1ISSUE: LENT 2014

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Lent means “spring”, spring means warmth (at least in my mind) and warmth means grilling out and long walks. The titles of Jazz tunes sing spring’s praise: “It might as well be Spring,” “Paris in the Springtime,” “You must believe in Spring.” Pretty idyllic for a penitential season.

LENT EXAMINED The days get longer, new growth shoots from every tree and flower, and the sunshine just makes me downright happy. Then there’s that other (in)famous activity this time of year: spring cleaning. Sweeping the salt and sand (maybe leaves) out of the garage, de-cluttering those closets. After hunkering down to stay warm all winter, spring cleaning is that necessary (but not necessarily fun) work of cleaning out those dead, dusty spots and opening up the windows to let the fresh air come in.

Oh, and those folks called Christians are fasting, and giving things up, and feeling a little miserable. But this Lenten season offers us space for spring cleaning of our life and soul. Whether you’re fasting, adding, or just chugging along, Lent is a kind of “stop-time” before Easter. We practice self-examination, silence, and search our hearts and lives for those things worthy of the joy of the Easter season.

For some, things and stuff fill their house and life, Lent is an opportunity to purge and share, to practice generosity. For others, noise and busyness crowd out God’s still, small voice, so Lent is an opportunity for silence and listening. And for others, life is full of spiritual checklists and legalism, Lent is an opportunity to journey with Christ to the cross and resurrection, to be reminded it’s about God, not us (however well intentioned we may be).

Hopefully this Lenten edition will offer you a break from all that cleaning; inside you will find:

• A word from Executive Director, James Bryan Smith

• Information on our upcoming National Conference: Formation for Mission

• “The Practice of Collective Silence” by Greg Moore

• “He Who Lays on the Burden” by Friends University junior, Luke Gilstrap

• Plus, a review of On the Way to the Cross

Keep an eye on the Apprentice website for all the latest, including blog posts and new Audio recordings, weekly.

May you keep a holy Lent.

Josh Luton joshua.luton@apprenticeinstitute.org

IN THIS ISSUE

A TIME FOR SACRIFICE James Bryan Smith AI Executive Director

THE PRACTICE OF COLLECTIVE SILENCE Greg Moore founding Pastor of All Saints’ UMC

HE WHO LAYS ON THE BURDEN Luke Gilstrap

ON THE WAY TO THE CROSS: A REVIEW Josh Luton AI Team Member

and much more!

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NEWSLETTER: AN OTHER TIME

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A few years ago I was listening to a CD of Dallas Willard, giving a talk I had never heard. Twice I stopped the car to write down something brilliant he said. So I resolved to quit pulling over and simply transcribe the whole talk later that day. I did so, and eventually filed it away. I came across it last week and was struck by one particular line, especially, I think, because of the season of Lent and my focus on the journey to the Cross:

“God so loved the world that he gave! He gave his Son! Allowing his Son to go to the Cross and pour out his life-blood into the world so that those who put their confidence in him

would not have a futile life, but a good life. The Cross is so powerful—it struck the earth like a thunderbolt of love. His apprentices saw Him hand them a cup and say, ‘This is my blood,’ and offer them bread and say, ‘This is my body which is broken for you.’ Jesus knew what he was doing. There isn’t anything that competes with what He did.”

I love the phrase, “like a thunderbolt of love.”

What we see in Jesus is something so powerful, something the world has never seen, something that simply will not let us look away.

As long as we really look. I confess to thinking of “the work of Christ” as a kind of forensic act of acquittal, reducing it to a dry doctrine. This quote awakened me to the utter shock of his sacrifice, of his kenosis (self-emptying for the good of others). Dallas reminded me that Jesus’ mission was not merely to pay my sin debt so that I could go to heaven when I die. Jesus came to open up the heavens and declare to all of us what His Father had said to him when he came up from the waters of baptism: “You are my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.”

He came not to get me into heaven when I die, but to get heaven into me now. Because of Jesus I can walk in his presence and power now. Dallas is right: There isn’t anything that competes with what He did. I will be setting my mind on that throughout the course of Lent. I pray that this thunderbolt of love strikes your heart as well.

Blessings,

James Bryan Smit h EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE APPRENTICE INSTITUTE

A TIME FOR SACRIFICE: LENT

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UPCOMING EVENTS

APPRENTICE RETREAT Episcopal Diocese Casper, WY

GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL CONFERENCE Honolulu, HI

APR 11-12

JUN 27-28

Formation for Mission: Becoming the Change our World Needs OCT. 9-11 | FRIENDS UNIVERSITY | WICHITA, KS

APPRENTICE INSTITUTE 2014 NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Spiritual formation isn’t just about our own souls being filled up, instead we are filled up to overflowing so the love of God might spill out in service to our neighborhoods and communities for the transformation of the world. Formation for mission is about participating in God’s transforming work in the world, wherever we are.

Don’t miss talks from Shane Claiborne (Irresistible Revolution), Brenda Salter McNeil (A Credible Witness), Bethany Hoang (International Justice Mission), Don Davis (World Impact), Tom Smith (Raw Spirituality, forthcoming), and James Bryan Smith (The Apprentice Series).

INTENSIVE PRE-SESSIONS Spend Thursday diving deep with:

Check out ainationalconference.org for full details and to register. We can’t wait to see you this October!

• Sean Gladding (The Story of God, the Story of Us)—The Story of God and its impact on the way we live Formation for Mission

• Mark Scandrette—FREE: Spending Time and Money on what Matters Most

• Alan Fadling (An Unhurried Life)—An Unhurried Leader, practices for leadership and mission rooted in abiding with Jesus.

• Amy Sherman (Kingdom Calling)—Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good

• Beth Booram (Awaken Your Senses)—Noticing and Nurturing a God-Given Dream

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By Greg Moore

The first thing you notice in the desert is the silence.

DISCIPLINE: THE PRACTICE OF COLLECTIVE SILENCE

The arid landscape just outside of Jerusalem, where Jesus wanders for 40 days prior to his public ministry, is a quiet counterpoint to the noisy, bustling city, whose streets ultimately fill with cries for his crucifixion.

To this day, if you travel to that desert, the first thing you notice is the silence. Once the car engine stops humming, and you step far enough away from the road to leave behind the sound of the occasional truck rattling by, the silence becomes deafening. Even the wind barely whispers.

The next thing you notice in the desert is the noise.

Not the noise of nature, but the noise that you carry around inside all the time and have become remarkably adept at selectively hearing. The worry about what may happen in the future, the regret about things that happened in the past, the mixture of love and sorrow, fear and joy always buzzing around in your heart and mind filling the silence with their discord. The

incessant internal noise becomes unavoidable in the silent desert.

And if you stay there long enough to do battle with that internal noise, if you sit with those hopes and fears long enough and do the prayerful work of listening for God to speak to that cacophony, you begin to notice a different silence. This time it’s not the frightening silence of absence, but the deep and peaceful silence of presence. It is the silence of a calmed storm. It is the silence that hushed Elijah on the mountain. It is the silence of angels waiting on Jesus once the devil was hushed by his faithfulness.

This is the journey Jesus leads us on in the desert. It is a journey from unsettled silence, to direct confrontation with the noise of temptation, on toward a new, deeper silence of peaceful faithfulness.

This is the journey that the church takes every Lent as we follow Jesus into the desert.

Reflections on Lent

Take time to find space in

worship to practice being silent

together this Lent. Follow Jesus

into the desert.

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That is why liturgically, Lent should be a season marked by the practice of collective silence.

This may be a new practice for many of our communities. Normally, the church is a wordy place, especially when we gather to worship. In most seasons of the church year, our liturgical life majors on speaking. We have words of welcome, collects, readings, sermons, prayers of the people, and benedictions. We speak words, sing words, and chant words.

While this may seem, at first blush, to be a commentary on Christians, our wordiness is actually rooted in our theology. The God who has spoken us, along with all of creation, into being is uniquely loquacious. The opening scenes of Scripture are filled with the phrase, “God said.” Jesus (God’s word made flesh) shows up, and speaks new things into being (“Take up your mat and walk.” “The kingdom of God is at hand.” “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”). If our worship seems overly chatty, that is because of the God who has called us together, who offers us a word.

But during Lent, we follow Jesus into the quiet desert to do battle with the noise of our temptations. We listen to those temptations—whose voices call out for our loyalty all the time—in the silence. We face the temptation to worship and labor for other gods (do we pray and yearn for God’s will to be done?), to hoard (do we trust God for daily bread?), to hate (do we forgive as we have been forgiven?). Those sorts of temptations can only be exposed in the presence of silence.

Our worship during the Lenten season should participate in the silence of the desert. After the sermon, we can sit in silence together to contemplate the Word read and proclaimed. During the offering, we can share in giving God’s tithes and our offerings together in silent contemplation of our collective life and work. During communion, we can feast in silence, pondering God’s gracious presence with us. The key is to make space for each other in the stillness.

It is a deeply hospitable act to offer one another silence. Silence may be easier to practice in solitude, but its formation is amplified in the presence of others. Ask the Quakers. Ask the monks. Ask those who have been forced to be silent together when the powers of this world have stripped them of their voice. Collective silence shapes you deeply.

To be together with Jesus in the desert, silently being delivered from the noisy temptations that lead to death, is a powerful practice for Lent. In our silent presence, we offer each other space to allow God to quiet the noise, and encouragement that we are not alone on this journey.

Take time to find space in worship to practice being silent together this Lent. Follow Jesus into the desert.

The first thing you will notice is the silence.

Then you will notice the noise.

Then, after 40 days of practicing collective silence, you will be shaped in a new way to gather in the thick quiet of a tomb, and to listen for the angelic whispers to shatter the silence with those life-giving words, “He is not here. He is risen.”

Greg Moore is the founding Pastor of All Saints’ UMC in Raleigh, North Carolina (www.allsaintsumc.org). He also teaches worship and Christian spirituality throughout the connection and for The Course of Study at Duke Divinity School. He and his wife, Molly, have two young children and will be celebrating their 14th year of marriage this year.

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place at the table but also for a real welcome, not only for assistance but also for listening, not only for kind words but for truthful words. There is not only hospitality of the door but also hospitality of the face and heart,” which meant equality, and equality meant spiritual nourishment for the poor and wealthy alike. Advocating on spiritual retreats for the poor to Gerry Griffin, the former head of the house of hospitality program, Day said, “I am not content with just feeding people, just throwing them some food, clothing and lodging. I love them enough to want them to be happy. I want them to come and make retreats to be straightened out, because it is the only thing that ever will help them.” The poor deserve the best, and that means spiritual formation. We cannot live on bread alone.

In the words of Rich Mullins, “The Word has become flesh and I have encountered God in the people who have manifested His presence…I am a Christian, not because someone explained the nuts and bolts of Christianity to me, but because there were people who were willing to be nuts and bolts.” Our lives lived well are the greatest testament we have to God’s presence in the world; Dorothy Day is a beautiful example of this. So what can we do to live such a life? What can the Gospel according to Dorothy Day tell us about how to live?

In today’s Christian circles, it is often understood that, in order to live a good Christian life, one should go to church. And there you have it. For the religious elite ready for the next level of spirituality, one could consider serving the needy as a manifestation of their faith. For Dorothy Day, the cause-and-effect model of spirituality—because I believe now, I will serve—would have made a poor substitute for the rich life available now in the Kingdom of God. Rather, if one wishes to believe in God, she must find Him; and to do this, she can look no further than the surrounding poor. Living among the poor was not an exercise in duty for Dorothy, but a privileged, mystical communion with the living Christ. The implications on how to serve our brothers and sisters suddenly become paramount: “He made heaven hinge on the way we act toward Him in His disguise of commonplace, frail, ordinary humanity.”

Dorothy Day understood that worshiping Christ in the disguise of rags and the smell of three days without a shower meant going beyond offering the solely physical. “She helped us understand a merciful life has so many levels,” Jim Forest, of the Catholic Worker, wrote, “There is hunger not only for food but also for faith, not only for a

HE WHO LAYS ON THE BURDEN

We can live in the world.

So we go to hard places, we

pursue difficult things, we love

those who hurt.

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We can trust God. In today’s language, to “trust God” is to believe in an idea, a sort of hopeful rhetoric we can apply to things that are clearly out of our control, like an ominous future or the death of a family member. To the Catholic Worker, however, trusting God was something to be done, not thought, in frequent and seemingly foolish ways. Is there not enough time to work? Spend an hour in prayer. Can you not afford rent? Empty your wallet to the poor. Our God is a God to be trusted, really trusted in the ordinary needs of our everyday lives. Seek first the Kingdom of God.

We can live in the world. The writings of Dorothy Day come with infinite context because she chose to live into her context. When the “sweet land of liberty” was caught in four major wars in her lifetime, Dorothy responded. When the stock market crash of 1929 replaced a gilded decade with starving millions, Dorothy responded. The Catholic Worker was a unique voice for the Church in the specific events of its history. What would it look like for today’s Church to be more context specific? What if today’s Church let itself be affected by what is going on in the world around us, locally and abroad? Strolling down the aisles of Christian bookstores, titles on Bible interpretation, family life, and individual prosperity abound. Where are the books on the Christian response to the mobile prisoners of the southern U.S. border, running from Mexican violence to American discrimination?

