What to read?

I was recently asked by someone for three books that I would recommend that he reads. The Bible was a default answer so I could not use it. The three books that I chose were: Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul by Erwin McManus (there are a number of McManus books that I could recommend [We has already read The Barbarian Way]), We Drink From Our Own Well by Gustavo Gutierrez, and Celebration of Disciplines by Richard Foster. So why these books?

I picked Uprising because it is a book that really touched me. In this book McManus unpacks the reason "Why?". Ultimately, he concludes that we are here to serve others. This reason for being is part of who I am.

The second book We Drink from Our Own Wells is one that I recently read for one of my classes. This book is about the topic of liberation theology that was written over 20 years ago. Social justice and liberation theology has been a topic that i have been pondering about and doing something about for the last couple of years now. As Christ-followers we need to come along side the oppressed and give a voice to the voiceless.

The final book Celebration of Disciplines is a classic book about various spiritual disciplines. To develop ourselves into the person God wants us to be, we need to be intentional about our spiritual formation process. This book can be used to help guide you in picking those disciplines that you can use to draw you closer to God.

My question to you is what books would you recommend?

In or Of?

We have been having a discussion around our house involving these two little words "in" or "of". They seem harmless enough, I mean how can two letters make a difference. They can make a difference when they are used in the context of our life on this earth.

You see as Christ-followers we are called to be "in the world" not "of the world". So what does this mean? Take a look at Col 3. Here you will find a description of two types of people, those who are "of" (vs 5-9)and those who are only "in" (vs 12-17). We are called to be aliens and strangers in the world. We need to stand out as different (not always an easy thing).

Take a look at the two lists, I know I can find characteristics in the first one that I need to put to death. I also know that there are qualities in the second list that I need to bring to life in my life. This is not an easy task, but with the help of the Holy Spirit God can make it happen.

Tired

It has been a grueling two weeks as I have been in class. Last week the class focused on the technical aspects of the program I am in and this week the class I have been taking is focusing on transformation. As a family crisis and you have a reason to be tired. What I have forgotten to do again is rest in the Lord. I am amazed at how quickly I forget this.

I am looking forward to having the next three weeks off, my mornings will be focused on reading, writing and research. The afternoons will focus on getting the siding on the house. Squeezed in there will be an extended Black Hills adventure with the family.

In the next few days I will be posting reflections on some of the books I have read and how they might help me in my spiritual formation process. Some of them are a bit heavy in the area of psychology, but have been quite interesting. That is the one thing that has really surprised my about this weeks class and how the are of psychology can help to inform the area of spiritual formation. I guess that is what integration is all about.

Making a Difference

This posting is more random than usual. I have been following the adventure of a 14 from Minnesota who wants to make a difference in the world. As part of a class project she did a lot of research on electric cars. However, she did not just stop with gathering knowledge, but rather she took the next step and applied what she has learned and put it into action. You see she created an online petition to ask congress to put in place tax breaks/incentives for companies that develop and manufacture electric cars. She didn't stop there. She is hand delivering the petition to her Minnesota's congressional delegation after riding to Washington DC on her bike from Minnesota. Now that is putting your passion into action. If yo want to follow her and her families adventure you can check out her blog at Ride For Renewal (www.rideforrenewal.org).

So what does this have to do with me? It has to do with "doing." As Christ-followers we are called to engage, we are called to do, we are call to make a difference. Sara Groves describes this action orientation by describing us as God's hands and feet here on earth.

This then ties in to my first Doctoral class on integral research. Doctoral research is not just about gathering and analyzing data. It is about taking those results and analysis, making sure you are not missing something, and then applying what you have learned so as to effect a change in the world.

You see that is what we should be about. When we teach, preach, interact or engage the world we need to be doing it in a transformative way.

Listening For God Sermon Outling

Here is the basic outline for my sermon last Sunday

Why Do we listen for God?
-comfort
-direction
-to know God (Psalm 46:10)
-to develop our relationship

How do we hear/How does God speak?
-to us directly
-Scripture
-music
-books
-other people

How do we/should we respond to God's voice
-with a hard heart/doing things our own way
-with obedience
-active waiting/active listening (see my post a couple of weeks ago)
-with action

This is the outline. I was able to fill in my own story to highlight parts. I also look at the prophet Elijah and his story from 1 Kings 19.

The key points of the sermon are that God does speak to us in a variety of ways, we need to be listening, and that we must respond with obedience to what we hear.