Category Archives: Uncategorized

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Spiritual Formation: The Work of the Spirit


IMG_2866“It helps me to make a rough distinction between “religion” and “spirituality.” By religion I mean the efforts that we make to keep things together in a somewhat orderly fashion, to maintain some sense of responsibility before God. By spirituality I mean the work of the Holy Spirit in making Jesus alive in us, inciting us to acts of love and compassion, blessing us with his gifts, bringing us to our knees in repentance and up on our feet in wonder. Religion is mostly a matter of what we do; spirituality is mostly a matter of what God does. My own practice has been to keep my involvement in religion to a responsible minimum‑my participation in spirituality (in the Spirit!) extravagantly maximal.” (Peterson, Eugene. The Wisdom of Each Other. Grand Rapids: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1998, p. 96.)

My experience with the word “religion” is almost completely negative in tone. It’s a word that has meant “God activities without relationship with God.” It would be better to call that “empty religion,” since James says that there is a true religion that produces actual change in character and genuine care for those in greatest need (James 1:27).

      Peterson opts to use “religion” as a more neutral word to describe our actions or initiatives related to God, and “spirituality” for the initiatives and acts of the Holy Spirit. Peterson’s focus is to continually direct his attention to spirituality, seeking to notice and cooperate with the initiatives and acts of the Spirit, rather than to become engrossed in his own God-related activities (that can so easily become God-disconnected). I find myself continually tempted to be far more aware of all my “doings” rather than learning to live attentively to the works of the Father. 

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A Simple Condition for Forgiveness


“There is, however, a condition for receiving God’s gift of forgiveness. [We] must be willing to accept it. Absurd as this may seem, there are few who will believe in and accept the forgiveness of God so completely as to let him bury their sin in his forgiving mercy; or who, having once accepted his forgiveness, will leave their sin with him forever. They are always re-opening the vault where they have deposited their sin, and are forever asking to have it back in order to fondle it, to reconstruct, to query, to worry over it, to wear it inwardly. Thus their sin ties them to the past, and finally dooms their lives in both the present and the future.” (Steere, Douglas V. Dimensions of Prayer. New York: Women’s Division of Christian Service, 1962, p. 56-57.)

We need to let ourselves stay forgiven when God has forgiven us. Do we confess our sins, acknowledging them before Him, then take them back or dig them up later? This is where formal confession provides an opportunity for one to be reminded that he or she is never to do this. Father, enable me to remember that You do not have my confessed sins in mind because You have chosen to put them out of mind. I do not find this nearly as easy to do.

Unless I am willfully harboring the intention to continue in the wrong way, then my confessed sin is gone. The Offended One no longer takes offense, but puts away the offense. Will I try to remind God of what He has chosen to forget? Why would I do this?

When I awaken sometimes with a sense of anxiety or fear that may be, at least in part, rooted in guilt or shame over my shortcomings, failures or offenses, I can remind myself that God is not the one bringing those to mind. My own wounded ego or the enemy of my soul is doing it. I need not carry those feelings of guilt, shame, anxiety or fear into my day, but perhaps imagine dropping them into a deep mountain lake (like Tahoe) where the bottom is largely unknown or hidden. I might be able to locate it if I really wanted to, but why would I want to?

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Classic Wisdom on Small Groups


I came across a great piece of wisdom from Teresa of Avila on why small groups might meet. I’ll share my paraphrase here, but include the original at the end:

“Nothing would please me more, knowing that many meet for the purpose of conspiring against the goodness of God and to multiply destructive schemes, that we five who love one another in Jesus might meet for better purposes: to undeceive one another, to encourage one another in our formation in Him, and for doing whatever might bring the greatest pleasure to the Father.”

She makes a good point that small groups of people meet for all kinds of purposes. In our day, terror cells meet for the purpose of raising fear through unexpected attacks (or at least the concern of their possibility). What if we met in small groups to see what good we might conspire to do?

I love that one of the roles Teresa sees in a gathering of small group members is to “undeceive each other.” I wonder sometimes if our niceness in Christian social settings might actually be a kind of unkindness if we are pretending something is that really isn’t. How might we help one another become just who God has meant us to be? What if we really helped one another, without a condemning or haughty attitude, but humbly welcoming eyes of holy perspective in one another’s lives. Our goal would be to truly help one another advance as far as possible on the way of Christ.

