - let me know.  Share them in the comment section.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

p.s.  Death is nature's way of saying, "Slow Down!"  Sabbath is God's way of saying it in a less dramatic form.

If You Love Something, Seek It Out

I have a friend who loves good food and fine dining. I think he knows every interesting restaurant within a one hundred mile radius. He seeks out what he really enjoys.

I have a freind who loves poetry. He is always reading and reflecting on poetry. Both the old and familiar and the new and unknown. He seeks out what he really enjoys.

I have a friend who likes art and artists. She is always seeking out times and ways to spend with artists. She seeks out what she loves.

I have a friend who loves the wisdom of the ancient spiritual writers. He is always reading from their writings and loves to find a piece especially worth reflecting on. He seeks out that which he loves.

I have a friend who . . . (well, I'm sure you get the theme of this post).

Annette Simmons says: Great storytellers are compulsive story listeners. Great artists seek out art. Great chefs like to eat other chef's food. Writers read vocaciously.

If you love it, you seek it out.

So - what are you seeking out these days? Are you making time in your life for what it is you love? This is the replenshing, generative stuff of life we need a lot of. So, to all my friends,

Blessed seeking in the days ahead.

And may your life be full of what you love.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Search for God Every Waking Hour

It gradually became clear that Father Joseph Sammons held our parish together with something more than duty, something that strengthens faith and proves love, something that he alone understood and desired the search for God every waking hour of the day through the holy dialectic of prayer and work. Once I could see this and understand it, I stopped wandering about and got started on that search for myself.   Andrew Krivak, A Long Retreat

These words about one priest really grabbed hold of me and started me thinking about my own vocation and call.

Coincidentally (or not), later that evening I would be teaching the Ancient Future Faith group on the theme of Knowing God. Not something I feel I have been doing so well on as of late.

A few things really moved me in this description of Joseph Sammons.

The true vocation of a priest, or minister, or pastor (and I would add of anyone called to provide leadership and guidance for God's people . . . and let's go all the way - FOR ALL VOCATIONS) is the daily pursuit of God in love and devotion. It is this pursuit which is our essential life work. It is this pursuit which is our chief end in life.

It is this pursuit and its lessons (both the good and the painful) and its fruits and failures that spills over into every other sphere of life. It is this glorious pursuit that consecrates everything else one does. It is this long obedience / pursuit in the same direction that imprints and impregnates all else with the presence of the holy.

And oh is it hard to do daily . . . much less every waking hour!

This pursuit is not a precursor to ministry and life.

It is not an alternative to ministry and life.

It is not even a supplement or enhancement to ministry and life.

It IS ministry and life.

Without this, everything else is, in the words of Qoheleth (the writer of Ecclesiastes), vanity of vanity, futility of futility, foolishnes of foolishness. Or as one of my old favorite bands sang - Dust in the Wind.

I (you / we) exist to know God intimately and to love, worship, serve and glorify Him with great joy. And then to serve well and with deep love, His purposes in the world.

That is my  / our chief end.  Without it, everything else is religious activity.

And oh how hard it is to do this daily . . . much less every waking hour!

The demands of a busy, noisy world DISTRACT me.

The responsibilities of a challenging ministry DETOUR me.

The attacks of a hateful Adversary DISRUPT me.

The habits of a sinful nature DERAIL me.

And yet the longing remains . . . the search continues . . . and the hope pulls me on.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Personal Reflection as a "Wanna-be" Romantic Idealist (or) a "Recovering" Pragmatic Realist

I've been having some of those reflection times that are "troubling." Not in a bad sense, but in a challenging, provocative sense. It sure isn't very comfortable.

I think at heart, when it comes to the Christian faith, I am this odd mixture of Romantic Idealist and yet Pragmatic Realist (with a dash of Skepticisms added in). Part of me has these incredibly high ideals for how the Christian life could be and should be.

• How awesome, authentic community could be!

• How radical we should be as followers of Christ! 

• How counter-cultural we should be as we seek to incarnate the life of Christ in all its magnifience!

• How devoted to life long learning we have to be!

• How substantial should our time be in spiritual formation pursuits.

• How totally, thoroughly transformed we should be;  altered by the power and grace of Christ.

• How engaged in missional commitment to the poor and broken.

• And on and on it goes . . .

And then . . . middle age, middle class, suburbia intrudes on the dream.  (I have a song from Greenday's American Idiot running through my mind...)

You know, when I was a lot younger (and even more of an idealist), I would have looked at the lifestyle I have today, and felt sorry for that poor sucker.  Enculturated into the American Dream and not the Kingdom Vision! Jesus, may that never happen to me. But it did. Not all at once. But slowly, gradually, incrementally. A little like the frog in the water that is going from warm to boiling, and not noticing until it is way too late.

Re-reading, Come-Live-Die  by Geroge Verwer has been one of those "mildly" (no, better make it "moderately"; no, better make it magnificently) troubling spiritual experiences.

The Pragmatic Realist in me skeptically wonders - how do comfortably middle class North Americans (of which I am one) engage with the radical message of Jesus in a way that we actually move into it and not just feel guilty for a week or two and then push it off the mental burner and remain in our default setting?

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

"Muchness" and "Manyness" (Hurry and the Devil)

Here is a reflection for today on an issue that all leaders (or almost all leaders) struggle with.

In contemporary society, our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, crowds. If he can keep us engaged in "muchness" and "manyness," he will rest satisfied. . . . Hurry is not of the Devil, it is the Devil.   Richard Foster, Celebration of  Discipline

Strong words . . . but necessary words.

Most of the time, if I ask a leader how she or he is doing with ministry, I'll hear, "Too busy, too overloaded, too much to do, not enough time to do it, feeling stressed with all my responsibilities..."

I recently had a bit of a self-awareness chuckle when someone asked me how I was doing. I said, "Well, I'm a little too busy, probably about 10% too busy, but that is a lot better than being 30-40% too busy."

Spiritual directors will tell us that we need regular doses of silence (to over come noise), life rhythms (to resist hurry) and solitude (as the antidote to crowds). Leaders move back and forth between these "dualities."

From noise to silence and back to noise, words, speech . . .

From hurry to sustainable rhythms and back to hurry . . . (the tendency is always there)

From crowds to solitude and back to crowds where we do our ministry.

Jesus had these dynamics operating in his life. Check out Mark 1:29-39.  These movements are inevitable. Our error is thinking we can live in one of the polarities when life is a constant movement back and forth.

With all that said, Foster is right. The spiritual forces of evil would love to emesh us in "muchness" and "manyness."

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Of Jeremiads and George Verwer (Come, Live, Die)

I was working on my Th.M. degree at Westminster Theological Seminary and taking a church history course on early religion in America. It was taught by the brilliant thinker and extraordinary communicator, Dr. Samuel T. Logan. Think of fiery intellect and a heart on fire and that was Dr. Logan. (I also took a course on Jonathan Edwards from him and that was beyond phenonemal in its impact on me.  But that is another post . . . maybe!)

In that course I first heard the word Jeremiad. My first thought was, the word was mispelled. It should be Jeremiah. But I found out that it was spelled correctly and that a Jeremiad was a type of sermon used by Puritan preachers to speak prophetically and forcefully about the sinful conditions of both society and God's people. And since that is exactly what the prohet Jeremiah was called to do, this kind of sermon became known as a Jeremiad.

I was looking through my files the other day and I came across an old book by George Verwer.

Come, Live, Die.

Long, long ago, and far, far away (it was early in 1975 at Clarion State University), someone gave me a copy of this book and I read it in one sitting. It was one of those life shaping, direction establishing, defining moments where the Spirit of God used powerful words to lay certain foundations in my life. It was like a contemporary Jeremiad, that once heard, a choice had to be made. What would I do with this Spirit pronounced "word."

Geroge Verwer is the founder of Operation Mobilization. 

You can read more about OM here.

You can read more about George Verwer here.

Verwer is one of the most passionate Christ followers you will ever meet. He is one of the most fully devoted to Christ and His Kingdom agenda alive. And this little booklet was fire for my soul.

Verwer through down the gauntlet.

It was a biblical summons to radical discipleship as a follower of Jesus.

It was an invitation to be a revolutionary and join in a movement to renew the world with the love of Chirst. 

It was a prophetic, in your face challenge to let of go of self-preoccupation and to throw oneself into partnership with Christ.

