The Nines

Check it out here!

The world is not bad it is just broken!

The world is not bad it is just broken!

This changes our thinking from the church as good (white), and world as bad (Black) and compromise as gray.

The Jesus way of thinking is Church as colorful, and the world as black and white or broken.

Look at it this way;

God created us in the garden colorful and whole;  body, soul and spirit.

Our body was healthy and naked.

Our Soul was innocent and transparent.

Our Spirit was in communion with God.

We became broken when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good (white) and evil (black).

Our body became sick and covered.

Our soul became corrupt and ashamed.

Our spirit became separated from God.

In a black and white world people are looking for meaning and purpose this is why we have many different religions but also war and greed, etc.

Jesus came to fix what was broken. John 3:16-17

Jesus said the Kingdom of heaven is here He was referring to the relationship of God and man being restored as it was in the garden.

The death and resurrection of Jesus brought the final restoration or redemption for man to be complete and made whole; body, soul and spirit.

Our life is made complete in Christ!

Our identity is no longer in a broken black and white world but in Christ and the colorful world found only by his grace.

Grace makes us free not to live broken again but open to live life to the fullest.

The colorful world is not two dimensional but is a matrix and can only be understood by a relationship with Christ.

The black and white still exist in a colorful matrix. We still struggle with the attacks of the adversary just as Adam and Eve did in the garden tempting us to draw away from the Father.

The Holy Spirit was given to us to empower and lead us in this freedom we have in Christ.

When we see the world not as bad but broken we are able to Impact it with hope as Christ did.

This is the Missio Dei.

Disciplines for Christian Contemplative Living:

Lectio Divina – Contemplative Reading

Kristen Djupmeditation – Contemplative Prayer

Taize Mass – Contemplative Worship

Pilgrimage – Comtemplative Walking

The Scent of a Saint

Lately I have been deep in thought and spirit. Writing my thoughts on the tablet of my heart instead of my blog. I have a lot of books to read which fuels the fire of my thoughts.

Yesterday evening I went to a seminar with Peter Halldorf who just published a new book called “Doften av helgon” or “The Scent of a Saint”. Ironically he speaks and writes about the topic I have been interested in maybe for a longer time but has now become more actual, learning from the early church and the Church Fathers. Perhaps one could say a ancient-future approach. I think this is a result of my existential hunger for passionate truth on which I have been on a pilgrimage for a long time. My existential hunger for passionate truth is also a reason why I find interest in the emerging missional church which has called me to look back at the roots of the early church.

My blog may be silent for a while as I continue on my inner journey. I hope I can publish some of my thoughts and experiences. I will also try to publish what is happening on my outer journey with our church plant which has now been officially called New Life Church Gothenburg.

new year new start

Back online after having router problems!!

Good way to start the new year. Speaking of which, new year new start. Something I hope to do personally this year to look at spiritual formation or looking at spiritual formation through prayer, contemplation and meditation. Learning from the church fathers and the mystics and of course the gospel. I have just read; The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way, translated by Olga Savin. This is a good place to start. Teaches about praying the Jesus Prayer.

Thomas Merton on “The Jesus Prayer”

Thomas Merton on “The Jesus Prayer” — PART ONE

Thomas Merton on “The Jesus Prayer” — PART TWO

Thomas Merton on “The Jesus Prayer” — PART THREE

Kyrie Eleison, Lord Have Mercy

The … book “Orthodox Worship” describes the meaning of the word mercy as follows:

“The word mercy in English is the translation of the Greek word eleos. This word has the same ultimate root as the old Greek word for oil, or more precisely, olive oil; a substance which was used extensively as a soothing agent for bruises and minor wounds. The oil was poured onto the wound and gently massaged in, thus soothing, comforting and making whole the injured part. The Hebrew word which is also translated as eleos and mercy is hesed, and means steadfast love. The Greek words for ‘Lord, have mercy,’ are ‘Kyrie, eleison’ ­ that is to say, ‘Lord, soothe me, comfort me, take away my pain, show me your steadfast love.’ Thus mercy does not refer so much to justice or acquittal ­ a very Western interpretation ­ but to the infinite loving-kindness of God, and his compassion for his suffering children! It is in this sense that we pray ‘Lord, have mercy,’ with great frequency throughout the Divine Liturgy.”

*Light and Life Publishing Co., Minneapolis MN.

Sourse: http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7124.asp

The Jesus Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Luke 18:10-14 

Jesus Prayer

My Results of the Spiritual Types Test

Spiritual Types Test

“You are a Mystic, known for your imaginative, intuitive spirituality. You value peace, harmony, and inner silence. Mystics are nurtured by walking alone in the woods or sitting quietly with a trusted friend. You may also enjoy poetry, meditation, wordless prayer, candles, art, books, and anything else that helps you connect with God.

Mystics experience God best through rich images and symbols. You are contemplative, introspective, intuitive, and focused on an inner world as real to you as the exterior one. Hearing from God is more important to you than speaking to God. Others may attribute human characteristics to God, but you see God as ineffable, unnamable, and more vast than any known category. You are intrigued by God’s mystery.

Mystics want to inspire and persuade others, and need to live lives of significance. At times you push the envelope of spirituality, helping the rest of us imagine who we might become if we followed your lead.

Sometimes you may feel a bit guilty about your need for solitude and silence. If so, you probably have bought into the American myth that says being alone and doing nothing is lazy, antisocial, and unproductive. Stop it — now. Give yourself permission to retreat and be alone. It’s essential for your well-being.

