When I was first asked by the leaders at Camp Okoboji to lead a retreat for high school students teaching contemplative prayer and contemplative life I must admit that I was quite skeptical.  The retreats with middle aged and young adults had been very meaningful but I just wasn’t sure it would work with high school youth.  Sure, I had read the book Contemplative Youth Ministry, AND, I wanted to believe that Yaconelli was right, but, I was skeptical.

What an experience!  The young people invested in the process and came genuinely enthused about the topic.  The continaully expressed deep appreciation for the times of silence.  Now, I will admit that we used some unique approaches which may have helped.  A contemplative bike trip (with three miles of mindful silence) brought wonderful discussion.  When we stopped in the middle of the bike trip for an experience in small group lectio divina (at picnic tables on a beautiful day), I was thrilled with the enthusiastic participation.

 Camp Okoboji provided a wonderful staff to partner with and God brought together an incredible group of high school students.  I have been blessed by this experience.

I have had an incredible experience this past year while serving as a chaplain at a major medical center and working with two different groups of people in a program called Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).  I could probably write a book on this experience.  The experience has helped me to deepen the understanding of meeting people along the way.  Knowing their history and their story helps me to know who they are right now and to become aware of the gifts they bring into my life.  My two CPE groups were vastly different in age and background, yet, each person blessed me in powerful ways.  We all came with different backgrounds, and yet, all found ways to bless the other.  I have learned to see the person in front of me as a human being, a child of God, a gift.

I said good-bye to one today.  The journey had been particularly powerful but now distance will make it different again.  Somehow I think the journey will continue, even though in different form.  That is the way life is.  When you find someone along the way who “gets it”; the journey continues.

Meeting people is a form of transition.  The person changes my life and I change theirs and God is in the midst of it all.  Powerful!  Mysterious!  Gift!  Thanks be to God.

Some people find it surprising that I like Lent. I really do like Lent. To me, Lent is a gift from the Church that invites me to step out of the ordinary madness of life and to slow the game of life down. Some friends of mine who are very holy say they refuse to “give things up” for Lent because they say denial eliminates joy. Other friends that I consider very holy say that to “give things up for Lent” is a meaningful discipline that leads to transformation.

I personally welcome Lent as a time of discipline. I do “give things up” but not to seek God’s favor. Rather, by fasting from certain things, I am led by the Holy Spirit to see those things that block my view of God or block my ability to see my neighbors needs.

As you consider a Lenten discipline you might want to think about:

• Meatless Wednesday’s and Friday’s not only to focus on a spiritual discipline regarding eating but also to live out issues of social justice. The amount of grain that it takes to feed a cow for meat production, would feed over 100 people around the world. By simplifying one’s eating life one connects with the poor and the hungry and works to support their needs.
• Extra time in prayer and devotion through the Word brings one before the presence of God to be transformed in powerful ways.
• Continuing to look at one’s life in order to simplify and reduce  participation in consumerism.
• To serve God by serving neighbor.
• A time of silent retreat for two or three days to be with the Word and before the Word.

The Lenten discipline is to support the stripping away of those things that keep one from seeing God.

The YM 2008 Conference was wonderful. Dan Kimball did a wonderful job of raising questions. We could discuss the answers….I don’t think we would totally agree….but I LOVE the questions.

Kimball went back and wrote on his web page about the conference and then he did this part:
« Imagining Martin Luther if he was just starting out in ministry today

It had never occurred to me that the Reformation was a young adult movement. Luther was only 29 when he nailed the 95 thesis. The young adults of today are bringing about another new movement in the Church and in many ways it is a breath of fresh air.

If we intend to be authentic in our ministries we must be about the business of dialog and discussing the elephants that Kimball says are on the table. Kimball raises most of these issues in his book, “They Like Jesus but not the Church” which I find to be a powerful book. It is so important to raise the questions. The answers will come as we submit to the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit lead.

Bottom line……it is about hospitality and a ministry of listening as together we seek how God is calling each of us to do ministry.

