Living For Spiritual Highs - Walking Through Spiritual Lows

My church background is pretty interesting and the things that I’ve learnt over my time in Stoke-on-Trent and especially at the YMCA has been eye-opening for so many reasons. I’m extremely grateful to God to be exposed to these things and experience a lot of them as well as observe them. The more I see new things and they connect with God the more I’m amazed at how wondrous and beyond my comprehension He is.

Something I’ve noticed is how certain corporate experiences in services and the like. In some settings there’s a great anticipation and expectation for something significant to take place. Sometimes when that expectation is met it knits people together in amazing ways that would not have been applicable in another setting. People have some memories they share of how God moved in their situation and it’s brilliant.

There is no doubting that the power of God is able to deliver people instantly from things that have been plaguing them for years. It is a reality that has been witnessed and celebrated time and time again. In all that expectation and anticipation it can sometimes, appear as though Christians live for spiritual highs. Almost as if occasions like that is their fix. The concern here is because of the painful work of sanctification that requires slower process work and it’s more about brothers and sisters supporting each other by being there for each other challenging and consoling one another as they bear each other’s burdens.

Although it is prevalent in New Testament epistles it does not appear as emphasised in the Christian experiences as the wonderful charismatic moments. It’s not an either/or situation, it is a both/and gig where there is an appreciation for what both brings to the table.

It’s a concern that comes from hearing and seeing people talk of an amazing move of God only to see them struggling to maintain any semblance of a Christian life afterwards. Rather than growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, it just appears as though they’ve got their fix and just wait for the next one to come along. Is that what following Jesus is really about? Isn’t there something about actually changing in character from a selfish, sinful, slob of a slug of a sentient being, to a humble, mourning, meek, hungering & thirsting, merciful, pure and peacemaking personalities? Doesn’t that further reinforce the loving attitude that’s then developed with each other and the Spirit-filled life that comes from that, rather than an almost addictive power-driven desire for spectacle for self-gratification?

From this I have a desperate desire to see liberated people of faith gradually addressing their flaws and exercising their gifts and having an expectation and anticipation for God to show up, but not just in the wham, bam, thank you ma’am of charismatic events, but in the hum, drum, pedigree chum of regular life.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Serving Others: That's The Spirit

I was thinking last Wednesday about what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Now with a starter for ten like that I’m aware how many people might be turned off this blog entry straight away. In any case I continue.

My experience of being filled with the Spirit has been closely associated to ecstatic expression. Growing up in a particular church culture being filled with the Spirit was linked to making loud noises of praise and acclaim at certain points during a sermon and when the speaker or singer or whoever was emotionally moved by what they were offering. Perhaps they likewise might get ecstatic, jumpy, shouty and type of thing.

Now I don’t decry that at all – I still get caught up in such expressions from time to time and don’t see them as all bad at all. The problem is where our definition of being filled with the Spirit is limited to those expressions. To be fair as well to my upbringing, I hardly heard people testify of experiencing being filled with the Spirit and being led into a wilderness. There were no testimonies of having the Spirit leading to proclaiming good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, broken-hearted mended, those in captivity released, those bound set free and all hearing that this is the year of the Lord’s favour.

What made matters worse for me last Wednesday as I pondered further was this rather convicting verse in the gospel according to Mark.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

Then it all began to be a bit clearer. The Spirit-filled life is one of the miraculous and the extraordinary – of that there should be no doubt. It should also be accompanied by rejoicing and exclamations fitting such wondrous occasions. There is this key element in being Spirit filled however that allows me to live like Jesus expressing His character all the time and His mentality. That mentality is not really about the ecstatic more than it is for being a servant.

Now of course anyone who jumps up and down and says that this applies to Jesus alone as He is the only one who has laid His life for many would be absolutely right. And absolutely wrong. The context suggests that this mentality of service is the heartbeat of any follower of Christ and this is the Master saying He shows the way in the fulfilment of His mission.

So imagine that then, being Spirit-filled is about serving others and serving them as Jesus served us – whole-heartedly, compassionately and with a desire that we should see God for who He is through these acts of grace.

That thought was bothering me all last Wednesday then on and off during the week. You see I want to be fruitful and productive in whatever I’m doing and now I am more than ever convicted that this is as much about having a Christ-like servant approach to relationships than ever before.

