Our Living Room Community has been spending some Sunday evenings this winter conversing about spirituality. We've been reflecting on the thoughts of some sages from many different generations such as Søren Kierkegaard, Henri Nouwen, Frederick Buechner, Thomas Merton, N. T. Wright, Robert Webber, Mike Yaconelli and Tim Stafford.
Our first session was entitled: Spirituality: For “Ordinaries” Consider these thoughts...
“Everywhere I look on the cruise ship of Christianity, I see crews of instructors, teachers, experts and gurus eager to explain God’s plan for the placement of my deck chair, but I still can’t even unfold it…. When I compare my life with the experts, ‘I feel sloppy, unkempt and messy in the midst of immaculately dressed saints’…AND I’M A MINISTER.”
~ Mike Yaconelli
Why people might be interested in spirituality — and they’re not all Christians:
- Religion is making a huge comeback
- Materialism didn’t quite deliver what was promised
- We’re “hard wired” to things not material [see Romans 1]
“If anything like the Christian story is, in fact true, (in other words, if there is a God who we can know most clearly in Jesus), this [spiritual] interest is exactly what we should expect, because in Jesus we glimpse a God who loves people and wants them to know and respond to that love.” ~ N. T. Wright, Bishop of Durham
A Definition of Spirituality
…A real and renewed sense of knowing and experiencing the intimate presence of God the Father through Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit.
Themes to keep in mind:
1. Spirituality is not for the elite (we are already spiritual!)
[see Romans 5]
…Jesus is our spirituality. It is his life, death and resurrection that makes us acceptable to God. We cannot love God with our whole heart, soul and mind, but Jesus can and has. We cannot love our neighbor as ourselves, but Jesus can and has. It is Christ, therefore, who presents us to the Father, and it is because of him and through him and in him that we are spiritual…Spirituality begins with a profound trust in Christ.”
~ Robert Webber
2. Communal, not just individual
[see I Corinthians 12]
3. Comes through suffering
"Suffering may take the form of actual persecution…but suffering comes in many other forms, too: illness, depression, bereavement, moral dilemmas, poverty, tragedy, accidents and death.” ~ N. T. Wright
More material from other Living Room conversations on spirituality will be posted in the near future. You are welcome to join our dialogue either on-line or in person. Our goal is to share and live community for the glory of Jesus Christ.
1 comment:
I really enjoyed our conversation last evening regarding suffering. I think it is a hard topic to discuss and one that everyone feels. I'm glad I am in community with you all and look forward to seeing the kingdom come through living our lives together.
Post a Comment