Worldly Holiness

Just Above Timberline–Training vs. Trying

Just Above Timberline, originally uploaded by papalars.

August 6th, 2008 Posted by andres | Daily Journey, Inward-Outward Stuff, Quotables | no comments

The Ground for Racial Reconciliation

Henry & Andy, originally uploaded by papalars.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Life Together, is famous for the following quote: “he who cannot be alone should fear community and he who is not in community should fear being alone.” I'd like to reflect on this quote, along with my recent experience in the Journey to Mosaics . I also want to integrate some insights I had during a week long silent retreat I did with a Jesuit priest by the name of Juan Valdez in Mexico over 10 years ago. Lastly, I want to draw out some implications for our current ministry with our focus friends. I trust all this reflection will yield some wisdom for your experience in our increasingly multi-ethnic world. Too much to bring together in one post? Perhaps. Maybe this will be a theme for a week or so.

The experience of being silent for a week was intense. Add the layer of being silent in community only increased the intensity for me. Though I don't always need to talk, I'm known for being able to chat with just about anyone. I'm relationally curious and like to get to know other people. I'm probably like most other people and like to be known as well. In Mexico, many conversations were framed around this type of interchange mostly because it was obvious that we were not from there. We were white people in a context where the majority were brown skinned. We spoke English as our first language and no matter how fluent our Spanish became, folks could tell we were not native. Lastly we were Evangelicals in a land where Catholic identity was almost synonymous with Mexican birthright. At the retreat, I knew all these pieces where in the minds of my fellow retreatants in the silent community. I wanted to explain myself to others, eliminate caricatures they might have of me and be known. And I wanted to get to know them. But we had to be silent.

I found over the week that a bond formed in our community that was profound. The big learning for me–it was not based on externals or the ability to chat. Recently I ventured the hypothesis that if we had all come together in a room outside of the retreat experience we probably would have ended up in different corners. This is mostly what happens in society at large. We live in a world where race, economics, religion and birthright determine where we stand in a room in relation to other people and the things that define us. Unless of course we dig deeper and find a spiritual ground of being. Colossians 1:17 comes to mind, "And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." I have usually applied this to the cosmos but doesn't it refer to human beings as well. All is the operative word.

At the retreat in Mexico as with Henry, my journey partner a few weeks ago, we can connect "in Christ" at a deep level that supersedes our external, hyphenated identities. Being one in Christ is not contrived or forced. It comes as we are first reconciled to Christ which then becomes the ground for reconciliation with others in the other corner of the room or other side of the globe. It is what the world desperately needs today.

At our silent retreat in Mexico, our priest invited us to one last meal at the end where we could finally talk with each other. The joy and sense of community, the bond of intimacy we shared was something I will never forget. It is like we were long lost buddies who had just found each other after years of searching. Luke anticipates this Kingdom vision in his Gospel, "People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.: Luke 13:29.

November 21st, 2007 Posted by andres | Inward-Outward Stuff | one comment

Swirling Apples–A Kingdom Ministry par Excellence

Swirling, originally uploaded by papalars.

Last weekend I was on the "Journey to Mosaics" trip with the North Pacific Conference of the Covenant Church. This learning experience is different than the "Mosaics Project" which I am working directly with under the department of World Mission. I plan to post later today some deeper reflections about that experience but I wanted to start off, since this is Friday, with my chosen foto for Friday.

I took this picture at the Broetje Orchards that we visited during our J2M trip last weekend. This is truly an amazing place with a far reaching ministry to the immigrants among us as well as ministries around the world. The founding couple, Ralph and Cheryl Broetje, started with a small cherry orchard in the 70's that froze two weeks after they signed papers for the purchase. Their vision persisted and has blossomed into a present day reality that is really unmatched in size and reach for the Kingdom of God.

Their orchard holdings are now around 40,000 acres, one of the largest privately owned apple orchards in the world, located in southwestern Washington, near Prescott. The value is assessed at roughly $40 million. Almost 700 employees work year-round, with the number doubling during peak harvest time. The orchard produces an average of 18,000 boxes of apples a day, packed and shipped from their own warehouses.