For Reflection:  If you are part of a small group of one kind or another, how might this piece of wisdom guide how you spend your time when you gather?

And now the original quotation: “I should be very glad, that as in these days men meet together to conspire against the Divine Majesty, and to propagate their wickedness and heresies, so we five who at present love each other in Christ should also endeavor sometimes to meet together, for the purpose of undeceiving each other, for conferring on the means of reforming ourselves, and of giving God the greatest pleasure.” (Steere, Douglas V. Time to Spare. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1949, p. 157.)

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Uncontainable Joy


Looking down at the Jezreel Valley from the monastery on Mt. Carmel

Psalm 28:7-9 NIV

The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.
The Lord is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
Save your people and bless your inheritance;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.

“The Lord is.” David doesn’t say, “I wish the Lord was,” or “The Lord should be,” or “I’m not sure if the Lord is.” The Lord is David’s strength and shield. And the Lord is my strength and shield as well. I am made strong and protected by the Lord with me. I’m not exposed. I’m not helpless. He’s reliable, and I can easily trust Him.

I read “my heart leaps for joy.” I am hungry for that kind of energizing, overwhelming joy. There are moments when joy surfaces like this for me, but so many other moments of sadness, listlessness or trouble. “Father, I ask for the gift of Your Spirit causing joy to rise and strengthen within me until my heart seems to skip a beat in celebration of Your goodness and greatness.”

Finally, I’m drawn to “be my shepherd and carry me forever.” I am one of Your people. I need Your guidance. I need You to uphold me. I need to stop assuming I’m on my own in all of this. Either You really will never leave or forsake me…or not. Either You are reliable…or not. There is no maybe here.

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Reflected Glory


A view from the top of one of the hills in the ancient stone city of Petra (Jordan)

A while back, I led a day retreat for a ministry leadership team at a home on the back bay of Newport Beach. As I sat on the lawn with the bay before me, I wrote this journal entry:

“I sit watching the afternoon sun sparkle off the back bay. A beautiful glow rises from the bay. The surface of the water looks like a diamond with many facets reflecting the light. It is a beautiful scene, but it is mirrored beauty. The glory of the bay is a reflection of the glory of the sun that makes everything live and shine. No beauty I see exists apart from the sun that shines and shows it. Whatever true honor or glory there may be in my life is only a mirrored glory. As Jesus said to his inner circle on that last night, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”

From this vantage point, I can see dozens (hundreds?) of homes, and hundreds (thousands?) of trees. Any one of these is an expression of countless human hours of work to build or tend. But from this place and time, I can see them all in a glance. This is vision. In a moment, in a phrase or sentence, we somehow capture it all. What is God wanting me to see at a glance in this moment with Him? How does God want me to thrive? What expressions of blessed ministry is God extending to me in this leg of my journey?

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Israel • Sea of Galilee

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We began our trip in the Galilee area.  It was so lush and unbelievably green.  Mustard flowers were everywhere, along with a smattering of the Rose of Sharon.  Our leader said that he had never seen it that green in all of the times he had been there.  What a great gift to us to see the land at it's most beautiful.

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More beautiful shots by my sweetie, this time of the Sea of Galilee...
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Israel • Nazareth

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From NazarethVillage.com:  "Nazareth Village offers a unique synthesis of historical, archaeological, and ethno-archaeological science applied towards reconstructing a First Century Village upon some of the last natural landscape in Nazareth."

This fancy description aside, I found Nazareth Village to be a very charming look into what life was like where Jesus grew up.  I thoroughly enjoyed the "townspeople" as they went about caring for their goats, weaving yarn & carving wood with their tools.

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You'll love these pictures Gem took during our visit to the village of Nazareth in Israel...
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Israel • Thursday through Saturday

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What we saw March 22, 23 & 24:  Old City of Jerusalem, Dung Gate (yes, we walked through the entrance where they used to carry out the poop), Robinson's Arch, Tyrophioan (sp?) street (where Jesus walked to Temple), Temple Steps, Huldic Gates, Precipice of Jesus' temptation, Rabbi's Tunnel, City of David, Hezekiah's Tunnel, Pool of Siloam, Pool of Bethesda, Via Dolorosa, St.

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A beautiful set of images from our last three days here in Jerusalem. Today, we cross the border into Jordan to visit the ancient stone city of Petra.