{"id":4495,"date":"2015-03-21T12:46:17","date_gmt":"2015-03-21T12:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4495"},"modified":"2015-03-21T13:02:06","modified_gmt":"2015-03-21T13:02:06","slug":"while-walking-in-the-darkness-i-saw-the-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/while-walking-in-the-darkness-i-saw-the-light\/","title":{"rendered":"While Walking in the Darkness \u2013 I Saw the Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our pastor cluster met today; the cluster is eight to ten pastors who gather together once a month to share ministry, encourage and support one another and to pray together. It is an all-day experience from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. A highlight is reading and discussing a book every two months. Today, we completed the book by Andy Stanley and Lane Jones, Communicating for a Change<\/em>. Stanley understands the purpose and practice of preaching (or, for that matter, any effort to communicate the gospel as \u201csermons, talks, teachings and messages\u201d[1]<\/a>) is \u201cto take one simple truth and lodge it in the heart of the listener.\u201d[2]<\/a> The goal of preaching, as stated in the book title, is change \u2013 life change<\/em> through effectively communicating the gospel. This book was an excellent choice for our cluster as it affords more than knowledge; Stanley encourages and elevates the pastor.<\/p>\n

Stanly outlines a process how we can experience and communicate change. To communicate for change, involves several intentional steps: set a goal, isolate\/articulate a specific point that can lead to change, and \u201ccreate a map\u201d[3]<\/a> or a plan that can be worked to get there. I found many areas of correlation between Communicating for Change<\/em> and a second read for this week, Shelley Trebesch\u2019s book, Isolation: A Place of Transformation in the Life of a Leader<\/em>. Both authors are seeking to understand and achieve a deeper, fuller spiritual life. On the one hand, spiritual growth (change) occurs through \u201cowning\u201d one\u2019s experience and engaging in community through relational experience that elevates spiritual understanding;[4]<\/a> on the other hand, growth and maturity (transformation) comes through isolation experiences in a \u201cwilderness\u201d or \u201cdesert\u201d that affirm one\u2019s spirituality.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a relational connection between the concepts of change and transform; they are parallel and, paradoxically, overlapping concepts. We learn through what is happening in our lives. This type of learning, as we discovered in reading Caroline Ramsey, is \u201cpractice [experience] centered learning.\u201d[6]<\/a> A key to change and transformation, for all of the authors I have mentioned, is deliberate, intentional effort to recognize and apply our life experiences. For Trebesch, this means to process deeply and to \u201cseriously evaluate life and ministry.\u201d[7]<\/a>Attention is a process, according to Ramsey, that results in \u201ccognitive activity\u201d[8]<\/a> that leads to a better awareness of our context and filters out the \u201cnoise\u201d that prevents skillful and wise application of learning practices and opportunities. Stanley\u2019s focus is on change; the application of what we hear and experience ought \u201cto teach people how to live \u2026 to do something different instead of just think about it \u2026to know what to do with what they have learned.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

What we might learn through difficult experiences is not always apparent. \u00a0Reading Trebesch\u2019s book on Isolation<\/em> makes one aware of how easily we can miss the learning opportunity in difficult times. Her writing is founded on a basic presupposition that all leaders have \u201cisolation experiences.\u201d She goes on to note that \u201cdespite the pain that often ensues during an isolation time, these are crucial for the development of a leader.\u201d[10]<\/a> \u00a0My initial reaction to Trebesch was a failure to recognize my own isolation experiences. My thought process was reinforced when initially I could not connect with her definition: \u201c[T]he setting aside of a leader from normal ministry involvement in its natural context usually for an extended time in order to experience God in a new or deeper way.\u201d[11]<\/a>What is she talking about? A Sabbatical? There are two processes that she outlines early in the book that made it accessible to me: First, there is a wide spectrum of events that lead to isolation experiences; the event can vary in terms of intensity and is not always easily recognizable as isolating one from ministry. She then describes the nature of voluntary and involuntary experiences of isolation;[12]<\/a> the definition and examples clarified how we enter isolation experiences and what the experiences mean in our spiritual growth and relationship with God and each other. I did relate to many personal isolation experiences, some quite dramatic that I had not identified before.<\/p>\n

There are a number of really practical applications in Isolation<\/em>; in fact, it is the delineating of many steps and processes that make this work accessible and applicable. A good example is the fourfold process in isolation experiences. In looking retrospectively at my experiences, the application of stripping, wrestling, intimacy (identity) and forward looking or uplifting are easily identified.<\/p>\n

