Category Archives: Body Mind Spirit

Unplugged Friday

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Lent emphasizes spiritual disciplines. For example, Christians are encouraged to “give something up” for Lent as a way to make room for God. Fasting has been a spiritual practice for centuries. People forsake food (either totally or some favorite like chocolate or coffee) for a period of time so that they can more intentionally focus on loving God and loving the neighbor.

This Lent I am modifying the practice of fasting to being  “unplugged.” I plan to disconnect from all forms of computerized information on Fridays during Lent. No e-mail, no Facebook, no blog, no texting on Friday, my normal day off.  I plan to use the time for prayer, reading and reflection. A colleague of mine, Rich Melheim, is recommending a techfast  breakfast, staying unplugged each morning.  Such practices could also strengthen our creativity.

Jon Burg wrote on his blog regarding our need to unplug,

You, me and everyone else in the room knows that when you are answering emails on your mobile you aren’t really present. Your kids know it. Your co-workers know it. Your clients know it. Your spouse knows it. You know it. I’ve come to terms with this in my own life.

But I recently had a deeper insight. When I am always plugged-in to a device, I am not really present in my own life. I don’t enjoy my life as much when I live in the half-present. Not only does constant connectivity lessen my enjoyment of life, it distracts me from achieving the creative goals I set out for myself. The brain needs mindless time to reflect. This is why we come up with our best ideas in the shower.

A Bad Idea?

A Bad Idea?

I guarantee that if there were a tv screen in the shower, we would draw less inspiration from the shower experience. Who knows what major works of art, creativity and innovation would be lost.

You can read his whole article here

Part of the Lenten tradition of 40 day is based on Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, a time of fasting and prayer, (Luke 4:1-2). I am pretty sure Jesus was also “unplugged” the whole time.

What spiritual practices are you embracing this Lent?

Lord Jesus, guide me into deeper devotion to you.

Mountain Light and Dark

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Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday, the conclusion to the church season of Epiphany. (I wrote about the light of Epiphany here). The story of Jesus’ transfiguration fascinates me on several levels. Partly it is the description of Jesus (“the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white” Luke 9:29). Partly it is the sudden arrival of Moses and Elijah, long-dead prophets whose ministries foreshadowed Jesus’ own mission. Partly it is God’s command, “Listen!”  A big part is the location, a mountain.

The Wonder of God's Creation

Mountains have always been spiritual place. Humans have climbed peaks to seek the heaven throughout our history. Moses climbed Mt. Sinai to receive the ten commandments directly from God (Exodus 20). Elijah ran away to Mount Horeb, the mount of God, where he encountered God in the sound of sheer silence (I Kings 19:11-13). Solomon’s temple was built on Mount Zion and the psalmist sang about its beauty,

His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion (Psalm 48:1-2).

So when Jesus took his closest disciples, Peter, James and John, up the mountain to pray, they should not have been surprised that God met them there in a special way.

I enjoy climbing mountains (I wrote about one here).  On occasion I have used an ice axe and rope, but mostly I climb mountains that anyone in decent physical shape can scramble up.  A climb becomes both a physical and spiritual challenge.  I gain a sense of perspective sitting on top of a peak: how very large the world is and how very small I am. As I gaze across the surrounding peaks, I realize that God is in charge. The glory of his creation surrounds me and uplifts me.

But mountains have a darker side as well. The first significant mountain story in the Bible is when God ordered Abraham to take his son Isaac up on a mountain in order to sacrifice him (Genesis 22). The Israelite often created shrines to the Canaanite fertility gods on the mountain tops.

O mortal, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! . . . , I myself will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense stands shall be broken; and I will throw down your slain in front of your idols (Ezekiel 6:2-4).

The darkest mountain of all is Mount Calvary or Golgotha where Jesus was crucified. Not much more than a hilltop outside of Jerusalem, yet the darkness of human sin caused the sky to turn black as Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Mountains can be places of terrifying death as well as peaks of glorious enlightenment.

My boyhood home had a view of Mt. Rainier

My boyhood home had a view of Mt. Rainier

Yet whether hidden in darkness or bathed in sunlight, God’s glorious love is the bedrock of each peak. Mountains call us to trust in God in all circumstances.  Jesus came to bring all creation back into full spectrum of God’s love, including you and me.

Shine, Jesus, shine in me today.