On the other hand, don’t get so carried away retreating that you become a recluse. That only deprives the world of your gifts and deprives you of the lessons that come from being with others. Some Mystics may have a true vocation for solitary prayer, but the rest of you need to alternate retreat time with involvement and interaction.”

Via Mystica

I attended mass in the Church of Sweden that I would label a postmodern experience. The mass was held in Härlanda kyrka in Gothenburg. Via Mystica started in 2002 during the Gothenburg film festival when the Church wanted to join Church with Culture the results was a rockmässa or as it is called now a multimedia mass.

Via Mystica takes a 2000 year old message contextualizes it into a language and postmodern experience using rock music, film and video and mixes it with newly written liturgy. They say it is an old theme that uses a language people today understand.

The theme was; Those that belong to the Way are those on the way.

Människan är alltid på väg, (People are always on the way)
Gud är alltid på väg, (God is always on the way)
Kyrkan är alltid på väg, (The Church is always on the way)

The guest speaker KG Hammer, the former archbishop of Sweden, spoke on these three themes three different times throughout the mass in between music from Switchfoot, Manic Street Preachers, REM, Anastasia, Christina Aguilra, Depeche Mode, the Cardigans, U2 and others performed by a professional band with video/pictures on a big screen as well as liturgy and communion.

I enjoyed the mass for the purpose in which it should be experienced in a contemplative, meditative, spiritual formational way.

I do not often visit the Church of Sweden and from what I could tell of the several hundred guest that were there, they didn’t either. As the procession of the cross and the priest entered in the beginning of the mass a few people stood up, realizing this is what you are suppose to do the rest of us did the same.

I wondered after the mass if the people really received the message and experience for what is was meant to accomplish. It seemed for many that it was just another concert in the church. Some applauded after every song they seemed to be applauding the band and not the message. I am sure that many were encourage by the mass myself included. Even though I might question some of the theology not that it was necessarily wrong but that it was something to think about. It made me wonder if the Church of Sweden preaches a post-modern gospel to a post-modern people. None the less they preached Jesus, the mystery and way of God.

The Holy Spirit

One can only have an existential understanding of the Holy Spirit since one cannot put the Holy Spirit into a doctrinal category. One cannot limit nor dictate the work of the Holy Spirit, His empowering, filling and baptizing.

The bible only commands us to walk in the Spirit. This is a choice. One must choose to walk in the Spirit. It is with passion we except the Spirit. And it is in freedom we live in the Spirit!

douglas

Lectio Divina

Taking time to listen to God.

How often do we take time to listen to what God is saying to us? Traditionally our worship time is about us talking, praying, singing, and listening to a well-painted sermon. This type of worship has its place but do we hear do we listen to the word of God? It is not so strange in a time when every thing is moving so fast that we have a hard time keeping up.

In our fellowship we began to practice an old monastic discipline called Lectio Divina that takes time just to listen to God through silence, Word, mediation, prayer and contemplation. We often have this religious phobia that says, this will draw me away from my spiritual freedom and make me “religious”. But is it not so that our spiritual freedom makes us more “religious” then those who take time to listen to God. Spiritual freedom becomes “me” centered, what can I get out of it? But a true religious spirit is one that thinks of others. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world, James 1: 27.

Putting others first begins by putting Christ first in our way of life. We begin by listening then by doing.

What is it? Lectio Divina is a discipline or a form of Spiritual Formation, transforming our being into the likeness of Christ.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Lectio Divina is Latin for “divine reading” or “holy reading,” and represents an early monastic technique of prayer which continues in practice though less widely, intended to achieve communion with God as well as providing special spiritual insights and peace from that experience. It is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to study, ponder, listen and, finally, pray from God’s Word.

Lectio Divina was first expressed in the year 220 AD. It was found that to read the Bible profitably it is necessary to do so with attention, consistency and prayer. The systematization of “spiritual reading” into four steps dates back to the 12th century. Around 1150, Guigo II, a Carthusian monk, wrote a book entitled “The Monk’s Ladder” (Scala Claustralium) where in he set out the theory of the four rungs: reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation.

How we practice Lactio Divina:

We begin by making a room comfortable with candles sometimes-colorful lights and soft music. We have a notebook and a pen to journal our thoughts. One person guides us through the steps.

1. Silencio (Silence)

Prepare to encounter the written and living Word. Close your eyes take three deep breaths, take the posture of a pilgrim that you feel comfortable with in setting, and allow the silence to quiet the inside clutter. Journal your thoughts. What is distracting your mind?

2. Lectio (Read)

Slowly read the brief portion of Scripture, sensing with the mind, listening for key phrase, reflect upon the meaning this text has for you. We read the same text four times twice in Swedish twice in English.

3. Meditatio (Meditate)

Process the meaning of the Word, allow the Word to sink from your head to your heart. What is the Word saying to you?

4. Oratio (Prayer)

Enter into a dialogue with God and pray back to God expressing your response. Write your prayer to God in order to allow your deep heart to be expressed.

5. Contemplatio (Contemplate)

Your heart is at rest in solitude and silence in God’s presence, allow the text to work on you and soak into your heart (secret place, Psalm 51:6). What is God saying to you?

6. Incarnatio (Application)

How is God prompting you to live out the message of the Word

 7.    Collatio (Discussion)

We end by we discussing what we’ve learned.

We close by praying together.

This is how we do it.

“Reading seeks, Meditation finds, Prayer asks, contemplation feels.”         

Guogo II on Contemplation

THE LADDER OF FOUR RUNGS  



You can get more information online to understand more about this practice.