faith-flowing

by Kari Henkelmann Keyl

One of the beauties of by the way is our ability to be flexible, to go with the flow of the Spirit in the moment. And flow we did last night at our bread for your journey gathering.

As you may know if you read the last post, Dustin was the designated leader for the evening. He chose some great readings to lead us into thought and prayer, and planned out the shape of our worship time. But when the time came, those gathered went in a different direction.

While waiting for more people to show, we jumped into deep discussion on Christianity’s relations to other religions, tugging on Dustin’s broad background in the faith expressions of the world. And that’s where we stayed, until we brought it all together with prayer. It was fascinating to explore what are the points of connection with my own faith, what are the disconnects, and what difference it could make if we’d all learn to truly understand one another rather than rely on the old prejudices we carry around. Having just returned from a trip where I was interacting daily with those of other faiths, in a land so deeply affected by pre-judgments and conflict, this was especially poignant for me.

At the end of the hour, we decided together to let the readings and reflections Dustin had chosen lead us into discussion and prayer next Thursday. I’m looking forward to it. And I hope you’ll be there to add to the richness.

Until then, I’d like to offer these words to guide you into prayer. I gleaned them from the comments to Crystal’s blog from last week. Thanks to go to William who posted these words of prayer:

God of opportunity and change, as our horizons extend, keep us loyal to our past. As our dangers increase, help us to prepare for the future. Almighty God, keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities. Giver of the present, hope for the future: grant us the joy of your saving help again, and sustain us with your bountiful Spirit. Amen.

God What Do You Say?

by Dustin G. Wright

When I started preparing for this Thursday's Bread for Your Journey, I really had no idea what I was going to talk about, as I found this week's Ephesians verse very hard to understand:

Ephesians 6: 10-20 (New Living Translation)
¹⁰A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. ¹²For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

¹³Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. ¹⁴Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. ¹⁵For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. ¹⁶In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. ¹⁷Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

¹⁹And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. ²⁰I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.

Coming from a contemporary context, isn't it sort of difficult to rap your head around at first? I've always focused on the more practical aspects of Christianity in some ways, and very rarely have ever thought of a personified "Devil" or evil demons flying around, etc. I've also always seen Christianity as a religion of peace (even if it hasn't always acted that way), and thus I was surprised by much of the author's imagery. I started looking around the web for different interpretations of the passage, and this one by William Loader really made the passage clear: Ephesians 6:10-20.

In his interpretation, William Loader talks about how God calls us to a spiritual struggle, but one of peace rather than a violent one. Even more importantly, God calls us to an internal spiritual struggle, to put on the "belt of truth and body armor of God's righteousness" and fight those personal devils that we all have as human beings.

Amazingly, right after I read Pastor Loader's interpretation, a good friend of mine sent me a link to this quote:

"A Native American Elder once described his own inner struggles in
this manner: 'Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean
and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all
the time.' When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and
replied, 'The one I feed the most."

While this exact wording was published in Experiencing the Soul by Elliot Rosen & Ellen Burstyn, it's supposedly derived from an old Cherokee saying, and it really fleshes out what we all go through internally on a daily basis.

When thinking about the dual internal/ external implications of the Ephesians passage, it made me consider how the traditional, non-fundamentalist Muslim notion of jihad is really quite similar, especially concerning the "greater jihad," or internal struggle. This of course, is a really interesting correlation considering America's current worldly external struggles.

As an end to my long train of thought, one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs came to mind, called "Marker in the Sand:"



While I don't necessarily agree with all of Eddie Vedder's lyrics, the song really does touch on a key issue: when taking up God's call to the external spiritual struggle (whether as a Christian, a Muslim, or of any other faith) it's easy to "walk tightrope high over moral ground," and forget the internal struggle. Without that internal component, God's call to peacefully spread his Good News can easily become judgmental and violent. Well I hope that gives you all a lot to think about, and I can't wait to hear your opinions this Thursday at Bread for Your Journey.

God's peace,
Dustin

Walk by Faith through the Open Door

by Crystal Mohrmann

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me about by the way’s bread for your journey is how often I am able to directly relate the week’s lesson to whatever is going on in my own life. I also always find that in the days after bread for your journey, I run into reaffirmations or reminders to remember the lesson.

This week, the most significant aspect of our discussion (for me) came from the idea that often, God will open the door for us, but that it is our responsibility to take the initiative to step through it, even when it looks like it could be dark inside, and trust that he’s going to be walking with us the whole time and carrying us when we can no longer walk ourselves.

Personally, I’ve had to walk into several dark places and I’ve more often than not, gone kicking and screaming. Because sometimes, I don’t think God gives us the choice. He gives us the extra push we need to get where we need to go when we can’t get there ourselves. However, most of the time, I think God does give us the choice. He opens the door to an opportunity and let’s us decide to walk by it or to walk through it. Right now, in my life and in my search to find the right place to pursue my passion, I am standing at one of God’s open doors. By opening this door, he’s sending me a lifeline, so I won’t drown in financial and other stresses, but from my perspective, what’s inside doesn’t look like what I thought or expected. And so I struggle with the same question I did a few weeks ago when I posted my last blog. Then, the question was do I let go of the rope? Now the question is do I walk through the door? Both involve blind trust, but I think if anyone is worthy of that trust, it’s God.

And so, I’ve been pondering that since last night’s bread for your journey and attempting to build enough courage to walk through a door that leads to a future that’s unknown. Interestingly enough, I decided to relax tonight by watching an old episode of the TV show, “Everwood.” Typical enough, right?

Well, do you remember those “reminders to remember” that I spoke about at the beginning of this post? Yeah, one of those popped up in a reference to none other than the flood story that Heidi talked about earlier this week on the blog and which was also one of the readings from last night. In the episode I just so happened to be watching (season 3, episode 18 if anyone is interested), one of the character’s says, “Maybe I’m like that person that didn’t realize that God sent him the boat or the helicopter…when the flood came…[m]aybe God did answer my prayer, but I just didn’t realize it because it didn’t come in the form I was expecting.”

I know, subtle right? If that wasn’t further encouragement to walk through the door, I’m not sure what else would be.

William Blake once wrote, “There are things that are known and things that are unknown. And in between, there are doors.”

We are, as humans, constantly treading the divide between what’s known and what’s unknown. We, as Christians, however have faith on our side…faith that although so much of our lives is unknown to us, there is nothing God does not already know about us and our journey. He opens doors for us on purpose. And sometimes, we need to step up and let our faith help us move through the door to the unknown even if it scares us, even if it doesn’t come in the form we were expecting.

Imagine this: You and your best friend have decided to take a road trip. You have no idea where you’re going, but your best friend assures you that he knows how to get there and knows what will be there when you arrive. Your friend doesn’t promise that you won’t get a flat tire or take a wrong turn by accident along the way, but he does promise that you’ll be together on the journey and will end up exactly where you’re supposed to be. Do you go with him or do you walk away from an incredible opportunity because you’re scared of what “might” happen along the way? I don’t know about you, but I trust my friends enough to know that if they say they’ll get me where I need to go, then they will. I believe God deserves that same trust.

So ask yourself: are you ready for a road trip with God?

If your answer is yes, then walk through the open door.

Following in Dustin’s footsteps, I’ll leave you with a song from Jeremy Camp called “Walk by Faith.”

Time Keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin into the future (Steve Miller, Lyric from "Fly like and Eagle")

by Heidi Jakoby

As I reflect on the reading for Thursday I have been looking at three different translations of the Bible and I want to share them with you Ephesians 5:15-20

New International Version (NIV)
15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Message (MSG)
11-16Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It's a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.

Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!
17Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.
18-20Don't drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.

Contemporary English Version (CEV)
15Act like people with good sense and not like fools. 16These are evil times, so make every minute count. 17Don't be stupid. Instead, find out what the Lord wants you to do. 18Don't destroy yourself by getting drunk, but let the Spirit fill your life. 19When you meet together, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as you praise the Lord with all your heart. 20Always use the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to thank God the Father for everything.

This reading also reminds me of an e-mail that went around a while back:

The Flood Story

A flood threatens a town, forcing everyone to evacuate, But Joe thinks,
"I'm a devout man, God will save me," and stays
put. As the waters rise, Joe's neighbor comes by and says, "Joe come with me, we've got to go." Joe declines,
"I'm a devout man, God will save me."