Just when I think it’s safe to dwell on that thought I have a night like tonight. As you know, I work for the North Staffs YMCA as a Christian Spiritual Development Worker which is really all about creating opportunities for especially the young people who reside there to get to know more about faith and Christ can make a good difference in life. Almost like creating gospel opportunities in the context of developing relationships.

One of the outlets for that is a Monday evening session called Chill, Chat and Connect where we do what it says get to know young people and offer them the chance to do activities and projects that particularly intrigue them. Two months ago one member of the team who did not strike me as particularly bold and confident suggested turning the canteen into a restaurant. People were behind the idea and it grew from there.

What was amazing about it was that this was an opportunity for the customers – the people who are the recipients of the services provided for them to support them in life’s journey, were now turning around and serving a number of their workers. There they were, voluntarily serving them and giving them top quality service at that in terms of food content and quality hospitality.

I was blown away by the quality of service and how well they did – more in a report that will be on the YMCA’s web-site. So there was all I’d been reading about in front of me – serving people is what it really means to be Spirit-filled and drawing them as a result closer to the Kingdom of God that is all about hospitality as that engenders the feeling of being at home and feeling relaxed enough to experience the healing that comes with that.

No, the young people on a whole are not born-again Christians and who’s to say they ever will be, but to see that in action was a testimony to me of what Jesus was talking about and how serving others with that level of sacrifice and gentle attitude is what it’s all about – indeed that’s the Spirit.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

What's DMCD Reading At The Moment?

I don’t usually blog on the Sabbath unless it’s on the topic of the Sabbath. I usually keep this time for family. Here I am though with my family enjoying life and embracing the rest as well as hopefully getting something good to eat eventually when Authrine has completed the sorting of Abigail’s hair. It is taking a while. I am hungry, but the Lord is feeding by the word.

This is not a long blog entry, just to update you on what I’m reading presently. Over 2009 there have been outstanding books in each quarter. In the first quarter saw the dominance of the brilliant The Call by Os Guinness. Not sure if I did a proper book review, but whatever you do, wherever you go – get this book. Brilliant I tell you. Then in the second quarter of the year I read Gordon MacDonald’s Ordering Your Private World which greatly assisted in the … errr … ordering … of my … ahhh … private … ermm … world. Truly though, this book really highlighted some issues that were so long neglected that it was the much needed wake up call and supportive tome to the Call.

So as you can imagine I was looking forward to the third quarter of the year to see which book would be the spiritual breakthrough. Funnily enough I had got the book towards the end of the second quarter in the year from the Beacon House of Prayer based in the northern part of the city. BHOP is a tremendous resource for the work I do at the YMCA and they have a fairly decent resource library. I’ve been meaning to give Richard Foster a chance ever since I started his book on the Freedom of Simplicity. I’ve wanted to read his book on Celebration of Discipline for years now, but never got round to it. So it was quite the surprise to get his book Streams of Living Water.

At first I didn’t pay it too much attention as I was completing the reading of some other books. Eventually I picked it up and gave it a bash and found it to be gripping reading. It is not one of those books that you cannot put down. It is one of those books that you cannot finish reading a section of because a thought will arrest you and leave you contemplating it for quite some time.

It really is quite something to be reading about such a generous approach to the different traditions that has influenced Christianity in its 2000 plus year history. I recognise just how much I’ve had a narrow opinion on faith and never really embraced the deeper historical aspects of what makes it such a rich and vibrant faith. It’s not about ecumenicalism as far as I’m concerned, but it is about appreciating yet again that when Jesus returns He will rightly ask if we were prayerful, holy, evangelistic, peace-makers through social justice, Spirit-filled and incarnational. Our tendency to be selective amongst these has meant we’ve missed out on so much faith in Christ has to offer. I hope to give a more detailed book review on completion on the book.

Other books on the go include the Kenny Dalglish autobiography of over 10 years ago. I’m still reading a number of football biographies (Paul McGrath, Sir Alf Ramsey and a Brian Clough tribute to name but three) as well as one on Eric Bristow who played darts don’t you know. There are a number of recommended books that I have yet to tackle and as I do so, I endeavour to keep you posted.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Nothing Personal Part 1

Now you’re probably thinking that I’ve gone off the boil on the whole fasting topic with the lack of new material on the issue. That thought is wrong. I am keener than ever before to continue on the topic. There’s a whole backlog of stuff waiting to come tumbling out on the issue as it regards to seeing wider than we do and what happens when the level of intensity increases in approaching the subject. All of that just waiting to burst forth and indeed some of it may have burst forth today if it weren’t for a significant occurrence today that sparked a range of thoughts and triggered the need for today’s blog entry.

