Pressing Into Purpose

Pressing into purpose.

I read that phrase last week in a book I finally pulled off the shelf.  It's a book I had seen in the bookstore at Lake Junaluska when I was there for SoulFEAST 2015, the last year they held it.

[Rabbit trail for a moment:  Though I only attended SoulFEAST for a couple, maybe three years, it was one of the best get-aways and life-giving conferences.  It was through them that I learned first about FUMSDRL/HOF and the Academy for Spiritual Formation.  It was one of the best gatherings for one's soul.]

Back to the book. The title caught my attention: Why Your Weirdness Is Wonderful: Embrace Your Quirks & Live Your Strengths by Laurie Wallin.  The book finally won, but it was on my shelf for 5 years before I started reading it.

This book has been great to remind me that we are all uniquely and wonderfully made by the Creator (Psalm 139) and that God knows us best and knows all of us, each and every part of us.

As I read her words last week, something struck a deeper chord.

"May I encourage you in this journey of pressing into your purpose?  Don't get distracted by the jumbled-up mess you see on the surface.  Trust that God knows what he's doing.  And ask God to share with you the view of your life and purpose from his vantage point.  To give you a glimpse of the artistic design--the special part of God's overall design defined as you--which brings unique beauty to the world."  (77)

Several things struck me when I read this.

First, the "pressing into your purpose" part.  Then there was the "artistic design" part.  I had just written a few days prior to reading this a piece and I had included the words "Artistic Designer".  I read these words above on 5/3/20 and had written what I wrote on 4/30/20.

This is what I wrote on 4/30/20:

“All the different pieces and colors. Broken. Some small.  Some even cracked.  Colored. Clear. Opaque. Woven into and around each other.  Held together because of the fire that melted the metal. Each piece has meaning. Each color has meaning. Just as the brokenness in these objects will never go away, so it is with me.  Though pieces are put together, I am still the product of broken smaller pieces, put together by an Artistic Designer who designed me uniquely.  To allow the light to shine through the brokenness, to allow myself to be, to allow the Creator to do the necessary ebb and flow work of refinement…keeps me in a humbled state.  An open state.  A broken state.”

As I press into my purpose, what comes to mind?  What comes up for me?

This has been an ongoing question during this 2020 pandemic.  I have been giving it much thought, as I have been going through quite a bit of transformation and formation.

My purpose is to walk with others on this pilgrimage journey.  That's the simple version.  The bottom line.  It has many facets, meaning that it is done in many ways, depending on what is needed at the time.

I have always done that and been that person.  As I look back over my life, I recognize where I sought out the ones who were left alone and befriended them.  I was the listening ear for many.  Folks seek me out to talk to me.

Now, I have my many faults and issues and the pandemic time has been a really interesting time of healing some of that brokenness and reminding me that God knows all that too.

I am to yield, to submit, to allow the Master Builder, the Artistic Designer to guide me, to mold me, to fill me, to place me, to use me.  Easier said than done.  I get that.  Believe me.

Yet, the unfolding continues.  The becoming who I am, who I've always been continues.  I don't think I would have been able to articulate way back when that I would be who I am and where I am today, but I know this-- I'm enjoying this adventurous journey and I continue to press into it.

Some of what I shared above about the stained glass pieces was put in last week's sermon "Steadfast Endurance" and I spoke about healing.  I shared a few of the lyrics from Christy Nockel's song "Healing is in Your Hands".

I'll probably dedicate an entire post for the sermon, but for now I will post the song and the lyrics for you to read.  I didn't include all of them in the sermon anyway.

Before I do that, here is another quote from Laurie Wallin that relates to pressing into purpose: "My whole life, it became clear, had been one huge becoming.  It all mattered.  Every single part." (77)

Now, check out Christy Nockel's "Healing is in Your Hands":

Lyrics:

No mountain, no valley, no gain or loss we know
could keep us from Your love
No sickness, no secret, no chain is strong enough
to keep us from Your love
to keep us from Your love

How high, how wide
No matter where I am, healing is in Your hands
How deep, How strong,
And now by Your grace I stand, healing is in Your hands

Our present, our future, our past is in Your hands
We're covered by Your blood
We're covered by Your blood

How high, How wide
no matter where I am, healing is in Your hands
How deep, How strong
And now by Your grace I stand, healing is in Your hands

In all things we know that
We are more than conquerors
You keep us by Your love

Pressing into purpose.

