Alan Fadling's Blog, page 31

UL Podcast #245: Invitation to Retreat (Ruth Haley Barton)

 

In the first two chapters of An Unhurried Life, I share a bit about my first experience with solitude and silence in a group retreat setting. That was in January 1990. It’s hard to believe that was 33 years ago. I have often shared how transformative the regular rhythm of retreat has been in my life, my marriage, and my leadership over the years. 

Today, I’m so happy to be talking with Ruth Haley Barton about her book Invitation to Retreat. It’s such a wise, practical resource to help us cultivate the regular practice of spiritual retreat. I can highly recommend it!

 

Ruth Haley Barton (Doctor of Divinity, Northern Seminary) is founding president and CEO of the Transforming Center, a ministry dedicated to strengthening the souls of pastors and Christian leaders, and the congregations and organizations they serve. For over twenty years, she has ministered to the soul care needs of pastors and leaders based upon her conviction that the best thing we bring to leadership is our own transforming selves.

Ruth is the author of numerous books and resources on the spiritual life, including Invitation to Solitude and Silence, and Pursuing God's Will Together. 

The Delight of Fresh Vision

Blog by Gem Fadling

I’ve previously shared that I grew up on a six-acre property in rural Washington. The nature-filled delights of my childhood were endless. Forests, rivers, waterfalls, and the winter snow all added to my cherished memories.

 

During the summer, friends and family members would visit us and enjoy all our region had to offer: Multnomah Falls, the Washougal River, Beacon Rock, the fish hatchery, the Bridge of the Gods, and Dugan Falls.

 

As we made our way along our usual tour, we would always take our friends to eat at a restaurant called The Char Burger. At the time, I thought it was magical because you could go through a line with your burger and choose your toppings (children are easily entertained). I now realize it was simply a glorified Fuddruckers. But through the lens of childhood, those kinds of things were delightful.

 

I have so many great memories of visiting all that natural and man-made beauty. And even though I had been to each location many times, it never grew old. It always felt like a celebration--and even like something new--because our visitors had never seen it before. I was able to ride the wake of their new experience.

 

Fast-forwarding a few years to when I was a young mom, one of my favorite things was experiencing the world through the eyes of my three sons. Just as I had enjoyed the same local sites with summertime visitors, I experienced the dynamic of everything being new from my boys’ perspective.

 

They engaged the world with fresh energy. And kids don’t get bored by doing the same thing over and over. If Alan threw them into the air and caught them, you’d better believe the first thing they would say was, “Do it again, Daddy!”

 

These memories open me up to at least one way God must love us. Certainly, as an infinite being, God has been there and done that. Yet there is no evidence that God tires of his creation. What a gift it is to imagine that God takes pleasure and delight in the way each of us experiences the world…and that God never tires of us.

 

Just as I drew pleasure from visiting sites with friends and seeing the world anew through my sons’ eyes, might not God be delighted to see the world through my eyes?

 

God has taken care to craft each of us in his image. What an amazing sensation it must be to experience how eight billion people take in God’s own creation. It must be…delightful.

 

Many of us may struggle with thinking about God delighting in us. There are many reasons we could point to in our lives that may make that seem impossible. But maybe this verse will encourage you:

 

“The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

 

REFLECTION 

What brings you delight?
Do you believe that God might delight in you in that same way?
If so, spend some time in gratitude, thanking God for his posture toward you.
If you are struggling, how might you experience God’s presence with you?

 

“God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic monotony that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them.” (G.K. Chesterton)

 

You are, in fact, delightful. Let God express that to you today.

 

 

Photo by Jeffrey Workman on Unsplash

UL Podcast #244: Learning Humility (Richard Foster & Brenda Quinn)

 

There is one place in the gospels where Jesus specifically describes himself. Remember this passage from Matthew 11? “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus describes himself as gentle and humble in heart. I wonder to what degree we imagine these as primary aspirations in our own discipleship to Jesus. Harshness and pride seem to be reigning nearly everywhere in our world today, and too often even among those who would call themselves followers of Christ. 

That’s why I’m so glad to be talking today with Brenda Quinn and Richard Foster about his latest book, “Learning Humility: A Year of Searching for a Vanishing Virtue.” Humility is more than a virtue that we should practice. It is actually the pathway to the abundant life Jesus has come to lead us into! 

 

Brenda Quinn is a pastor of spiritual formation in the Foursquare church and a writer of many years. She is also the author of the character profiles in the Life with God Bible.

Richard Foster is founder, past president and current team member of Renovaré. Having studied at George Fox and Fuller Theological Seminary, Foster has served as a pastor and taught worldwide on spiritual formation. Author of dozens of articles and six books, including Celebration of Discipline, Richard continues to write on the spiritual life. He and his wife, Carolynn, have two grown children, Joel and Nathan, nine grandchildren, and live near Denver, Colorado.

 

Connect with Alan on LinkedIn.

The Virus of Hurry

Blog by Alan Fadling

I believe that hurry is a virus. It’s something we can catch from others. One outcome of the global pandemic is that our cultural hurry has been exposed. In the early months when we were all quarantining in place, some people realized that they were grateful for the open space in their schedules to rest and enjoy their families.

 

My first exposure to the idea of hurry as a virus came from my friend Paul Jensen and his doctoral work, Subversive Spirituality: Transforming Mission through the Collapse of Space and Time. The collapse of time in contemporary culture is best seen in the common dynamic of hurry among us.

 

Jensen suggests that the collapse of space and time, which looks like isolation and hurry in lived experience, functions in some ways like addiction and in others like a virus. It infects our assumptions about leadership and the values of our organizational cultures. Carl Honoré, author of In Praise of Slowness, has also been talking about hurry as a virus, especially during the global pandemic.

 

What does this look like? The pace of a leader’s soul will influence the pace of their organization. Are they hurried or unhurried? Anxious or non-anxious? Rooted in joy or addicted to excitement? Concerned for people or interested only in the bottom line? Leaders set the tone of the organizational culture.

 

Paul Jensen has suggested that a sad example of the virus of hurry is seen when Christian leaders from the developing world come to the United States. They come to seminaries and Christian universities to receive wonderful training for the work of ministry back home. What they don’t realize is that while they are here, they also catch our virus of cultural hurry. And they bring it back to their own cultures.

 

I’ve visited churches and ministries around the world in cultures that are not as hurried as ours. But I’ve often found that the pastors in those settings are more hurried than the people they lead. They are living out what was modeled for them during their training in developed world settings.

 

Part of the purpose of my international work over the years has been to combat the virus of hurry that many leaders from the developing world caught in the West. It’s been a great gift to help them recapture the goodness of their less-hurried home culture.

 

Hurry is highly contagious. The good news is that unhurry also appears to be infectious. Leaders who learn to live in the unhurried way of Jesus model an inviting way to lead. More gracious, less driven. More peaceful, less anxious. More gentle, less harsh.

 

Who we are as we lead makes a great deal of difference, so giving significant attention to the health of our souls is a strategic leadership initiative.

 

For Reflection  

In your key relationships, to what degree are you influencing others in hurry or in unhurry? Is there something you’d like to change about your influence?

 

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

ICDT #67: Bridled by Love

 

Awhile back, during an overnight retreat, I chose to peruse the notes from my first spiritual direction training. I had two folders with worksheets, practices, and handwritten notes from multiple lectures.

 

My plan was to read through everything, so I could remember and glean from the spiritual wisdom contained in those pages. 

I made it through only half of one handwritten notebook. I barely scratched the surface. Reading through my notes in a soulful way turned out to be a much slower process than I had anticipated.

 

That time was so rich. I was able to soak in the goodness of God and reflect on how he had used those teachings to carry me through the next ten years.

 

The lessons I reflected on were like a rototiller, cultivating the soil of my soul’s garden. I was ready to receive what was offered, and it truly prepared me for all of the work that followed over the decade since then.

