Spiritual Direction

on the Road to Emmaus

Six observations regarding the spiritual direction of Jesus:

Temptation:

Unhurried Enough To Resist

Introduction

The Target of Temptation

Temptations in the Wilderness

Wait a Minute

How to Begin and End Your Extended Time with God

Holiness does not lie on the other side of temptation; it is to be found in the midst of temptation. It does not sit waiting for us on a level above our weakness; it is given us in weakness, or else we would elude the power of God that is operative only in our weakness. Rather we must learn to ‘abide’ in weakness, and to do so full of faith, open to the weakness and in utter surrender to God’s mercy. It is only in our weakness that we are vulnerable to his love and power. Accordingly, to continue in the situation of temptation and weakness is the only way for us to connect with grace, the only way we can become miracles of God’s mercy.”

Making Disciples: Part 2

Retreat One: Six Words & Three Concentric Circles

Spirituality-Based Leadership Development Process Going Forward

As Christian leaders, what are some of the challenges we feel in “Making Disciples from a Base of Spirituality?”

MAKING DISCIPLES: LEARNING FROM THE THESSALONIONS

When God is at work what are the inevitable tensions and challenges within the community and within the leadership and influencers?

Making Disciples

Making Disciples: Integrating the Paradigm & the Passion

Making Disciples

Putting it Together Propellant • Priorities • Paradigm • Passion

Space, Time, & the Spirituality

of the Postmodern Generations (Part 2)

Reflection Questions

Generational theory is one way of doing cultural exegesis/analysis

1. It is hard to define generational boundaries. Generations often defy characterization–particularly so in the case of Gen X. Any one characteristic is true obviously for only part of that generation.

2. Ethnic differences–what may be true in one ethnic group’s age cohort (generation) may be markedly different from other ethnic groups cohorts of the same age span. Suggestion: Read Gen X Religion with ethnic diversity in mind Chapter 4 – case study of Latino Gen X ministry Chapter 5 – Korean Gen X ministry Chapter 9 – African American Gen X ministry Chapter 11 – Multi-cultural IV inner city ministry 3. A characteristic of an age cohort like Gen X may actuality be a marker typical of a developmental stage all generations pass through or a widespread cultural phenomenon. 4. Some generational characteristics change over time and so a profile of Generation X in 1998 is less accurate in 2008. 5. “Generational consciousness” and imprinting occurs in adolescence and early adulthood through an interaction of personal and national histories (See Flory’s Gen X Religion 2000:233-234). Therefore, the younger the generation the less we can say about it. Spirituality is more difficult to study than are more visible characteristics of a group. None-the-less, studying spiritual practices and time constitute more visible aspects of spirituality and do help us get at the issue.

1. Break into SMALL GROUPS (3-4 each)

DISCUSSION: What characterizes the spiritualities of members of Gen X or Millennials in your context? How do you think these spiritual patterns have been shaped by or in reaction to the collapse of space and time? To what extent are your observations of these generations similar to and different Paul Jensen’s findings (See blue sheet)

2. Consider Gen X & Millennial Spirituality & Time: Some COMPARISONS

3. What are you learning about how to SPIRITUALLY MENTOR members of these generations?

Suffering slows time Healing requires gentle unhurried listening to the pain of those with wounds Play stops time

4. What are we learning as a WHOLE GROUP?

Much More Fruitful (John 15:2)

Reflection in John 15:1-8, 15-16

The Illustration of a Fruit Tree

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4

2

5

3

6

First Steps in Our Journey

Moving From Early Fruit to Pruning

Why Many Get Stuck at Pruning Places…

Biblical examples

“After I was born again as a lad I enjoyed the presence of Jesus Christ wonderfully, but years passed before I gave myself up thoroughly to His work. I was in Dunoon College as tutor of Philosophy when Dr. F. B. Meyer came and spoke about the Holy Spirit. I determined to have all that was going, and went to my room and asked God simply and definitely for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, whatever that meant. From that day on for four years, nothing but the overruling grace of God and the kindness of friends kept me out of an asylum. God used me during those years for the conversion of souls, but I had no conscious communion with Him. The Bible was the dullest, most uninteresting book in existence, and the sense of depravity, the vileness and badmotivedness of my nature was terrific.” (David McCasland. Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God. Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers, 1993, p. 73)

One Person’s Experience

Pruning’s Other Faces

“There is a place on each of our spiritual journeys where the Spirit also desires to lead us into the desert. We hear him calling to us in the restlessness and weariness of our own heart. The first time the Spirit speaks to us, we don’t know it is him. We assume we are just not doing enough to be spiritual, and so we renew our religious efforts instead of fainting. Sometimes, like Samuel when God spoke to him in the night, we go through this process two or three times before we realize it is God speaking to us in our heart and follow him into the desert.” (Brent Curtis & Jon Eldredge. The Sacred Romance – Drawing Closer to the Heart of God. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1997, p. 171) “The experience of God is sheer grace. It is his free gift and he gives it when and as he wills. The experience of dryness teaches us this, that we cannot produce God or his consolation ourselves. We can only dispose ourselves for his coming and beseech him to come. In fact, if we never experienced dryness, if we were always able to experience the consolations of God whenever we wished, we might well doubt whether it is really God we are encountering.” (Thomas H. Green, S. J. When the Well Runs Dry. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1978, 1998, p. 92.)

“It is dark not because the Lord is absent but because He is too present—too close, that is, to us sinners. Our eyes cannot stand his light. We are blinded by his brightness.” (Thomas H. Green, S.J. Drinking From A Dry Well. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1991, p. 51.)

“Trust and faith are the only companions for darkness, a walk that doesn’t feel like a journey because there is no sense of going anywhere.” [Emilie Griffin, Clinging. New York: McCracken Press, 1994, p. 38]

“We must learn to realize that the love of God seeks us in every situation, and seeks our good. His inscrutable love seeks our awakening. True, since this awakening implies a kind of death to our exterior self, we will dread His coming in proportion as we are identified with this exterior self and attached to it.” (Thomas Merton. New Seeds of Contemplation. New York: New Directions Books, 1961, p. 15)

Temptations in the Midst of Pruning

Coming to Deeper Surrender

“Much More Fruit”—Maturing Life and Fruit

Pruning and Ministry

Conclusion “God always keeps the discipline of sorrow in His own hands. Our Lord said, ‘My Father is the husbandman.’ His hand holds the pruning knife. His eye watches the crucible. His gentle touch is on the pulse while the operation is in progress. He will not allow even the devil to have his own way with us. As in the case of Job, so always. The moments are carefully allotted. The severity of the test is exactly determined by the reserves of grace and strength that are lying unrecognized within, but will be sought for and used beneath the severe pressure of pain.” (F. B. Meyer. The Secret of Guidance. Chicago: Moody Press, n.d., p. 80)

Books to Consider

Supportive Fellowships

My Next Steps

My Next Steps