May you be pressing into your purpose these days.  May you find healing in the broken places, knowing that light shines through the brokenness.

May you know the love and grace offered you.

May you know you are beloved.

Enjoying this adventurous journey,

Rev. Deb

Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage.

Though not a physical journey, I am taking a journey.

I am working my way through Christine Valters Painter's The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within.

I started this book over a month ago. Today I started chapter 2 and then reread my notes from chapter 1.

There is so much meat here that I need to chew slowly.

As I prepare to enter Lent, I recognize that this is the book for me for the Lenten season. Lent is a pilgrimage.

"Practices are an essential part of the pilgrim's journey. What practices would support you most in the season ahead?" (17)

As I read and reflect today, I think there are three practices I will take with me through the Lenten season this year: contemplative photography, writing, and letting go.

Letting go is a theme in chapter 2.

By learning to let go, we learn what is essential, we clear away those things or beliefs that hold us back.

One goal of growth in the Christian journey is "letting go of everything that keeps us l from God and moving us along a journey toward authentic freedom." (35)

There are items in my home that I need to let go. For example, I know there are books (gasp!) and clothes that have outlived their time.

There are thoughts and beliefs for me to let go and put aside.

My goal is to move towards wholeness, oneness.

I learned that the scallop shell is a symbol for the pilgrim's journey (38). Shells, not necessarily the scallop, are also symbolic of baptism and remembering one's baptism.

As I read and reflected today, I opened myself up to wonder, to packing lightly on this pilgrimage, and to surrendering.

I don't fully know where this pilgrimage will take me or how I will be at the end, but I look forward to the journey.

The picture above is what "shimmered " tome as I looked around the room I am in. I enjoy stain glass windows. From my vantage point, I can see the overcast sky. It is not dreary to me, but rather open and spacious, beckoning.

Whatever Lenten practice(s) you take on this season or whatever pilgrimage you may be on, may you experience a fresh renewing and awakening in your relationship with the Creator.

Blessings on your journey,

Debra

Journey Inward, Journey Outward by Elizabeth O'Connor

Journey Inward, Journey Outward by Elizabeth O'Connor is one of my required readings for the Academy for Spiritual Formation.  My journey on Academy #32 is coming to a close as far as the readings and the travels and the sessions go.  Session #8 is in April.  I have a couple of more books to read, but I may not get to them.  This book puts me at my 26 minimum and with my seminary class starting next week, this may be all I can do.  We'll see.

But I don't want to share about reading in general, I want to share about this book and from this book.  I also want to share other resources I've found.

First, this book. 

Let's say you weren't holding the copy I have, with its slightly fraying binding and yellowed pages.  Let's say you ignored the references to the Vietnam War and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Selma, Alabama.  I wonder, if like me, you would then think that this book could be talking about the church today, society today, Kingdom today?!?!  Church of the Savior was likely a fore-runner for other churches back in the late 60s as it stepped into Kingdom life, basing the journey outward on the strong foundation of the inward journey.  Yet, I still see this church as a fore-runner, because all too often we focus primarily on the outward mission without strengthening the inward journey.  It isn't an either/or.  It is a both/and.

The example set forth in the book by this particular church is not new to Christ followers.  Christ set the example.  Christ took time for the inward journey in order to have strength for the outward journey.  But that could be a whole other post.  Read the gospel of Mark for the rhythm and pattern of Christ ministering and getting away.  There are times when Christ is trying to get away and attend to the inward journey, but the crowds keep following him to the other side.  I wonder if there is anyone (lay or clergy) in ministry that ever feels like he/she cannot get away from the crowd?!!? 

But, that could be a whole other post too.

The book.  Journey Inward, Journey Outward.  The copy I have was published in 1975 by Harper & Row.  The original publishing date was 1968. 

What feels so odd about this book seeming like it could be talking about the here and now may have something to with the fact that I was four years old when it was published the first time and it resonates deeply within my soul.

