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“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

The Presence of God (3)

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The practice of the Presence of God is the most holy, the most all-encompassing, and the most necessary practice of the spiritual life. It trains the soul to find its joy in His Divine Companionship. Bro Lawrence

Having read the book some years earlier, plus considerable experience teaching and leading, I volunteered to lead a men’s group in a study of The practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. I developed a syllabus for the study complete with goals, expectations and topics for discussion. Diving into reading and study my confidence was immediately shaken.

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 
Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. 
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 

Psalm 139

There is no sweeter and delightful life than that of continual communion with God. Only those who experience this and practice it can comprehend it. Yet I do not advise you to undertake this practice from that motive. We should not seek pleasure in this exercise. Instead let us do it out of love and because God desires it.

Bro Lawrence

The spiritual life begins when one wakes up to the presence of God and experiences this reality for oneself. The omnipresence of God is more than a theological doctrine; it is experiential reality. The spiritual life begins in earnest when one wakes up.
This type of awakening is the heart of Christianity. It moves us from the realm of beliefs and ideas, emotions and rituals, into the Presence of God.

Marshall Davis

Mystery is not something you can’t know. Mystery is endless knowability. Living inside such endless knowability is finally a comfort, a foundation of ultimate support, security, unrestricted love, and eternal care. For all of us, it takes much of our life to get there; it is what we surely mean by “growing” in faith. 

Richard Rohr

Grappling with —”knowledge too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain” — misconceptions about practicing the presence of God were unmasked.

First, assuming practicing presence of God to be an educational issue. Unfortunately, for a long time, I assumed diligent study and improved techniques would produce spiritual growth. Most of my efforts at spiritual formation have been overly, even excessively, education-based. In recent years that assumption was challenged and refuted but its resilience was apparent in preparing for the study. Ironically, serious inquiry into the practice of the presence of God revealed a another way of knowing; not discarding education/study but ‘ …an awakening of the heart. moving us from the realm of beliefs and ideas, emotions and rituals, into the Presence of God.”1 Marshall Davis — a game changer.
“He surrendered himself to an attitude of faithful devotion and insight rather than reasoning and thinking“. 2 Bro Lawrence

A second misconception — the Practice of the Presence of God is self improvement.
American Christianity is a therapeutic culture, we approach faith as therapy. The trouble with this therapeutic milieu is that it is ego-centric and reduces the cross of Christ [the presence of God] to a feel-good, psychotherapeutic intervention (Jesus Loves Me!, 1 Cross + 3 Nails = 4 Given, and the Jesus’s footprints in the sand parable).3 Richard Beckhttp://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2008/08/therapeutic-culture-of-american.html
That misconception was implicit in the goal of our study: Become better disciples of Jesus. Certainly, being in the presence of God produces better disciples, but “The change or transformation that God desires is not found in our improvement. Rather, it is our union with Him and our transformation into His image and likeness. Christ has not come to improve us, but to remake us from the inside out.  4Fr Stephen Freeman The presence of God produces humility and repentance, prerequisites to God’s transforming work.

Encountering the practice of the presence of God has proven to be a significant spiritual milestone. I am still seeking to understand the depth and breath of its mystery. Hopefully, you will join me in pursuit of the presence of God.
More to come.

STILL ON THE JOURNEY

Church and the Battle for Attention

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…the Church is not on the right path so long as it adapts itself to the present; nor is it on the right path as long as it holds fast to the past. 
How do we know the Church is on the right path? — … the Church is headed in the right direction when, whatever the age in which it lives, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is its criterion..

Hans Kung – The Church

For years I’ve been concerned church is headed in the wrong direction. Church is an easy target, so it is not difficult find others willing to get on the bandwagon. We identify many problem but with no clear consensus on THE problem or WHY. I recently came across an essay entitled The Great Malformation: A personal skirmish in the battle for attention. Riffing on the article, I believe it connects some dots that help, in part, to explain why church is on not on the right path. Not THE problem, but a problem and perhaps insight to why.
In the article The Battle for Attention caught my attention (pun intended) and is the subject of this post. I encourage you to read the entire essay, however “The Battle for Attention” section is available below

The-Battle-for-AttentionDownload

Introduction
Western civilization, experienced a transformation in which economy, the pursuit of profits, engulfed and disfigured the culture. The church was also engulfed and disfigured. The engine for that cultural transformation has been: human attention.
Pursuit of profits has made attention exceedingly valuable and hotly contested. It is hard to think of any other “commodity”— that is as crucial to success in contemporary culture.
It is, then, a matter of no small consequence that human attention is now so heavily exploited.
Churches no longer enjoying “market” domination and compelled by FOMO; recognizing the power of attention and its crucial role in their “success”, joined the battle for attention.

