{"id":33999,"date":"2023-11-09T05:32:11","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T13:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33999"},"modified":"2023-11-09T05:32:11","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T13:32:11","slug":"inspiration-from-the-ammas-and-abbas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/inspiration-from-the-ammas-and-abbas\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiration from the Ammas and Abbas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There is so much that this world has to offer that deforms a person.\u00a0 Author and University of Dayton professor, Dr. Vincent Miller<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, in his book <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Religion<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> says, \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our attention to the nitty-gritty materialist details of these cultural shifts will be better able to guide a response by (1) calling attention to the ways in which the structures of everyday life form us in certain ethically, politically, and religiously significant ways, and (2) providing a map of the places where such unwitting formation is taking place so that such influences may be more consciously resisted.\u201d [1]\u00a0 When I read that statement, I hear an invitation for reflection. . .<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How have the structures of everyday life formed me in certain ethically, politically and religiously significant ways?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How can I lead and support others in caring for their souls in a way that brings awareness to the unconscious influences to be renounced for greater consecration to the Father?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Throughout the book, Miller reiterates the book\u2019s purpose beginning at the very first line of the first chapter, \u201cThis book is concerned with the ways in which consumer culture transforms religious belief and practice.\u201d [2] <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0Miller guides the reader through instances of culture commodification, and one example discussed in the book that resonated with me was the Y2K crisis.\u00a0 The author highlights several cultural shifts in the structure of the family, the economy, production and how commodification influenced how families used their resources for cuisine, costume and dwelling (food, clothing, shelter). [3]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Miller offers that it&#8217;s a matter of denying and deceiving ourselves. Disliking the outcomes of our choices doesn&#8217;t necessarily negate our selfishness. We may embrace the cultural values surrounding us, even if we&#8217;re reluctant to acknowledge it. [4]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 The author proposes that believers consider how consumer culture forms people in habits of use and consumption and how those habits are brought into religious beliefs and practices. [5]\u00a0 I see evidence of this very phenomenon in the churches and faith communities in which I have been a part of.\u00a0 It saddens me.\u00a0 When the gathering of the body on a Sunday is measured by the production and entertainment factor than about the God that draws us into community with one another just as He modeled in the communion of the Trinity. The consumption factor is evident in the words spoken, \u201cI didn\u2019t get anything out of the service today. . . \u201c or \u201cI am not getting fed. . . \u201c\u00a0 There is a community of people that chose to radically follow Jesus and combat the world&#8217;s pursuits of pleasure at all costs.\u00a0 In times when I am faced with a challenge to consider or a new perspective, I look for an example or model to serve as an apprentice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I\u2019m inspired by the Ammas and Abbas from the Desert Fathers and Mothers.\u00a0 As I read about the choices they made to radically follow Jesus, which they may not have viewed as radical but as love expressed through obedience, I see freedom. \u00a0 To live entirely free from all the passions of the body, sustained by hope of good things to come, firm in the strength of faith. \u00a0 Consider what it would be like to live with that kind of freedom.\u00a0 It was written of Abba Bessarion that his life had been like that of a bird of the air, or a fish, or an animal living on earth, passing all the time of his life without trouble or disquiet.\u00a0 The care of a dwelling did not trouble him, and the desire for a particular place never seemed to dominate his soul, no more than the abundance of delights, or the possession of houses or the reading of books.\u00a0 But he seemed entirely free from all the passions of the body, sustaining himself on the hope of good things to come, firm in the strength of his faith. [6]\u00a0 When I read their sayings and the wisdom offered through their radical followership, I am inspired.\u00a0 Inspired to prayerfully go to the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in me.\u00a0 So I conclude with a prayer, referred to as the Methodist Covenant Prayer written by John Wesley. He pens words to prayerfully consider as I desire to love God and others more.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Father in Heaven,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am no longer my own but yours.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Put me to what you will,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rank me with whom you will;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Put me to doing, Put me to suffering;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let me be employed for you, Or laid aside for you,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exalted for You, Or brought low for you;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let me be full, Let me be empty,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let me have all things, Let me have nothing:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You are mine and I am yours.\u00a0 So be it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. [7]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>[1] Miller, Vincent Jude. Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Religion. Repr. New York: Continuum, 2013. 32.<\/p>\n<p>[2] Ibid, 15.<\/p>\n<p>[3] Ibid, 43.<\/p>\n<p>[4] Ibid, 179.<\/p>\n<p>[5] Ibid, 17.<\/p>\n<p>[6] Ward, Benedicta, trans. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers\u202f: The Alphabetical Collection. Revised edition. Mowbray: London &amp; Oxford: Cistercian Publications: USA, 1984. 42.<\/p>\n<p>[7]\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cslewisinstitute.org\/resources\/a-covenant-prayer-in-the-wesleyan-tradition\/\">https:\/\/www.cslewisinstitute.org\/resources\/a-covenant-prayer-in-the-wesleyan-tradition\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is so much that this world has to offer that deforms a person.\u00a0 Author and University of Dayton professor, Dr. Vincent Miller, in his book Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Religion says, \u201cOur attention to the nitty-gritty materialist details of these cultural shifts will be better able to guide a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,467,255],"class_list":["post-33999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-clark","tag-miller","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34000,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33999\/revisions\/34000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}