Compartments and Foundation

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I confess that I tend to compartmentalize my life. I have my calling as a pastor in which I serve the congregation of Resurrection Lutheran Church. I have my family in which I relate to my wife, grown children, grandchild, scattered siblings and aging mother. I have my hobbies of running and backpacking in which I engage some of my passions and share friendships. These arenas of my life overlap, but they also have separate time, energy and focus. Not all my friends or family worship at Resurrection. Only a few in my family share my passion for running and backpacking. My life has compartments.

I think most people I know have similar compartments. As Americans we no longer live in a small town where everyone worships in the same church or eats at the same restaurant. Our work life is often disengaged from our home life; our family life can be disengaged from our community life. When my children were active in high school sports, several parents of their teammates became my friends. Now our paths rarely cross. My life compartments have changed.

One factor that remains consistent within all these compartments is that I am God’s child. God is the foundation upon which my life is built. I don’t always remember that when relationships shift and the walls of my life compartments move. I sometimes think my value and worth are determined by my status with a certain compartment. For example, how well my last race went or my last church project or my last visit with my mom. The truth is my value and worth is determined not by the shifting compartments, but by my foundation, being grounded on the Rock of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock.” Luke 6:48

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge. Psalm 18:2

Weekly worship reminds me that God is my rock. Prayer also helps me stay grounded to this reality. When I pray, “Our Father in Heaven,” I am no longer rooted to my shifting compartments, but going deeper to the foundation of my life. I need to stay tethered to this spiritual realm even as I move through the various components of my life.

Lord Jesus, thank you for being the foundation of my life.

Marathon Challenge

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12 medals from 12 races

12 medals from 12 races

This morning I ran with my friend, Mike Johnson. He recently completed a significant challenge: to run twelve marathons in twelve months. He started with the Houston Marathon on January 15, 2012 and finished with same marathon on January 13, 2013. Mike had been an all-American in cross-country at St. Thomas in 1980’s, but marathons had been a struggle for him. He wanted something that would be a challenge physically, mentally and spiritually plus become a way to raise funds for Camp Wapogasset where he works and serves.

What Mike discovered in the process of running is that challenges are not always fun. His first marathon was fast and fun, but then the constant grind of preparing, running and recovering from each marathon wore him down. Several times he thought about quitting, casting the whole challenge aside. But some internal voice kept pushing him to do one more training run, one more marathon, and one more recovery jog.   He had an internal drive to finish what he started.

I would not have criticized Mike if he had stopped the challenge early on. After all many people thinking running 26.2 miles once is crazy, let alone a dozen in a year. Yet I marvel at his perseverance and tenacity.

Perseverance is one of the spiritual values highlighted in the New Testament.

let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, Hebrews 12:2.

In a culture that seeks instant gratification, the Christian life is counter-cultural, valuing perseverance and patience. Jesus persevered through his suffering and crucifixion. Paul persevered in his missionary travels.

Mike’s challenge was pretty mild compared Jesus and Paul.  But Mike’s example showed me the constant challenge to persevere in my calling. I doubt that I will ever run 12 in 12, but I know that running my “race with Jesus” is going to call me to persevere through difficult and challenging times.

The good thing that both Mike and I know, Jesus runs with us all the way.

Lord Jesus, thank you for giving me the strength to persevere.

Prayer Basic Practices

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Jesus Praying at Gethsemane by Artist He Qi

Jesus Praying at Gethsemane by Artist He Qi

Last week I posted about starting an intentional prayer streak of daily prayer. Yesterday I challenged members of Resurrection to become more intentional in praying for our congregation and the world. (You can listen to the sermon here until January 14).  Today I want to provide some basic prayer practices that can enhance your prayer life.

Intentional: most habits are formed when we make it a priority and intentionally schedule time and energy for it. If we want our prayer life to deepen we need to  schedule an intentional time and place to pray. Many people find the first thing in the morning best; others prefer the evening. I know one person who made sure to leave for work early so he could have fifteen minutes to pray in his office parking lot. I  pray just after my morning run. I have my Bible and prayers placed near my prayer chair so I am ready when I return.

Written versus Spontaneous. Most of my prayers for Sunday morning worship are spontaneous with a basic mental framework to guide me. However my daily prayers are now a mixture of written prayers and silence for more spontaneous prayers. Having both allows me to stay focused and keeps my mind from wandering as much. I also plan to change some of the written prayers on monthly basis so as to give it some variety and freshness. This month I am using Psalm 130 and the refrain, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.  I wrote more about using written prayers here.