There are 10 chapters in the book, plus a preface, an epilogue, an appendix from the Coffee House Church and some pictures.  The chapters are:

The Inward Journey
Three Engagements on the Journey Inward
Calling Forth of Gifts
The Restoration Corps
The Frontier Church and Psychiatry
The Potter's House
New and Old Forms of Worship
Preparation for Mission
The Covenant Community
For Love of Children

Here are some thoughts/quotes, etc. that stood out to me:

"We are going to know little about the task of reconciliation in the world unless we are in touch with what goes on in that world within ourselves and know how difficult reconciliation is there." (preface, ix-x)

"I am not practiced in placing my life beside quiet waters where the Spirit of God can brood upon it." (2)

"Is there within me a strength that lets me be unafraid? Can I allow myself to be present to another because I can trust my response and know that I am able for whatever comes?" (2-3)

"Whether a man arrives or does not arrive at his destiny--the place that is particularly his--depends on whether or not he finds the Kingdom within and hears the call to wholeness--or holiness, as another might say.  The man who hears that call is chosen. [...] Life becomes his vocation." (5)

"In whatever way it happens, the person who has lost his true self has a hunger in him." (7)

"The man who would step out of the crowd and follow his own destiny, must keep before him the knowledge that the way is hard." (8)

Talking about the book: "It is a book concerned with the renewal of the church, for it holds that renewal cannot come to the church unless its people are on an inward journey.  It holds with equal emphasis that renewal cannot come to the church unless its people are on an outward journey." (9)

"We have to be people engaged with ourselves, if we are going to find out where we are and where it is we want to go." (12)

"As people on an inward journey we are committed to growing in consciousness, to becoming people in touch with our real selves, so that we know not only what flows at the surface, but what goes on in the depths of us." (13)

"The content and quality of our lives is determined by how we respond to the ordinary, and this depends on whether or not we have taken the time to nourish an inner life." (18)

"To stand in the silence within oneself, while at the same time relating to external events, is not an easy concept to grasp.  It will also be understood differently at different stages of one's life." (29)

"Even in finding its outward shape, the Church must be concerned with its inward pilgrimage." (32)

"The outward journey is determined in part by the gifts discovered in the inward journey." (33)

"There comes to the "called" man an internal freedom that lets him take the risks involved in following a way.  Each day he moves closer to his "true self" and in this comes strength." (34)

"The adventure is not in the arriving, but in the journey--the "now" of life." (35)

"...we must be willing to give up structures not only when they fail to meet a need in the world, but when they no longer provide the framework that lets us be on the "immense journey" of becoming.  A call which is valid at one time in a person's life will not necessarily be valid at another time." (35)

"...the primary task and primary mission of the Christian is to call forth the gifts of others." (36)

"The discovery of the real self is the way to the treasure hidden in a field.  The gift a person brings to another is the gift of himself." (38)

"There is no Christian community not rooted in service, and no Christian service not rooted in relationship." (40)

I could go on and on and on!!

The ministries that spoke to me most were The Potter's House (a coffee shop) and the Dayspring Retreat Center, though there were aspects of the others that caught my attention and spoke to me in ways too.  Risk-taking and failure (but continuing to seek God's direction) are seen through the various ministries.  So is the foundation of the inward journey and the community committing together to live out their faith commitment individually and in community both inwardly and outwardly.  It isn't always pretty and it definitely isn't easy, but it is real. 

There is something about folks being serious about living into their growth on the inward journey and serving together on the outward journey that is refreshing and inspiring.

I was curious to see where Elizabeth O'Connor was now and what the Church of the Savior was up to.  The first thing I found was a blog link entitled "inward/outward".  From that site, I found information about the church and the ministries.  Links are below.  There may be more information, but I don't want to take away your fun, your research.

Church of the Savior has a blog in which Elizabeth O'Connor has posted.  Here is a link to one of her recent posts: inward/outward. 

You can learn more about Church of the Savior and their scattered churches as of 1994 from the homepage of the blog.

Though you can access this list of the ministries from the inward/outward blog as well, it is impressive enough for me to list separately.  What a wonderful example of organic ministry!  This is truly a mustard seed of faith becoming a full blown tree, living into its potential!  Ministries of the Church of the Savior.

I know there are churches and communities committed to this way that Christ has modeled for us, the way of the inward and outward journey being lived out in balance. 

Yet, it still seems like such a new and novel idea.  Maybe there is a need for more people to grow in the inner/inward journey, to learn about themselves, to learn their gifts, to put them into practice in community as they flow into the outward journey.

As I had hope for the institutional church when I read Diana Butler Bass' Christianity for the Rest of Us, I have hope from reading this book.  In both cases, I believe the hope stems from the fact that the focus is not on the institutional system but rather on living as an incarnational body, living as Christ lived.

Blessings on your journey,

Debra

Thirst, living water, and the journey of the spiritual life

Magia Blanca Waterfall at La Paz Waterfall Garden, dd 2012

In reading the 'Green Book', A Guide to Prayer For All Who Seek God, published by the Upper Room Books this week, I've read some good quotes by Howard L. Rice on the journey of the spiritual life.

This week's theme (if I'm on the right week), is "living water".  That in itself causes me to relax.  When I think of living water, I'm transported to several different pocket wildernesses.  I'm besides streams of flowing water or waterfalls.  I am also transported to waterfalls in Costa Rica that I've seen and rivers and creeks that I've been to here, there, and yonder.  I am also transported to the ocean's edge, watching and feeling the the water flow to the edge of the shore and then out again.  Additionally, "living water" brings me to Christ as Jesus Christ referred to himself as living water and that one would not be thirsty if they drank from the water of life.

Water plays a big part for me in my spiritual life, as does fire and much of creation.  Last week I put together a powerpoint slide primarily of water pictures and some of my other nature pictures to Keith Green's "Create in Me A Clean Heart".  For me, the pictures of the streams, creeks, waterfalls, and oceans fit creating a clean heart.

Rueben Job wrote a three paragraph entry on "living water" for this week's theme.  Here is the middle paragraph:

"The thirst for God is universal because we have been created with a longing for the Creator.  This desire to know and be known by the One who made us and loves us is often ignored, denied, and finally buried under a multitude of pursuits and interests.  But then some event in life invites or forces us to pause, and the desire for God comes rushing back to our awarenss.  And once again we know that real life is impossible without the companionship of the One who first gave us the gift of life and who sustains us even now.  We know for certain that we need living water; we need what only God can give if we are to really live." (325-326)

There are three quotes by Howard L. Rice in this week's section.  All are from his book Reformed Spirituality (1991).  This is not a book I have read yet, but it is now on my wish list. ☺

Though the quotes don't include page numbers in the green book, I was able to find the references from amazon.com by looking through the book online.

Here are some of the thoughts/quotes of Howard Rice that caught my attention in the green book:

"We can be energized and motivated by our personal experiene of God, so that we have both the vision and the strength to go out and engage in acts of risk-taking on behalf of others." (p. 327 green book; p. 168 Reformed Spirituality)

"The biblical promise that if we truly seek, we shall find God is the basis for the journey of the spiritual life.  In spite of the difficulties along the way, the times of dryness when nothing seems to be happening, the discouragement and distraction that comes to all of us, and the times of falling back and wondering if we have made any progress at all, the journey is one from which we cannot turn back.  The testimony of the saints of all the ages is that the journey is worth it; that God really is love; and that the love God offers is the most important reality that can be known by any of us.  Such knowledge enables a person to have tremendous power to take what happens, to surmount great difficulties, and to grow in the face of tragedy and deep disappointment." (p. 329 green book; p. 198 Reformed Spirituality)

In talking about the journey, the pilgrimage: "We are given new opportunities for relationship with others along the way.  We find new possibilities within us that we had not thought possible. The adventure of the Christian life is one that demands all we can give it.  But the testimony of the ages is that the goal of the adventure is well worth the struggle.  The hungry heart of the pilgrim is fed along the way."  (p. 330 green book; p. 199 Reformed Spirituality)


Wherever you may be on your journey, whatever you may be going through or dealing with, it is my hope that you find some living water to sustain you in the quotes above.

Blessings on your journey!

~Debra