Tag: spiritual disciplines

Contemplation and Action For Social Justice

Creative Living FaithJustice Blog Spiritual Growth Vocation+Purpose

Contemplation and Action For Social Justice

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[Note: This post first appeared on the FaithJustice Foundation blog]

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“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

– Luke 4:18-19

[What can the season of Lent teach us about social justice? This re-post was the first in a series of reflections based on Luke 4:18-19. To find an answer, I believe we can look to these words of Jesus found in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The text is found immediately following Jesus’ forty days in the desert, the passage most associated with the 40 days of Lent. Jesus uplifts these words, read from the prophet Isaiah, as an introductory statement of his public ministry. In the passage, Jesus speaks words of anointing, of good news, of release from captivity, of recovery from blindness, of freedom from oppression, of favor, hope, and justice. After reading, he proclaims “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”]

The fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke begins with Jesus, “full of the Holy Spirit… led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”  For six weeks, he spent time in solitude – fasting, praying, and preparing for the work that was ahead. After this period, he returned to Galilee, again “filled with the power of the Spirit” where reports of his ministry spread throughout the country. To introduce his ministry, Jesus enters a synagogue and reads from Isaiah 61, a post-exilic text written during a time of suffering and disenchantment. In Isaiah, the prophet proclaims that he is anointed by the Lord to bring good news to those who are oppressed. Jesus announces that today, this scripture is fulfilled in him. In making this announcement immediately following his time in the wilderness, Jesus offers a master class on the connection between contemplation and action. We who follow Jesus are invited to take note.

Beloved, I have a concern about our social justice activism. I fear that we have come to associate social justice with action only. Our rhetoric that challenges us to “get out of the pews” and “go outside of the four walls of the church” is well intended, but it risks separating the inner spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, and solitude from the outer ones of service and action.* This bifurcation leads to a few unfortunate tendencies.

“Social justice action, when rooted and grounded in contemplation, can be more meaningful, more inspired, and therefore more impactful.”

Firstly, those among us who crave action may lose sight of the self-care offered through contemplative practices. At a time when we have a 24-hour news cycle that depicts injustices meted out daily, our need for rapid responses can result in burnout for social justice advocates. In times like these, a rich inner life can offer balance through prayer, silence, Sabbath-keeping, and mindfulness as opportunities for rest and refreshment. These contemplative practices offer balance that can strengthen us for the long haul needed to create systemic change.

Secondly, we social justice activists prioritize action over inaction; therefore, contemplative practices tend to get lost among those of us who want to just “do something.” However, there are many great spiritual leaders who have taught us that an inner life of contemplation provides a solid foundation for an outer life of action. Our greatest social justice advocates across religious traditions have been a living witness to this, from Mahatma Ghandi to Thich Nhat Hanh and from Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Social justice action, when rooted and grounded in contemplation, can be more meaningful, more inspired, and therefore more impactful.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thich Naht Hanh – Their meeting inspired King to take a stand against the Vietnam War.

Thirdly, we tend to categorize discipleship as study while categorizing mission and social justice as service and action. We see these categories in our church ministries and committees. We make this distinction despite the fact that study needs to be a first step in preparing to help the communities and issues for which we want to take action. Sometimes we are ready to take action without adequate information, create slogans but not strategies, join protests without policy demands. As a result, sometimes our help isn’t truly helpful, offering band-aids to communities that need surgery to stop the bleeding. By contrast, a more complete approach recognizes that we need to be disciples/students of social justice in the same way that we are students of prayer, bible study, and other spiritual disciplines. Then we can be prepared to take action that is informed, strategic, and can produce the change we seek.

What if instead of only taking action outside of the church, we are called to also bring social justice into the church? What if we are called to treat social justice as an integral and integrated part of what it means to be disciples, to incorporate social justice in prayer, worship, meditation, as well as study, and then engage in social justice ministry and action? I have said elsewhere that the biblical vision of social justice should be included in any complete and comprehensive discipleship program. This was a major reason for my decision to start the FaithJustice Foundation.

“What if instead of only taking action outside of the church, we are called to also bring social justice into the church?”

The season of Lent offers us the chance to return to the solitude of the wilderness in order to tend to our inner lives, to confront our own demons, to contemplate our calling, to draw deeply from the oasis of the Spirit, to prepare for the work that is ahead. Through the inner life, we are reminded that we have been anointed for a purpose and that preparation is necessary to fulfill that purpose.  The Spirit of the Lord anoints us through an inner life of contemplation that prepares us for an outer life of action.

Blessings,

Rev. Cynthia Johnson-Oliver, JD
Founder and President
FaithJustice Foundation

*My views on contemplative practices and spiritual disciplines have been influenced by the writings of Richard Rohr, Richard Foster, Thich Nhat Hanh, Parker Palmer, and many others.

**To learn more about the FaithJustice Foundation, visit www.faithjusticefoundation.org.

Spiritual Thirst

Spiritual Growth

Spiritual Thirst

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Dry Ground by Max Wolfe on Flickr
Dry Ground by Max Wolfe on Flickr

My soul thirsts for you…as in a dry and weary
land where there is no water.  – Psalm 63:1

 

The Season of Lent is a time when many people of faith focus more deeply on their spiritual lives. The forty days of Lent are a reminder of the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and praying before the start of his Galilean ministry. Jesus was famished, according to the scripture, hungry and thirsty after those forty days in the desert. It was then that the devil came to tempt Jesus with food, material possessions, and power.

We are famished. We, too, hunger and thirst for more than what we have. There are many people in our communities and throughout the world for whom hunger and thirst is not simply metaphorical; rather impoverished conditions have created a real need for food and water. But there are many people who are able to meet their basic, physical needs. And yet, they are still thirsty. Thirsty for connection. Thirsty for money. Thirsty for power. Thirsty for more. 

It is this thirst that both tempts us away from and draws us to the Divine. 

1. Humanity longs for spiritual connection to God.

"Meditation" by Moyan Brenn on Flickr
“Meditation” by Moyan Brenn on Flickr

Throughout history, humanity has exhibited a longing for the Divine. World religions, from the mainline to the lesser known to the indigenous, are rooted in a belief that the physical world is not the end of existence. Belief in a Higher Power, whether called Jesus Christ, Brahmin, Allah, YHWH, or by other names, reflects this human longing for deeper meaning and spiritual connection. There has been much in the news lately about the problems caused by religion, that it is possible to lose sight of the many ways that faith improves our world. Many great thinkers and mystics, including Thich Naht Hahn, Thomas Merton, Rumi, Theresa of Avila, and others act as guideposts, pointing us toward the divine as the answer to our spiritual thirst. In the words of Augustine of Hippo, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.”

2. If we seek spiritual growth, we will find it.

Viola's Visions on Flickr
Viola’s Visions on Flickr

Hebrew and Christian scriptures are filled with promises that spiritual growth can be found by those who are willing to seek it. The prophet Jeremiah, speaking on behalf of God, says, “When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) Similarly, Jesus promises, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” (Matthew 7:7) We can seek after God through spiritual practices, such as prayer, meditation, study of sacred texts, fasting, and solitude. We can also seek spiritual growth through outward action, whether acts of service, acts of justice, and lives of simplicity. We can be people who, in the words of the Psalmist, “seek peace, and pursue it.” (Psalms 34:14) Spiritual growth is not far from us. Indeed, the Kingdom of God is at hand, available to those who desire it and are willing to seek it.

3. Spiritual life quenches our deep thirst.

"Waterfall" by Tom Hall on Flickr
“Waterfall” by Tom Hall on Flickr

Not only is spiritual growth available to us all, but this spiritual life will satisfy our eternal thirst. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) Our celebrity-obsessed culture suggests that if we have more of their things, do more of what they do, or even look more like they look, our lives will be more fulfilling. But pursuit of material success alone will leave us, paradoxically, more thirsty and more empty. This is because material things cannot satisfy the inner longing of the heart. This does not mean that we are all called to live an ascetic life devoid of material comforts and success. It is normal and acceptable to have material, financial goals and to enjoy those achievements. We should, however, recognize that external, material success will not bring the inner peace, joy, and fulfillment that can only be found through the interior life of spiritual growth and development. In the words of the Gospel of John, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

Meditation: Sit in a quiet space. Pay attention to your breathe, inhaling and exhaling. Acknowledge, without judgment, the longing that you feel, whether physical, material, or financial. Then, pay attention to the deeper thirst of your heart. How will you seek the Lord today?

