1-3-11-Spirituality

How might Mary have felt when Elizabeth greeted her like this?  How is she "blessed" and encouraged?

What does Mary's faith (vv38-45) model for you?

For what does Mary praise God in this song?  What contrasts does she make in verses 51-53?  How do these reflect her feelings about God?  About herself?

Who are the "proud," the "rulers," and the "rich," whose over throw she celebrates?  How  will Jesus fulfill the themes of this song?

What would a diary from this 3 month visit reveal (v. 56)?

Of the attributes of God celebrated in Mary's song, which do you appreciate the most?  Which challenges you the most?  Why?

How does your life reflect God's concern for justice, mercy, and deliverance?  Would Mary consider you "God's humble servant" or a "proud rich ruler"?  Why?"

How did John's birth fulfill the words of the angel in verses 13-17?

How did the neighbors and relatives respond to these events?  How does all this begin to promote the Gospel?

As Zechariah's neighbor, what would you be thinking about his new son?

What does it mean to you that "the Lord's hand" is with someone:  Success?  Courage?  Wealth?  Endurance?  Holiness?  How was "the Lord's hand" seen in John's life?  What does that mean to you?

Make a list of the things for which Zechariah praises God.  How does his song compare and contrast with Mary's (vv45-55)?

What does it mean that Zechariah was "filled with the Holy Spirit"?  Do you think it was the same experience of the Spirit that believers experience today?  Why or Why not?

What according to this song is the purpose of salvation?  How does Zechariah's song show God's unfolding plan from Old Testament days to the coming of the Messiah?

Of the promises listed in this song, which one means the most to you at this stage in your life?  Why?

How has God unfolded his plan of salvation in your life?  Who helped prepare the way?  What were some key events that led you to your commitment to Jesus?

Write a song of praise to God using the special events of your own spiritual pilgrimage.

What was Mary's initial reaction to the angel's appearance?

Why did God choose Mary to give birth to his Son?

What do you think was the hardest for Mary to comprehend?

How do you think Mary felt about giving birth to the Messiah?

Why did the angel tell Mary about Elizabeth's condition?

After this encounter with the angel did Mary envision herself?

If an angel were to reveal God's plan your life today, I would?

One way I can bring the Savior into the world right now is to

My biggest concern about bringing Christ to my world?

If indeed" the Lord is with me." than I am encouraged that:

Spirituality

It is never enough simply to be competent , efficient minister.  The minister must embody and live by the spiritual values that she or he represents, proclaim, and tries to persuade others to embrace.

In keeping with this principle that the minister is an instrument of God's grace, the minister is also a sign of God's grace.

Every ministry calls for a response of faith and love.  But faith and love can only be called forth by "believing love" and loving faith.  The minister, therefore, does more than provide a "service."  The minister witnesses to the reality he or she communicates.

Spirituality

"For those who live according to the flesh are concerned with the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit with the things of the spirit" (Rom. 8:5).  To be spiritual means to know and to live according to the knowledge that there is more to life than meets the eye.  To be spiritual means beyond that, to know and live according to the knowledge that God is present to us in grace as the principle of personal transformation.  To be open to the Spirit is to accept explicitly who we are and who we are called always to become and to direct our lives accordingly.

The term spirituality, therefore, embraces everything that we are, think, and do in relation to the triune God who is present in and yet transcends all that is.  Spirituality might be defined as a style of life that flows from the presence of the Spirit within us and within the Church, the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

We are, of course, already holy by reason of the Spirit's indwelling within us, and that indwelling is in turn rooted in the creative act of the Father and the redemptive work of the Son.  Christian spirituality is a matter of living in accordance with who we have become in the Spirit, of manifesting the fruits of the Spirit's presence: mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and the like (Col 3:12; Gal. 5:22; Rom. 6:22).

Sanctification

If one is to understand what spirituality is all about and what it has to do with the Church and its ministries, one has to reflect more deliberately on this fundamental notion of sanctification. 

Sanctification takes place in a person who is moving to a different level of human consciousness.  The Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord of their life and whose whole life is determined by that belief.  The process by which a person moves to that new level of consciousness is called sanctification.

The call of Jesus was a call to repentance and faith, to a change of mind, or of consciousness and to a new-mode of behavior in keeping with that change of mind.  We are to live according to the demands of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our life.  We are to make God the center and active source of our whole being.  We are to be transformed ourselves by the redemptive, healing presence of God and then to allow Good to work through us to redeem and heal others and the whole world, enemies as well as friends, the outcasts as well as the respectable the poor as well as the rich, the sinners as well as the righteous.

The whole of Jesus' preaching is summed up by Mark: "This is the time of fulfillment.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent (Change), and believe in the Gospel" (1:15).  Thus His preaching is at once a proclamation and warning.  It announces a divine act (the coming of the Kingdom of God) and demands a response from us (sanctification).  The kingdom calls forth sanctification.

For Jesus nothing is more precious than the kingdom of God, that is, the healing and renewing presence and activity of God on our behalf.  Instead, "seek his kingdom and these other things will be given you besides" (Luke 12:31).  Like a person who finds a hidden treasure in a field or a merchant who discovers a precious pearl, we must be prepared to give up everything else in order to possess the Kingdom (Matt. 13:44-46).

But the Kingdom is promised only to those with a certain outlook and way of life (see the Beatitudes in Matt. 5:3-8).  One can inherit the kingdom through love of one's neighbor (Matt. 25:34-40), and yet one must also accept it as a child, that is as one without power (Matt. 10:15).

