The Transformative Element of Joy

Change is often difficult to come by. This is especially true when it comes to the deeply ingrained issues within our lives. Many resort to all kinds of tactics in hopes of making some progress. Often, these approaches to change bear little lasting change.

During these times we forget that Jesus said He actually came to "give us life." And, not just life, but "life to the full." Part of this life, as characterized by Jesus, should encompass joy.

Perhaps at times, joy is the missing component in our endeavors to undergo personal/spiritual transformation. There have been a series of experimental studies done in regards to a person's behavioral response to doing various tasks. The core catalytic ingredient causing change was simply joy and a little bit of creativity.

Experiment #1: Take the Stairs

”Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feel better” is something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers. Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do?



Experiment #2: Pick up Trash & Use the Trash Can
To throw rubbish in the bin instead of onto the floor shouldn’t really be so hard. Many people still fail to do so. Can we get more people to throw rubbish into the bin, rather than onto the ground, by making it fun to do?




Perhaps some of us don't so much need a more structured plan for development, rather a little joy and creativity.

What creative and joy-filled practices can you think of for personal and spiritual transformation.

Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian

As followers of Christ we invited to journey toward the call to live a life of adventure. Such an invitation moves us beyond a stationary position on the sidelines of life. We are invited to enter the adventure of bringing justice to this planet.

This month Christian Audio is giving away a free audio book that lays out this awesome opportunity each of us have to join in and be a part of something much bigger than ourselves. The book is Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian by Gary A. Haugen.

Go here to download the book for free through the end of October.

Reflection: Picking up the Crumbs

Recently, while on a morning run, I got to thinking about the pace of life that many of us become entrenched in, often without even being aware of it. We run from one appointment to another, bounce from one deadline to the next, drive from one drop-off point to the next pick-up spot (at least for those of us with children). None of this is alarming in and of it self. What struck me though is how during these times of extreme movements my life and soul so easily become shallow. In the spin-cycle of life it's so easy to become numb to the subtle promptings of God.

I've discovered (more than once - but still learning the lesson), that I need times during my weekly rhythm where I can step back and reflect on my life, how I'm doing, what's happening, as well as, where God's been present and so forth.

My early morning runs are one of these times where I simply start off with no mental agenda other than reflecting, processing and reorienting my soul with clarity and perspective.

"Those who have abandoned themselves to God always lead mysterious lives and receive from him exceptional and miraculous gifts by means of the most ordinary, natural and chance experiences in which there appears to be nothing unusual. The simplest sermon, the most banal conversations, the least erudite books become a source of knowledge and wisdom to these souls by virtue of God's purpose. This is why they carefully pick up the crumbs which clever minds tread under foot, for them everything is precious and a source of enrichment."
JEAN-PIERRE DE CAUSSADE
The Sacrament of the Present Moment

The Upside of Down

We live in a world that tells us to succeed at all costs.

“Do whatever it takes” they say, “to get on top?”

In fact, many give their whole life to this endeavor. In Philippians chapter two, Paul paints a vivid picture of Jesus. This image, to the early readers of this text, would stand in stark contrast to the mind-sets prevalent within the city of Philippi. To more fully understand the depth of what Paul is saying about Christ, we need to track backwards a little bit into the history of Philippi itself. In doing so, this famous passage in Philippians comes alive like never before.

The following is the fourth message in our on-going study in Philippians. In it we explore how the Apostle Paul defines success and true meaning in life and discover the upside of down.

Philippians: The Upside of Down _Week Four from Jerrell Jobe on Vimeo.

Philippians: A Prayer for All of Us_Week Three

Christianity isn’t merely a set of doctrines to be believed. Nor, is it solely interested in securing one’s eternal destination. Biblical Christianity, it’s about an organic life lived out on earth through the power of God’s Spirit. In this message, we begin to explore an ancient prayer prayed by the Apostle Paul for a group of Jesus followers. Though much time has passed since this prayer was uttered, it is as relevant to our lives today as it was 2,000 years ago.

Philippians: A Prayer for All of Us_Week Three from Jerrell Jobe on Vimeo.

The Awareness Exercise

“If you are weary of some sleepy form of devotion, probably God is as weary of it as you are.”
(Frank Laubach, Man of Prayer)

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One of the most beneficial things we can do in our walk with God, is to switch up the routine. Often, we become numbed of the monotony of our lives. As a result we slowly become less attuned to God's present activity in our lives. The following is a simply exercise to help cultivate and nurture greater sensitive to God's active involvement in our daily lives.

The Awareness Exercise (2) is a spiritual exercise to help one find God in all things. The modern understanding of the Awareness Exercise is rooted in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, (3) especially in the exercise called the Contemplatio.