Now as I sat to write, this evening, I had an onrush of words to the head and wrote those out. To give you a bit of insight into some of my writing processes I write a Word document almost every day called CD Notes. This will have on some of my things to do for the day and a scripture of encouragement. It will then note ideas, thoughts, reflections, web- stuff and other stuff that I get over the day. More often than not this will be the first place that I write the nucleus and sometimes the entirety of what will be the post for this blog. From here I’ll detach the text for the blog and put it in a separate Word document. Then I’ll look at the text and make any alterations, additions and amendments as necessary. Recently such was the extended nature of the notes I was making on the subject of fasting that it formed the basics of the series that you’ve been enjoying. This actually gives me something to look forward to when I write the blog for the day because I have the day’s reflections and the basis for what the entry is meant to be developing the thought. It’s not unusual that I’ll have a paragraph on the basis and the direction of the day’s thoughts will take a life of its own.

So as indicated I was of the mind today to continue with the series on fasting and have had the material building up in the notes from the days since the last post ready and waiting to publish. Yet today was different because of a number of strands of thought conspiring to trigger off what was meant to be a one off post. Yet after the initial writing on the CD Notes document as I transferred it to a document on its own it became quite clear that one posting on this subject would be insufficient. So the plan is that I’ll provide a brief detour from the current series with a four-parter on the topic Nothing Personal. I’ll endeavour to be disciplined – the two parts should be sorted with no need for further expansion. There maybe some connecting points between this and the ongoing series which I’ll make when we resume the series in the very near future.

I need to put this disclaimer on this article more than any other I’ve written and posted. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the denomination to which I belong, the local fellowship of which I’m a part or indeed the family of which I am the head. Also the views expressed in this blog may offend people of a particular philosophical or political disposition. Depending on who reads it will determine the level to which people agree or disagree with my perspective stated here. I can state clearly that I have not written this post deliberately to offend. It is not a provocative blog for the sake of it at all. I have endeavoured to make the entry as considered and careful as possible, but I have also sought to say what I’m saying without varnish or covering up the truth of how I feel on the issue. As well as that the views also come from my understanding of being a follower of Christ at this time. I am open to further teaching from scripture and illumination from the Spirit. Words printed here are not to be taken as my stance forever, amen. They are relatively subject to change. Yet I do feel very strongly about the issue in question.

OK with that in mind, as ever context is important to frame the topic for ‘brief’ perusal. My beliefs and faith has been stretched considerably in the three years that I’ve worked for the YMCA. As groundbreaking as the eye-opening time at university, my time at the YMCA has challenged, informed and recalibrated a lot of areas of my understanding of walking with Christ. I acknowledge the limited and rather close-minded approach I had to Christianity before university and it was still pretty evident when I started at the YMCA, but you cannot survive working for the YMCA unless you’re prepared to have your beliefs challenged.

One of the reasons for that is because the YMCA is an ecumenical organisation, that is although there are some YMCA’s that are strongly affiliated to a denomination because of locality and influence the organisation ethos is not to subscribe to one particular stream of Christian expression in the hope of being broad enough to embrace all as it fits the mission of the organisation. Now, such a stance actually swings the organisation in one way rather than another when it comes to the aforementioned streams of Christian expression. That is to say it is prone to be part of the liberal, open-ended, quasi-emergent end of the Christian spectrum. This is because such a part of the brotherhood is easier going about different forms of Christianity and as with most liberal expressions the only reluctance is with forms that are not inclusive and too heavily prescriptive.

This is somewhat of a caricature of the YMCA’s Christian position, but is not too far from the truth where people like Malcolm Duncan, Brian McClaren and Rob Bell would be more than welcome. Dudes from the conservative evangelical end of the market would not be given the rule of the ranch because of their perceived compressing and depressing version of following Christ.

Now I am not comfortable with this end of Christian expression part of it is the ties to the upbringing I have and part of it is because of how destabilising I think it is with regard to the role of scripture and the mission of Christ. There’s also a reluctance to embrace something that appears to be more designed by the cultural trends of the time and shaped by the popular philosophies of the time at the cost of faithfully sticking with a gospel that in no ways seeks to be cool, trendy, in-vogue or in tune with the times.