It was a "mince no words" reminder that Jesus set the standard and established the norm when he said, "If anyone would come after me, he (or she) must take up the cross, deny the self and follow Christ."

I am rereading this little booklet today. And boy is it ever stirring stuff within. It is doing its Jeremiad work once again in my heart.

If you can get a copy of it through an internet used book source - do it. There are lots of them available. They are very inexpensive. Shipping will cost more than the book.  Here is one place. Or just type in the words: Come, Live, Die on your browser

Even more, take some time this week to consider your own commitment to totally surrendered, fully committed, radically bold for Jesus living.

And if you are a leader, remember, you can't take people to places where you've not been and imprint them with stuff you don't have.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Brilliant (and Melancholy) Dane on the Reflective Life

I've used Kierkegaard's quote (or a paraphrase version of it that is) at least a half dozen times in the last few weeks in conversations with leaders.

Life is lived forward but understood backward.

Kierkegaard is talking about the reflective life through a retrospective look at one's past. We are not often aware of the significance of the immediate events we experience. Nor are we aware of God's presence and work in and around those events. Often, we understand their importance later, as we reflect on the experiences, our responses to those experiences and what grew out of the experience and our response.

The unexamined, retrospectivly unprocessed life is not worth living according to Socrates and Kierkegaard. (I hope there weren't too many canceling negations in that sentence!)

In other words, we must get to know our story. There are lots of tools that can be used to help you or someone you are working with, learn their story.

Bobby Clinton's Time Line is a tool that many leaders use. I have a morphed version of that which is more accessible (a bit more like Life Mapping in the next paragraph) and I have walked a lot of leaders through that tool.

My colleague, John Hilliard has developed his own approach using the time line idea and that of Life Mapping. He is a huge fan of using this kind of approach with those he mentors. (Check out the book by John Trent to learn how to use this kind of approach.)

Spiritual Autobiography is a spiritual discipline that I was taught by a mentor many years ago.

There is a contemplative spiritual discipline known as the Daily Examen which I practice from time to time. There was a season in my life when I did that on a daily basis. 

For a brief explanation of THE DAILY EXAMEN click here.

A 360 degree assessment can be used for a refelctive look at one's life through the inclusion of others and their persepctives. Lots of tools are available by doing a web search.

However you do it, you must discover and interpret your story for the chapter you are writing at this moment is a continuation of the themes and plots established earlier in life. Your current chapter is fully connected to and an extension of what has gone before.

In one sense, the work of mentoring must be Kierkegaardian in nature, as mentors help others reflect on their life so they may fully engage in today and discern where their story is moving.

Unfortunately, the brilliantly reflective Kierkegaard was also somewhat melancholy. So more than reflection is needed, but that's another post some other day.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Locavore's - Hungry to be a "Local"

The WordSmithMeister has done it again.

How does he do it?

How does he do it so often?

I guess it is no good to be envious of the extraordinary word artistry of Len Sweet. But darn, is it hard not to be at least a little envious.

Locavore's. Len Sweet says: 

I have a new ambition in life. I want to be a local . . . Here I am: wanting to be a local, with locavore hungers, longing to be placed and no longer to be 'out-of-place.'  Quote me, "I'm going native."

I don't know how many of us think, "hmmm, I want to be a local." Usually we are thinking about how nice the grass is in the other location. So often we are restless wanderers who think another place will surely have more opportunities (i.e. better job, better dating options, better church, better pay, better school . . .).

Sweet says, he wants to be a local with hungers for the local.

IThis resonated with me. I travel a lot. I enjoy traveling. I really like reconnecting with friends who live in other cultural settings. I also enjoy meeting new friends in other places.  (As I was typing this, the old John Denver song, Leaving On a Jet Plane, just popped into my head. Scary...)

But you know something?  Increasingly, when I travel, I have the desire to be back home again. Maybe it is because the novelty of travel and the thrill of the new  has long since worn off. Oh sure there are lots of places I'd love to see that I have never seen, but, there is a locavoreness growing inside me.

Maybe it is just because I am getting older. 

Maybe I am feeling a bit more "Entish" as I grow older.

Maybe I am understanding at a deeper spiritual level the monastic discipline of staying put, of rootedness, of stability, of enduring commitment to a place and a people and a sacred geography.

