A Word of Knowledge? Perhaps

It's been a hectic time over the last few weeks. There's been some bad news in the family, work has been just mad, we have a new boss, etc. Also, my faithful dog died, so we are a household in mourning at the moment. Amidst it all, the death of someone I knew very little about, and who wouldn't have known me at all actually came as the biggest shock. I had made a casual remark a month earlier about the life expectancy of the person, predicting that they would be dead within three months. There was no reason to believe the person would die, except for an overwhelming desire to pray for them . You see, it's not the first time it's happened, but this time the death was not from natural causes, nor the result of old age, etc. It was a complete shock to the family, yet I had been so certain. As I say, it has happened before, preceded by an overwhelming desire to pray for that person. It freaked me out when it actually came to pass though. I can only hope that my inner prompting served the purposed of God in some way - as I did in fact pray for this person who was so much a stranger to me.
One thing that I have been able to give thanks for is that, in all my intellectualising about how to cut through the mental and attain the spiritual, it is God who has cut through it to meet me on spiritual terms, not the other way around. This is as it should be I think though, and I rejoice that there is evidence that my faith really does reach beyond the natural to the supernatural elements of my life. I see evidence of the balance I seek between mind, body and spirit which I have longed for.

Glasgow Passion

One of the great joys of my job is that I get to be involved in a huge variety of projects. Over the past months I have had the privilege of being involved with the steering committee planning the production of the Glasgow Passion in Kelvingrove Park.
Friday 15th May saw the cast perform in front of around 1700 people - 1500 were bookings from schools. The following day the performance was performed for approximately 500 members of the public.
I cannot contemplate any part of the Passion story without being reduced to tears, whether it is to read the words of the prophet Isaiah in anticipation of the Passion events, or singing the words of When I Survey The Wondrous Cross. These parts of the production I expected to be moved at, but other things took me by surprise.
On the Thursday night rehearsal, I watched a 15 year old boy hang from a cross on a hill in a cold wind, wearing nothing but a loin cloth and enduring endless mocking from the drunks in the park, and a seemingly endless tirade of abuse from one in particular who seemed filled with anger. The young actor dealt with it with grace and dignity which many adults would have struggled to muster.
On Friday, standing at the information table and watching hundreds upon hundreds of children pour into the park to witness this drama that is the foundation of my life. Every time we thought they were all assembled, yet more would come.
On the final performance on Saturday I saw a young woman brush the tears from her face as she watched Jesus raised up on the cross. As Duncan Rennie spoke out the final words of Jesus, committing his spirit to his Father's care, and died on the cross, the sombre tolling of clock tower bells rang out over the scene as if on cue, and this was not the only evidence of beautiful timing. The weather forecast was atrocious, but apart from the odd spot of moisture, the rain held off and the sun shone until literally the minute the play finished, at which point the heavens opened and the rain came down in force.
I spend so much time in committee meetings, strategy meetings, leadership meetings, study meetings, it was a joy to me to remember that I can be touched by the non-cerebral, for the evidence of God's grace in my life, in this world, and even in this city.

Outside the Box

Over the last couple of weeks at church we have been exploring some of the post-Resurrection sayings of Jesus, including of course the Great Commission. This week, Stephen was leading the worship, and in conjunction with some of his own personal explorations and reflections over the past weeks, felt that too often we know the word of God but do not obey it - not least in the command to 'go'. Even as a fledgling new expression of church we have already become comfortable in our premises - albeit they are a lot more prominent than most church buildings. Stephen challenged us to take our faith out of the box for a while and take it for a spin round Alexandra Park in the East End in Glasgow. We all know that the right response was to to along with it, but I don't think any of us felt comfortable about it - and I think that was the point. It was I think less about evangelism, although a positive response from passers by would have been fantastic, than about moving us out of our comfort zone. I doubt it will be our normal mode of church, but I think it had to be done - a reminder that we are to 'go', not just wait for others.

Sunday's experience in the park has encouraged me to go out on a limb. We were trepidatious on the way our, exhilarated on the way back.

Ideomotor Questioning

One of the techniques I have found useful in the last couple of years is ideomotor questioning - a technique used by hypnotherapists, but which can also be used in self-hypnosis. I use a Chevreul pendulum - it freaks people out but there is absolutely nothing supernatural about it. It's a method for getting to what your subconscious really thinks. I went through a session of questions with myself and confirmed that at a subconscious level I value mental and spiritual development above physical development. I wonder if this is partly why I struggle so much to control my weight, because somehow I don't value my body enough to prioritise its care. One of the features of this method of questioning is that when the mind gets tired the pendulum becomes still and just refuses to move. I got tired before I got to the questions that would have confirmed that. I did determine that I believe that there is nothing wrong for caring for my body.
Interestingly enough, I recently decided to treat my diet (i.e. what I eat, as opposed to being on a diet) as a spiritual discipline. I've found that I have been eating less, without any apparent effort, and some of my normal cravings have disappeared. Interesting - I need to delve a bit further on this I think, although a certain amount of change might be credited to initial enthusiasm having just come up with a new theory. I'll see if it continues after the novelty wears off.
It's a practice that requires precise questioning, as the subconscious doesn't do metaphor, and the possible direction of the pendulum's movement limits the possible answers, so obviously you can only ask closed questions.
The other important thing to remember is that this is not a method for revealing any kind of objective truth, but simply to reveal what the subconscious perceptions are. It's also worth noting that the answers can be surprising, so it's something best done in private - the answers might come as a shock to the folk who are with you as well!
There is a part of me that is convinced that I can care for my body without neglecting my mind or spirit, but I don't seem to have found this balance. Hopefully this questioning will help me understand why I continually seem to sabotage my own self-care.
Let the explorations continue!

