(This is the final installement of a 7-part series exploring the spiritual discipline of contemplative-action.)
Elaine Heath, a Methodist theologian and former Dean of Duke Divinity School, has introduced us to the four steps of contemplative-action, which I have touched on in earlier blogs. Her second step is, Discerning God’s activity in my life, community, and in the world, or as I like to call it, paying attention. Very often congregations, and individuals for that matter, tend to come up with their own ideas for what should be done and then ask God to bless it. Discerning God’s activity is to first assess what God is up to in our lives, our community, and in the world so that we can move to the next step and make a conscious decision to participate in God’s activity. Step two is a spiritual endeavor to get in touch with what the Holy Spirit is placing on our hearts in regard to the struggles and injustices that exist around us.
“Leaders of vitalized congregations pay attention to when the Spirit shows up with nudges toward something integral to the well-being of life individually and collectively.”
I recognize that congregations come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. Vitality is not a matter of congregational size or perceived success. I have seen congregations of varying sizes of membership, staff, and budget living fully as communities of contemplative-action fueled by passion for Christ’s mission of life for the world. The definition that I most appreciate for vitality is the power giving continuance of life. I’m not sure where I first learned that definition, but it aligns well with the theology of the universal Christ which holds that we serve a God of life who seeks to perpetuate life from generation to generation. I prefer to interpret the phrase “eternal life” (in Greek – zoen aionion) as “life of ages” or “the perpetuation of life.” The interpretation that “eternal life” means that individuals go to heaven after we die fosters a misconception that we are separate and generates a mindset of individualized reward or punishment. God created the universe to be interconnected and the perpetuation of life depends upon our interconnectedness. Vitalized congregations recognize our existential interconnection and seek to draw people into ways of life that both unleash the individual while building healthy corporate life within the community, society, and the world.
“Vitality is the power giving continuance of life.”
Leaders of vitalized congregations pay attention to when the Spirit shows up with nudges toward something integral to the well-being of life individually and collectively. Such leaders aren’t at all disturbed when people share their passion and yearn for something to be done. What bothers leaders is when congregants expect the leader/pastor/deacon to do the work to address the congregant’s particular concern. It happens all the time. Someone will say, “Pastor, we need a program to give shoes to the homeless,” but they have no desire to do this work themselves, they expect the pastor now to adopt this passion, recruit the people, raise the money, and create a program. Such folks often see the clergy as the resident hired-hand whose job it is to do ministry. That’s not how communities of contemplative-action work. We’re not asking for ideas for what programs the congregation should be generating. We’re seeking to help people to identify the passion that the Spirit has generated within them and provide support for them to begin to live into their passion. Contemplative-action can happen in any congregation as long as a culture exists that provides the structure and values for building accompanying relationships along with a permission-giving mindset. Something that will kill the flow the of Spirit is too much red-tape through committees and governance systems that feel a need for power and control.
What processes or practices do you use for discerning what God is up to in your life or in the world? How do you engage congregants in conversations that help them to mine into the passions of their spirit? Are there practices that you do in worship, small groups, youth ministry and beyond that equip persons to be aware of the calls and nudges of the Spirit? We encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments below, or in a forum on our website (https://illumin8collective.com/forums/).
God bless you!