The waters keep rising, Joe scrambles to his second floor. A firefighter in a rowboat comes by. "Get in the boat or you'll drown," he says. Joe again declines, saying,
"God will save me. So this flood story goes."
Finally, the flood waters force Joe to his roof. A police helicopter comes by and throws down a rope. "Climb up or you'll drown," the policeman yells. "No, I'm a devout man,
God will save me," Joe replies.

Soon, Joe drowns.
He arrives in heaven and challenges God.
"Why didn't you help me?"

"What do you mean?" God says.

"I did help. I sent a neighbor, a firefighter and a helicopter."

Like Joe, many of us wait for something to rescue us while we miss opportunities to help ourselves. Whether in our business lives or personal lives, we hope for a transforming event.
A terrific new customer, a great relationship, a better family life.
But life isn't like that. Like Joe, if we want things to be different, we have to do something ourselves.
But where to start?
How do we learn to recognize an opportunity when it comes our way?
Make a plan - Form a vision of what you want to achieve, then develop a plan of how to make that vision a reality, To judge whether an opportunity
is one to seize or let pass you need to Understand whether it fits your goals.
Make a commitment - Get used to saying no, Get used to saying yes.
But whatever you do, do it with commitment and conviction. Like Joe, we have to learn to recognize opportunities and then grab them. (from www.promisefogod.com )

These are some great questions come and join us Thursday 7PM at the Crowne Plaza Nashua, NH to share your thoughts at Bread for your journey.

Come Together, Talk Together

August 9, 2009 Readings and prayers by Dustin Wright
http://breadforyourjourney.blogspot.com/

He Still Digs Humanity, but...

by Dustin G. Wright

At by the way we try to let folks know a couple days ahead of time what we'll be focusing on at bread for your journey, our weekly Thursday night gatherings. Considering that it's now 1am on Thursday morning, this post is about two days late. Compared to my previous entry, which was about two weeks late, hopefully I'm getting a little better. That aside, I have a lot of thoughts this morning, but as usual, I want to preface them with a quote:

Rufus: He still digs humanity, but it bothers Him to see the shit that gets carried out in His name - wars, bigotry, televangelism. But especially the factioning of all the religions. He said humanity took a good idea and, like always, built a belief structure on it.

Bethany: Having beliefs isn't good?

Rufus: I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier. Life should be malleable and progressive; working from idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit growth; new ideas can't generate. Life becomes stagnant.
- Dogma

The movie Dogma came out in 1999, and back then as a 13 year old rebelling against all organized religion, I thought it was great. Now in 2009, as a 23 year old who's thinking about going to Lutheran seminar in the next few years, I think it's even better. While Dogma is meant to be a satire of Catholic belief, it really asks some pretty powerful questions about organized religion as a whole. For more info on the movie click here.

All you really need to know though is that Chris Rock plays Rufus, the 13th apostle of Christ (now a sort of angel) that was left out of the Bible because he was black. Bethany is the heroine of the comedy, and is the last descendant of Joseph and Mary. In the dialogue quoted above, Bethany asks Rufus about what God thinks of the state of humanity, and Rufus responds that while He still loves us, He's disappointed in how much trouble believing in him has caused...

While I myself certainly don't think belief is a bad thing, Rufus does have a point here. It's hard to argue that horrible things like the Spanish Inquisition, 9/11, the Crusades, etc. weren't at least a partial result of folks arguing over who God was, instead of just rejoicing in the simple common belief of His existence. I don't have many 'diehard' Christian friends actually... most of the folks I know believe in a higher power, and are willing to explore it, but frankly they're turned away by what is perceived to be the confining aspects of organized religion.

Many of this blog's readers though (I would assume) do at least marginally believe in an organized Christian faith with some laws and non-negotiables... so where does this leave us? In my mind, it leaves us with a real conundrum, as evidenced by different parts of the Bible passage for this evening:

Ephesians 4:31-32: Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you (The Message).

Interestingly enough, this verse was proceeded by what in my mind is a somewhat conflicting statement:

Ephesians 4:26-27: Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life (The Message).