Len asks us some questions that are worth your pondering... not just if you're older, but maybe even  more so - if you are young.

Where are you most at home?

Where are you most alive?

Where do you want to be buried?

Where do you want to be remembered by the locals and as a local?

For some spiritual formation on this issue, here are two resources:

Monk Habits for Everyday People by Dennis Okholm, chapter 8: Staying Put to Get Somewhere.

11 Indispensable Relationships You Can't Be Without by Len Sweet, chapter 11: Where's Your Jerusalem.

Between these two chapters, you'll be well informed to think about being a Locavore.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

p.s.  For lovers of the Lord of the Rings, think about the love of the Shire on the part of the Hobbits. Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin had a great love for their homeland. Isn't it interesting that Tolkien did not end his magisterial trilogy with the Hobbit heroes in the far off land of Gondor? No, their story wasn't over until they were back home in the Shire.  Tolkien, as always, knew the deep truths.

Strenghtening the Soul of Your Leadership (A Review)

I've talked about this book several times in previous posts, but I wanted to do a slightly longer review of it here.

My core ministry is to develop, empower and resource leaders. The spiritual formation of leaders is woven into all I do in this leadership development. I merge the roles of leadership coach and spiritual director when it comes to resourcing leaders. And now . . .

Ruth Haley Barton has written what I think to be the best book I have yet read, that weaves leadership and spirituality together in a compelling and formative way.

Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry

For anyone who works in leadership or in developing leaders - we are very much in her debt. Her years of providing spiritual direction and formation for leaders make her the perfect author for this kind of book.

Barton understands the dynamics of leadership. She knows the demands and challenges, the dangers and struggles leaders face. She knows that leaders are always in danger of losing their souls (or at least in losing their way).

Calling, discernment, loneliness, isolation, work and rest, limits, friendship and community, the spiritual disciplines, surrender and trust, productivity and success - all are themes which Barton addresses.

Every single chapter had "many" thoughts that moved me to reflection and action. Which leads me to offer a suggestion:

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!

Well, at least don't read it in the normal way we read a book, which is to conquer the territory of its pages, find a few useful pieces of information and then put it on the shelf. DO NOT READ HER BOOK LIKE THAT!

Instead, use this book as a text for Lectio Divina (spiritual or sacred reading).

1. Only read a few pages a day (or just one page, or just a paragraph or two).

2. Be attentive to anything that resonates, that calls to you, that grabs your notice.

3. When those words or thoughts "find you" then stop. Listen.

4. Reflect on what is speaking to you and wonder, why is this speaking to you? What is God trying to say to you through the word that is stirring?

5. If you are in the practice of journaling, use that discipline to aid in reflection.

6. Pray.

7. Linger over the words and thoughts.

8. Allow Barton to be a spiritual mentor/guide, a conversation partner to help you explore your inner world of leadership.

9. If you are familiar with this discipline, find a spiritual friend and together use this book as a launching pad for spiritual friendship conversations.

If you want to see more about Barton's ministry, Click Here for her Transforming Center website.

Blessings on your leadership journey.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Prayer

Many years ago (probably eight or nine) when I was pastoring in Cortland, New York, I went to one of the Willow Leadership Summit extension sites in Syracuse, NY. Dan Allender was one of the keynote speakers and he gave a simply profound message at that Summit.

It is now available (I suspect slightly expanded from the message version) as a little booklet called, Leading Character.

Of all the good things Allender says in this little booklet, the words that hit me the most were his words of confession.

One prime tool for a radical make-over is prayer. I have failed to apply this truth more often than I have failed in any other dimension of leadership. (page 51)

I must take Allender's confession as my own, for this too is my greatest failure in leadership.

• Hard work - yes, I do that well.
• Highly intentional leadership about the leadership task - yes, that's me.
• Disciplined and fruitful learning habits - absolutely.

But waiting prayer that longs for and pursues  God for transformation through spiritual friendship with Christ . . . lingering prayer that like the persistant widow of Luke 18:1-8, perseveres until it has received what it sought . . . I have failed in this more than any other dimension of leadership.

Pray for me that I would grow much more in this spiritual dimension of leadership.

Brian Rice,  Leadership ConneXtions International