This is all amazing but the more important piece is how they do business in this little, desolate corner of the state and what they do with the profits. They personally underwrite many ministries around the world. All of their profits from the cherry orchards are donated, 100%. On site they provide low cost housing for employees, many who have come from Mexico and other countries where they cannot find work. They have started a Jubilee Youth Ranch for "at risk" boys between the ages of 13 to 19 years old. In 1990, they established the Vista Hermosa foundation and with it a K-6 school that aims to "serve, encourage and educate children and the under-served in their spiritual, community and health development."

There is more but I will leave you a link to check out more extensively what they are doing. Their humble but significant vision is "to be a quality fruit company committed to bearing fruit that will last." John 15:16.

November 16th, 2007 Posted by andres | Inward-Outward Stuff, Friday Fotos | no comments

Trusting in God

Trust, originally uploaded by papalars.

I was just sharing with someone today by email how God has been so amazingly faithful, again, in our transitions. He always has been faithful but sometimes we notice it more when we are about to make a big move. I know folks are praying for us as well.

The Psalmist declares God's faithfulness over and over and over again. That is kind of the habit of those who truly have entrusted their whole lives unto God’s care. Sometimes, however, I think the common run-of-the-mill Christian [like me] wonders if we should do the same, the "thanking God for his faithfulness" thingy. I know I just don’t do it as a regular thing. Perhaps I get tired of the falseness that can sometimes creep in to eager and well meaning God talkers, who praise God for stuff that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with God’s role in our lives. However, the other problem is that I think the case could be made that many times we have taken care of business fairly well on our own strength and therefore have no need to praise God for something.

Saying grace before a meal is a case in point. How many times is this just a perfunctory thing we do because that is what Christians normally do? It has been awhile since I had to really worry about having enough to eat. Actually more honestly, I don't think I have every really had to worry. I don't want to turn this post into an occasion to feel guilty about something that just is not our reality. Maybe the point is that I realize more keenly in our moves and transitions that God is with us. Perhaps that is because these are the times when I acknowledge more acutely that we truly need him. Like we need a place to live within 3 weeks and why should our gracious in-laws always have to bear the brunt of our call to serve the Lord? Not to worry.

We have been able to take care of almost all of our big ticket items on this side of the pond and have a place nearly in the bag for us to move into close to Erick´s high school in Bellevue. Today, the owner of our apartment here in Barcelona showed our place to two interested parties. It is expected that one of those will sign a contract in a week, thereby guaranteeing we won’t have to pay rent for another 2+ months through the termination of our lease in October. We also were able to take care of some furniture today! Wow, these are not small things! God is faithful, so very faithful. This is not to say that the journey is always smooth, but that in one way or another, God reminds us that he is with us, goes before us, prepares things for us to step into and allows us to grow in the process. We need to do our homework, but it is not ALL up to us.

The picture above shows the hands of one of my Pakistani friends and his baby boy that I took today when I visited them. It was a precious reminder of the trust I feel in the Lord. The story of what God is doing among this group can be found in my May Prayer & Praise list. Click the following link for a brief report: The first Urdu speaking service in Barcelona.

By the way, you can pray this week for some continuing growth in some key relationships with my Arabic teacher and Pakistani network. We will be joining together this Saturday for a special fellowship and meal with another 70 immigrants from all around the world. That will be fun. Today, one of them told me they always feel the peace of God when I am with them. That is of God, let me tell you. It was also an encouragement. Continue to pray for our transition…and include our children in your prayers. Kjel just went to Mexico to serve with work teams with Covenant Merge ministries. Nicki is working in the Midwest and considering plans for the fall. She still has some health challenges. Erick has a friend visiting us from Seattle and will soon pack his bags for our trip home. Thanks for joining us in the journey.

Psalm 36:5
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

July 3rd, 2007 Posted by andres | Daily Journey, Prayer & Praise, Inward-Outward Stuff | 2 comments

Monastery walks

Monastery walks, originally uploaded by papalars.

“There is seldom a period in which we do not know what to do, and we move through life in such a distracted way that we do not even take the time and rest to wonder if any of the things we think, say, or do are worth thinking, saying, or doing.”
Henri J. M. Nouwen in The Way of the Heart, p. 10.