Those reservations apart, one thing I am glad for about the YMCA is the role grace plays in negotiating those areas of disagreement around the shared ultimate value of Jesus Christ. So whereas in time past I would not only sniff and huff at some stuff that I might not necessarily agree with but outright remove myself from such heathens, now I make an effort at least to have an understanding of what’s going on. Indeed as I consider some of what they have to say I find myself nodding my head in agreement, confirming it with scripture and further broadening my understanding of this incredible God who goes beyond human comprehension and methods of definition. This process is as much down to relationships as it is exploring writings and teachings on doctrinal positions.

Again with the power of relationships and a particular example of that will be shown in the second part of this three-parter. It highlights again that this journey with Jesus is as much about people as it is about Jesus and failing either part of the relationship leaves things incomplete. Be sure to find out more in the next blog entry now.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

2 Fast 2 Curious

So in yesterday’s introduction to this brief series on fasting we discovered that although I was born in a Christian background, with believers who knew about fasting, and although the denomination to which I belong had fasting as a regular practice it took me the best part of 20 years before I even managed to begin addressing fasting for myself. I started it in the old fashioned church sense thanks to knocking around with a friend when I was in London in the summer of 1997.

Now before I continue you could be asking that important question – why are you talking about fasting, now? What’s the big deal? Well as you’ve gathered I am fairly keen on following Jesus Christ. I believe He is Lord. I believe He died on the cross for the sins of the world and miraculously rose from the dead. I believe Him more than I’ve believed anyone or anything else even if my behaviour sometimes suggests otherwise. Now fasting played a significant part in the life of Christ and those of His followers. Thankfully better writers than I have covered just how significant fasting really is in the life of a believer.

For all that, though, I still get the impression that it is considered a useful option for the Christ-follower. In engaging people with faith in Christ, spiritual disciplines can tend to come across as rather onerous and difficult and with enough of those on the plate – bible study, prayer and the like – fasting is an occasional hazard that is avoided as often as possible or at least used as trivially and as ineffectively as possible. You should have gathered by now that this apathetic and indeed pathetic approach to fasting is something I am very familiar with – intimately familiar as it has been my experience.

Now I’ve not been converted into a zealous fast-evangelist who believes that if you do not fast you are no longer worthy of being called a Christian and grimaces at those who don’t do it three times a week. My journey is not one of a straight upwards tangent. The squiggles, ups and downs would resemble a work of art by my 4 year old daughter rather than the unreal good model of a Christian that just gets better. The bottom line for me remains; Jesus loved me so much that He died for a right relationship to be restored between me and the Father through Him.

He wants me to relate to Him by prayer. He wants me to be fruitful for Him by loving my church family and my enemies. In all this He wants me to value Him above everything and everyone else. He alone matters. Not my wife, not my siblings, not my parents, not my job, not the church, not my job, not my hobbies and interests and especially not me. These only have value in the light of the supreme value of Him. That’s not just rhetoric that has been my experience and most importantly that is the entire point of biblical narrative and relationship with God.

So a brilliant way that God helps us to keep this in mind is through fasting – it indeed can be used for medical/physical purposes, but spiritually speaking it is a powerful method of engaging with God with the depth of our being whilst subjecting our body to understand the number one priority of life.

This mapping of my journey into fasting is not a blame exercise it’s merely reflecting what happened to me so no indictment is meant to be implicit in what’s being said. Having said that one of the lessons I learn from the journey especially in the early days is how crucial it is to get help on even the basics of belief. It is not to force someone to fit your form of faith, but it is to help them establish disciplines with biblically based understanding of why they do what they do and how it is centred on Christ.

I think it was in 1998 or maybe 1999 when fasting took on a more serious bent towards specific activities. During this time, especially as 1999 rolled on and I finished university to settle in London, I got involved in activities where the praying and fasting were more focussed and a bit more information was given as to how to fast even if I had to be at work or whatsoever. I was also praying and fasting in preparation for things like the local evangelism initiative. This more purposeful approach to fasting would help considerably for the years that lay ahead. The real breakthrough in my appreciation for fasting took place at the end of 1999 …

And in the tradition of all good stories you’ll find out more about that in the next blog entry.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd