{"id":4444,"date":"2015-03-19T20:38:15","date_gmt":"2015-03-19T20:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4444"},"modified":"2015-03-19T20:38:15","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T20:38:15","slug":"all-aflame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/all-aflame\/","title":{"rendered":"all aflame"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAbba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, \u2018Abba, as far as I can, I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?\u2019 Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands toward heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, \u2018If you will, you can become all flame.\u2019\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

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I have yearned to be all flame. My deep seeded inclination to please others is deeply rooted. It has only been in recent years that I have come to understand and recognize how deeply and strongly this root is. Slowly I am coming to recognize the desire to please is welcomed, the orientation toward others has been the misplacement. It is in essence my cross to bear. It is the \u201cthing\u201d that is dying and at the same time by God\u2019s grace being renewed. Isolation, though initially unrecognized has been one of God\u2019s forging tools.<\/p>\n

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Shelley Trebesch\u2019s Isolation: A Place of Transformation in the Life of a Leader <\/em>invites the reader \u2013 you and I to understand the significance and purpose of isolation. In reflecting upon the book I recognize how significant isolation is to becoming \u201call flame.\u201d Reading the book brought an \u201cafter\u201d sense of having already experienced a significant isolation. Yet I wondered if I had read it during that season would I have been fortified to stay steady? I would like to think that I would have, that her words and illustrations would have provided me with insights so that I would not be dismayed or disoriented. Yet if that were the case would I have listened?<\/p>\n

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I am not so certain I would have. How does isolation fit into an achievement oriented Christian leadership? The really short answer is, it doesn\u2019t. The longer answer is, well, more complex. Let me back up just a bit. We do not often talk about isolation or being broken for that matter. When we are working with lay leaders or even on a job search for a new pastor the job descriptions do not ask if the applicant has experienced those things or even invited them to write about the experience. No, most often we want to know about the churches they have led, the successful programs that have been implemented. There is a trajectory that is anticipated. It reminds me of an old Bernstein Bears storybook, we want \u201cgood, better, best\u201d or \u201cfast, faster, fastest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Trebesch reminds us that God does not work that way. Personal isolation will often be experienced in order that we might experience God in some new way.[2]<\/a> Ministry isolation is often a combination in which we (the individual) experience a time of personal isolation as well as isolation from ministry.[3]<\/a> How we experience and process isolation ultimately influences personal and ministry fruit. In the first year of seminary I entered what was a significant season of isolation. Interestingly I thrived in my seminary context while experiencing complete disorientation and isolation in my church context. \u201cParadigm shifts change the way people view a particular situation by changing the worldview orientation of the person.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

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I began to understand the crucible of refining goes through isolation. We are reminded that isolation can happen involuntarily (as I experienced) and voluntarily.[5]<\/a> If we choose the voluntary path, we might just have had wise mentors speaking into our life helping us to recognize the signs. Some are fortunate to have the opportunity to take a sabbatical period after a certain number of years of service. If we enter into voluntary isolation it would not be unusual to have a certain purpose in mind. The opportunity is that as we release our plans and purposes to God, God takes what is offered and may well transpose it to bring about deeper capacity for relationship with God and in ministry.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the pesky involuntary isolation that throws us. The process of stripping, wrestling, intimacy and release toward the future are aspects in the process.[6]<\/a> A few learning highlights:<\/p>\n