Transfiguration and Transformation

Creative Living Spiritual Growth

Transfiguration and Transformation

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Butterfly

 

And Jesus was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.     – Mark 9:2c-3

 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. – 2 Corinthians 3:18

 

The season of Lent is always preceded by Transfiguration Sunday in the liturgical calendar. On this Sunday, we read the Gospel passages that recount the transfiguration of Jesus, when Jesus appeared on the mountain in dazzling white clothing, alongside Moses and Elijah.  It is a miraculous, life-changing moment, particularly for the disciples who witness the event and become certain that Jesus is the Messiah. Nevertheless, those disciples must depart from the mountain and resume the daily work of spiritual growth and ministry even as Jesus speaks of dark days ahead.

This reminds me of the transition from Transfiguration Sunday to the Season of Lent. The dazzling white of transfiguration is followed by the black soot of Ash Wednesday. The faithful begin a more earnest focus on the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, study of scripture, and service. Churches, including my own, offer Lenten studies, prayer groups, weekly services, quiet days, and fasts. Through these practices, many hope to develop a spirituality that transfigures and transforms us into our highest selves.

As we enter this season of Lent, I have a few reflections on developing a transformative spirituality.

  1. Spiritual transformation is not achieved by trying but by training.

This concept comes from our church’s Lenten study from 2015, John RunnersOrtberg’s The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People. Ortberg presents spiritual disciplines as the path to transformation. He uses the illustration of an athlete who wants to run a marathon. The athlete could simply wait until the day of the race and try to run the marathon or she could train regularly in the months and weeks leading up to the race. Obviously that latter approach would yield the better result. The same is true in numerous pursuits, whether athletic, academic, or artistic. Excellence is achieved, not by trying, but by training and consistent practice. The same is also true of spiritual growth. As Paul instructs Timothy, “Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way” (2 Tim 4:7-8). Spiritual disciplines, practiced regularly, train us to listen for God’s voice in every aspect of our lives, transforming us into the people God created us to be.

 

  1. Spiritual disciplines are means of grace through which we become open to God’s transforming

PrayerI like this sentence not only because it is true, but also because it makes me a good Methodist! John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, included attending the means of grace, as the third of his three general rules. He emphasized the spiritual disciplines of public worship and sacrament, private and family prayer, bible study, and fasting. Other spiritual disciplines include meditation, solitude, guidance, and service. According to Bishop Reuben Job, in Three Simple Rules, “Spiritual disciplines keep us in that healing, redeeming presence and power of God that forms and transforms each of us more and more into the image of the One we seek to follow.” For some, the word “discipline” may inspire guilt or judgment, as though we are being graded on our spiritual lives. Try to see them, instead, as spiritual practices that open the door to experiencing God’s love (not judgment) and grace (not guilt).

 

  1. Transfiguration happens on the mountain, but transformation happens in the valley.

Many people have had mountaintop experiences or special Butterfly and Crysalisencounters with the Divine. These experiences can be life-changing, even miraculous, as God is revealed in new ways. But the true work of transformation begins after the mountaintop, in the valley of life’s complexities and difficulties. There, we must daily choose to develop spiritual habits that will develop our character over quick fixes and instantly gratifying solutions. These may feel like thankless tasks. Transformation takes place inside the chrysalis, when no one is watching, where the hard work of growth and development occurs. Compare the runner who does not receive a medal for waking up before dawn to run five miles every morning.  Consider the musician who receives no award for practicing scales. Both, however, are better prepared for performance day because of their steady, persistent preparation.  Likewise, spiritual disciplines are the hidden works that, over time, lead us to a closer walk with God and prepare us to answer our calling and fulfill our life purpose.

During this season of Lent, choose one or two spiritual disciplines to develop. Commit to consistent practice over the next 40 days. Let us together experience a spirituality that transfigures and transforms.