Saturday, April 24, 2010

Taking a Break


I am going to take a break from posting until Fall.

TakeaBreak I have too many big writing projects I am behind on, and I have had to do a little PRUNING of some good things so I have more time for the best things.

One of my writing projects is a major work I am doing on the Spiritual Exercises for Evangelicals.

Originally I thought I would post some of that work here, but since I am planning on publishing it, I decided not to put those thoughts on this site.

So, I will come back to posting sometime this fall.

Thanks for coming along on this Ignatian Way of Proceeding for a short time...

Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Passion of Christ (Week Three)


ExperiencingGodExperiencing God.

Encountering Christ.

Relational Connectedness with the Trinity.

I think this is the "normal Christian life" to borrow an idea from the old book by Watchman Lee.

Are we aiming too high?

Shouldn't we just set our sights a whole lot lower?

In Week Three of the Ignatian Exercises, the challenge is for a retreatant to have compassion with Christ's passion.

Jesus16CrucifiedHeadCom = with.

Passion = the suffering of Christ.

Compassion with jesus in Week Three is to share in the suffering of Christ, to have the empathetic connection with Christ in His suffering, to know Christ in his suffering. This is what the Apostle Paul says is his life goal in Philippians 3;10. Especially:

the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,
becoming like him in death.

When was the last time you heard that one preached and explained in a way that made sense?

So, I am slowly working my way through the Passion narrative, trying to be with Christ in his sufferings, to feel, to know, to understand, to be with Jesus in all that he experienced. It is a bit odd to still be doing this "post-resurrection" but the schedule just didn't cooperate for moving through Week Three "pre-Easter."

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JoshMcDowellNormally we approach this part of the gospel with other agendas.

(1) The Apologetic Agenda: We want to go through the historical details of the story and show the horrible travesty of justice and how unjust the trial was. In fact, it was illegal at point after point. I have devoured apologetic treatments of the Passion of Christ. Intriguing exegetical stuff!

(2) The Theological Approach: We want to affirm the full biblical meaning of the events of the final day of Christ. We want to affirm the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy concerning Christ. The Atonement discussion around the cross of Christ has grown heated lately. Important. Needed. Even useful. But we can't stop there.

EvidenceVerdict(3) Spiritual Formation. But how do I engage with these passages and this story in a spiritually formative way?

When we get past discussion of the text itself and the historical backgrounds and the theological meaning of the text, then comes the time when we ponder the implications for the spiritual life. Often, we do this in a rather pragmatic way. Above all, we like to see the practical application of being forgiven and then forgiving others in this part of the Gospel Story.

Atonement

Sometimes we can go a little deeper and consider the experiences of the characters involved in the story. Maybe we connect with Peter's experience, but if we do so, it is because we are finding a principle in Peter that we can generalize and from which we draw a personal application.

PeterThis time I have been asking - what is Peter feeling, thinking, experiencing in this encounter (on the day I wrote this reflection, it is as Jesus is before the Sanhedrin)? Impossible you say to know. If the text says Peter is sad, then you know. If the text says he is angry - than you know? If the text says Peter wept bitterly, then he wept bitterly. Otherwise, it is just pure conjecture on your part.

And to go even further (and here is where it gets very hard) what is Jesus experiencing during these moments?

Jesus16CrucifiedHeadJesus is silent, we read. But what is he thinking, feeling, experiencing while he is silent. For the purpose of Week Three is to be "with Jesus" and in the words of Paul, "to have the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings."

But I try.

I move into the realm of questions, wondering, supposing, guessing… This very process of wanting to know Christ in his sufferings is good. I am engaging with a Person and not with Ideas about an event. The ideas are just a stepping stone to encounter a Person. They are needed but they are not the END POINT, only the means toward that end.

And it seems to me that as I seek to do this, I am moving into Relational Spirituality, Relational Christianity.

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ExegesisIsn't this so subjective, my critic asks me. My friend is a good friend, but still, critical, a bit suspicious, certainly skeptical. He is only interested in objective truth.

What is Jesus I ask? An object to be studied or a subject to be known? (I must have sounded profound, for my friend doesn't answer.)

People are not meant to be objects. In fact, we think it is bad if we "objectify" another. We know we have done something wrong to the objectified one. People are subjects to be known and loved.

