Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

The Trinity and Love

Paul writes – I missed a very interesting 2003 interview with Anglican (CofE) priest and Canon Theologian Jeffrey John. Ruth Gledhill has recently republished it in full on her blog. Below are a couple of excerpts, and the whole interview can be found here.  The interview has become relevant again as it would appear that he has been nominated, along with others, for the currently vacant role of Bishop of Bangor in Wales.

“…He [Jeffrey John] explains: "That mystery of love is in the end the mystery of giving yourself away. This week we are celebrating the Feast of the Trinity, which is all about God himself existing as a relationship of love in his own nature. God is love.

Love between persons who are individual and yet given completely to the other, is a mystery that reflects God's own nature.

"People think the mystery of the Trinity is strange but it is not. You do find out in a good relationship, a good marriage, what it really means to lose yourself in the other and somehow find your true self in the process of giving yourself away to the other. That is what the Church should be getting across to people. Finding out that fact of experience is actually finding out something about the mystery of God…"

Rublev’s Icon and Making Space with John Zizioulas

Paul writes – The latest issue of the REFRESH Journal (published by Spiritual Growth Ministries Trust, New Zealand) contains an article by me and an “overlapping” article by my great friend Andrew Shepherd, presently researching and writing his PhD. There’s a nice development from my introductory article to Andrew’s. Here are a couple of excerpts. The full articles are attached as PDF documents. A PDF of the whole journal will be on Spiritual Growth Ministries website (here). Meantime have a look around their site. There’s some great resources, and of course, details on their Spiritual Director Training Programme and a wide range of workshop / retreats exploring Christian Spirituality.

“…I want to (briefly) reflect on how it is that we are invited into this mystery of trinitarian relatedness. I want to say a little about the action or direction of trinitarian spirituality. And finally, I want to earth an engagement with Rublev’s Trinity in the ordinary and everyday by suggesting that mission, or action, is the needful outworking of a contemplative life that takes seriously ones location within the divine relatedness of the Trinity…” Paul Fromont.

“…While the use of the term “community” can be understood as a response to the loss of social capital which seems to characterise contemporary western societies and points to a genuine yearning for a more authentic and richer expression of shared life, one wonders whether “community” and the experience of “communion” can really be reduced to a program or a series of tasks that one can implement; an experience that can be marketed and consumed?  For all the bandying around of the word “communion” do we actually have a clear idea of what communion is and therefore of what it is that we aspire to?  Below, I will suggest that a Trinitarian spirituality – a spirituality of communion – rather than being co-opted and reduced to a series of commoditised and marketable processes or programs, responds to the deep yearning we see in contemporary society, by offering an inversion of both our understanding of communion and of spirituality…” Andrew Shepherd…

Download paul_fromont_rublevs_icon_contemplating_the_trinity_inwardly_and_outwardly.pdf

Download andrew_shepherd_god_is_communion_a_spirituality_of_being.pdf

Spirituality Takeaways…?

Paul writes – I was struck by a short piece that Cheryl on the other side of the Tasman recently came across. It’s a piece about rituals and the modern search for meaning. It also reflects on pick n’ mix spirituality… The author makes some good points, and his closing paragraph should be an encouragement to many denominational churches that have in their traditions some wonderful (and often much-neglected) treasures.

Indeed, what might happen if we shared some of our resources and trusted God to be in the searching and the yearnings so many feel for meaning, transcendence, God etc…?

Here’s the opening paragraph:

“…We are living in a moment of profound transition in the way many…understand and use religious ritual and practice. Not surprisingly, as with any transition in life whether personal, familial, or social, there are fault lines, divisions and serious misunderstandings that arise between people. Stated very simply; for millions of [people] religious rituals and spiritual practices no longer function as they have for millennia. They are no longer sources of identity or behaviors necessarily connected to a particular tribal or creedal identity nor acts embedded in a coherent or larger theological framework…”

You can read the whole article here. It’s worth a read.

Your Gospel is to Small…Bradley Nassif

Paul writes – Bradley Nassif, an Eastern Orthodox theologian has recently written an interesting essay, The Poverty of Love. In it he responds to the question, “is our gospel to small?” His conversation partner is “desert spirituality” – the desert “Father’s & Mother’s”

“…If these desert dwellers were alive today, I believe they would tell us that our gospel is too small because our wills are too big. The core battleground, they argued, is the human heart. They would counsel us to declare war on the inner adversaries that hide secretly in our hearts, and to be watchful of their stealth attacks. We're wisest, they taught, when we concentrate our energies on the source of all our problems, the inner person; its selfish orientation, dark impulses, sexual preoccupations, greed, lust, anger, unforgiveness, hatred, and other "works of the flesh" (Gal. 5:19&21). Every believer still has a powerful attraction to sin. So the monks took decisive action in their reliance on God, engaging in the hard work of holiness, something they called ascesis or spiritual training…”

Again I’m struck by the importance of the inward dimension of the Christian life. Those of you who listened to the recent interview with Abbot Christopher Jamison will recall the stress he placed on that dimension and its ongoing importance for the outward / missional dimension of the Jesus following life. I’d want to describe this heart-work in terms of the counter-cultural work of the desert in the heart. It is the important but much neglected work of orthopathy (typically neglected in favour of “orthodoxy” and more recently “orthopraxy”. I first heard the term used by Brian McLaren. Alan Hirsch writes about it here. Henri Nouwen was describing it in his little book, The Way of the Heart). Parker Palmer might want to describe it as “the inward journey of the cross”. Thomas Merton might want to describe the journey and the work of the heart in terms of “the recovery of the True Self”. Others might want to talk about it in terms of an integral part of our becoming more fully human, more fully alive!