The Battle for Attention – Marketplace examples of the battle for attention:

As marketers, we face a difficult task. It is up to us to ensure that the company’s brand awareness increases, that leads are generated and turned into sales and customers understand the products and services that the company provides.
At the same time, we have less opportunity to gain the customers’ attention as the amount of information increases.
Twenty years ago, Microsoft conducted a study that showed a person’s attention span, on average, was about 12 seconds before becoming distracted. 5 years ago, this time span was down to 8 seconds.
A  study from DTU  concluded in 2019 that people’s attention span will continue to decrease as we are bombarded with more and more information.
We have become accustomed to the fact that there are always new things, stories, and updates that we need to keep an eye on. It goes beyond our ability to concentrate and our ability to stay focused on what is right in front of us.
And that does not make our task as marketers any easier.

https://marketingplatform.com/resources/the-battle-for-attention/

How to win the battle for attention – despite distractions that bring instant gratification
Kirsten Back (MBA, MA)
Last week, I heard it again: “your audience has an attention span that only lasts a few seconds!”
Let me put that into context for you with regards to the content that you create and want your audience to read, remember, and act upon.
Your ideal scenario is that your ideal clients, notice your post, read it with focus and intention, remember the points you are making, and then reflect and act upon your content.
For that, you need to draw their attention, keep them engaged, understand your message, process your message, remember your message, take an action or get a positive outcome from your content that carries into their future.
That’s a lot that you expect from your audience (and that your audience expects from your content).
In this post, I am going to look into what your content is competing with and how you can win that competition with better content that your audience finds valuable and desirable enough to consume with their full attention.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-win-battle-attention-despite-distractions-bring-back-mba-ma-

Church and the Battle for Attention .

Churches’ decision to engage in the battle for attention carries significant risks and consequences:

Loss of capacity for sustained attention
Paradoxically, subjects of intense competition for their attention may suffer a loss of capacity for sustained attention. Because of increased screen time, it appears competition for attention contributes to increased diagnosis of ADHD. Eventually, people subjected to perpetual assault for their attention will disengage and zone out.

Risk of distraction / redirection/ backlash
Rather than addressing spiritual needs, leaders in a battle for attention assume responsibility for creating desire.
Commitment to a battle for attention inherently redirects priority for worthy goals to the task of creating better ad content to capture people’s attention. Creating desire, at a minimum, is a distraction, at worst, can become a substitute for the core mission— means become the ends.
Battle for attention influences every facet of church life
Some want mitigate the risk of engaging in the battle for attention by arguing if we can get people’s attention the gospel can be shared. Assuming “click bait” that grabs attention of post -modern people will make them open to the gospel is not wise. When “click bait” churches employ is in tune with secular desires, it can produce a ” bait and switch” backlash when the gospel is presented.

Unplanned enculturation of children and re-enculturation of adults
Churches engaging in the battle for attention should recognize the power of winning attention to shape the culture, children and adults. They need look no further than the effects of social media, smartphones, virtual experiences including video games on our psyches . There is potential to penetrate every passing moment of people’s lives. It is a bad bet for churches to place their money on winning the battle for attention; particularly when winning results in sated consumers not converts.
Subjects of the battle for attention face “a hydraulic insistence on conformity to majoritarian standards”. Campaigns to sustain unreflective allegiance of people to the prevailing form of religious life; interfere with parents efforts to pass along their convictions and way of life to their children; essentially limiting their free exercise of religion.

Consumerist proslelytism (i.e. battle for attention)
The nature of consumerist proselytism does not require true believers. It does require attention brokers willing to convey a message that consumption is a centrally important pathway to the happy life. Their task is to provide a picture of the good life and an ideological justification for seeking it. They can make their messages maximally effective, even if they do not believe what they are peddling to be good or on spite of any distaste they might have for the process. Increasingly, criteria for hiring church staff’ include qualifications of attention brokers.

There is a lot to think about and certainly debatable, bringing attention to the “the battle of attention” will hopefully generate thought and productive conversation. Future posts will address the implications of abandoning “the battle for attention” and what church might look like as a “loser”.
Feedback is appreciated.

STILL ON THE JOURNEY

This post is a continuation of posts on THE CHURCH from 2021 and 2022. Some earlier posts were added to the category. All sixteen posts can be read HERE.

So Much To Think About

George 1 Comment

Do twins ever realize that one of them is unplanned?

Cognitive Overload

“Studies of cognitive overload suggest that the real problem is that people who are thinking about rules actually have diminished capacity to think about solving problems.”