We Evangelical Deists have objectified Jesus. We have reduced Jesus to a set of true ideas. We may like ideas, even be moved by the idea… but it is an idea that is doing this and not a Person. Isn't this a lesser reality? Excited about an idea when we are invited to be Loved and Known by a Person who invites us to reciprocate.

Is there any difference between the following loves.

I love the Bible?

I love Jesus?

Tell me you see the difference?

The one can love you back?

Yes, it is wonderfully, mysteriously, messily SUBJECTIVE.

So I press on, seeking com-passion with Christ, to know Him in His sufferings.

Ideas still thrill me… they intrigue me… some of them irritate me… they occupy my time… they receive some of my best energies. But the idea has ceased to be the END. Now, it is only a MEANS to a much greater End. Encounter, Experience, Friendship, Intimacy, Connectedness with Christ.

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AquinasI think this is what Thomas Aquinas meant, in part, when after he experienced God near the end of his life said, "All I have written is but straw." And he never wrote again. One of the most brilliant theologians and prolific authors of words encountered God and never wrote again!

PascalI think this is what Pascal was describing when he wrote, "fire, fire, fire…" and kept the words sown into his jacket, near his heart, for the rest of his life. Personal Encounter with the Living God.

So I continue reading, reflecting, wondering, asking questions, seeking to imagine with my poor faculties - what was Jesus experiencing. And how can I be com-passionate with Christ's passion?

30 minutes… then 60 minutes… then longer… I have to stop… I am skirting the edge of mystery… and still feeling so far away from com-passion.

Tomorrow is another movement in the Passion of Christ. His torment and pain will grow stronger with each passing narrative movement. I was barely able to be with Christ today. What will I possibly do tomorrow.

But this is my desire…

and I continue to be an Evangelical on the Ignatian Way of Proceeding.

For a few more days, at least, that way of proceeding is the way of com-passion.


Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Some of my Best Friends are Deists


Deism01Some of my best friends are Deists.

Unfortunately, they also happen to be evangelicals.

So they are kind of like…ummmh… Evangelical Deists.

You know what a Deist is! A Deist is a person who believes in an Almighty (or thereabouts) Deity who created the world, created the operational principles of the world, set things in motion and then stepped back from day to day involvement in the world.

Deism03So a Deist is left with a creation that runs, more or less smoothly (with sin, it can be much less smoothly) according to principles. Learn the principles, follow the principles and things work out pretty well. Ignore or break the principles, then things go poorly. The old image of the Divine ClockMaker is used to illustrate this. The world principles operate much like a finely designed CLOCK works.

But when it comes to a sense of relational connectedness, personal experience, and real encounter with the ClockMaker -- sorry, it just isn't there. Just the "clock" and its principles of operation.

Deism04Well then, what is an Evangelical Deist?

Before I answer that, I'll bring in another related idea provided by Parker Palmer in his little booklet, Leading From Within: Reflections on Spirituality and Leadership. Palmer talks about "functional atheism" by which he means, a "theist" who lives and acts as if God makes no real difference and that if anything good is going to happen, it will because the person works hard to make it happen.

There are a lot of evangelicals (and evangelical leaders in particular) who can talk a real good game about God, but when push comes to shove, they are really Evangelical Deists. They have great theological ideas, wonderful biblical insights and sound moral behavior… and that is about it.

Deism02When you start talking to them about a "felt Presence," a real and genuine "Encounter," and a lived "Experience" with Christ… you get a blank look. Because they don't have much of it. They have leaned how to live with really good biblical ideas that order and guide their lives. But not living with a Real, Loving Person with whom they feel connected.


They may talk about Jesus, but they mainly and merely are preoccupied with right beliefs about Jesus.

In fact, think how we even define THEISM AND ATHEISM?

A theist is one who believes in God and an atheist is one who does not believe in God.

I disagree!

I think these are very inadequate definitions.

A THEIST is one who is in relationship with God and an ATHEIST is one who is not in relationship with God. It is not only about belief systems (as important as these are)… it is about personal relationship. Evangelical Deists (i.e. Functional Atheists) have for the mainly reduced relationship to a matter of correct ideas about the Person. That is a tragically deficient view of relationship.