The spirituality of this exercise, the Contemplatio, is the spirituality of finding and loving God in all things. The Contemplatio assumes God's love for us and it is an aid to help us in gratitude to grow in our love and service of God. This exercise has a contemplative quality to it and is focused on our inner experience of the Trinity. How is God "drawing" me (John 6:44) in my existential awareness or consciousness? Hence, the name Awareness or Consciousness Exercise. In the Awareness Exercise we are not focused on our conscience but on our consciousness, i.e., on our awareness of what is going on in our interior experience. Thus the Awareness Exercise is related to the discernment of spirits.

The discernment of spirits is about detecting among the various influences at work within me which ones lead to God and which ones lead away from God and how I am responding to them. The Awareness Exercise, then, is a daily focused exercise of discernment in a person's life. Our focus in the Awareness Exercise is on the presence and action of God in our lived experience.

This spiritual exercise asks the questions: how has God been present to and active in me today in the people, events and circumstances that I have experienced? How have I responded? The St. Augustine's Seminary Spiritual Program states it this way: "The focus of this exercise is your growing awareness of the presence of Christ in situations, events and persons during that day, and the nature of your response to this presence". [emphasis mine]

Presence-- this spiritual exercise is interpersonal, that is, it is about the mutual presence of one person (risen Christ) to another person (you)

Situations, events and persons -- how is the presence of Christ mediated to me during the course of my day? The answer is in the persons, events and circumstances that I daily experience.

Your growing awareness -- Christ can be present to us, but we may not recognize or pay attention to Him. This exercise helps us become aware of Christ's presence and to grow in that awareness. Further, it is your awareness that is important, not someone else's. We are not contemplating the awareness of St. John of the Cross or of St. Therese, as helpful as that may be in other times of prayer.

Response -- the reason we want to grow in our awareness of Christ is so that we can live in closer union with Him, recognize His will and respond to Him by uniting ourselves to what He is doing in our life, in the lives of the people we encounter and serve, and in the world.

This spiritual exercise practiced faithfully can with the help of God's grace form you into a contemplative in action, that is, it will enable you to find God in all things and so unite yourself to the work of the Trinity in the world. The Awareness Exercise takes about 15 minutes and is often best performed daily towards the end of the day.

Endnotes:
1. These notes for the use of seminarians at St. Augustine's Seminary, Toronto, draw heavily on the work of the following Jesuits who have written about the Awareness Exercise: John Veltri, John English, Joseph McArdle, Douglas McCarthy, George Aschenbrenner, Michael Ivens and Joseph Tetlow.

2. The Awareness Exercise is also commonly known as the Consciousness Examen or Awareness Examen.

3. It is rooted in three spiritual exercises in the Spiritual Exercises of St,. Ignatius of Loyola. These three exercises are: General Examination of Conscience (#32-43, especially 43), Daily Particular Examination of Conscience (#24-31), and the Contemplation to Attain the Love of God (#230-237, known by its Latin name Contemplatio). The first two exercises are similar to what is known as the Examination of Conscience. The Examination of Conscience is usually done in preparation for receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) and focuses on faults and sins, sorrow for them, and the need to eradicate them. Hence the Awareness Exercise is broader and more foundational than the Examination of Conscience. Our focus in the Awareness Exercise is not primarily on faults and sins but on the presence and action of God in our lived experience.

Prayer: A Window into the Soul

You can learn about a person by simply listening to how they pray. Is the rhythm of their prayer rigid and saturated with words and phrases from the 1600’s. Does it feel like their talking to someone whose not actually there? Or, is it fluid and conversational.

I love the line in one of Misty Edward’s worship songs where it says,

I don't want to talk about You like You're not in the room
I want to look right at You I want to sing right to You I believe that You are listening
I believe that You move at the sound of my voice

This is how I long for my prayers to be, with the intimacy and ease of simply talking to God as if He was right there – with me. The truth is, He is. Augustine of Hippo spoke to this reality when he wrote, “God is closer to your soul than you are yourself.”

Many of us ask, “Where is God?” But that’s like asking the location of air or the direction of sunlight. The divine Presence is not a “thing” that is “out there.” Lovers abide in God and God in them. “For then the soul is in God and God in the soul just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish.” (Catherine of Siena)

“Every time I get into an automobile,” writes Albert Haase in his book coming Home to Your True Self. “I look at those words printed on the bottom of the passenger side-view mirror: ‘Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.’ That speaks of the divine Presence. God is closer to us than we have ever imagined or dreamt. Genesis portrays Adam and Eve experiencing the divine Presence in the evening breeze (Genesis 3:8).”

Have you ever paused long enough to listen to yourself pray?

Do you find yourself praying about the same things over and over or the same type of things?

When you pray, is there a sense that God is in another room or is there an awareness that He is right there with you?

Last night in New Community, we explored Paul's prayer for those in Philippi:

“And this is my prayer:
that your love may abound more and more
in knowledge and depth of insight,
so that you may be able to discern what is best and
may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ
—to the glory and praise of God.”
(Philippians 1:9-11)

What can we learn about talking to God (prayer) by reading and reflecting on Paul’s prayer for the Philippians?

How do your prayers compare to Paul’s?