Additionally I’ve been listening to some great 10-14min podcasts by Nassif. They include an introductory series on “Desert Spirituality for Ordinary Folk” – a series on desert monasticism. He also has some other excellent podcasts including a two-part interview with Scot McKnight on the Atonement. You can find all of his podcast’s here – scroll through them and have a listen to those that interest you. They’re also downloadable as Mp3’s.

Mystery

Paul writes – this great little quote came to me recently via e-mail (thanks Adrienne):

“…We cannot manufacture experiences of the divine mystery in our communal life …we cannot even say ‘Let us have an especially fine experience of worship and then mystery will break upon us.’ Mystery is ever in the hands of the One who meets us in mystery. When it comes to mystery, our control over what happens to us, as a body of people is absolutely nil. What we can do however is take ample time to reflect prayerfully on the question. ‘Where have we experienced the divine mystery in our common life?”

Stephen V. Doughty

A Prayer for my ‘Prayer Book’ - Paul

"Whenever I think of your infinity, I am racked with anxiety, wondering how you are disposed to me... You must adapt your word to my smallness, so that it can enter into this tiny dwelling of my finiteness - the only dwelling in which I can live - without destroying it. If you should speak such an "abbreviated" word, which would not say everything but only something simple which I could grasp, then I could breath freely again. You must make your own some human word, for that is the only kind I can comprehend. Don't tell me everything that you are; don't tell me of your infinity - just say that you Love me, just tell me of your Goodness to me."

Karl Rahner SJ. Quoted by Elizabeth A. Johnson in her latest book, Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God (pub 2007), within the chapter titled: "Gracious mystery, ever greater, ever nearer" (the prayer came to me via Mark via Simon).

You can hear a recent and interesting two-interview with Elizabeth Johnson by going here. In part she talks about the above book.

“Tinkering” and “Some Statements that Grabbed My Attention” – Paul

“…Spiritual direction has become too professionalized…” (See my July 2005 post here).

“…Why can’ there be a tertiary order - communities you don’t have to live in but places you can hang out, like Catholic Workers…”

“…We cannot let established organizations have the last word - we have to also be working outside the system…”

Each of these statements is taken from notes by Eliacin Rosario-Cruz. You can read his full blog post here.

At the same event Eliacin blog’s about, was Jonny Baker. Jonny has the following interesting things to say (in relation to Robert Wuthnow’s book After the baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Something’s Are Shaping the Future of American Religion. I like his description of the “tinkerer” – it sounds characteristic of many of us (as we “make-do” beyond traditional church communities), not just young people, although I do still consider myself young…:

“…I was invited to give a presentation on this theme... Here's a couple of quotes I pulled out...

“The single word that best describes young adults approach to religion and spirituality - indeed life - is tinkering. A tinkerer puts together a life from whatever skills, ideas and resources that are readily at hand... Tinkerers are the most resourceful people in any era. If specialized skills are required they have them. When they need help from experts they seek it. But they do not rely on one way of doing things. Their approach to life is practical. They get things done and usually this happens by improvising by piecing together an idea from here, a skill from there and a contact from somewhere else.

Like the farmer rummaging through the junk pile for makeshift parts the spiritual tinkerer is able to sift through a veritable scrap heap of ideas and practices from childhood, from religious organisations, classes, conversations with friends, books, magazines, television programmes and web sites. The tinkerer is free to engage in this kind of rummaging...”

I’m sure most of us recognise this sort of approach to lots of areas of life. I explored this theme a bit when I was doing my MA drawing inspiration from [Michel] de Certeau's ideas of making do and developing a set of tactics to negotiate the practice of everyday life. Wuthnow adds that life's uncertainty these days makes tinkering a necessity as we constantly face scenarios that require creative improvising. Further, the electric information environment has meant we can access and draw on the resources from diverse sources, traditions, networks and institutions without relying on experts and freed from institutional constraints…”

You can read Jonny’s full reflection here.

Praying for our Needs

Paul writes – I came across this in my reading recently. It challenged and pushed against some of my misunderstandings about prayer that have grown since my youngest days. I was reminded of this in a recent conversation. Somehow we think that the kind of prayer described below is something that we grow out of, as though there are “levels” of prayer that we pass through as we “grow-up”. Sure, there ARE many different ways of praying; different prayer practices, BUT I think McCabe (below) is reminding us that we’re never not a child of God, and so there’s nothing “childish” about asking for what we need.

…prayer is good for us first of all because in prayer … we understand more deeply that we are children of God and that he is our loving Father. And there is nothing selfish about … [asking for what we want and need]. It’s normal human behaviour. What would you think of a child who never asked her parents for anything? What would her parents think of her? Would they think her to be unselfish?