Is there something spiritual happening in here?

Our church is a new plant in the inner city. We're based in a bookshop - we sell some Christian books, but the vast majority of the stock is general second hand books of any genre. What we have tried to do, and what we have tried to be intentional about, is creating some kind of sense of sacred space, so that hopefully customers can be engaged spiritually by something that stimulates them aurally, visually, or in some other way. The shop is furnished with comfortable seating and low tables. One near the window has a bowl of stones on it, with a card inviting people to engage in meditation beside it.
We have been criticised on several occasions for crediting the people of the area we work in with the ability to engage intellectually or spiritually in a community that is transitioning from UPA to something more eclectic in make-up ('do people read books here? - you can add the incredulous tone for yourself).
Anyway, today a man came in - a biker, and asked if something spiritual was going on in the shop. He had simply seen the bowl of stones and been drawn into the shop. A conversation over coffee that lasted two hours or more followed, ranging from the nature of the addictive personality to the existence of ley lines, and the function of the Celtic cross as a universal compass, and today's urban society's disconnection with nature and the seasons.
Ironically, having just created a new section for 'mind, body and spirit' literature, I was putting the finishing touches to preparation for worship intended to re-awaken awareness of the changing seasons (this being the Sunday after Beltane after all), incorporating something of our heritage of Celtic spirituality. I had been wondering how our small congregation would react to this, and once again realised that one of the most open-minded conversations on spirituality I have had recently was with an individual with no church connection.
Mid-way through the conversation another local church leader came in and joined the conversation. I couldn't help but be pleased that here was a place where people felt safe to express their opinion, all very different from each other, without fear of condemnation, even where there is disagreement. It reassured me that attempts to engage the spirituality of the community around us was not an exercise in futility.
It is not the only function of our space. It is a book shop and so lends itself to intellectual stimulation as well, but all in all it should be a space which encourages folk to take a further step in their own journey, trusting to God to be present along the way, making ourselves available as signs and guides, not believing that all roads lead to God, but holding to the faith that everyone can find the road, no matter what their starting poing.

Reaching Out in Mind Body and Spirit

I spent last weekend at a conference in Sheffield, attended by around 70 individuals all actively exploring their Christian spirituality in the arena of Mind Body Spirit fairs and similar settings. I want to thoroughly commend the event and praise the organisers. It was informative, and extremely useful and I came away from the event feeling enthused and encouraged but most of all I felt more settled about my own spiritual searching than I have in a long time - which is quite a statement given that in the last couple of years I've become less sure about so many things than ever before.

There has been quite a lot of blogging on this conference by those who attended it, so I won't simply repeat what has already been said by others, but highlight some of the issues which surfaced for me, which I now owe to myself to explore further.

Firstly, the Christian faith in the West has come to us through the filter of Greek philosophy, which, to cut a story short, has produced a paradigm that the material is inferior to the spiritual. Christianity was birthed in Judaism, a religion which expressed spirituality in the material, physical life on a daily basis (through the laws on diet, clothing, relationships, etc.) without any apparent disconnection. Somehow in Western Christian tradition we have lost our ability to value and express our spirituality in our physical lives.
As far back as I can remember I have believed in Jesus, that he was real, that he was alive, and that he was God. For as long I have hankered after other forms of spirituality which seemed to offer satisfaction in a way that my church life could not, and yet never venturing into those areas because they were frowned upon, even demonised, by the church.
I spent a number of years exploring occult spirituality, and came back to embrace the Christian traditions of my own culture, but still continued my fascination with other philosophies, limiting my interest to academic study. More recently I began to explore Body and Soul fairs both as a visitor and stall-holder, finding at last a way to engage differently with people about my faith and spirituality. What is still missing is an acceptance of my physical self which does not render it inferior to my mind or soul, although I believe it to be a more temporary reality. In this respect I retain my interest in Buddhist philosophy which, amongst others, holds in balance the relationship between mind, body and soul. It it this balance that I look for in my own life. I believe it is possible to achieve but have yet to find it. I sometimes feel like the person who claims to be happily married yet continues to seek the company of others. I adhere to my Christian faith, and embrace many of its traditions, but still I seek out the company of others. There is something which for me is yet to be discovered which will bring balance to my life. I do not want or intend to become a chronic experimenter, dabbling with everything in the hope of a 'feel good' experience, but am genuinely searching for something that has the hallmark of genuine religion, that includes my spirituality, my intellect, and allows me to care for my physical form.
This is not just about me though. My heart remains not only Christian, but missional, and I explore not only for my own sake, but hopefully to enable me to communicate something real to others who are on a similar search.
Every journey starts with a single step. I sense there is a long road ahead, but I have come a long way already. I might not get to the end, but will go as far as I can.