Phillip K Smith

Gifts

From the viewpoint of a private property economy the “gift” is deemed to be “free” because we obtain it free of charge, at no cost. But in the gift economy, gifts are not free. The essence of the gift is  that it creates a set of relationships.  The currency of a gift economy is at its root, reciprocity. In Western thinking, private land is understood to be a of  “bundle of rights,” whereas in a gift economy property has a “bundle of responsibilities” attached.

Braiding Sweetgrass

the kind of pastor every church needs

…the new pastor will need to be an excellent communicator, love senior adults and spend all their time with students. They’ll have to be able to manage the complex organization of the local church and raise money to accomplish all the church wants to do. They’ll need to spend 24 hours a day in prayer while going on visitation seven days a week. The new pastor will have to be able to lead a staff, perform funerals and weddings, handle social media, preach, counsel and teach. They will have to handle the intricacies  of local politics and be an expert on the moral and ethical issues of the day.

Mike Glenn

Dealing with sin

I think it’s noteworthy how, in the Old Testament, there isn’t a whole lot of metaphysical mechanics involved in God’s forgiveness. No great theory of atonement is floated about how God needs to jump through some hoops to remit our sin. All that seems necessary is honesty and confession. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51.17). Admitting our guilt. I think of David’s response to Nathan’s confrontation: “You are the man!” Once David owns his sin his relationship with God is restored. Yes, there are consequences, but honesty mends the relationship.

Perhaps it is that simple. The sin is easily dealt with, but it’s the hiding, lying, avoidance, denial, silence and obfuscation that is killing us. 

Maybe all God wants from us is the truth.

Richard Beck

Difficulty of aging

If you depend on doctrine and dogma creating certainty more than the person of Jesus Christ, aging is going to be excruciatingly difficult for you…

Phoenix Preacher

Wise men

The wise men are not as wise in the wilderness as they are in the safety of their sanctuaries. 

Michael Spencer

Contemplation 

contemplation, the deliberate seeking of God through a willingness to detach from the passing self, the tyranny of emotions, the addiction to self-image, and the false promises of the world.

Richard Rohr

ONE THING FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT

“I just want to be a normal person.”

Statistically speaking, a “normal person” is physically unhealthy, emotionally anxious/depressed, socially lonely, and financially in debt. ? 

Mark Manson

Autobiography

“everybody wants an autobiography at the end of their life, a bestseller and [My Story] is a way to do it now.” So so so true. If we could but wait we’d learn our story is, like the rest of the billions of earth’s inhabitants, quite ordinary even if we are special to some and to God.

Being Real – Phillip Plyming

Social Media

..social media platforms are now a culture of presenting a “positive impression” of ourselves. Here’s a real helpful set of categories of how those impressions are framed:

  • First, ingratiation: “the art of getting others to like us, to hold a favorable impression of us as we appear on our front stage.”
  • Second, intimidation: “the art of getting others … to fear us” by way of comparison. “My kids all got straight A’s” leads to “That mother is impressive. I don’t stack up.”
  • Third, self-promotion. This one hits the bone for us who are authors because our publishers want us to market and promote our own books. And there is only a fine line between saying what we need to say and saying more than what we need to say. I just had a new book arrive at my doorstep this weekend — do I keep it to myself or do I post it on social media?
  • Fourth, exemplification: the art of being “seen as worthy and having integrity.” In other words, virtue signaling and grandstanding.
  • Fifth, supplication: the art of framing “one ‘s dependence in order to get others to offer help” and resources.

The big ones that Plyming sees most on social media are self-promotion and ingratiation.

Scot McKnight – https://amzn.to/3QWYZIp

Church

It is easier to live in the world without being of the world than to live in the church without being of the church.

Henri Nowen – Where the night fell 

View from the Lanai
A quote from a recent sermon haunts me. I replayed the sermon and transcribed the quote attributed to Sophia Tolstoy.
Sophia Tolstoy was married to Leo for 32 years, had 16 pregnancies, bore 13 children, eight who lived to be adults.
She had this to say about the renowned Leo Tolstoy:

“There’s so little genuine warmth about him. His kindness does not come from his heart, but merely from his principles, his biography will tell how he helped laborers to carry buckets of water, but no one will ever know that he never gave his wife a rest, and never in all these 32 years gave his child a drink of water, or spent five minutes by his bedside to give me a chance to rest a little from all my labors.”

It is the phrase: “His kindness does not come from his heart, but merely from his principles.” that haunts me.
As one who considers himself a man of principles, where does my kindness come from?

STILL ON THE JOURNEY