Extreme Pilgrim concludes (again)

I finished yesterday's blog entry with a question - The question is how do we maintain the spiritual dimension in our lives – short of trekking half-way around the globe and doing headstands in a thong?

I have two answers, or approaches, to suggest.

Mark Sanborn has posted a blog about Space and Place to Think. I think that this offers a clue - find a place and space to be with God. It doesn't have to be a Himalayan mountain-top, but it should be somewhere meaningful for you. Find it, and then go there regularly.

The second suggestion is to do it regularly - for me connected to Sabbath (again). David Adam talks of his belief in recital theology (in Power Lines). I am thinking of it as repetition within a pattern. The point is to establish a regular habit and stick with it. Don't wait for a spiritual crisis, make it part of your weekly. It should become natural in time - and fit in with other commitments.

Does it have to be any more complicated than that?

Extreme Pilgrim concludes

The BBC’s Extreme Pilgrim reaches its conclusion this week – or does it?

The series will end on Friday night, but will Peter Owen-Jones reach any conclusions or find any satisfactory answers on his quest to find a spiritual dimension to his faith? I hope he does – primarily so that we can all learn from his adventure. I’ve also warmed to him over the course of the first two instalments, and I hope that he finds some answers for himself.

Before the series does conclude I thought I’d share my thoughts so far – based on what we’ve been shown. First of all, as PO-J has relaxed and retreated from (Western) society, he has found more peace and seems more at ease. This seems to point toward a need to slow down and step back from the hurly-burly of every day life. This fits with some of my own developing thinking about establishing Sabbath practices as an integral part of our lives.

Secondly, PO-J’s progress has also been linked to his involvement in small communities - in the mountain-top Buddhist monastery and in the Indian village in the foothills of the Himalayas. The lessons here seem to be that we do not exist in isolation, and certainly few of us will not find a spiritual dimension in completely retreating from the world.
The question is how do we maintain the spiritual dimension in our lives – short of trekking half-way around the globe and doing headstands in a thong?

Pray, and let God worry

The blog title is a quotation from Martin Luther. It came to mind when reading a part of the Tearfund report, which highlights the calming effects of prayer.

After prayer 38% of people felt peaceful/content; 22% close to God. 80% reported that prayer made them feel better. This section of the report is entitled 'Too Busy Not To Pray' (referring to Bill Hybels' book) and concludes with this sentence:

"It [prayer] provides a moment of reflection and it provokes positive emotions in the person praying."

I realise that this is not the exeperience of everyone, and in fact, these conclusions can make some people feel worse because they don't respond in this way. This is one example of areas where we need to be sensitive to those around us - often we/I lack this sensitivity and trot out one-dimensional opinions and viewpoints.

Nevertheless the Tearfund report and other research highlights the value that there is in the act of praying. Intriguingly (for me) they make a link between these benefits from prayer and the processing of slowing down and reflecting. They also refer to the Stephen Cottrell book that I've been blogging about recently.

This brought to mind a time when I was a student in St Andrews (hence the photo) and going through a bit of a rough time. I recall vividly - which is unusual for me - walking along the East Sands one night in the haar, feeling completely confused and then without really noticing anything happening I felt completely at peace and reassured. I came to a conclusion about the direction of my life - and have had no regrets ever since.

Prayer takes many forms, but maybe it's most effective when we don't use our feeble words and simply let God work in our hearts.

Keep Sunday special?

“… rather than fighting a rearguard action to keep Sunday special, it might be better to consider how you can build some Sabbath time into the schedules and rhythms of the life you have. These are the disciplines of slowing down and shutting up… They are the recovery of Sabbath, the creation of a place of rest where joy and contentment can flourish.”
Stephen Cottrell

This quotation seems to sum up the essence of what a modern day Sabbath should be about. We need to avoid the legalism that is often associated with Sabbath-keeping – and the ‘Keep Sunday Special’ campaign. However, we also need to find ways to gain the benefits of Sabbath habits.

Some suggestions from my own experience and feelings at this time include the following:

• Avoid using your chosen Sabbath day to catch up with chores. Make sure that the chores are planned for other days.

• Spend time positively with God. In my case, that usually includes going to church (more of that in a wee while), but it also involves some time of reflection, reviewing the week, and thinking about areas of Bible study, theology etc that I want to think through in the week ahead.

• Going to church. To be honest, this can be a chore at times. But having recognised this, find a way to address it – find something positive and revel in that. Recently, we have started giving an older person a lift to church. Her faithfulness is an inspiration, and spending time with her is something positive in our church experience.

• Most of all relax. Use the time available wisely for re-creation, for reflection, for friends and family. Do things that you enjoy, rather than things that you feel compelled to do.

When I was at university, the Student Counsellor advocated having one and a half days a week free from study. This would typically include Wednesday afternoon, when there were no lectures or tutorials, and many of us participated in sport – or other clubs. (In my case this included a group called the Malt-esers, which is a tale for another day!) Anyway, the counsellor’s advice struck me as being entirely sensible. Firstly, I didn’t need too much encouragement to stop studying. More importantly I recognised the value of some time to recharge the batteries, and although I haven’t always managed to heed the advice, it has always stayed with me.

Erosion

“The boundaries between the different days of the week, the seasons of the year, and even, nowadays, between night and day, have been eroded. This brings a terrible loss. People are deprived of the rhythms and patterns that shape life. And with this, the pressure to be busy and productive increases. There is less time for family, less time for leisure, less time for re-creation, which is the purpose of living.”

- Stephen Cottrell

I was reading something today which defined wisdom as “evaluated understanding”. (I like that and may well return to it – wisdom being another hobby horse of mine.)

Applying this definition to the quotation from Stephen Cottrell – if we recognise (i.e. understand) the erosion of boundaries, then how are we evaluating it? Are we recognising the importance of family, leisure etc? And if we recognise it, what are we doing about it?

There is no wisdom in recognising a problem, unless you are prepared to act on it. (Aye, I know – physician heal thyself.)

Funny (strange) wee book

The subtitle of this book is ‘Discovering what happens when you stop’, so I figured that it might help with my thinking about life’s rhythms and the dimension of Sabbath. And I liked the cover (shallow but true!).

I started to read it while sitting in Starbucks having a double espresso at the Metro Centre (for those not familiar with it - this is a monolithic shopping mall in north east England). The fishwife and Dolly D were shopping, and I was doing my own thing – not very patiently.

Anyway as I read the first chapter, I started to relax. In fact, I started to stop! Some of the comments seemed to be aimed directly at me:

"I have allowed busyness to invade my life so much that it gets harder and harder to be in touch with that other part of me which thrives on the creativity of indolent wastefulness."

"There was a restless impatience within me."

So with my mood lifted, I tucked the book away and carried on ambling around the shops, and watching what people were doing, having a chat with the shop assistant in the cookery shop etc etc. A good start.

However, the next few chapters were disappointing. They were an encouragement to become a Christian. No problem with that, except that there was no indication about this on the cover notes. It seemed a bit disingenuous. However, I persevered and things improved.

Modern life is crowded and cacophonous. Everywhere you turn there are more people shouting at you, demanding attention and wanting to consume your time. Drastic action is needed. So chuck out the instant coffee. It’s not just that it tastes horrible; I want back the time it robbed me of. The superficial attraction of its speed didn’t save me time; it just encouraged me to cram more in. What people need in their lives are things to slow them down. Labour-creating devices and time-wasting strategies are what I’m after. They will generate opportunities for stillness and reflection.

I particularly agree with the bit about the coffee! But more than that the essential message of the book is that we need to slow down, to take the time that we need to enjoy life AND to get in touch with our creative side and our Creator.

I’ll chuck in some more quotations over the next few entries.

Spaced

Two thoughts colliding with my own thinking.

Firstly, Mark Sanborn's blog "What are we making space for?".

Followed by an article that I was reading "Meet the Life Hackers" by Clive Thompson, who quotes Merlin Mann

"We'd rather die than be bored for a few minutes, so we just surround ourselves with distractions."

Well, I've been thinking a lot about the importance of a proper Sabbath as the focal point of the week - creating space and balance and a time for no distractions. I need this space, and I need to establish it and protect it.

I've also just finished reading an intriguing wee book called "Do nothing to change your life" - actually I'm going to be a tease and keep that for tomorrow, or the next time that I get space to blog.

Breamish Valley

We've been going to this place for thirteen years now - at different times of the year - and it's always beautiful. We always come back relaxed and refreshed - a kind of annual sabbatical. I don't get commission from the Northumberland Tourist Board, but I've recommended it to so many people that it would have been very lucrative!

The cottages where we stay are superb, well equipped and with leisure facilities etc. as part of the package. The owner is selling off some of the properties, so we'll need to see whether this changes anything about the place.

The photograph is the sun setting behind the Cheviot Hills - spotted as we were eating our evening meal, so I scurried out to grab a few shots as the light faded. The sheep thought it was very strange (for about 3 seconds).

A reliable source of quiet power

As part of my summer 'catch up' reading, I stumbled across "One minute for yourself" by Spencer Johnson. I thought that I'd grown out of this kind of self-help book, but as the theme seemed to chime in with my lingering interest in the concept of Sabbath, and it was a short read, I gave it a go.

To be honest, I didn't enjoy the format - it was a bit too contrived for my taste. But I did find myself applying the simple message of taking one minute for myself at various times during the day to ask myself 'Is there a better way right now for me to take good care of Me?'. It seems to have helped this week, but the proof will be found over the long-term.

"So you are really saying that the better you manage your inner self, the more you enjoy all that life has to offer."

This seems so obvious, yet how many of us actually put it into practice each day?

Am I recommending this book - not really. There are other similar books on this topic that I'd like to explore first, bit if you've got a copy lying around it would be worth having a quick read through.

Wet Saturday

The weather forecast said that the rain would clear by midday - it didn't. It's rained all day (more or less). So my plans for some intensive gardening have been completely thwarted - other than nipping out briefly to take some photos.

Well, sometimes you just have to live with these things. Slowing down today has definitely been good for me. After a tiring week it's been good to catch up with newspapers, watch more sport than is good for me ... I've also managed a couple of more constructive things - wrote a Bible study for the group of teenagers who meet here every week (I'm back to bad habits of 'just in time'), did a little exercise and cooked dinner (chicken and pasta recipe that I made up as I went along).

On the face of it, not very exciting, but I feel refreshed and positive. This ties in with thoughts about the real significance and benefit of having a weekly Sabbath - more of that in another post.

In fact, it's been a very positive day, which I didn't and couldn't have planned.

Considered neglect

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit."
Aristotle

This is one of my favourite quotations (and anyone reading this blog will know that I am fond of the occasional quotation). It is written on the whiteboard in my office - as a reminder to me and my teams.

It came into my head in a less positive way today - as I spent a large part of the day in the garden... weeding, weeding, cutting the grass, weeding, weeding ... I should say at this point that I love gardening and have a fairly large garden on a challenging slope.

As I thought about the chore of weeding, I was reminded of Gordon MacDonald's book "Ordering your private world". The cover notes talk in terms of a tidy garden indicating that you spend too much time weeding and not enough time on God's business. (I'm oversimplifying the argument for the sake of brevity here.) I think that the general point that he makes is reasonable - although I'm a bit aggrieved that he chose gardening as an example - why not people with a low golf handicap?

Anyway, the real point that I want to get to is the need to establish positive habits in our lives. On a practical level, if I weeded more regularly it wouldn't be such a big and tedious job. On a spiritual level, if we establish better Sabbath practices, we should have more balanced lives with greater insight to God's will for us. On a personal level, if we don't spend time doing things that we enjoy, we will become limited/ obsessed individuals - work/life balance is important.

There is a phrase that Gordon MacDonald used in his book (I think!), which I use regularly - "areas of considered neglect". These are the tasks at the bottom of my to-do-list, which will only ever get done if something happens to change their importance - and they will be replaced by other "areas of considered neglect".

Enough now - I'm wabbit (Scots word - look it up!)