 

I thought I would share with you ten seeds of wisdom from my notes. My hope is that one or two of these ideas will connect with you right where you are.

 

Connect with Gem on Instagram or visit her at the Unhurried Living website.

UL Podcast #243: Opportunity Leadership (Dr. Roger Parrott)

 

The second most listened to episodes in the nearly five years of this podcast is titled “Working for God or Working with God,” episode #205. A key insight there is that our work or our ministry is not so much something we do for God, and then hope for his blessing after the fact. Our work is a gracious collaboration with the God who initiates and is already at work. 

Today, I’m talking with Dr. Roger Parrott about his book Opportunity Leadership. In it, he makes what some leaders will consider a radical proposal: Many of our assumptions in long-range organizational planning are misguided. He wants to argue for a way of leading that is paying attention to opportunities God’s Spirit is bringing across our paths now rather than projecting futures we can’t possibly predict. Certainly Covid-19 showed us that long-range plans don’t predict the future for any of our lives or our organizations. 

Dr. Roger Parrott is one of America’s most experienced college presidents and was named among the 10 Most Visionary Education Leaders of 2021 by The Education Magazine. Dr. Parrott is a third-generation College president and was one of America's youngest college presidents first elected at age 34. He has served on various boards and was Chair of the 2004 Forum for World Evangelization hosted by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. In addition to his book Opportunity Leadership, Dr. Parrott is also the author of The Longview: Lasting Strategies for Rising Leaders. His wife, MaryLou, earned her Ph.D. in English and is a Professor at Belhaven. They have two adult children who graduated from Belhaven.

Vulnerability: You Are Not Alone

Blog by Gem Fadling

We are so blessed to live near the world class Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA. The sculptures and paintings as well as the gardens are always a treat for the soul.

 

I like to peruse the rooms slowly, wandering over to any piece that particularly catches my eye. I like to linger in front of it, noticing if there are any invitations calling out to me.

 

During a visit a few years ago, one painting in particular caught my attention (pictured above). It is a depiction of the woman caught in adultery by French artist Valentin de Boulogne. His interpretation of the story from the Gospel of John was for me the most penetrating image in that gallery that day.

 

Since I had the free educational audio, I listened to an artist’s take on this painting as I stood before it. Of course, the artist talked about light, shadow, and color. But what really stood out to me was his commentary on texture. He pointed out the contrast between the hard iron of the guard’s armor and the vulnerable, exposed skin of the woman and of Jesus himself.

 

As the narrator spoke of their vulnerability, it was as if the painting narrowed to an image of two. Jesus’ connection to the woman in her shame and humiliation stood out like a relief.

 

She was not alone.

 

If you know the story, Jesus took the time to put the woman’s accusers in their place. He stooped and wrote on the ground until they all left, dropping their stones on the way out. But what is most striking is Jesus’ vulnerability depicted in solidarity with the woman. The lighting, the skin tones—it all points to Jesus being with her.

 

Yes, Jesus is strong and mighty, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But he takes the time to be with the lowly, the humiliated, the vulnerable. I need this personally, don’t you?

 

This woman’s story was one of adultery. But there are many other reasons why any of us would feel ashamed, humiliated, or vulnerable. 

 

Reflection 

How are you feeling vulnerable these days?
Does the weight of shame ever hover over you like a heavy blanket?
Linger for a moment over the image of this painting. Are there new ways in which you might sense Jesus being with you in your situation?

 

Take a few more moments to soak in this image. Let it inform how you see your vulnerabilities today through Jesus’ eyes of love and compassion.

 

 

Art Details: Valentin de Boulogne (French, 1591 – 1632), Christ and the Adulteress, about 1620s, Oil on canvas

 

UL Podcast #242: Giving Your Smartphone a Break (Heath Wilson with GoAro.com)

 

We’ve talked often here about the continual challenge of how our devices tend to train us in hurry and distraction. In episode 103, “Managing our Omnipresent Smartphones,” I shared the story of an eight-day retreat where I found myself wrestling with how attached to my smartphone I’d become. You might enjoy going back to that episode after you’ve finished listening to this one. 