How is it that God expects us to be gentle and understanding of one-another (and thus open to one another), right after telling us it's okay to be angry at each other, if even for a short time?

Is there ever a time as Christians that we should stand up and angrily argue for what we believe?

While I don't see Christians angrily argue too often, I do commonly see Christians argue for their beliefs in a zealous way. Is that even wrong though if we truly do have a specific belief in a Christian God? Should we budge on our beliefs and be 'malleable' as Rufus suggests we do in Dogma, or should we always hold our ground?

Manifested nationally, this question touches on many aspects of the liberal/ conservative "culture war" prevalent in American society. Locally, it's our mission at by the way to provide a community where we can openly explore our faith... What happens then if someone with stricter views comes through our doors or posts on our blogs? Is it possible to be open-minded about ideas that aren't open-minded themselves?

A close friend of mine Kristen once told me that I was "close-minded about being open-minded." Do you think you're like that? Do you think by the way is like that? Do you think you're the exact opposite, and does what I wrote here today trouble you? There's a lot of questions, and we'd all love to hear some of your answers...

Stop by the Crowne Plaza tonight @ 7:00 PM in Nashua, and let's start the conversation.

God's peace,
Dustin

PS: I like leaving these blogs with a meditative song that has to do with the topic. Here's a good one I think:

A Very, Very Belated Response (and you'll read why)

- Crystal
'what we read, and what prayers we said' on the 23rd @ the Crowne Plaza in Nashua: http://breadforyourjourney.blogspot.com/

Our discussion that evening led to a variety of topics but particularly to the concept of 'letting go' and trusting in God... letting the Holy Spirit flow and work through us. At one point, someone in the group brought up that 'letting go' is easier said than done... s/he asked, "How do you let go and trust God?"

While we couldn't come up with any conclusive answers, we seemingly all agreed on how to take the first step: you have to ask yourself what you're trying to let go of. As Crystal phrased it in the quote above, you have to figure out what rope you're clinging on to.

I work between 70 and 80 hours a week at a job I really enjoy, traveling all over New England and meeting a lot of great folks. At the same time, I've never felt like being a financial associate was a calling per say, so I've always wondered what's driven me to work so much at it. There's been some nights when I've gotten home from an appointment only to realize I didn't even stop to eat all day. There's even been the occasional night where I didn't allow myself the time to sleep before I left the next morning. Frankly, I got to get a bit better at time management. Still though, there's a lot more to it.

Two evenings ago I spent some time in my hometown, including a couple of hours in front of my mother's grave. They say that "mother always knows best," so while there, I logically asked her what to let go of in order to lead a more purposeful life, doing God's work in the world... she actually answered (I think). It popped into my head that I needed to let go of my anger... particularly at my parents.

"Someone once said that every man is trying to either live up to his father's expectations or make up for his father's mistakes..." - President Barack Obama, in Dreams of my Father.

Whatever your opinion of the President, the quote above rings true. My father was a great man (and still is) but I grew up my whole life judging him for not 'succeeding enough...' not having enough friends, a position of leadership at his company, or whatever else success meant to me at that age. I believe my mom gave me a nudge two evenings ago to let go of my blind pursuit of success. Instead of attempting to make up for my father's perceived mistakes (which probably aren't really mistakes at all), I have to define what success actually means for/ how God wants to work through me in this world. With my mother on the other hand, I have to let go of my anger at her for dying, but that's a whole other story... this post is long enough.

One part of letting go for me then is probably dropping down that 80 hour work week to about 65 hours, so I can have enough time to support the ministry hear at by the way, in the way I feel called to do it. Get the title now? As a final note, I wrote A LOT here... I encourage you (especially our mostly online friends) to use the comment section below to meditate on what you might need to let go of in your own life. I have to leave (the mechanic just called and my car's fixed, right in time for rush hour), but I'll leave you with this song as some background music for while you're thinking:



God's peace,
Dustin

Living in Unity Appreciating Diversity

July 30, 2009 led by Bill Petersen

Check out the reflections and prayers at
our new bread for your journey blog: http://breadforyourjourney.blogspot.com/