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SHAPE Hallmarks: Spirituality
By Ann Brandon
Originally published in Communion, May 2004
"The pastor is more God-centered than church-centered."
In a previous issue (Communion, January/February 2004), we discussed connectedness: the pastor's life touches people and brings them closer to God. Our relationships with other people are critical to our growth as Christians, our demonstration of God's love for the world, and to the growth of God's kingdom. But how do pastors continue to connect with others in deep, meaningful ways when it seems that sermon preparation, building maintenance, hospital calls, and meetings are overwhelming them? How do pastors grow excellent ministry when it seems that they are always giving away?
Spring is my window to the answer. The grass, the perennials, and the trees use winter to store up for the new growth of spring. They take the time to let the moisture run deep to the roots, nourishing themselves for their own growth as well as new sprouts. Amid the doing of ministry, are we taking time to be God's children? Spirituality—the pastor is more God-centered than church-centered—is no easy discipline in our program- and product-driven culture. But, as Eugene Peterson states, "there are no shortcuts to becoming the persons we're created to be" (Christian Century, November 29, 2003, p. 21).
What might spirituality look like? Spirituality is ultimately a deep conviction that it is not about me; it is about God in me, with me, and through me. That conviction might come through devotional study; Scripture reading and study; spiritual retreats; family time; a day off, a Sabbath, every week; and other practices that challenge and encourage spiritual growth.
Spirituality creates healthy boundaries between work and respite and between family and congregation. Pastors engaged in their own spiritual formation will make time to engage in the spiritual disciplines of devotional time, solitude, personal and family withdrawal, prayer, biblical and theological study, fasting, and rest. Healthy pastors desire to grow as whole persons and tend to pay attention to their spiritual vital signs.
The God who called and calls you to minister among God's children is the very same God who delights in you (Isaiah 42:1) and anticipates you sitting at his feet to learn of him and be transformed more and more into his likeness.
Some scriptures and resources for reflection:
James 1:4, John 15:4
Marjorie Thompson. Soul Feast. Westminster John Knox, 1965
- Countless books have been written on Christian spirituality from a theological, intellectual, and historical perspective. All of them have strengths that deepen our appreciation of spirituality. Spirituality, however, is to be lived and practiced in the lives of believers. Soul Feast invites the reader to enter the spiritual through the practice of the spiritual disciplines. It is through these disciplines that we can live out a spiritual life. This is a balanced text that thoroughly integrates theory and practice with a greater emphasis on the latter.
John Trent. Life-Mapping. Bantam Books, 1998
- Life-Mapping is a powerful tool that will help readers leave behind the things that have held them back in life; establish clear, realistic goals; and take positive, concrete steps to live the kind of life they have always wanted to live. John Trent has developed a powerful tool that will help you map out a course for your life. This fresh way of looking at your life involves taking a review of the events and patterns in your past in order to develop a storyboard of where you have been, where you are, and where you are heading. You will learn to overcome the roadblocks that have detoured you from deeper relationships, sidetracked your professional career, stunted your spiritual growth, and destroyed your self-confidence. It is packed with practical, usable tools and thought-provoking study questions that will help you apply what you have learned.
Parker Palmer. Let Your Life Speak. Jossey Bass, 1999
- The old Quaker adage "Let your life speak" spoke to Palmer when he was in his early thirties. It summoned him to a higher purpose. So he decided that he would live a nobler life. "I lined up the most elevated ideals I could find and set out to achieve them," he writes. Thirty year's later, Palmer understands that learning to let his life speak means "living the life that wants to live in me." It involves creating the kind of trusting conditions that allow a soul to speak its truth. It also means tuning out the noisy preconceptions about what a vocation should be to better hear the call of our souls. There are no how-to formulas in this unpretentious and well-written book, just wisdom from an elder willing to share his mistakes and stories as he learned to live a life worth speaking about.
SHAPE Hallmarks: Spirituality
By Ann Brandon
Originally published in Communion, May 2004
"The pastor is more God-centered than church-centered."
In a previous issue (Communion, January/February 2004), we discussed connectedness: the pastor's life touches people and brings them closer to God. Our relationships with other people are critical to our growth as Christians, our demonstration of God's love for the world, and to the growth of God's kingdom. But how do pastors continue to connect with others in deep, meaningful ways when it seems that sermon preparation, building maintenance, hospital calls, and meetings are overwhelming them? How do pastors grow excellent ministry when it seems that they are always giving away?
Spring is my window to the answer. The grass, the perennials, and the trees use winter to store up for the new growth of spring. They take the time to let the moisture run deep to the roots, nourishing themselves for their own growth as well as new sprouts. Amid the doing of ministry, are we taking time to be God's children? Spirituality—the pastor is more God-centered than church-centered—is no easy discipline in our program- and product-driven culture. But, as Eugene Peterson states, "there are no shortcuts to becoming the persons we're created to be" (Christian Century, November 29, 2003, p. 21).
What might spirituality look like? Spirituality is ultimately a deep conviction that it is not about me; it is about God in me, with me, and through me. That conviction might come through devotional study; Scripture reading and study; spiritual retreats; family time; a day off, a Sabbath, every week; and other practices that challenge and encourage spiritual growth.
Spirituality creates healthy boundaries between work and respite and between family and congregation. Pastors engaged in their own spiritual formation will make time to engage in the spiritual disciplines of devotional time, solitude, personal and family withdrawal, prayer, biblical and theological study, fasting, and rest. Healthy pastors desire to grow as whole persons and tend to pay attention to their spiritual vital signs.
The God who called and calls you to minister among God's children is the very same God who delights in you (Isaiah 42:1) and anticipates you sitting at his feet to learn of him and be transformed more and more into his likeness.
Some scriptures and resources for reflection:
James 1:4, John 15:4
Marjorie Thompson. Soul Feast. Westminster John Knox, 1965
- Countless books have been written on Christian spirituality from a theological, intellectual, and historical perspective. All of them have strengths that deepen our appreciation of spirituality. Spirituality, however, is to be lived and practiced in the lives of believers. Soul Feast invites the reader to enter the spiritual through the practice of the spiritual disciplines. It is through these disciplines that we can live out a spiritual life. This is a balanced text that thoroughly integrates theory and practice with a greater emphasis on the latter.
John Trent. Life-Mapping. Bantam Books, 1998
- Life-Mapping is a powerful tool that will help readers leave behind the things that have held them back in life; establish clear, realistic goals; and take positive, concrete steps to live the kind of life they have always wanted to live. John Trent has developed a powerful tool that will help you map out a course for your life. This fresh way of looking at your life involves taking a review of the events and patterns in your past in order to develop a storyboard of where you have been, where you are, and where you are heading. You will learn to overcome the roadblocks that have detoured you from deeper relationships, sidetracked your professional career, stunted your spiritual growth, and destroyed your self-confidence. It is packed with practical, usable tools and thought-provoking study questions that will help you apply what you have learned.
Parker Palmer. Let Your Life Speak. Jossey Bass, 1999
- The old Quaker adage "Let your life speak" spoke to Palmer when he was in his early thirties. It summoned him to a higher purpose. So he decided that he would live a nobler life. "I lined up the most elevated ideals I could find and set out to achieve them," he writes. Thirty year's later, Palmer understands that learning to let his life speak means "living the life that wants to live in me." It involves creating the kind of trusting conditions that allow a soul to speak its truth. It also means tuning out the noisy preconceptions about what a vocation should be to better hear the call of our souls. There are no how-to formulas in this unpretentious and well-written book, just wisdom from an elder willing to share his mistakes and stories as he learned to live a life worth speaking about.
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