Reflection Roundup: A Nap and a Snack
Each week we gather news stories, notable pieces, and other important items for Christian leaders today. As always, listening broadly draws together differing perspectives from which we can learn but may not concur. Here are 10 things worth sharing this week.
This week’s “A Nap and a Snack” title comes from Zane Witcher’s podcast, highlighted in #9 below.
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1. Lest we think we know a living, active entity such as the biblical text, Siburt Institute executive director Carson Reed admonishes in “On Reading the Bible” that we do just that! Whether the temperature of the spiritual room which we inhabit is one of waiting, of discernment, of silence, or of joy at God’s making God’s self known, we find Scripture sets the thermostat for each instance. Developing a pattern of consistent “expectancy” places the reader in the path of “reminders of God’s faithfulness,” and provides opportunities for “clarity.” God’s word is a blessed place, to which we have unlimited access by God’s grace, where the Spirit meets our minds and hearts in revelation. Let’s go!
2. Ministry Matters’s Rebekah Simon-Peter is all about churches’ renewal. Her most recent offering, “Three Stubborn Obstacles That Keep Your Congregation Stuck,” addresses the diverse realities of personalities, our tendency to “look in the rearview mirror,” and the compulsion to remain within supposed “safe zones” rather than step out into the Spirit-led imagination by which we feel prompted to experiment. We’d rather do things that “probably won’t ruffle any feathers” or tip any sacred cows. Simon-Peter offers conversation and encouragement around this topic as well as several other related materials, all free resources.
3. Patience being the crucible it is, we don’t often share about it openly. In “Being Patient With Yourself,” Ministry Matters shares a piece by Jake Owensby, originally published on his blog amid the season of Advent. It’s difficult to say definitively which is more difficult – pacing out the development of patience ourselves, or watching as life and the Lord answer a loved one’s prayers for patience. We are meant to grow and present fruit in community! Situation after situation requires increasing amounts of the Spirit’s presence. If it seems as if life has become one long season of waiting, take heart and recollect, with a trusted other, evidences of God’s action. Come, Spirit, come – and we draw together, contending for the sweet fruit of patience in our Christian communities and families!
4. There are multiple worldwide refugee crises, one of which involves an annual peaceful protest. Amelia Raines’s “Hundreds gather in Sydney demanding justice for refugees” for Honi Soit briefly chronicles this year’s iteration. The Holy Week rally demonstrated solidarity for refugees seeking asylum in Australia. In Sydney, marching protesters chanted, “Say it loud, say it clear: Refugees are welcome here.” Raines cites others’ criticism toward “Australia’s active role in the refugee crisis due to its close military ties with the US.” One protester, Ian Rintoul, asserted, “You can judge a government always by how they treat the most vulnerable in society.” Raines’s piece lists several peaceful ways supporters are working to change policy.
5. In “Body Prayer for Every Day,” Grace Ji-Sun Kim artistically recounts the purpose of prayer. She describes her mother’s own learning to pray, and the instructive nature of this observation in her own life. Ji-Sun Kim reminds of the dualistic origins of Greco-Roman Christianity that separates soul from body, which requires modern Christians to rethink this union in order to embrace the fruitful practice of body prayer. Ji-Sun Kim enlists the tutelage of the Order of Julian (of Norwich), opening to the movements of prayer, reconnecting and grounding us into our bodies in a unifying and spiritual way. Look for more from Ji-Sun Kim and podcaster Rabbi Rami next week in a special podcast edition of “Reflection Roundup.”
6. Ahren Samuel, multicultural project assistant at the Fuller Youth Institute, writes “Four Black thought leaders who make Black teenagers feel seen and heard.” Samuel takes the wealth of resources on the topic of the development of racist ideologies and personalizes them, presenting them in a didactic way aimed at a teenage audience but pertinent for all audiences. Samuel’s heart is generous toward highlighting both what she’s experienced and acknowledging those whose leadership have helped her find meaning. Her piece is incomparably well done. Thanks to Ashley Stirman, youth minister at Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, for sharing it first with the families to which she ministers.
7. For Christianity Today, Kate Shellnutt writes an insightful, challenging read: “Why Church Can’t Be the Same After the Pandemic.” Shellnutt acknowledges that, while there are those of us zealous for the “way things were,” others coped creatively with the pandemic and found new meaning in what the Spirit inspired. Micro-assemblies and backyard gatherings have facilitated the practice of being church through a new lens of experience. The world is not the same. We have experienced widespread trauma and are all affected in both deeply personal and communal ways. In the United States alone, the social and political scene remains divisive. Even as we regather, how might we enact the truth that we are one body, members alongside those with whom we so vehemently differ? Over these items, Shellnutt challenges, we must converse. Sweeping them aside would represent a misuse of the crisis.
8. Matt Fitzgerald writes “Karl Barth’s wisdom for fathers (and mothers, and all children of God)” for the Christian Century, offering an honest exploration of parenting, which pokes at the strengths and weaknesses of our philosophy and our practice. Press through when he offends pride and certainty; his piece deserves a hearing. If strong language offends, skip it. (Though honestly, what parent hasn’t found some of this language cropping up, even if only in mind?) His heart is toward impressing upon us God’s example as our first parent, and the nature that makes God’s model perfect. I hope we stay infested and itchy.
9. Zane Witcher, who ministers at Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, hosts the Onto Somethin’ podcast. This week as he concludes a 30-day sabbatical, Witcher presents “How to Take Time for Spiritual Renewal (Part One),” prescribing seven practical things to consider when becoming available for renewal of any length. After working through the scaffolding this week, look forward to next week when Witcher will address some of the components he utilized.
10. “I think we need that right now,” says Laurel Burgham, “parent” to Tilly G., Skippy, and numerous others, on the Dodo Odd Couples’s “Woman Brings A New Puppy Home To Her Tortoise And Watch What Happens Next!” Nature has an undeniable noetic quality, and these lively beings have much to teach us about celebrating differences and sharing a family and a meal.