YanceyInvisibleGodPhilip Yancey tells us, it can be pretty hard being in relationship with the Invisible God and therefore (here is my extrapolation) it is a lot easier, especially for men, to connect with ideas and deeds. So we develop, invest in and argue about extensive theological systems . . . and we spend our lives doing good things…more programs, new ministries, great projects. We do it all in the name of Jesus… but we experience Christ in minimal ways.

No wonder so many leaders don't finish well, that some don't finish at all, and that so many evangelicals are slowly dropping out of the faith. They are dropping out of Evangelical Deism which has simply not satisfied the deepest need of the heart that longs for God.

Dallas Willard observes that you can be an evangelical in excellent standing and have little or no authentic encounter with Christ. As long as you have the T's of your theological system crossed and the I's of your biblical interpretation dotted, and are living a reasonably moral life - that is all you really need to have. YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE ANY KIND OF CONSISTENT, POWERFUL, TRANSFORMATIVE RELATIONSHIP. YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE AN EXPERIENCE/ENCOUNTER/FELT PRESENCE of Christ.

Erwin-mcmanusErwin McManus wonders where is the manifest PRESENCE of GOD in our churches? He wonders that because, often (usually) it is not there. We settle for speaking truth and doing good… not in being friends, intimate with Christ.

We say we are following Jesus, but in reality, we are more like Deists who are following biblical principles and doing biblical deeds and not in much of a relationship with a PERSON named JESUS.

I wonder -- how long can we believe true ideas and do good -- if we constantly fall short in being in relational connectedness with Christ.

We just consistently settle for much less than the full depth and range of Christianity. And when life gets hard and we see our evangelical constituents around us wavering, then we give inadequate responses... usually telling them they need to be more grounded in IDEAS. And that is the problem that has led to the other problems. Too many Evangelical Deists are only grounded in ideas and not sustained by intimate relationship with Christ.

When the going gets tough, you need more than an idea to get you through. You need the Love of a Friend... not just the idea about the love of a Friend. You see how thorough and widespread is our Evangelical Deism. No wonder we slowly deteriorate into Evangelical Atheists (those who have ideas about God, but little relationship with Him).

I am intrigued with John 17:3. Now this is eternal life; that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Knowing God. This is not mere intellectual assent to proper ideas about God (vital but not sufficient). It is personal knowing of another. This word used here is ginoskoe (with both o's having the long o sound). That word is sometimes used as a euphemism for sexual intimacy.

I've been the Functional Evangelical Atheist for long parts of my church career. I've been the Evangelical Deist in good standing, but terribly empty. Now I am an Evangelical on the Ignatian Way of Proceeding, looking to daily encounter, experience, enjoy and love God. This is the stuff that then energizes and sustains my following and my missional service in the world. This is the biblical reality . . .

Without it . . .

In the next post, I'll pick up this theme and illustrate it by talking with you about some experiences I had as I walked through the Passion Story of the Third Week.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com


Monday, March 29, 2010

Week Three: Being With Jesus Before the Sanhedrin

Sorry, but my travel schedule has been hectic and I have fallen behind in my musings and postings.

There will be a new post this coming Sunday. I am making my way through Week Three of the Exercises and writing my own version of them.

The Third Week has as its goal, for the retreatant to have "com-passion" with Christ. In other words, to share in the Passion.. being with Christ in His Passion.

This has been a challenge for me. To feel what Jesus was feeling... to have sympathy with and empathy with Christ in His sufferings - this is HARD! Usually our focus is our "self." And what Christ did, He did for ME. But in this Third Week, the focus is that of Christ Himself. To be with Him. Not for our sake, but for His sake. And of course, if we are able to do this, then there is a profound "for our sake" benefit that comes. But we do this, just to be with Christ.

Jesus23SanhedrinToday, my reflection was on Jesus before the Sanhedrin (Matthew 26:57-68). I found myself starting from Peter's vantage point as one who had entered the courtyard to watch and see the outcome. But from there, as I considered what Peter was seeing and experiencing, I was able to move to consider what Christ was experiencing, and maybe, a little, to just be with Him.

May all of you be having a moving Season of Lent and have a week of drawing close to Christ in His crucifixion and resurrection.


Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Monday, March 22, 2010

Knowing You Jesus (Exercise)

Visit my Blog: Evangelicals on the Ignatian Way to see a post that includes a video.