One of the folks who posted on Pivot Point mentioned that he was intrigued that I had said on a retreat that my own expression of spirituality had changed as a result of a crisis in my life. The crisis prompted me to a more inward journey than before and seeking to be aware of the full presence of God, that I knew to be there because of my Baptism, but yet was not completely revealed. The crisis led me inward to discover the loving presence of Christ that had already been there.

So, the questioner brings up the role of crisis in faith formation and says, “It was interesting to see how you jumped to another quadrant as a result of crisis. I wonder if that is the catalyst that helps many jump if they ever will. I suspect a crisis will do one of three things. Help you jump to another quadrant, get deeper into your quadrant or jump off of the grid altogether [meaning to abandon the faith]” Note: quadrant refers to the model of Spirituality Types developed by Urban Holmes (1980).

Well, great question! So I began to think about this. In psychology we are told that learning takes place at a time of “cognitive dissonance”; a time in which we rearrange our thought patterns and learning about the world. That, in essence, is a learning crisis that brings about change.

Luther described such a time with the word “Anfectung” Luther biographer, Roland Bainton writes in Here I Stand, “The word he [Luther] used was Anfectung, for which there is no English equivalent. It may be a trial sent by God to test man, or an assault by the Devil to destroy man. It is all the doubt, turmoil, pang, tremor, panic, despair, desolation, and desparation which invades the spirit of man.” (Bainton, R. 1950, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, Abingdon). Luther asserted that it was this Anfectung that would lead one to the cross and closer to Jesus, thereby bringing about spiritual growth and depth.

St. John of the Cross speaks of “the dark night of the soul” and Theresa of Avila speaks of dryness. In Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the “Saint of Calcutta” we read of Mother Teresa’s time of darkness and abandonment where she came to connect with the darkness of those abandoned in poverty and a life with not hope. In all three of these spiritual leaders we hear the same types of stories told by Luther.

So, the faith journey is impacted by crisis whether it be internal or external. Transitions bring growth. Yes, each of these can bring despair. In all of those who write in faith, they describe the deepening of their prayer life as the struggle went on. Satan would seek to have these times lead to despair, yet, the Holy Spirit, present in Word and Sacrament strengthens in the way of faith and grace.

So, I now have much more to think about and to pray about in terms of faith formation and how the Holy Spirit brings that about. Would love to hear the comments of others.

The second day was very helpful. Kimball didn’t say it this way but my filter puts it in terms of my own belief and practice. The challenge is to be able to read and assess the context of the individual or group in order to respond appropriately (would this be another form of proper distinction of Law and Gospel). The reading comes as we listen with the heart of God to the hearts of those around us.

Kimball pointed out what research shows to be the major issues that cause young adults to love Jesus but not like the Church. He says the church is viewed as judgmental, homophobic and afraid of divergent thinking. What can one say. He is correct.

His point though, is that we need to be aware of who we are and attend to the ways in which we respond to those around us. My thought would be that we learn to become transparent so that we love with the arms of Jesus and connect to the needs of those around us as we become aware of the suffering of Christ.

He had some great creative worship ideas that work in his setting. However, even he is quick to point out that worship expression is a matter of culture and context. You cannot just transfer a worship setting or style from one place to the other. Authenticity is grounded in living out the context and as the Spirit leads.

It still is a matter of hospitality.

I am attending Youth Ministry 2008 sponsored by the LCMS Office of Youth Ministry.  The speaker is Dan Kimball, author of Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations and They Like Jesus But Not the Church.   Kimball contends that the Christian sub-culture has created a “bubble” that prevents interaction with the surrounding culture.  Kimball is right on target in many respects and is in agreement with many authors from the past ten years who have said the same thing a bit differently.

Kimball raises the excellent point that the culture around us has formed images of the church (many images well deserved) that prevent interaction and causes the unchurched to want to avoid the church.  Research indicates that the popular perception is that Christians are judgmental, homophobic, narrow minded and closed to those aroung them.  One would find it very hard to argue with this research.  It isn’t just young adults leaving the church for the very same reasons.  The Church is in crisis and the question is does the Church know it?  If the Church does know it, what is the church doing to respond.