Last week, Carol and I were at the all-Europe staff retreat in Santander, in northern Spain. We had great times of interaction with the rest of our team serving in places across this incredibly diverse region–The Czech Republic, Belgium, France, Russia, Sweden, and other parts of Spain. We also had several folks who came as guests from Chicago who played a role with us in the retreat experience. The highlight for me was to get to know each other a little better and the time of breaking bread together at each meal.

One of the components of the retreat reflected a theme in the broader leadership of the Covenant denomination, the area of “sustaining pastoral excellence.” It may not be obvious to all what this refers to. Essentially, we are talking about how to keep going over the long haul, maintaining the internal fire for one’s personal life and ministry. I learned in one of the presentations that the Christian ministry is one of the most dangerous careers today with a very high incidence of health, personal and relational problems. It is tough going in other words. Missionaries are part of this equation. We have the added issues that come with separation from family and loved ones and pressures [along with the joys] of living in another culture.

It occurred to me somewhere after the retreat that I was exhausted. I also got sick during the retreat, bringing that back with me to Barcelona. This explains a little of the absence of posts on my blog for about a week. Hmm, I was supposed to be refreshed from the time away at the retreat. Well, I was in certain ways, but in all honesty, I think we tried to pack too much into our agenda. This brings me to think about our lives in general. While much of our daily life is good and full, how often do I run from one distraction to another? Somewhere in the last 2 days I read the quote above from Henri Nouwen and I felt like this describes my life too much. I'm like the little hamster on the wheel in the cage that goes faster the faster one runs? As servants of Christ, passionate about ministry and getting things done for the Kingdom, we too often resemble that little hamster! I admit, guilty as charged.

Our retreat last week was good. It was very good activity, all of it. But it was not really a retreat to recharge the batteries for life and ministry. I didn’t take enough time to rest, reflect and listen. This is serious stuff for, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor, labor in vain." [Psalm 127:1]. Pray for us as we take the next steps in life and ministry. We need to keep the passion of the Lord before us and discern what he would have us do and be, with each other, our loved ones, our children, ourselves, and our focus friends. Thanks for accompanying us in the journey.

April 9th, 2007 Posted by andres | Ministry Updates, Inward-Outward Stuff, Quotables | no comments

Worldly Holiness–Down & In, Not Up & Out

One Cross over Barcelona, originally uploaded by papalars.

For more than thirty years, I have felt, on and off again, that there was something more to the Christian journey than my current experience was telling me. During my college years in particular, I sometimes became incredibly disillusioned with my own progress in Christian maturity as well as the lack of clarity and purpose in my life. Disappointingly, I also found few people (thank goodness there were some), who really inspired me to pursue the greater things of God and his kingdom. In this state of mind, I was drawn to the Jesuit movement as a phenomenon of the Counter Reformation in my undergraduate studies. I was intrigued especially with the correlation of the “Spiritual Exercises” of Ignatius of Loyola, how he developed an intentional approach to cultivating the inner life, and the impact this Catholic order had on the world in mission. As an evangelical, I observed the curious contrast with the “Protestants” who seemed more concerned about arguing doctrinal points. Granted, the dynamics of the Reformation and Counter-reformation were more complex and nuanced than this simplistic first impression. I was somewhat captivated but troubled at the same time.

Needless to say, I was set on a journey in these early years to find models and to live as best I could the healthy integration of the inner life of a follower of Jesus Christ and the expression of that life outwardly, in the world of action and mission. I was also concerned about personal integrity, wanting to live with others in a way that said something about the story we claim to live by. I will never be content to know, in an intellectual sense, that right doctrine is enough if the expression of that life does not bear “fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8).

My journey continues today. I have had some personal failures as well as success in this venture. Thankfully, I have also found that I am not alone. I am doing some writing and thinking on these areas currently and I´d love it if you joined me. This section will be tagged ¨worldly holiness.¨ I chose this combination of words for the juxtaposition of two ideas which are not usually combined. I want to bind these two often opposing ideas together. I think a true Biblical faith does the same. More on this later. If this gets too thick or heavy, let me know by email. Or simply enjoy the pictures that accompany each post. As always, comments are welcome.

