Spiritual Formation at Savannah State University ("We Will Never Be the Same Again:)

January 2017 Spiritual Formation class at Savannah State University

Linda and I are leaving Savannah this morning and flying back to Monroe.

I spent the week teaching Spiritual Formation on behalf of Payne Theological Seminary.

Tomorrow morning at Redeemer I am going to share with my church family how God broke through in the class, especially what God did on Thursday, and why many students said the words "We will never be the same again!"

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My recent book is Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

I'm currently writing Leading the Presence-Driven Church.

Prayer and Letting Go of Control

Stripping Away the False Self

The River Raisin

"Basil Pennington and Henri Nouwen both agree that, at base, “the construct of the false self… is made up of what I have, what I do, and what others think of me”— a falsity many of us have unwittingly bought into even though it runs counter to our God-given identity." (Will Hernandez,  Henri Nouwen and Spiritual Polarities: A Life of Tension, Kindle Locations 619-622.

God wants to strip away what we have, our accomplishments (what we do), and free us from what others think of us. When this happens there won't be much of us left... unless we find our true self as sons and daughters of God.

Unless this stripping away happens we screw up our understanding and experience of God's love. We live in perpetual falsehood, under the delusion that our stuff and our awards or lack thereof constitute our identity. God, instead, looks into the human heart where things and trophies are nonexistent. And what people think of us matters not.

You are not what you have. Your bling does not define you.

You are not what you do. Your trophies do not define you.

You are not what others think of you, whether positive or negative.

You are what God thinks of you. To realize this is the moment of freedom, the beginning of life abundant.


***
My recent book is Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

I'm currently writing Leading the Presence-Driven Church.

Prayer and Humility

The Healing Waters of Redemptive Prayer

Shawshank prison in Marion, Ohio (not my photo)

In 2015 I spoke at Marion (Ohio) Correctional Center to 175 inmates about redemption and freedom. This is Ohio's largest prison, and was formerly the "Shawshank Prison." They are next to one another. How strange it was for me to see "The Shawshank Redemption" after having watched the movie. I kept expecting to see Andy or Red or the warden walk around the corner.

Redemption. What a beautiful word! My church family is called "Redeemer." "Redeemer," "redeem," "redemption," "redemptive" - all wonderful words about the move out of bondage and slavery into freedom. Like "The Shawshank Redemption." Yes, Andy and Red finally get free from the prison's physical constraints. But the movie is really about inner freedom, and release from inner demons that torment and imprison the soul. That's the beauty of this movie. And that's the longing of every human heart.

One of the Marion inmates asked me to pray for him. He wanted prayer so that he could forgive himself for killing his parents. He was a tormented man looking for inner redemption. I and some other inmates surrounded him and bathed him in the healing waters of redemptive prayer.

The apostle Paul writes, in 1 Corinthians 1:30: "It is because of him [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." In this stunning statement the claim is that Christ does not merely bring redemption to us, but Christ is our redemption. What can that mean?

Andrew Murray writes that the word "redemption" refers to our "complete and final deliverance" from the consequences of sin. The redemptive being of Christ not only is our soul's freedom, but our physical body's freedom as well. To say that Christ is our redemption "points us to the highest glory to be hoped for in the future, and therefore also to the highest blessing to be enjoyed in the present in Christ." (Murray, ch. 10, Abide in Christ) The redemptive activity of Christ brings full-being freedom to us. Experiencing this reality is available, not only in the future, but now. Redemption... now. Isn't that the heart-cry of every prisoner?

Redemption Now overcomes, in us, the fear of death. Murray writes: "The believer who abides in Christ as his full redemption, realizes even now his spiritual victory over death... The resurrection of the body is no longer a barren doctrine, but a living expectation, and even an incipient experience, because the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in the body as the pledge that even our mortal bodies shall be quickened (Rom.8:11-23)." (Ib.)

For me this is not mere theory, but experiential reality, flying in the face of the atheistic approach to death as exemplified by, for example, Julian Barnes. I have been with many people as they were dying and as they died. I've known many who lived their human lives as if they were branches connected to a Vine (AKA Christ). In such people I see hope and expectation that is not of their own creating. It's Christ in them, the hope of glory. In Christ there is life. Life Now.

The Pauline claim that Christ is our redemption defeats any idea that Jesus' redemptive work lies only in the past or only awaits us in the future. When we accept the invitation to "abide in Jesus" we know life in an experiential way, like the person who knows how to ride a bike.

At the end of The Shawshank Redemption Andy communicates with Red. Here's Red, reading Andy's letter.

Andy Dufresne [in a letter to Red]: 

Dear Red. If you're reading this, you've gotten out. And if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don't you?

Red: Zihuatanejo.

Andy Dufresne: I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. I'll keep an eye out for you and the chessboard ready. Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend. Andy.
 
If you've read this far, maybe you'd like to come a little further. If you are interested in Jesus, maybe you'd like to know more. If so, then step into Christ. Know Christ. He's your Redeemer now and tomorrow. I can hear prison doors opening...