Tomorrow Kimball plans to offer insights as to how the Church might respond to the situation.  I do like the fact that he has already said that there are no easy answers that apply to every setting.  He does not appear to be simplistic in his approach.

Personally, I am convinced that we are seeing once again that “hospitality” is the main response to be offered.  The Rule of St. Benedict (Chpt 53) states, “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.”  In practice this means that all whom we encounter are to be viewed as Christ.  We are called to view each person as Christ and treat each person as if s(h)e is Christ.  When we view each person as Christ it is very difficult to treat them with judgment and fear.  A Church that practices the hospitality of Benedict will be known as a welcoming Church.

Outreach does not require special programs.  Outreach does not require deep theological knowledge.  Outreach is a matter of hospitality.  Matthew 25, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

In the forty minutes I spent on the treadmill today at the gym, I watched CNN display headlines…………Iraqi government collapsing, 1.2 million Americans will forclose on their homes in the next two years, home foreclosures will bring on a worldwide recession, global warming is causing the world to self-destruct…….and on it went.  I thought to myself, no wonder people are stressed.

The situation was amplified by the fact that I was praying for someone, while on the treadmill, whose e-mail I had read just before leaving for the gym.  It was the panicked e-mail of a person overwhelmed with life’s issues while being surrounded by a group of nay-sayers.  I prayed, “God, how do we cope.”

God said, “he leads me beside the still waters.”  In the midst of it all, God provides.  Thanks be to God.

A friend said to me the other day that he was frustrated because he kept praying and he didn’t feel that God was listening.  I said, “maybe it isn’t God who isn’t listening.” 

 We have this tendency to want to tell God what God should be doing.  In my mind, that is a form of idolotry.  Who am I to tell God what God is to do?  Our call is to listen.

 St. Benedict says it well in the first lines of the prologue to his rule, “Listen carefully, my son, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.  Benedict goes on to say, “The labor of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you had drifted through the sloth of disobedience.  This message of mine is for you, then, if you are ready to give up your own will, once and for all, and armed with the strong and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for the true King, Christ the Lord.”

And so as times become tough, rather than dictate to God we are invited to sit in God’s presence and listen to God.  To listen with the heart is the first step in ministry to self or others.  To listen with the heart is to seek to understand the other before engaging in dialog.  So, we seek to understand God before we prescribe what God is to do. 

My physical was scheduled for May but my doctor suggested we begin some of the tests in April in order to avoid having the tests all bunched up at once.  I thought that sounded like a good idea so we scheduled a stress test.  Because of family history I have a stress test every five years.  Well, I had the test on Friday morning and by Friday afternoon I was on restriction with direction to quit my physical workout for awhile.

I was scheduled to meet with a cardiologist who scheduled me for an angiogram and possible stent.  So, within a week action was being taken.  The angiogram showed that I had two blockages, one 60 per cent and one 50 percent.  Normally they would not operate, except, the 60 per cent blockage was in a location that causes it to have the nickname “widowmaker.”  After seeing the location there was no doubt that we should move ahead with the surgery.  The doctors said that it could wait until after the school year and so the double by-pass was scheduled for May 22, 2007.

The day came.  The surgery went well and the recovery goes well.  The journal begins on www.caringbridge.com/visit/stevearnold.  All I can say is that God was truly present and gave me a peace that truly passes all understanding.  The recovery has been steady.  Each day gets a bit better than the day before.  God is still present every day.

I have learned that my life will be different.  I have always exercised, but, now I must be consistent.   I am a high energy person but I truly feel that I have lived an integrated life.  I have kept my diabetes under “control”.  However, I did gain weight.  Even more, I have a genetic history that leads to this point.  Now, I know there is no room for messing around.   Personal discipline takes on a whole new form.