When you pray, consider what you want and need and never mind how vulgar or childish it might appear. If you want very much to pass that exam or get to know that boy or girl better, that is what you should pray for… When you pray you must come before God as honestly as you can. There is no point pretending to him. One of the great human values of prayer is that you face the facts about yourself and admit to what you want; and you know you can talk about this to God because he is totally loving and accepting [though many struggle with images of God where God is neither of these things!]. In true prayer you must meet God and meet yourself where you really are. For prayer is a bit of a risk. If you pray and acknowledge your most infantile desires, there is every danger that you may grow up a bit, that God will grow you up. When (as honestly as you can) you speak to God of your desires, very gently and tactfully he will often reveal to you that in fact you have deeper and more mature desires. But there is only one way to find this out: to start from where you are…

Prayer is the way in which our Father in heaven leads each of us by different paths to be … with him.

[Also we need to understand that] there is no such thing as unanswered prayer (if it is real prayer, and not just going through the motions. Either God will give you what you ask, and this is extremely common; or else he will reckon that you are ready now to receive more than you asked. To you at the time, and especially to an outside observer, it may look as though your prayer has not been answered. But, as you will recognise some time later, God has been getting you to understand that your deeper desire was for more than you asked for. If you let this continue he will gradually lead you to realizing that what you really do want above all things is himself…”[1] 

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[1]       Herbert McCabe OP, God, Christ and Us edited by Brian Davies OP, London: Continuum, 2005. pp105-106.

Centering Prayer and Mission

Paul writes – a little quote on Centering Prayer that I want to keep. I’m struck again by the hidden and quiet way that God is active in prayer, forming, shaping, freeing, deepening and enlivening…I’m struck again by there being so much more to prayer than we are ever taught within typical church contexts.

For more on Centering Prayer I highly recommend an interview that I’ve previously highlighted – an interview with Cynthia Bourgeault, here. But now for the quote, incidentally, by Cynthia Bourgeault from her excellent book (again, highly recommended by me) – Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening:

“…Thomas Keating [OCSO] advises people over and over again not to look for the fruits of this prayer [Centering Prayer] in their subjective experience of it. Centering Prayer is not about accessing sublime states of consciousness or having mystical experiences [or emptying ourselves SO we can get a message from God]. The fruits of this prayer are first seen in daily life. They express themselves in your ability to be more present in your life, more flexible and forgiving with those you live and work with, more honest and comfortable in your own being. These are real signs that the inner depths [of your life] have been touched and have begun to set in motion their transformative work…” (Italics, mine. Quote from p. 30)

Notice the link between “inner” and “outer”… the outer work of our lives being nourished and transformed through the inner work. Mission and living missionally (participating in the mission of God), importantly for me, works for me from the inside out. Stillness (e.g. Centering Prayer (as distinct from intercessory prayer or praying the daily office), lectio Divina, discernment. i.e. inner practices) flows into activity (outward practices) and activity flows back into stillness. Too often, I would observe (in my own life as much as anywhere else) an absence of inwardness in favour of the easier and more natural tendency toward activism.

Again (as I often am), I’m aware of, and grateful for, the richness and depth of our Christian tradition.

John Muir, Eugene Peterson and the Wind of the Spirit

Paul writes – Last Saturday, in the company of and my three children, we were walking through a large grove of trees. There was a slight wind, enough to sway the trees. These last couple of days, the wind has been a lot stronger and the large plane tree outside the study window has had its lighter branches blowing in every direction.

Standing beneath the tree one evening as the wind blew, and as I thought back to a brief conversation with Steve under gently swaying trees, I was drawn to recollect a story told by Eugene Peterson.  The he tells is of John Muir, whom Peterson describes as: “…our [American] most intrepid and worshipful explorer of the western extremities of [the] North American continent.”

I think of it as a Pentecost story. As I watch evidence of wind in the trees I’m mindful of, and grateful for, the Spirit. As I watch the evidence of the wind at play I confess my inattentiveness to the Spirit and my uncooperativeness. As I think of the wind that blows where it will, I’m grateful to NZ poet James K. Baxter and his Song to the Holy Spirit. As I stand beneath the tree in the darkness of the night and I hear the dance of wind and leaf I think, down here in New Zealand, of John Muir:

“In 1874,” Peterson writes, “Muir visited a friend who had a cabin, snug in a valley of one of the tributaries of the Yuba River in the Sierra Mountains… One December day a storm moved in from the Pacific – a fierce storm that bent the junipers and the pines, the madronas and fir trees as if they were so many blades of grass. It was for just such times this cabin had been built: cozy protection from the harsh elements…”

Instead of remaining in the haven and safety of this cabin, Peterson continues,

“Muir… strode out of the cabin into the storm, climbed a high ridge, picked a giant Douglas fir as the best perch for experiencing the kaleidoscope of color and sound, scent and motion, scrambled his way to the top, and rode out the storm, lashed by the wind, holding on for dear life, relishing Weather: taking it all in – its rich sensuality, its primal energy.”