Teaching Spiritual Formation at Savannah State University

Today Linda and I travel to Savannah, Georgia. From T-F I will be teaching my Spiritual Formation Class at Savannah State University to twenty A.M.E. seminary students. (African Methodist Episcopal)

This class is given through Payne Theological Seminary, where I have taught for the past seven years.

The class looks like this.

Course Description

This course is designed to engage participants in an exploration and expansion of their inner spiritual life utilizing the spiritual disciplines. Personal transformation is an internal process that occurs as the individual allows God access to the whole of one’s being and life. The course combines:

1.      Personal encounter with God

2.      Keeping a spiritual journal as a record of the activity of God in one’s life

3.      Corporate sharing of one’s experience with God

4.      Write a 5-page reflection paper on the book and one’s interaction with it.

5.      Biblical and theological reflection on key issues that arise in the life of one who seriously engages in the spiritual disciplines

Course Goals

1.      To encounter and experience God

2.      To experience personal transformation

3.      To deepen one’s prayer life

4.      To discuss issues of personal transformation with colleagues in ministry

5.      To reflect biblically and theologically on this experience, especially within the African American perspective of Howard Thurman and Martin Luther King, Jr. Special emphasis will be given to Thurman’s personal challenge to Dr. King to never lose his rooting in spiritual practices such as meditation, prayer, singing, celebration, and worship and silence, and that social change would only come through personal transformation and spiritual disciplines such as meditation.

6.      To understand personal spiritual transformation as the necessary foundation for all relevant church, urban, and global transformation.

Assignments

1.      Attend and participate in class sessions

2.      Keep daily, structured devotional times with God for 30 days, one hour per day, five days per week, beginning the week of Monday, January 16, 2017, and ending Sunday, February 26, 2017.

1. Use the following book as a guide to your prayer times: Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God, by John Piippo.

3.      Keep a Spiritual Journal that records what God is saying to you during these times.

4.      Type out your journal and e-mail it to me using Microsoft Word. This document should be sent to me no later than Monday, March 6, 2017.

5.      Read To Never Leave Us Alone: The Prayer Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., by Lewis Baldwin. Write a 5-page reflection paper on the book and your interaction with it. Submit this paper by e-mail, attached as a Word document, no later than Monday, Monday, March 6, 2017.

Required Textbooks

Baldwin, Lewis. Never to Leave Us Alone: The Prayer Life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Piippo, John. Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

Recommended Readings

Fluker, Walter. Ethical Leadership: The Quest for Character. Fluker understands the spirituality of Howard Thurman and its influence on Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as anyone does.

Fluker. They Looked for a City: A Comparative Analysis of the Ideal of Community in the Thought of Howard Thurman and Martin Luther King. Jr.

Hayes, Diana. Forged in the Fiery Furnace: African American Spirituality. Hayes is not only a great scholar but an exquisitely beautiful writer.

Kelleman, Robert, and Edwards, Karole A. Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.

King, Jr, Dr. Martin Luther. “Thou Dear God”:Prayers That Open Hearts and Spirits. Lewis Baldwin, ed.

Paris, Peter. The Spirituality of African Peoples.

Smith, Jr., Luther E. Howard Thurman: The Mystic as Prophet.

Thurman, Howard. For the Inward Journey: The Writings of Howard Thurman (Harcourt Brace: 1984). An excellent anthology of Thurman’s spiritual writings.

Thurman. Jesus and the Disinherited (Beacon: 1996). If you’re going to read one book by Thurman this is the one to read. He is brilliant, insightful, and extremely relevant for even today. There s a timelessness about Thurman’s writings.

Thurman. Howard Thurman: Essential Writings. (Orbis: 2006) Edited by Luther Smith. Smith is one of our great, if not our greatest, Thurman scholars. His introduction to Thurman’s writing is very helpful.

Thurman. Meditations of the Heart. (Beacon: 1999)

Thurman. A Strange Freedom: The Best of Howard Thurman on Religious Experience and Public Life.

Thurman. With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman.

Weems, Renita. Listening for God: A Minister’s Journey Through Silence and Doubt (Simon and Schuster: 1999).

Needed: A Listening Revolution

On the river off my backyard

Adam McHugh writes: "Nothing has changed me like listening. It has not simply been the content that I have received through listening— the words, stories and whispers of others— that has changed me; it is the very act of listening. There is something about settling in and paying attention to someone, or Someone, letting them have the floor and steer the conversation where they want to go, that is in itself transformative. (McHugh, The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction, Kindle Locations 91-93)

Listening is hard. Most people, perhaps the majority of people, are lousy listeners.

Listening is going to get worse than it has ever been. At least in the materialistic West. The landscape is barren, depopulated by the spell of the illusion of technique. The more things think and do for us, the less we think and hear for ourselves. We have lost our ears and our voice.

All people have ears; few have "ears to hear." This is creating a spiritual crisis. Jesus cannot be followed if he won't be listened to.

It's time for a Listening Revolution. Listening can change you because it brings understanding. Understanding is required to evaluate, to respond. I must understand before opening my mouth, which will give me a voice of compassion. 

"Absolute" Truth?