Finally, as Dorothy Day’s most vivid testament, we can choose to live in holy tension. Dorothy’s life was one lived in a constant duality, “joy and sorrow, life and death, always so closely together!” The bottomless pain of abortion and a lifetime of unrequited love does not simply go away, and yet, her life was one among the saints, bringing the presence of Christ to an innumerable amount of people in need. Like Christ Himself, Dorothy healed the wounds of others by inviting them to touch her own.

So we go to hard places, we pursue difficult things, we love those who hurt. We wedge ourselves into the chasm between joy and sorrow, which we find to be the very hand of God, and we find our burden is only Light. When we choose to live as Dorothy lived, we know ourselves as we were made to be and we find Christ right alongside, relating to us at each and every moment because “He who lays on the burden also carries it.”

Thanks be to God.

Luke Gilstrap is a Junior at Friends University studying Religion and Philosophy and Christian Spiritual Formation. Being heavily involved in the arts, Luke gets to worship God primarily through jazz saxophone. Recently, God invited Luke, an introvert, to propose to Megan Taylor, an amazing jazz vocalist and daughter of Christ, in front of hundreds of people at a Friends jazz concert. He said yes. She said yes. The adventure begins!

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Lent is an annual opportunity for self-reflection and examen, fasting and prayer.

Stretching back to the early church, Christians practiced a rhythm of daily prayer. Sometimes elaborate (prayer every three hours, even the middle of the night), sometimes simple (morning and evening prayer), but always a rhythm of prayer. This rhythm shapes our days so that our minds think on things that are above, rather than getting lost in the doldrums from alarm clock to 5:00.

If you haven’t yet decided what to give up or what to add, consider adding a daily practice of morning prayer this Lent. And if you’re thinking, “I don’t know how to do that!” I’ve got the solution.

On the Way to the Cross: 40 Days with the Church Fathers by Thomas C. Oden and Joel C. Elowsky with Cindy Crosby is a wonderful resource for this practice.

The book offers six weeks of daily prayer to carry you from the first Sunday in Lent through holy Saturday. Each day follows the same rhythm: Invocation, Confession and Invitation, Scripture reading, reflections from the Church Fathers, Closing prayer, and suggested Psalms for further reading throughout the day.

The Gospel of John is the Scriptural focus and throughout Lent, readers will journey through much of John’s story of Jesus. Commentary by church fathers immediately follow the Gospel reading, and offer illuminating entry points into the text and rich opportunities for contemplation. If you’re unfamiliar with names like Cyprian, Tertullian, and Augustine, this prayer book will offer an excellent introduction to the thought of the early church fathers. If those names are old hat, then this resource will allow you the space to slow down and sit with their words, instead of rushing to the next page.

While the book is titled, On the Way to the Cross and the words “Alleluia! Christ is Risen” close out the final Saturday, including prayer for Easter Sunday would have been a welcome addition. The empty tomb and Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene in John 20 is a powerful scene and would offer a launching point into the season of Easter.

That minor point aside, Oden, Elowsky, and Crosby have created an excellent opportunity for the modern Christian: to slow down and pray through Scripture with voices from the early church. If nothing else, by praying with the Church Fathers this Lent, you will be reminded that the rhythm of Lent has gone on long before you and will continue long after you.

May you keep a holy Lent.

ON THE WAY TO THE CROSS by Josh Luton

READING NOW

LOVE DOES by Bob Goff

AN UNHURRIED LIFE by Alan Fadling

GREAT LENT: JOURNEY TO PASCHA by Alexander Schmemann

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FOR STUDENTS

OVERVIEW The Christian spiritual formation program at Friends University encourages higher-level thinking grounded in the teachings of Jesus, the history of the Church, and the beauty and goodness of God’s unshakable Kingdom. As an academic and Christ-like community, we dedicate our deepening life in the Kingdom to God’s restorative work in all things: in you, in the church and in all the world.

Our students choose CSF in order to strengthen and deepen their relationship with God, their understanding of the Christian spiritual formation field, and to live their lives whole-heartedly following Jesus. They learn what it means to be a disciple (apprentice) of Jesus, how to create disciples, and through Christ living in us, how the world will be changed forever!

Professionally, Christian spiritual formation graduates have gone on to Teach for America, outdoor leadership, business administration, inner-city social work and many other successful careers.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTSCompliments any Friends University Major.Competitive Scholarship available.International Travel Component available.Customized Internships for all students.World-renowned author James Bryan Smith is the director.Thought-provoking and compelling coursework.

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