Relaxed: My goal in prayer is not to finish the liturgy as quickly as possible but rather to spend time with God. Be still and know that I am God! Psalm 46:10. During the moments of silence, I simply imagine God being close to me, His breath matching mine own. If my mind wanders I acknowledge the wandering thought and bring it back to prayer and being with God.

Consistent: We certainly can pray at any time. Paul calls us to pray without ceasing (I Thess. 5:17). People often practice” bullet prayers”, asking for God’s guidance, strength, or intervention in quick snippets of prayer throughout the day. Such prayers are not wrong, but should not be confused with developing a deeper intentional prayer life. As an analogy, bullet prayers are like calling yourself a runner, when the only running you do is to sprint from the parking lot to the office door during rain storm. To become an honest runner you need to consistently take time to lace up your running shoes and run. To become a disciple of prayer you consistently need to take time to step off the daily treadmill and be in prayer. Fifteen minutes on a daily basis will do wonders for your soul.

What other prayer practices have worked for you?

What time or place have you found most helpful?

Lord Jesus, teach me to pray.

Streaks

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This past Thanksgiving I started my first running streak. It came from a challenge at Runner’s World. The goal of the streak was to run at least a mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Years. I normally run 3-5 days a week, giving my body plenty of time to rest and recover from any muscle damage during runs. Since my marathon in October, my running has been rather sporadic, lacking a goal or passion. So I decided to embrace a new challenge.

The key for me was to keep my normal rest days easy, just a slow-pace mile or two. I wear a heart rate monitor so it was easy to check my pulse and see if I was pushing too hard. I have discovered that doing an easy mile was both relaxing and a great way to start the day.

Yaktrax RunnersI added to the challenge by making every run an outdoor run. Treadmills and indoor tracks have their place, but I wanted fresh air. This became more challenging when our first Minnesota snow fell in mid-December. Fortunately I had a pair of Yaktrax that gave me good footing. Still, for an outdoor run I often took twenty minutes to dress for a ten minute jog.

I did get a short break when I traveled to Austin, Texas, for a memorial service after Christmas. A ten-mile run in warm sunshine and shorts lifted my spirit and confidence.

SA runners 122212 small

Some of my running buddies on Saturday morning.

I am not sure how long the streak will continue into the New Year. My legs are feeling strong and injury free. I have developed a habit that I enjoy and that promotes health. I suspect sometime in the next month a cold or tight schedule will end the streak. I don’t plan to be obsessive about it. I am confident that my running friends will be both encouragers as well as wise advisors.

It has got me wondering about my own spiritual practices. I pray daily, but my devotions have become sporadic and unfocused. The memorial service I attended was at an Episcopal church and it had more liturgy than I normally used. I found the prayers helpful and healing. So I have decided to use a written liturgy to guide my prayers during the month of January. You can see a copy of it here.

Thus, I am committing myself to new streak, a prayer streak.  My first goal is to use the daily liturgical prayer format each morning for the month of January.   Care to join me?

Lord Jesus, thank you for your tender mercies in 2012. Guide me deeper into your love in 2013

Running Lessons

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One key aspect of running is its simplicity. All I need are a pair of running shoes and workout clothes to go for a run. I don’t need any other equipment, gym or teammates to have a quality run. I simply need to get myself dressed and out the door.

Of course that simplicity can turn running into a stale routine, even a rut. I can run the same route at the same pace at the same time everyday. (One reason I avoid treadmills is that I find them to be so boring.)

To break up the routine, I enjoy running with a group on Saturday morning. For years the St. Andrew’s Running Club has blessed me with great running companions. Most of the runners are not members of the congregation and even though I have moved on to a new and wonderful congregation at Resurrection Lutheran, the Running Club welcomes me back on occasion to run with them. What I appreciate during these run are the lessons I frequently learn. This morning’s run was especially rich.

Lesson #1 dress properly: The weather has turned colder in Minnesota this week and overall I had the proper gloves, hat and running tights for the chilly morning. However as we started out, I noticed that my neck and chin were almost numb. I also notice nearly everyone else wearing either a turtleneck or neck gaiter to stay warm. Over the years my running mates have taught me several lessons about shoes, socks, tights, shorts, shirts, jackets and hats.

Lesson #2 change of pace: One of the reasons I like to run with others is that it is a change of pace. Sometimes slower, but often faster as it was this morning. Our six-mile run challenged my aerobic system, even as we chatted about films, marathons, books, children and life.