Today, I’m talking with a new friend, Heath Wilson, who is the co-founder of a company called Aro. They’ve developed a resource and app that will help you manage how you engage as a family with your smartphones. It’s designed to help us reduce screen time by making it easy and fun to put down our phones.

Aro is built on the principles and science of habit formation, and gamifies the experience of being off your phone. The Aro smart-box is beautiful, tech-packed, and acts as the visual cue for you to put down your phone. I hope you’ll take time to explore this resource further. 

A Good Sabbath

Blog by Alan Fadling

Two weeks ago, I shared some reflections on the story from John 9 in which Jesus heals the man born blind. I’m continuing with that story here:

 

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. - John 9:13-16

 

“They” are the Jews from around the neighborhood who realized that this man born blind could now see. They must have been excited and amazed at something that defied easy explanation. You’d think that everyone would be excited about such a miraculous moment, but there are some who aren’t.

 

The Pharisees look past the miracle that has occurred and instead focus on Jesus’ failure to keep the Sabbath as they understand it. They seemed to have reduced the Sabbath to a long list of prohibitions. Sabbath was a “you can’t” day to them. Jesus sees the Sabbath from a broader perspective: It is not just a day of prohibitions. It is a day for truly good things to be done, shared, and enjoyed.

 

The Pharisees had a whole list of things that could not be done on the Sabbath because they were considered to be work. The specific act of spitting on the ground and making mud may not have been on the list, but they saw it as work and therefore it was not allowed.

 

It might help to think about the prohibitions in scripture that are connected to the practice of Sabbath. A common Old Testament Sabbath guideline is “do no regular work.” (That phrase shows up six times in Leviticus 23, which specifically talks about Sabbath days surrounding the main Jewish festivals.) Doing no regular work was a way of saying, “This day is special. Don’t keep measuring your life by what you produce. Don’t work seven days a week.”

 

But “regular work” doesn’t limit good works. When Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, he does so in the spirit of Sabbath. It is a day to receive good from God. It is a day to rest from our labors. It is a day for enjoying the life we’ve been given. It is a day of grace and not a day of empty limitation.

 

Unfortunately, the Pharisees could only see through their narrow logic. Working on the Sabbath was sinful. Making mud was work. Jesus made mud. Therefore Jesus worked on the Sabbath and was a sinner. Period. Their logic was flawed because Jesus was the opposite of a sinner. He was the only one in the whole crowd who was actually in God’s full favor. Jesus was doing exactly what the Father wanted done when he wanted it done.

 

Keeping the Sabbath is about more than just not doing work. It is about receiving and sharing good from God with one another. Doing good is in keeping with the spirit of the Sabbath. Jesus healing the blind man is exactly what the Sabbath is all about.

 

Reflection

What does your own practice of Sabbath look like? Do you have a day when you refrain from your “regular work”? If so, what might receiving God’s generosity on that day look like in this season? If not, what might it look like to receive one day in seven as a “gift of God.”

 

Photo by Marisa Buhr Mizunaka on Unsplash

UL Podcast #241: The Gift of Limitations (Kelly Kapic)

 

We live in a world where limits are seen as curses, but maybe good limits are God-given gifts. Only God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere. It’s good news that I don’t have to try to be any of these things because I simply can’t. Today's Unhurried Living Podcast episode is an interview with Kelly Kapic, author of "You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News." I love how Kelly and I are able to talk about and share the intersection of his message on limitations the Unhurried Living message of unhurry.

 

Kelly M. Kapic is professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He is the award-winning author or editor of more than 15 books, including Embodied Hope , The God Who Gives , and Becoming Whole with Brian Fikkert. Kapic is also part of a John Templeton Foundation grant studying “Christian Meaning-Making, Suffering, and the Flourishing Life.”