Lake Michigan beach, from some Michigan state park

There's no need to talk about "absolute" truth when "truth" is enough. The word "absolute" adds nothing to "truth."

Consider the apostle Paul's statement in Philippians 4:8 - Whatever is true... think on these things. Paul does not write Whatever is absolutely true, because there is no need to. Truth is truth, and adding "absolute" to it contributes nothing.

I suspect that some began to use the term "absolute truth" in the face of creeping epistemological relativism. That is, when persons began to believe that Truth is relative, the word "absolute" was added for emphasis.

But it's not needed.

Philosophers do talk about "objective truth." I think that's more helpful, more clarifying. To call some truth "objective" means it is true independently of any human knowing subject. Take, for example, the statement The lights in the room are now on. If this statement is true, then it is objectively true; i.e., its truth is independent of whether or not anyone believes it to be true. Our beliefs do not make them objectively true.

If The lights in the room are now on is true, it means that the state of affairs (the lights in the room are on) is the case for anyone, even for those who believe the statement to be false. If someone thinks it is false that The lights in this room are now on, then they are simply wrong.

Take this statement: 1) John's ancestors all came from Finland. I'm using the name "John" to refer to myself. This makes the statement true. Of course it's not true that 2) Everyone's ancestors came from Finland. That statement is false.

If someone says, "For me statement 1 is false, and statement 2 is true, that's just plain absurd. Statement 1 is true, period. Statement 2 is false, period. While statement 1 refers to me, and is thus a subjective statement, the truth of that statement is not subjective. That would give us the absurd statement It's true for me that John's ancestors all came from Finland. This would be like saying, It's true for me that the earth orbits the sun.

Note the distinction between "truth" and "belief." Beliefs are not equivalent to truths. Beliefs can be either true or false. But this is a function of statements, not human subjectivity.

My Fourth Sermon on The Lord's Prayer - Deliver Us From the Evil One

Redeemer, in Monroe

Here are my four sermons on The Lord's Prayer.

#1

#2

#3

#4

Journey to the Center of the Self (The Inner "Mysterium Tremendum")

Monroe County

Henri Nouwen writes:

"Spiritual formation requires taking an inward journey to the heart. Although this journey takes place in community and leads to service, the first task in to look within, reflect on our daily life, and seek God and God’s activity right there. People who dare to look inward are faced with a new and often dramatic challenge: they must come to terms with the inner mysterium tremendum—the overwhelming nature of the inner life." (Nouwen, Henri, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit, K 195)

"Mysterium tremendum." 

I first encountered this term in Rudolf Otto's classic The Idea of the Holy. "Mysterium tremendum" (MT) refers to an experience of awe, even fearfulness, in the encounter with God.

MT is, for Otto, a non-rational (= non-discursive) experience. "Non-rational" does not mean "irrational," but rather an experience that cannot be captured in the steel nets of logical language. It cannot be discoursed about; hence it is a non-discursive experience. Put more simply, there's way more in the experience than can be captured by our intellectual reason. Surely the real encounter with the Living God has this quality.

Otto also coins the term "Numinous" to refer to the non-discursive experience of God. "Numen," for Otto, refers to God. A "numinous" experience is a way of speaking of a God-encounter that cannot be fully captured by human reason. Such experience is what Paul Ricoeur and others call a "limit-experience," which contains a "surplus of meaning." (On Ricoeur and limit-experiences see, e.g., here, p. 66)

Picking up on Otto's language, C.S. Lewis writes:

"Suppose you were told that there was a tiger in the next room: you would know that you were in danger and would probably feel fear. But if you were told "There is a ghost in the next room," and believed it, you would feel, indeed, what is often called fear, but of a different kind. It would not be based on the knowledge of danger, for no one is primarily afraid of what a ghost may do to him, but of the mere fact that it is a ghost. It is "uncanny" rather than dangerous, and the special kind of fear it excites may be called Dread. With the Uncanny one has reached the fringes of the Numinous. Now suppose that you were told simply "There is a might spirit in the room" and believed it. Your feelings would then be even less like the mere fear of danger: but the disturbance would be profound. You would feel wonder and a certain shrinking–described as awe, and the object which excites it is the Numinous. " (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain)

Nouwen uses "mysterium tremendum" metaphorically to refer to the encounter with the depths of one's own being, "the overwhelming nature of the inner life," and God and God's activity happening there. Referring to another book I read a long time ago, this is what Morton Kelsey called the "adventure inward." Call this the Journey to the Center of the Self. Entrance into the inner sanctuary, the temple within ("You are a temple of the Holy Spirit").

Here is where spiritual formation takes place. "Spiritual formation requires taking an inward journey to the heart." (Nouwen) The inward journey is dangerous and exhilarating, as much so as interstellar space travel would be. This is how those who have made the journey and lived to write about it describe it.

Dare to travel inward. Adventure deep, led by God's Spirit. 

1. Look within.
2. Reflect.
3. Seek God and God's activity there.

Steps 1-3 are the necessary preconditions for adventuring outward and seeing earth, through heaven.