{"id":4033,"date":"2015-02-13T19:06:35","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T19:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4033"},"modified":"2015-02-13T19:06:35","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T19:06:35","slug":"bridges-spirals-windows-and-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/bridges-spirals-windows-and-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridges, Spirals, Windows and Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning I ran\/walked across the Narrows Bridge, beginning on the Gig Harbor side one mile later I am in Tacoma, then back again. Even with thousands of cars crossing it remains my favorite place to run and walk. Today was a pleasant trek, the wind was minimal, the sun was attempting to break through the overcast and it was not raining! The two bridges are known as the Narrows simply because of the narrow passageway far below the bridge deck. Depending upon the ebb and flow of the tide one can walk from one park along the waters edge, under the bridge and all the way around to Gig Harbor. Crossing the bridge today I could not help but think of Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone\u2019s book, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We\u2019re In Without Going Crazy. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"IMG_1992\"<\/a>\"IMG_1989\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I thought about the effect of tidal action, the cleansing that comes as the water responds to the moon\u2019s display. I remembered learning several years ago in a seminary class, Spirituality and the Heavens the positive cleansing effect that hurricanes bring to the atmosphere. I thought about how, according to Scripture, nature itself yearns for redemption. Reading Macy and Johnstone I wondered if the effects of climate change is not also in some way the earth\u2019s way of seeking to restore balance. \u201cLooking at the planet as a whole, Gaia theory proposed that the Earth functions as a self-regulating living systems.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Active Hope<\/em> is stark in its message and yet in its message of choice the reality of hope is present. \u201cRecognizing that we can choose the story we live from can be liberating, finding a good story to take part in adds to our sense of purpose and aliveness.\u201d[2]<\/a> The authors framework is really a look at the world through three windows. In the first window we just keep on keeping on, they referred to it as \u201cBusiness as Usual;\u201d the second window reveals a landscape of turmoil and consequences, \u201cThe Great Unraveling.\u201d Finally the authors point us toward \u201cThe Great Turning.\u201d[3]<\/a> Macy and Johnstone referred to them as stories rather than windows. Both, I think, are appropriate. Stories do <\/em>provide and describe a narrative. Our invitation in the three narratives is to consider which story we presently find ourselves the consequences of our reality and the potential and<\/em> cost to live a different story. But finding the good story is one that hinges upon understanding and embracing a sustainable lifestyle. I likened the three stories offered to windows, because in a sense what we will see is very much dependent upon the room we are presently in.<\/em> By describing how our present stories are shaped by our perceptions[4]<\/a> we are invited into an approach which is \u201cnot about being dutiful or worthy so much as it is about stepping into a state of aliveness that makes our lives profoundly satisfying.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How does aliveness happen? It certainly doesn\u2019t come from trying harder, unless it is that we are realizing that our present trying harder is deeply connected with a way of life that cannot be sustained. And here again I found my thinking drifting toward my DMin work. One of the lingering questions we seem to not be facing in the Church is whether our present way of being and doing church is sustainable. I am not advocating that sustainability means we do not gather as a people in a corporate gathering. In recent years I have actually become more convinced of the need and its importance. But I wonder if the Church is not \u201cstuck\u201d in some way, shape or form within the first two stories. On one hand we look out the window at what was or the perception of what was and at the same time we are in the \u201croom\u201d that has been decorated with a dominate focus on getting people saved so they can get into heaven. Once that is accomplished, the d\u00e9cor does not change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This does not mean I believe that accepting Christ as Lord and Savior is insignificant or even unnecessary, but it does mean that we have limited ourselves to one room and one window when there are many more areas in the house. More and more, the breadth of God and God\u2019s commitment to fulfill creation\u2019s purpose and intent captivates me. Lately \u201cmy\u201d Presbyterian \u201clectionary\u201d readings have included Isaiah. The image of life as God imagines is compelling and challenging.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some may find this book too sourced within a Buddhist framework, but I found the authors generous and inclusive as the references to Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandala (and others) attest. There is wisdom in this book that is not bound to one religion or source. We are approaching the season of Lent in the Liturgical calendar. I am fairly new to this way of walking, but I found this book timely. Joan Chittister reminds us, \u201cLent calls each of us to renew our ongoing commitment to the implications of the Resurrection in our own lives, here and now.\u201d[6]<\/a> Living into the shift offered by Macy and Johnstone is within the very fabric of Lent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the spiral of Work that Reconnects \u2013 gratitude, knowing our pain, seeing with new eyes and going forth[7]<\/a> there are opportunities to expand how we walk, perhaps even our spiritual disciplines might be seen afresh. As I consider why baby boomers have left the church what factors have nourished them and what has drained them?[8]<\/a> \u201cSo to strengthen our resilience, we need to pay attention to all the factors that sustain us.\u201d[9]<\/a> Surely we can find a better way to be.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is a book that sparks interest, deepens awareness and confronts the status quo. And it is also very practical when it comes to updating and revising a certain Personal Leadership Development Plan.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1] Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We\u2019re in Without Going Crazy <\/em>(Novato, CA: New World Library, 2012), 31.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2] Ibid., 14.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[3] Ibid., 14, 17, 26.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[4] Ibid., 4.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[5] Ibid.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[6] Joan Chittister, The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life <\/em>(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2009), 110.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[7] Macy and Johnstone, 39.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[8] Ibid., 215.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[9] Ibid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning I ran\/walked across the Narrows Bridge, beginning on the Gig Harbor side one mile later I am in Tacoma, then back again. Even with thousands of cars crossing it remains my favorite place to run and walk. Today was a pleasant trek, the wind was minimal, the sun was attempting to break through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"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":[1],"tags":[491,2,176],"class_list":["post-4033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lgp4-3","tag-dminlgp","tag-macyjohnstone","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4033","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\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4036,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4033\/revisions\/4036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}