Saturday, August 30, 2014

Resource: The Rest List

I have wanted to beef up my resource section, so will follow last week’s “On the Road with the Stations of Creation” resource with another. This one is a spiritual exercise called “The Rest List.”

Did you ever imagine that rest could be a spiritual exercise? Wouldn’t it be like God to provide fatigue as a reminder of our constant need for him, and then also provide rest as a gift of grace to replenish soul and body? Yet many Christ followers feel guilty if they let up, in spite of the fact that Jesus calls us to slow down and come to his side when we are ‘weary and heavy laden,’ to ‘find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28).

Did you ever imagine that rest
could be a spiritual exercise?

Several years ago, one of our ministry’s board members shared the concept of a rest list as a devotional before a meeting. And since I don’t have an original idea in my head but can recognize one when I see it, it captured me, I’ve developed it further, and have been able to share it from time to time at retreats. It’s a list (duh!) of the things I do -- some very simple, some that take a little effort, some I can do on the fly, and some that require a specific venue -- that uniquely revive my spirit and create in me a sense of peacefulness, things that can open a place of contemplation and better readiness to hear or receive from God.

The exercise includes a brief rationale as well as my own list for an idea starter, and since nature always plays such a large role in my own life as a spiritual pathway, natural things are well represented. That’s why I thought it appropriate to share here on my blog. It can all be easily adapted for your own use in sharing the exercise with others, so let me know any time if you’d like a copy of a nicely-formatted PDF version as a handout.

With great thanks to Diane who inspired me with the idea, here it is, the resource “The Rest List.” As ever, I’d be delighted to know when you make one.
~~RGM, August 26, 2014

The Rest List

People create a ‘bucket list,’ things they want to eventually get to before they ‘kick it.’ What about a list I can access today and any day?

What is rest, and how does something make the list?
There are many definitions for rest, both noun and verb. In making my Rest List, I find help in presenting it as an adjective: what are the things that are restful to me? In short, for me, rest consists of those things that God uses in my temperament to give me refreshment, that breathe life into me, that even seem to prepare me for the other rigors of a typical day. They can be enjoyed on a sabbath, a day I try to fill with these kinds of things, or can sometimes also be enjoyed in the context of an otherwise busy day as a brief break, a solace, an oasis in the day’s wilderness. They may even take physical exertion, but the abiding fragrances they leave in my spirit are joy, peace, and goodness.

Why do I have a list?
I have a list to acknowledge that rest is a highly individualized gift from God. To speak this out gives me a sense of freedom to continue to live into how God has uniquely created me. It is a wish list, a reminder that I may make ‘retreats’ for the sake of my soul, to help provide balance in my day and in my life. The idea that I can look at my day or week and be able to balance the hard parts with items from my list gives me hope, and seasons my work with anticipation.

What is rest for me is often not rest for someone else, and though I may typically enjoy items on my Rest List alone, a singular delight is when a form of rest that delights me is also enjoyed by and shared with a beloved friend.

This list is dynamic in that it changes. I add to it freely, and feel great freedom to remove things that for one reason or another just aren’t as restful to me as they might once have been. But frankly, there are not many things that have fallen off the list over the years! It seems that some of these things are ‘hard-wired’ into my spirit, a part of my spiritual default that ‘resets’ me, ‘reboots’ me. Sometimes all I have to do is read my list and it feels restful!

My List:
~~Actual sleep, the night-time variety and the rare but treasured (and unhurried) afternoon
          nap
~~Time with my children and grandchildren
~~Hiking for exercise or pleasure
~~Any saunter in the woods or along a shoreline
~~Reading for pleasure at a coffee shop, especially with the smell of roasting coffee in the
          air
~~Sitting in front of a campfire (I have one in my backyard!)
~~Driving through the countryside or in the mountains
~~An hour or two of creative writing on a nature theme
~~Reading through the nature quotes and writing ideas I have saved over the years
~~Between appointments, a few minutes parked in my car in a park (not done often
         enough!)
~~Walking with a beloved’s hand in mine
~~A five-minute retreat in front of a window with a natural setting in view, even a simple
         tree or cloud
~~Reading my Bible out loud
~~Restful relationships and conversations with select friends
~~Sitting and reading, praying or meditating before a body of water

And You?

Make a Rest List for yourself, and check it once in awhile. Start simple. Refine it periodically. Add and subtract from it. Be as specific as you want to be. Consider it a part of your sabbath blessing to enjoy the things that you list.


Friday, August 22, 2014

Blowin' in the Wind: On the Road with the Stations of Creation


(Blowin’ in the Wind is a regular feature on my blog consisting of an assortment of nature writings – hymns, songs, excerpts, prayers, Bible readings, poems or other things – pieces I may not have written but that inspire me. I trust they will do the same for you.)



I had occasion about four weeks ago to lead a group in Stations of Creation, a spiritual exercise I wrote several years ago that I’ve been blessed to share on numerous occasions. I put it up as a blogpost last year, and I’ve also included it in my resources section found via the tab on my masthead above.

This particular experience was with a group of spiritual direction trainees at a retreat on the lovely grounds of the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein IL, and I enjoyed the prayer reflections among these thoughtful participants. One of those who took part that day was a Covenant pastor friend of some years, Californian Steve Wong. Just last week I received an email from him expressing appreciation for it, but also sharing with me a revision he had done for his family. They were about to take a long road trip, setting out on a Sunday, and Steve got it in his head to do an in-the-car worship using a simplified version of Stations, adapting it specifically for his 12, 14 and 16 year olds.

I love what he did to it, and it just tickled me to think of this family sharing the prayer experience in this way. In fact, I wished I’d been a mouse in the corner to hear it, and asked if he’d mind if I passed it along on my blog.

So while there still may be just a bit of time left for some late-summer family car trips, I share this (with thanks to Steve!) for a meaningful, mobile, family worship. Then, if you’ve got teenagers, mix it up later on your first night in the motel with National Lampoon’s Family Vacation!

If you’d like a copy of the nicely-formatted PDF doc that Steve did for his family, just message or email me; the PDF is set up as a bi-fold brochure to be printed 2-sided on a standard 8½X11 sheet.

~~RGM, August 18, 2014


Stations of Creation
Instructions

Scripture: A reader states the station title and reads the text aloud.
Word Picture: Point out and describe the item in the title. Share something from your personal experience that relates to the Scripture passage.
Prayer: Anyone may offer a prayer of thanks for the item.
Response: Sing together the chorus of “How great is our God”

Earth
Psalm 24:1: The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. For God founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
Word Picture
Prayer
Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God And all will see how great, how great is our God!

Sky
Psalm 8:1, 3-5; 108:4-5: O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.
Word Picture

Prayer

Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God!

Lights
Genesis 1:14-19: Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night. He made the stars also. And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Word Picture
Prayer
Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God!

Wind
Matthew 8:24-27: A tempest arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but Jesus was asleep. And they woke him up, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"
Word Picture
Prayer
Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God!

Water
Psalm 78:12-16: God wrought wonders before our fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; And He made the waters stand up like a heap. Then He led them with the cloud by day, and all the night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths. He brought forth streams also from the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
Word Picture
Prayer
Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God!

Fire
Malachi 3:2-3: But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire... And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.
Word Picture
Prayer
Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God!

Rock
Luke 19:39-40: And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." And He answered and said, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!"
Word Picture
Prayer
Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God!

Trees
Psalm 1:1-3: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
Word Picture
Prayer
Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God!

Crops and Climate
Isaiah 55:10-11: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Word Picture
Prayer
Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God!

Animals
Job 12:7-10: Ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; speak to the plants of the earth, and they will inform you; even the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing, even the breath of all humankind.
Word Picture
Prayer
Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God!

People
Genesis 1:27-28, 30, 31: So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." ...And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Word Picture
Prayer
Response: How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God!

Closing Prayer

O heavenly Father, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BOCP 814)

Friday, August 15, 2014

POTM...*: Camo'd

(*Photo[s] of the Month)

I am not certain if these are all the same species of spider or not, but I think they are -- they’re some kind of crab spider. (Click on any photo to see it enlarged.) Intriguing little guys, we find them all over the northwoods; in fact, we also often find them all over our four-wheeler after we have quadded through old trails overgrown with long grasses and wildflowers!

Note their uncanny ability to adjust their color to their surroundings. There’s a yellow one on a Black-Eyed Susan, a
purple one on a Violet, and one on a Milkweed blossom that has even adjusted itself to pick up two colors, both the blossom’s whites and its pinks. Amazing… Looks like they do whatever it takes to get the job done more effectively. Once again, I’d love to hear from my entomologist friends about these fine critters, their habits, and the varieties of colors into which they can alter themselves.

Camouflage is an interesting subject to be written on some
time. But today, with these photos of the month, I am simply thinking about one positive correlation. The Apostle Paul noted that he had become “…all things to all men that by all means (he) might save some… (1 Corinthians 9:22)” If you read the whole passage (9:19-23), you’ll see that it’s about understanding others’ worldviews and perspectives so that we might impact them with the truth and beauty of the Good News of Jesus. 

What ‘color’ do I need to be to best do that? What perspective do I need to better understand in order to be a more effective witness to God?

~~RGM, August 14, 2014