This picture is from Park Guell above Barcelona. I like it because it is a place for solitude, reflection and prayer, if you can get away from the rush of tourists [I’m no longer a tourist of course]. But the city is always there in view. So my reflection and prayer is not cloistered away from the reality of this place. That I think is part of what “worldly holiness” is all about. Any spirituality worth its salt in the Kingdom of God must be connected to life on the streets. It must be down & in, not up and out of life´s challenges.

March 26th, 2007 Posted by andres | , Daily Journey, Inward-Outward Stuff | no comments

Dark Night of the Soul–Missionary Care

Girona Cathedral Inside, originally uploaded by papalars.

I promised I’d return to the reason for our trip to Andalucía, week before last, and why we were in Ronda with the wild bridge. By the way, the two pictures I most recently posted have really made a hit on my flickr site. Lots of views and comments. What do you think about the girl with the birds below?

Anyway, we took that trip to Andalucía in Southern Spain to speak with some people about collaborating in ministries of “member care.” One of Carol’s strong interests is to come alongside people who are hurting in some way. Member care is a fairly recent area of ministry in the mission community but has been something all missionaries have needed or experienced at some point in their time of service working cross-culturally. The challenges of missionary work can be daunting and they affect each of us in different ways. When conflict hits, when there are problems in the ministry, or when relationships go south the added layer of being in a cross-cultural context can make things more difficult. Things occur in the extended family that the missionary cannot be present for. Even the question of “where are you from?” can be reminders that we are strangers in a foreign land. Missionary children often feel this most intensely and sometimes struggle with identity and relational bonding. In other cultures ways of dealing with all these issues are different and the normal support structures that one would seek out in times of trouble are not there. What is a missionary to do? That is where member care comes in. And that is what we are hoping to be part of here in Spain.

One group we met with in Granada has around 150 Latino missionaries working with our focus people in the region. Carol wants to come alongside these wonderful servants who have left all to serve the Lord. Many of them are single women also, and need someone who speaks their heart language—Latin American Spanish!! By the way, we personally are no strangers to this stuff. Pray for us as we seek to both provide member care to others as well as find healthy ways to take care of ourselves and to build that support structure necessary to thrive in cross-cultural ministry.

Annie Dillard affirms that the clue to full spiritual aliveness is found in the very forces of calamity that we would avoid if we had the power to choose. The 3 d’s [disillusionment, dislocation & desert] that missionaries experience can bring us new growth or make life miserable, depending in large part how we process our stuff. Struggles and conflict can make us more alive, in paradoxical ways. This is counter-intuitive for most Westerners, where a Western spirituality focuses on upward mobility that has an innate fear of “the fall.” But we need to embrace the dark and difficult things we experience, our suffering and our sin. Not in a way that makes Eeyore our patron saint, but in a way that is honest, truthful and open to God’s healing touch.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16

March 4th, 2007 Posted by andres | Daily Journey, Ministry Updates, Inward-Outward Stuff | 3 comments

Time to Reflect & Pray

Alone by the Sea, originally uploaded by papalars.

My last post was about a week ago, right after my trip to Malta, which seems like a distant memory. I feel reflective tonight, like I need to “collect my bearings!” My kids laugh when I say that. They think it sounds silly, almost like I am a kid on the playground who has lost his marbles. Well, that is the way I feel sometimes, even though the saying refers more to orientation, reading a map and knowing where you are. Anyway, it is time to take stock of our time here in Spain/Europe, reflecting on what God has led us into and the things that are yet ahead. This week we are entering our 6th month of living here in Barcelona. Wow, can it be? As I look back at what we have done in that period, it seems longer, or that we have experienced and seen more than one can fit into that time span. Does that ever happen to you? When you are in the midst of something time seems to move slow, but when you look back you can hardly believe all that has happened? Perhaps that is human nature, at least my nature. I can be impatient in the midst of something, wanting it to move faster.

My prayer tonight–"Well, here I am God, ready for bed, but not really. We need to talk. Please, let me know you are present. Well, wait a minute! I know you are. In fact, when I read our support statement today and saw who contributed to us in 2006, I got warm in my heart and tears came to my eyes. Though sometimes this transition has been hard, I realize you are there with me, with us! You have brought people into our lives to encourage and to join in the journey. Thanks for that. It really helps. Help me in turn to be faithful, first to you Lord, and then to those who trust us with this ministry. Help me to continue to pursue those things you have put on our hearts, and the activities we take up. Help me to measure time well, neither rushing too far ahead in planning for tomorrow, nor lagging behind waiting for something better to come along. Help me to cherish the moments with family and friends, knowing they are gifts of companionship from you, even if they don't always bend to my agenda. Guide me to that still place where I can rest in your presence even if I can't see you. Then help me to be that place of rest for others. Thanks for the joy of knowing you!"

“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards;
at the still point, there the dance is."
    T. S. Eliot

“And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”     Colossians 1:15-17
                   

More to come…

February 5th, 2007 Posted by andres | Inward-Outward Stuff | no comments

Contemplation–Psalm 19 & Finding Your Way

Contemplation, originally uploaded by papalars.

This new piece on my blog will evolve into an entire section on the "Inward" aspect of the Inward–Outward journey. To begin with I have posted quotes dealing with aspects of the inner life–leadership, contemplation, holiness (not a dirty word by the way), solitude and general aspects of following Christ. Oh, yes there are a few quotes about our culture and suburbia near the end as well. I was partly inspired by friends and collegues Chris and Diane Wiebe to add these to my blog. For many of us, inner reflection is essential to life. I hope to provide tools for reflection and contemplation as this blog matures, and to encourage anyone who joins Christ on the Inward–Outward journey! By the way, all the photos in the mosaic above are mine, taken over a span of many years of interest in photography. God provides a great lab for reflection. Psalm 19 comes to mind.

Western spirituality focuses on upward mobility that has an innate fear of “the fall.”     - Anne Dillard

“If solitude were primarily an escape from a noisy milieu, they could easily become very self-centered forms of asceticism. But solitude and silence are for prayer. The Desert Fathers did not think of solitude as being alone, but as being alone with God.” - Henri Nouwen

“Life naturally provides those moments and occasions of unintentional contemplation, times when the foundations of life seem swept away and we are left with the need to see life from a different perspective.
- Parker Palmer

“Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.”
- Frederick Buechner

“I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.”
- Mother Teresa

“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of the conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake some day and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”
- Annie Dillard, in Teaching a Stone to Talk

In all my experience, I have never seen lasting solutions to problems, lasting happiness and success, come from the outside in. Outside-in approaches result in unhappy people who feel victimized and immobilized, who focus on the weaknesses of other people and the circumstances they feel are responsible for their own stagnant situation.”                                                                                                                                                                                     - Steven R. Covey

“When a leader takes up all the space and preempts all the action, he or she may make something happen, but that something is not community. Nor is it abundance, because the leader is only one person and one person’s resources invariably run out.”
- Parker Palmer

“Repentance is not an emotion, not feeling sorry for your sins. It is a decision. It is deciding that you were wrong… it is a’ feet on the ground’ kind of word.”
– Eugene Peterson

Nouwen finds in the Desert traditions of the 4th and 5th centuries a model for spirituality that can be the source of renewal and vitality for those enmeshed in the busy schedules and interactions with people. The Desert Fathers [and Mothers] sought a new form of witness after the persecutions of the pre-Constantine era stopped. The end of persecutions did not mean the world had accepted the Gospel. This was a time when the prevailing culture of the church began to resemble the world in which it existed, failing to embody the ideals and gospel of Jesus Christ. The “world” was no longer the enemy of the church after Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire. - Andrew Larsen commentary from Henri Nouwen

 “Thirty-six references are found in the Gospels with the words ‘Follow Me’ on the lips of Jesus. The word 'evangelical' never appears in the entire New Testament. The word 'Christian' appears once in Acts when it was used by outsiders in derision of the people of the way, the ones that were little Christ ones. In others words, people thought of Jesus Christ when they thought of the early Christians. There was little ambiguity.  How do we talk about who we are? How would others describe us to their friends?.” - Andrew Larsen

Although the church’s recent fascination with spirituality has yielded some positive fruit, the “what’s-in-it-for-me” impulse of our consumerist culture has taken center stage. Spirituality has become an end in itself, serving strictly the needs of the individual along the lines of personal temperament and wants, bordering on a spiritual narcissism.
- Andrew Larsen

“Holiness is the Christian life mature. It’s gathering all the parts and pieces of your life into obedience and response to God, and living with some energy. Holiness is a blazing thing, an energetic thing. Part of the reason the modern church has lost its taste for holiness is that it has become engineered. “
- Eugene Peterson

“According to Jesus, there is no authentic Christianity, discipleship or Christian ethics apart from doing the deeds he taught his followers to do….”
- Glen Stassen

“Holiness is not different action, it is different being.”
– Dallas Willard

“You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is required. The stars neither require it nor demand it.”
- Annie Dillard

“The greatest threat to the life of the church is the loss of its gospel substance, and the surest way to bring this about is for the ministry to become a bureaucracy functioning to maintain the structures of the original church, mindless of its subservience to the mission of the gospel to the world.” - Carl Braaten

"Each year, we construct the equivalent of many cities, but the pieces don't add up to anything memorable or of lasting value. The result doesn't look like a place, it doesn't act like a place, and perhaps most significantly it doesn't feel like a place. Rather it feels like what it is: an uncoordinated agglomeration of standardized single-use zones with little pedestrian life and even less civic identification, connected only by an overtaxed network of roadways."
- Andres, Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck in The Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream 

"We Americans want it all: endless and secure energy supplies; low prices; no pollution; less global warming; no new power plants (or oil and gas drilling, either) near people or pristine places. This is a wonderful wish list, whose only shortcoming is the minor inconvenience of massive inconsistency." - Robert J. Samuelson

"We do not want a religion that is right where we are right. What we want is a religion that is right where we are wrong."
- G. K. Chesterton

December 13th, 2006 Posted by andres | Daily Journey, Inward-Outward Stuff, Quotables | no comments

Inward-Outward Journey

In point of fact, today it seems the map for a vital Christian life follows a different pattern. One can be inward or outward in their expression of spirituality, but does not need to be both. We can be specialists. One can be either heavenly minded or earthly good. It looks something like this. The option perhaps most emphasized today as an evangelical, is the path of being fully devoted to action, a political or moral cause, and to getting things done. Those that show special promise are invited into leadership positions where they can lead the troop of Christian doers! I’m exaggerating a bit to prove a point. Admittedly, there are people in leadership on the action side of the equation who are also devoted to prayer and the cultivation of spiritual habits. These are people who have a compass more than a weather vane to guide their lives, in my humble opinion. Nevertheless, the point can be made that more and more we are challenged to be action oriented. Less important are the skills of interpreting spiritual traditions, or understanding and working with the inner map of the soul—or asking the vital questions of what action we should be engaged in to begin with. The action pathway focuses on getting my hands dirty.

The alternative path, less emphasized in my tradition, stresses going into my inner closet where I focus on prayer, study of scripture and spiritual disciplines. There actually seems to be a healthy corrective in this direction today in some quarters of the evangelical tradition, finally learning from our Catholic friends. My only concern is that we may miss the point if we focus on specialization and alternative options in our approach to spirituality, where the inward piece becomes unique to an individuals’ path, an option for some that we can pick if we are so wired, but not a norm of faithful discipleship. Needless to say, I am not satisfied with this schizophrenic, either-or approach to the spiritual life. As I have pursued my disquiet over the years, I found that my particular tradition, the Evangelical Covenant Church, provided some great historical models and theology for integration even if my experience in the church has not always encouraged bringing these two poles together. Curiously, the topic found expression in my undergraduate studies and a fascination with the Jesuits almost 30 years ago. Today, it continues to show up in my doctoral dissertation which focuses on developing a “holy worldliness” [see "Deep Stuff" in this blog listed above]. I’m still trying to live with the tension of living an Inward-Outward Journey. Stayed tuned to these pages. Contribute some of your thoughts. Look at the pictures. Pray–and follow the Lord as you serve others and meet the needs in our world.

Andrés

November 9th, 2006 Posted by andres | Inward-Outward Stuff | one comment