Part two of the Nassau series…see part one below
A New Center: Shifting to a New Reality- September 5, 2010 from New Providence Community Church on Vimeo.
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September 2010
Well I supposed I should do first things first the book mentioned which Jeremy asked about is the book Synchronicity by Joe Jaworski. As I said it is one of the top dozen books I have read in the last 12 years and have gone back to it numerous times.
So what is all the convergence about. Well….once I get on the plane to head to South Africa I start reading some of the basement books on Carl Jung theories and doing my own thinking about the dark side of the human psyche and what integration might look like. My first stop after a Sunday preaching event in Cape Town is the Mosaeik Conversations conference where I will get to meet Dr. David Benner, the professor I had read in seminary on the integration of psychology, theology and spirituality
As he is being introduced and some of his vita shared what I come to realize is he is a Jung expert. It becomes obvious to me as this is all unfolding that I am in one of those convergence, synchronous eras in my life where over the course of months a number of elements come together that let me know God is nudging me in a certain direction and I might need to be on heightened alert for what is about to unfold.
My time those several days with David and his wife Juliet were precious and powerful. I got to ask questions of him about Jung and the sort of things I was learning and at the same time got to get his take on the material I am working on in transformation, the topic of his soon to be released book.
I even thought about telling him of the synchronicities leading up to our meeting, thought better of it and then decided to go out on a limb and follow through. I told him the details, but added that I had never in real time noticed what was happening in the middle of it unfolding, it always was a sort of hindsight thing. He grinned as I shared and was delighted that he and I got to call out this “thing” that was happening between us that day on the steps leading up to the Communio building at Mosaeik.
What will happen now? Well I am not sure. But that something special has transpired seemingly more solid than fleeting may be an indication, so too that I am reading the galleys of his soon to be released book to offer an endorsement which you will be hearing more about from me once it is published. Synch, serenedipity, convergence….Fun fun stuff.
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Have you ever come across a book or article that was just the perfect resource at the right time? Or you have a person come into your life that seemed to be asking and maybe even answering some of the questions you were currently wrestling with and you were shocked at the timeliness of it all?
I can mark five or six critical junctions in my own development over the last couple decades where crazy layers of convergence, serendipity, or synchronicity happened that proved to remind me there is a larger set of eyes watching out for me and a larger set of hands molding and shaping my circumstances and destiny.
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Had the opportunity to speak in the Bahamas prior to the South Africa trip. Lots of requests is what got this posted. Part two will post next week sometime.
A New Envelope of Reality – August 29, 2010 from New Providence Community Church on Vimeo.
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I am more persuaded than ever the primary issue facing churches when it comes to dealing with hot topics like inclusivity, interfaith dialogue, gender issues, is our meta approach to the biblical text. When I wrote The Bible as Improv (which incidentally just got marked down to 6.00 dollars, a steal) I was surprised to have two different congregations tell me that the book, which doesn’t directly even discuss how to biblically handle the homosexual issue, was being distributed to elders so they could begin to understand that their big overarching approach to text is what had them locked into positions that prevented dialogue. In both of these congregations the issue was homosexuality, leadership in the church, and how to navigate it a la Romans 1.
I said to Theo Geyser and his wife Wilma when I arrived here in South Africa on Saturday night that one of the key issues I think we will continue to see ramp up in conversation is the issue of exclusivity versus inclusivity of others from other religions or non religious backgrounds…well…
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If my meaning and purpose can shift to a place of greater presence, awareness in the moment and real attentive being, then what I am committed to in an ongoing way shifts as well.
When I have vision, goals and strategic objectives I commit to the incremental steps to implement and execute. What is important here is I have an intention to focus my attention on my next steps. This interplay of intention and attention is critical to the entire transformation process.
When I was focused on catching a fish and all the mechanics connected to it I had and intention that caused me to focus attention on a certain mode of doing. But bone fishing requires a different intention. It requires commitment to attending to what is going on around me – an awareness. Intention to focus my attention on just being, on being attentive, aware, awake, and alive has an entirely different texture to it.
When my purpose becomes letting the universe unfold through me, God’s purposes and kingdom coming in and through my being, my commitment and success or failure are entirely different. Our traditional image of being committed is about working hard, expending effort, and wearing the badge that really proves I am somebody….which usually means always being incredibly busy.
Unfortunately I have found in my own life and in those I get to help this is a subtle form of self manipulation that doesn’t create greater awareness and fuller being-ness but inattentive numbness.
Can anyone relate?
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What if meaning comes “on the fly.” If the universe is unfolding through me life can’t but have a surprising freshness but also deep meaning. In fact it is impossible for life not to have meaning.
Why do I even bring this up? The number one type of counseling I did the first 6 years of ministry before there were more gifted staff to handle it, was not addiction counseling, or marriage, conflict, youth issues or aging parent counseling. The number one type by a long shot was “Ron, I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.” The guy sitting in the other chair was 52 or 47, or getting ready to retire from a job at 62 years of age they had hated their whole life. But that IS precisely the point “being.” They had confused doing, vocation, job, the money maker, as what they “were.” But being and doing are profoundly different.
My bone fishing experience, my awakening, my enlightenment (the apostle Paul’s language when he prayed for people in Ephesus) my deepening awareness brought with it a very profound shift in my center and in my leadership. I had always felt a need to have a clear vision, direction, and some stated hoped for outcomes. I think there is nothing wrong with that and still coach people that direction. BUT BUT BUT…. there is something more.
What if meaning and purpose was being so fully present and so alert that God unfolded through you all sorts of synchronicities, serendipities, and “new things” he was wanting to do at that moment, on that day, in that confluence of orchestrated circumstances? In that way life has a profound purpose as we are the conduits of his kingdom and universe unfolding through our lives and our alertness.
This requires a different sort of vision and meaning/purpose paradigm. It is meaning “on the fly.” It is purpose in the moment. It is allowing who you are to be the aperture or grid through which God’s moment by moment activity and newness is mediated.
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