Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

I often use my blog as a place to keep track of things I am learning from books or articles I am reading. Right now I am reading a book called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero. It is the basis for a new sermon series at our church that started yesterday. He is getting at the heart of some things often neglected in the development of a follower of Jesus. Of course, by emphasising healthy spiritual development the author is necessarily encouraging us to look at ourselves; but one gets the sense that he wants to help us know ourselves so that we may know God (he is explicit about this); so that we may know others (less explicit, but still there); and so that we may serve others (largely an implicit message of the book). So, after I read this book I should probably pick up some Ron Sider or Shane Claiborne to remind me of other essential elements of my spiritual development. For now, I will learn what I can from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.

Scazzero reminds us of three things that early Christians and the Desert Fathers focussed upon when he says,

Emotional health and contemplative spirituality offer three primary gifts. Each enables us to participate in the enormous transformative power of Jesus Christ today. They are:
* the gift of slowing down
* the gift of anchoring in God's love; and
* the gift of breaking free from illusions.1

This first point is particularly appropriate for the world in which we find ourselves. I suspect that many of us would do well to slow down the pace of life. Scazzero reflects upon his own life and offers this testimony.

The pace of my life slowed down considerably eleven years ago when I began my journey into emotional health. It takes time – lots of it – to feel, to grieve, to listen, to reflect, to be mindful of what is going on around us and in us, to live and not simply exist, and to love well. . . . This opened up for me a new world of surrendering and trusting God in the midst of obstacles and challenges. In a culture as frenetic and inattentive as ours, a "slowed down" Christian who is a contemplative presence to God and others is an extraordinary gift.2

Slowing down can be a powerful tool. I have found it productive in my spiritual life as long as I slow down for the right reasons. I dare not slow down and fill my life with more entertainment or more luxury for myself. This does not serve God's purposes in my life. Instead, slowing down must mean that I create space for feeling, grieving, listening, reflecting, meditating, praying, and waiting for God. This is what Scazzero is getting at. I will read on and likely come back to this blog with a few more insights as I allow the Holy Spirit to work in my life.

1 Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006; p. 47.
2 Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006; p. 51, 53.

Changing the World

I had tea with two friends who, when they were each 24 years old, read the book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger  (about five years ago for each of them). I commented that I had also read that book when I was about 24 years old (about seven years after it was published). I thought about my life and wondered how I had done living out the principles of the book in the 29 years that have followed. I realized that I never really understood the principles until I worked at practising them in my own stumbling ways. I decided I still needed to put much more into practise. The three of us had been at an event at which Ron Sider and Shane Claiborne spoke. Ron Sider was speaking out against consumerism before consumerism became a dirty word. You might say that "he was active, when activism wasn't cool." Because of people like Ron Sider, Mother Theresa, and Shane Claiborne, North Americans do know that it is not acceptable to horde our wealth while the poor are oppressed and hungry. These prophets have spoken of and modeled for us the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. They have reshaped evangelical opinions on poverty and wealth. Sider says,

We need to make some dramatic, concrete moves to escape the materialism that seeps into our minds via diabolically clever and incessant advertising. We have been brainwashed to believe that bigger houses, more prosperous businesses, and more sophisticated gadgets are the way to joy and fulfillment. As a result, we are caught in an absurd, materialistic spiral. The more we make, the more we think we need in order to live decently and respectably. Somehow we have to break this cycle because it makes us sin against our needy brothers and sisters and, therefore, against our Lord. And it also destroys us. Sharing with others is the way to real joy. - Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger.

"Sharing with others is the way to real joy." Do I really believe that all of the time? How much of myself am I willing to share with others? Shane Claiborne reminds us that we must know those for whom we advocate and serve.

And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about. - The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

I thought about how I have been reading about these things and attempting to live them out for many years. I find I am in agreement with these words of Claiborne. “Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived.”