Brian

Sunday, March 14, 2010

A List of Ignatian Methods for Attending to God

In this post, I'll give an overview of the methods of spiritual encounter with God, that Ignatius uses and recommends to those who are going through the Spiritual Exercises. Then, in the following weeks, I'll explain each one with some more description and guidance for practice.

Examen Looking Ahead 03The Examen.

I have already posted on this one, in a series of eight posts, so I won't cover it in any detail at this point. The Examen is one of the chief methods Ignatius used to find God in all things. It was the retrospective look over one's day. It was a slow, prayerful, attentive look at the experiences, the events, the encounters, the gifts, the conversations, the emotional responses, the struggles the choices… that were a part of one's day. And slowing down to consider where God was at work, what God was saying and what you were invited to choose. But in the moment, you were busy, it was noisy and you were distracted.

As you practice the Examen over time, you will discover that you are learning how to pay attention in the moment, to what God is doing and saying. You will be learning to "practice the presence of God" (Brother Lawrence, not a Jesuit by the way.)

Since I have a series of eight posts on this practice, I' won't cover it in upcoming weeks. If you missed those posts, you can click here for the first one in that series.

Ignatian Contemplation.

I have said it before, but Ignatius was fond of the imagination and saw it is a rich way of encountering God. This one needs a bit of explaining, for the word - contemplation - is used in a variety of ways in different spiritual formation approaches.

For Ignatius and the Spiritual Exercises, he is teaching an imaginative engagement with the text and stories of Scripture, and especially the Gospels. Keep in mind that this was a time when many people did not have a copy of the Bible (the printing press had been invented about 1440) and many people were illiterate. But they knew the stories and their memories were better than ours for the oral tradition.

By the way, globally, far more people are skilled as oral learners than as visual learners who learn by reading. We wrongly assume that analytical study and rational examination is the best (if not only) way to learn. It isn't. And even for those who do learn in this way, they can enhance their learning with the imaginative engagement of stories.

Ignatius wanted people to enter into the biblical stories using their senses to see the events, hear what was going on, feel the environment. Ignatius encouraged retreatants to put themselves in the biblical story. As a bystander observing what is going on… or as a participants who is a part of the story.

And from that vantage point, encounter Christ and his personal dealings with them.

LectioDivinaLectio Divina.

Ignatius was not the one who developed Lectio Divina. The phrase means "sacred reading" or perhaps, "spiritual reading." If Bible study, inductive study, exegetical study are analytical and rational in their focus and method, lectio divina is more reflective, meditative and prayerful in its approach to the text of Scripture.

The point is to relish and savor words, phrases, ideas and use them as a stepping stone to go deep below the water line of your life and discover what God is doing and what Christ is saying to you.

In the previous post I said that evangelicals have a strong docrtine of Revelation and a weak doctrine of Illuminiation. Lectio Divina is a way in which one part of the normative, absolute truth of God becomes real, relevant, immediate, up close and personal for your life. It is a way you move from assenting to biblical principles as "generally true for all people," to experiencing the reality of particular biblical ideas personally and relevant in the real time of your life.

It is my favorite way of encountering Christ. The Daily Examen is my second.


CenteringPrayer

Centering Prayer.

While Ignatius used and taught centering prayer, this approach has actually become more popular through other spiritual traditions and I'll mention those when I talk about this approach in more detail.

For now, I'll just say that the premise is that God is within us, the presence of Christ is with us and in us. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. Therefore, we must learn how to be attentive and responsive to the present of Christ within us.

Centering prayer is a way of quieting oneself and moving away from the busyness, noise and distractions of the day. It is a way of simply being with Jesus. This is the one approach that is most "content free" of the practices.

This one is a more occasional practice for me…

It is a practice that many find quite difficult to learn…

DesiresWhat Do You Desire?

This is a practice that is launched out of the fact that God has placed within us, "eternity in the heart." We have holy longings that have been suppressed, denied, corrupted and damaged. But still, they are there and our longings and desires are a powerful indicator of God's presence and work within us.

In addition, it is a practice that is launched out of Jesus' encounter with Bartimaeus, the blind beggar and Jesus asking, "What do you want me to do for you?"

Ignatius believe that our desires/longings are very important for progress on the spiritual journey and that we need to become aware of our desires and name them to Christ. So Ignatius has retreatants constantly asking for what they desire as they begin a new spiritual exercise, confident that God will guide them to naming their deepest desires and meet them in the conversation.

Again, more on this in a later post. I have found this to be a deeply rewarding and formative spiritual approach.

PrayerJesusColloquy.

Ignatius uses an unfamiliar word throughout the Exercises. It is - colloquy. It simply means an intimate conversation with Jesus. At the end of each Exercise, Ignatius wants us to imagine we are having a conversation with Mary, with Jesus and with God the Father. As an evangelical (and with no disrespect at all toward the Jesuits and larger group of Roman Catholics) I simply exchange the Holy Spirit for Mary and my prayer becomes a Trinitarian prayer.

I imagine myself having a conversation with the Spirit, then with Christ and then with the Father on the very things the Exercises has brought to my attention. I speak my heart to the Trinity and imagine God speaking back to me.

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So, these are the Ignatian ways of encounter, of experience and of relational engagement with God that we will explore in the upcoming weeks.

Because this is a blogsite, these posts are really just entry points or stepping stones into each issue. I'll recommend resources for each one, for those who would like to go further in studying about a particular practice.

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And as a final note, the Exercises that I am writing follow the Ignatian pattern very closely. For each one, after I give a brief explanation of the day's Exercise:

I provide guidance for a Centering Prayer,

then space for you to ask what you desire,

then guidance for using either an imaginative engaging of the text or lector divina reflections on the text (or doing both),

and finally invite you into Colloquy.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com


Thursday, March 11, 2010

The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything - Now Available

James Martin's new book, The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything is Now Available.

This is a must read.

Brian

Monday, March 8, 2010

How Does God Communicate With Us

Brief Note: I like to add images to posts... but that always takes some time to find the right images. With my schedule as crazy as it has been, I just didn't have the time to do that for this post.

Also, this is a longer reflection. So I have provided it as a pdf if you want to download it, print it, and read it that way.

Download HowDoesGodCommunicateWithUs


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Much of the Ignatian Exercises is devoted to hearing from God, to noticing God, and to finding God.


So, how does God communicate to us, make himself known to us?

This is an extremely important question! In fact, what I just said is a vast understatement.

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT QUESTION.

And on this question, evangelicals, in my opinion, have had some good things to say… but we have also had some very inadequate things to say. I'll go one step further. In some ways we have been right, but in other ways, we have been very wrong.

This question involves philosophy, theology and spirituality and is way beyond the venue of a simple post or two. So what I say here is going to be very basic, very inadequate, raise many more questions, and perhaps cause some suspicion…

This post is going to have a different feel to it and it will set the stage for several follow up posts. It is more theological in its focus.

But I encourage you to wade through this post, for in the weeks to come I'll be walking you through how Ignatius helps us hear from God, and it will be helpful if you have this understanding in place.

I am not less than an evangelical in my answer, but now I am much more than evangelical in my answer. I'll map out just a few of the broad, brush strokes of an answer on this.

My Evangelical Tradition has answered that God mainly speaks to us through the Bible, the texts of the Old and New Testament as they are rightly interpreted through the use of hermeneutical and exegetical tools.

(As a brief aside…)

These are interpretive tools, by the way, that were mainly developed in the context of Enlightenment Modernity. It is a delicious irony of no end, that evangelicals who are aghast at most things "modern" are so dependent on the tools developed by that same modernity. I am not opposed to these tools, and I use them as well, but I hold them loosely and I know their origins.

(And another brief aside...)

To show that these tools are not quite as reliable as we thought they were, I would only say that Evangelicals have spent about the last 500 years (since the Reformation) vehemently arguing about who has rightly used those tools to rightly interpret the inspired text of God. And we have made precious little progress in that debate. So, as a movement, we are increasingly splintered in our theological discussions about who has the "real biblical answer."

(And one more aside...)

Our tendency is to think we/my/our theological-biblical answer is the objective truth and the other person's answer is subjectively biased because they use the objective tools of interpretation incorrectly. And we say they unable to see their subjective bias! Of course, each side levels the exact same charge against the other side. Touche!

I think this issue became very pronounced for me when I studied at a very good, eclectic evangelical seminary that had outstanding scholars of different traditions teaching there. I studied under Calvinists, Arminians, Anabaptists, and Pentecostals (not to mention a few other persuasions). Each scholar had far more competency in theological and exegetical tools than I ever will. And yet they came to significantly different answers on many important questions. I learned to be very cautious in saying to another person - "your interpretation is unbiblical…"

(Now, back to the main line of this post...)

The objective-subjective "thing/difficulty" notwithstanding, evangelicals have rightly understood that the Scriptures are in a special category of truth. The Bible is Revealed Truth from God. It tells us things we would not be able to ferret out on our own. This is my position also.

Evangelicals believe that the truth within Scripture is normative and speaks in instructive and corrective ways. My position also.

Evangelicals believe it should be our life long quest to listen to the Scriptures, to sit with the truth of Scripture and to allow that truth to shape our lives. My position also.

To this (and more) I give a hearty assent, a yes and A-men.

However… and here is the FIRST major caveat I add…

ONE: I am not as convinced as I use to be, that evangelicals have rightly figured out how to engage with God's communication. I would say it this way. We have a very good doctrine of Revelation and a very weak doctrine of Illumination. We have a strong doctrine of the Normative Truth/Authority of the Bible and we have a very weak way of engaging that truth in illuminative and transforming ways.

I would say there are large parts of the evangelical movement whose minds are filled with reasonably right information about God, but whose hearts are much less transformed and touched by the Presence of God.

I would say there are large parts of the evangelical movement who have put their focus on understanding the Bible but have missed the greatest truth of the Bible - that the Main Thing is to encounter and experience the living God (Father, Son and Spirit) in transformative relationship.

I would say there are large parts of the evangelical movement who know a lot of doctrine intellectually, but who know very little of Jesus experientially. (Look, this isn't that heretical. J.I. Packer (Knowing God) made the same observation in the early 1970s and Henry Blackaby became famous with his book Experiencing God as he made the same observation. But neither of them were able to help us move very far forward in the actual encounter of God and the experience of transformative relationship with Christ.

I would say there are parts of the evangelical movement where the Bible is more important than Jesus. And for most of us, it is a lot easier for us to study and learn the Bible then it is to know and love Jesus, to follow and surrender to Christ.

As I said, we have majored on Revelation and in my experience, we haven't even minored on Illumination. So, we need to find guidance elsewhere for a good, robust doctrine of Spirit-led illuminative processes.

I think Ignatius (among others) shows us the way, through many useful methods of being illumined by the Word… which is one more reason why I am an Evangelical on the Ignatian Way of Proceeding…

Now, here is the SECOND caveat…

TWO: Evangelicals have also missed many other avenues where we can find God. We have neglected a variety of rich sources by which to find, discover, encounter and be transformed by God.

(1) We have neglected and actually been opposed to the emotional life as a place to find and encounter God. We have been rather scared of the subjectivity of emotions, and warning ourselves not to trust emotions or even visit them very much. (Good grief - what about the Psalms… the great repository of emotional experiences ever that are the place for spiritual encounters with God!)

(2) We have neglected the realm of longings and desires… again, just labeling them dangerously subjective and misguiding.

In other words, we have neglected one of the most obvious of places to find God… and that is within us, in our heart (i.e. total inner life) where the indwelling Christ lives and moves and has his being. Christ in us - which is the consistent witness of Scripture. For the most part - we haven't the foggiest idea how to find God within.

(3) We have neglected much of the realm of General Revelation. In other words, our Creator God is everywhere in His creation (although He is not the creation, just present in it) waiting to be encountered and enjoyed. Music, art, nature, science, and in fact - all of life. To borrow from Abraham Kuyper; not only is God the Lord of every square inch of creation and says "it is mine", but that same Lord God says, "and you may discover my rich presence hovering over and moving through and sustaining every square inch of creation, if you have eyes to see." We haven't had eyes to see. In fact, we haven't even been looking that direction.

(4) And we have neglected our experiences of life as the place to encounter God. This was one of Blackaby's ideas. God is at work in our experiences. Find out what God is doing and join in. This is the external realm of action and relationship. God is there at work. Our need is to notice, discern and respond well to God's activity.

Ignatius has a well developed spirituality that helps one pay attention to the work of God within (desires, emotions, the heart), in all of Creation (finding God in all things) and in one's external world of action/relationship (finding God there as well). Which is why, I am an Evangelical on the Ignatian Way of Proceeding…

So, this post is setting the stage for a number of forthcoming posts that will be on the Ignatian way of Finding God in the Scriptures, in our inner being, in the created world and in our daily activity.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com