One of the highlights for me in Isolation<\/em> is the example and interpretation that Trebesch provides on Old and New Testament examples of isolation experiences. While reading Stanley and Trebesch, I discovered that both authors used Jesus\u2019 temptation experience in teaching their principles. Grant Osborne in his commentary on Matthew calls attention in 4:1 to how Jesus was \u201cled\u201d by the Spirit, while in Mark 1:12 the Spirit \u201csent\u201d Jesus, or more forcefully, \u201cthe Spirit cast him [Jesus] out\u201d into the wilderness.[13]<\/a> It is important in understanding the significance of the wilderness experience to note that God led\/sent Jesus which is interpreted as testing as opposed to Satan tempting; God does not temp; God seeks to restore and lead to deeper faith (Jas 1:13); this can happen through testing that the Lord God allows to occur in life. These concepts factor into both authors exegetical application. Stanley uses the temptation\/testing experience of Jesus by focusing on his own personal experience of \u201cbeing tempted.\u201d He notes that we must \u201cown\u201d[14]<\/a> an experience before we can make it applicable to ourselves and definitely to others. Trebesch emphasizes the \u201cwilderness\u201d side of the experience. Most people can relate to feeling alone; there is no help or answer, nobody has ever experienced what I am going though in this\u00a0moment. Often God seems absent or far away. \u00a0Her emphasis is on the outcome of the wilderness experience: \u201cJesus returned in the power of the Spirit.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

I have shared a number of times from Psalm 42, but I never interpreted this text through the lens of isolation experience. Trebesch\u2019s exegesis is refreshing and has brought new and dimensional meaning to crying out, \u201cWhy are you cast down, O my soul \u2026? Hope in God \u2026\u201d This is my personal favorite chapter in the book.<\/p>\n

The Dark Night of the Soul<\/em><\/strong>: The only perplexing thought in\u00a0Isolation<\/em>\u00a0are\u00a0the references made to the phrase or concept \u201cDark Night of the Soul.\u201d Trebesch refers to the biblical understanding\u00a0of the term \u201cas a natural part of the life of faith\u201d and refers to it as a part of her own experience.[16]<\/a> She also highlights the concept as she relates Jacob\u2019s night-long experience of wrestling with the angel; it is, she notes, a natural part of the \u201cstripping\u201d and \u201cwrestling\u201d that takes part in the isolation fourfold process. Trebesch refers to St. John of the Cross and understands the term to mean \u201can isolation experience when God cannot be found.\u201d[17]<\/a> I personally felt disconnected from this concept and I am left with questions. John Coe in his article, \u201cMusings on the Dark Night of the Soul\u201d presents the concept of \u201cdevelopmental spirituality.\u201d He questions it this way:<\/p>\n

\u2026 is there a \u2018developmental spirituality\u2019 that provides an understanding of the various dynamics involved in the spiritual growth of the human spirit across time and the divers manners in which the Holy Spirit works with the person at different times \u2026 At some point in our spiritual pilgrimage, [have] we \u2026 cried out to God or wondered in our deep: \u2018God, where are you? What is wrong with you? Why are you so distant? God, what is wrong with me? ‘Why do I feel so dry inside? Why do I not seem to care the way I used to about you? What have I done wrong?\u2019[18]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His thesis is that there are times in our spiritual journey during a \u201cdark night of the soul, \u2026 the Spirit secretly does a deep work in the human spirit-a work that is so profound bur feels so foreign to the Christian’s experience that it is often interpreted as the absence of God.\u201d[19]<\/a> This is a concept worthy of deeper exploration and understanding.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Andy Stanley and Lane Jones, Communicating for a Change<\/em> (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2006), 13.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 12.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 119.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Stanley, Ibid., \u201cRules of Engagement,\u201d 156ff.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Shelly Trebesch, Isolation: A Place of Transformation in the life of a leader<\/em> (Altadena, CA: Barnabus Publishers, 1997), 10.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Caroline Ramsey, \u201cManagement Learning: A Scholarship of Practice Centered on Attention?\u201d Management Learning<\/em> 45, no.1 (2014): 1.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Trebesch, v.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ramsey, 5.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Stanley, 95.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Trebesch, vii.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Ibid., 10.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Ibid., 30-34.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Grant R. Osborne, Matthew: Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament<\/em> Kindle ed. (Grand Rapids, MI\u201d Zondervan, 2010), 2374.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Stanley, 135-136.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Luke 4:14.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Trabesch, 3.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> John H. Coe, \u201cMusings on the Dark Night of the Soul: Insights from St. John of the Cross on a Developmental Spirituality,\u201d \u00a0Journal of Psychology and Theology<\/em> 28, (Winter, 2000): 293<\/p>\n

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

Our pastor cluster met today; the cluster is eight to ten pastors who gather together once a month to share ministry, encourage and support one another and to pray together. It is an all-day experience from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. A highlight is reading and discussing a book every two months. Today, we completed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"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":[491,2,116],"class_list":["post-4495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lgp4-3","tag-dminlgp","tag-trebesch","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4495","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\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4495"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4498,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4495\/revisions\/4498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}