Lesson #3 companions: In recent months I have discovered that I have occasional episodes of tachycardia where my heart rate suddenly jumps 40+ beats during exercise.  I have discussed it with my doctor and together we developed a plan so I could continue running. Today I had two episodes; I immediately did my standard treatment of lying down and the heart rate dropped to normal exercise parameters in less than a minute. Each time my friends stopped to see if I was all right and even when I told them to go on (they know about my tachycardia), someone waited. I was never left alone.

Lesson #4 expert advice: This morning Shannon Maixner joined the group. She is the physical therapist who greatly aided my injury recovery over a year ago. After the run, I was showing her some of the exercises I continue to do to stabilize my hip and she graciously shared with me some expert advise on how to do the exercises more effective. Her encouragement and wisdom was one of the highlights of the morning.

Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding (Proverbs 3:13).

Lord Jesus, teach me your ways.

Thanksgiving Practice

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Tomorrow our nation stops for Thanksgiving. It is good and right to do so but among all the feasting, family, football, and frivolity, how much time will be given to thanks? May I recommend a simple spiritual exercise that you do early in the morning, prior to the feasting, family, football and frivolity.

  • Take a simple sheet of paper and pen.
  • Number it  1-12

1)
2)
3)
. . .
12)

  • Beside each number write the name of someone for whom you are thankful.
  • Pause for a moment to thank God for that person and to ask God to bless him or her.

Carry the sheet through the day and during the short pauses in the feasting, family, football and frivolity, remember the people and thank God again.

Let us actually practice Thanksgiving this year.

I thank my God every time I remember you. (Phil 1:3)

Lord Jesus, thank you for remembering me.

Strong Peace

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A favorite scripture verse of mine is Philippians 4:7 “The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Like many in this crazy, stressed-out, constantly-running-to-catch-up world, I long for peace. Peace that will last not just for a moment, but for days, months, years. Peace that will calm my stormy seas.

Paul describes God’s peace in some unique ways. First, he states that God’s peace will surpass human knowledge or understanding. This means that God’s peaces comes even when I have not figured everything out or have everything under my control. The future may seem very fuzzy and relationships may be very rocky, still God’s peace can rule. After all it is God’s peace, not mine.

Second he testifies that God’s peace is strong, because it guards us. Paul recognizes that there will be many struggles and conflicts in our daily life. The evil one will harass us. Yet God’s peace is a rock or fortress that guards our hearts and minds from the assaults

Third, God’s peace guards both our hearts and our minds. The heart is the seat of our emotions and the mind is the home of our thoughts. God’s peace is to rule in our emotional and intellectual lives, our feelings and our thoughts.

Finally God’s peace directs us to Jesus Christ. Jesus was a model of peace to his disciples, sleeping in the boat when the stormy sea threatened (Mark 4:35-41). God’s peace is not found in the absence of problems, but with the presence of Jesus.

Right now, as you read this, take a moment to close your eyes and visualize God’s loving, peaceful arms surrounding you. Perhaps you can visualize yourself floating in the peaceful river above. Take a deep breath and say, “God’s Peace surrounds me.” Take another deep breath and say it again, “God’s peace surrounds me.” Practice that breath prayer and discover God’s abiding peace is always near.

Lord Jesus, breathe into me your peace.

Praying the Lord’s Prayer (Part Two)

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Whichever version of the Lord’s Prayer we pray (the topic of my last post), the words can become a string of sounds without meaning. One helpful way to truly pray the prayer is to slow it down, to breathe each phrase or petition and pause to reflect upon it for a moment. For example: God is our Father, our Papa, our Dad, and like a good father God wants to spend time with us, to be in relationship. May this time of prayer be such a time of holy conversation.  Slowing down the Lord’s Prayer allows it to become a form of meditation rather than recitation. To quickly rattle off the words of the prayer rarely becomes true prayer.

Another way to pray the prayer is to use other biblical translations of the prayer. With the plethora of Bible translations one can find unique wordings that can reawaken Jesus’ prayer for us. For example, Eugene Peterson’s The Message translates Matthew 6:9-13 as following:

With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are.
Set the world right; Do what’s best – as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge! You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes.

Or you might try writing your own version of the Lord’s Prayer. A thoughtful personal translation can help you rediscover the beauty and wonder of Jesus’ simple prayer. Here is my recent attempt.

Papa who rules the cosmos,
let Your honor be our vision.
Bring Your desires and justice to our world,
So that heaven can be seen here.
Provides us with sufficient food for today.
Teach us to forgive with the same passion that You forgive us.
Protect us from the evil within and without.
And let us never forget that You are our Glorious King.

Lord Jesus, continue to imprint your words on our hearts and lives