Jesus assured the scribe who grasped the meaning of the chief of the commandments (love of God and love of neighbor): "You are not far from the Kingdom of God" (Mark 12:34).  He also insisted to his disciples that their commitment to the kingdom would make strong demands upon them (Mark 10:1; Luke 9:57-62; Matt. 19:12).

Sanctification, therefore, has at least two components- repentance and faith.  And both are directed to the coming of the kingdom of God.  Jesus call us, first to repentance (metanoia, a change of mind).  To the Semite, metanoia meant a turning away from one's former consciousness, now recognized as wrong, and striking out in a completely new direction.

Metanoia, embracing sanctification and repentance together's not just sorrow for sin but a fundamental reorientation of one's whole life.  Jesus demanded that his listeners not only repent but also believe the gospel of forgiveness that he preached (Mark 2:10, 17).  And he drove home his point with various parables, especially those in Luke 15 and the parable of the prodigal son in particular.

Jesus was so committed to the forgiveness of sins in the name of God that he made himself the friend of outcasts such as publicans and sinners and did not avoid their company (Matt. 11:19; Mark 2:16).  Indeed he rejoiced over their sanctification (Luke 15:7-10; Matt. 18:13).

The antithesis of a repentant attitude, then as now, is an attitude of self-righteousness and presumption.  Jesus repudiated the proud, Pharisee (Luke 18:10-14), the elder brother who resented his father's benevolent reaction to the prodigal son's return (Luke 15:25-32), and the discontented laborers in the vinegard (Matt.20:1-15).  To those who set themselves proudly above others, Jesus declared that publicans and harlots would enter the kingdom before they would (Matt. 21:31-32).  He condemned pompous religious leaders for trying to shut the doors of the kingdom (Matt. 23:13).  All of us, he warned, are unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10), ever in God's debt (Matt. 6:12).  God will exalt the humble and bring dow the proud (Luke 14:11; 18:14).  We must pray that God forgives our trespasses.  And only those who are without sin should cast the first stone (John 8:7).

The early Church would continue this message: "Repent and be baptized..." (Acts 2:38).  Repentance, therefore, remains a major element of Christian spirituality, even if not the central element.

Jesus also demanded faith, which is the positive side of sanctification (Mark 1:15).  He said to the woman who had been afflicted with a hemorrhage for a dozen years and who was cured by touching his clothing, "Daughter, your faith has saved you" (Luke 8:48).  From there he went to the house of the official whose daughter was reported as already dead.  Jesus disregarded the report and said to the official, "Do not be afraid; just have faith and she will be saved" (Luke 8:50).

It was the faith of the lame man's friends that called forth from Jesus the forgiveness of his sins and physical healing (Mark 2:5).  Faith is also central to the narrative of the cured boy in Mark 9:14-29.  Jesus signed over this unbelieving generation (Mark 9:19) and reminded the boy's father that all things are possible to him who believes (Mark 0:23).

Moved by the great faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman, Jesus healed her daughter (Mark 7:26-30), and He drew attention to the faith of the pagan centurion who believed that a mere word from Jesus would heal his sick servant (Matt 8:10; Luke 7:9).  On the other hand, where Jesus encountered an obstinate lack of faith, he was not able to manifest the signs of salvation (Mark 6:5-6).  Sanctification is a radical transformation from which follows on all levels of life an interlocking series of changes and developments.

There is a change in oneself, in one's relationships with others and in one's relation to God.  Sanctification then is the transformation of the individual and of his or her world.  One's direction is altered, one's eyes are opened, and one perceives the world in a new way.  Indeed one perceives a new world, the Kingdom of God.

To see a new world, that is, to see the Kingdom, is to enter a new form of existence, one rooted in the spirit rather than the flesh.  One is intent now on the things of the spirit because one lives now "according to the spirit" (Rom. 8:5).

Sanctification is both act and process, once-and-for-all and ongoing.  The final test of sanctification is whether or not leads to and is continually expressed in love for God.  As John's first epistle states it: "If any one says, 'I love God,' but hates his brother [or sister] whom he hass seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also so love their brother [and his sister] "(1 John 4:20-21).  And those who so love their neighbor will enter the Kingdom for as often as we do it to one of these, the least of his brethren we do to to him (Matthew 25:40).

Evaluating Spiritualities

Spirituality is a general term, like religion.  How is the Church's minister to decide which of these spiritualities offer a genuine style of Christian life?  How is the Church's minister to discern the problems and difficulties that one finds in some spiritualities today?

The following criteria will help each minister and potential minister make these judgments:

1. Christian spirituality is holistic,

2. Christian spirituality is other-oriented,

3. Christian spirituality is pluralistic,

4. Christian spirituality is humane,

5. Christian spirituality is trinitarian,

6. Christian spirituality is kingdom-oriented,

7. Christian spirituality is sacrificial,

8. Christian spirituality is ecclesial or Church oriented,

9. Christian spirituality is for all Christians.

Holistic Spirituality

We are neither purely bodily creatures nor purely spiritual.  Nor are we even primarily one or the other.  We are body-spirits.

Ministry is not for the sake of personal fulfillment or material gratification.  It exists always for the service of others-in there bodily as well as their spiritual needs.  In other words just as the minister is a body-spirit, so are those whom the mister serves body spirits.  Ministerial spirituality, therefore, must be holistic, not dualistic.

Other-Oriented Spirituality

Accordingly no authentically Christian spirituality can attend exclusively or in an exaggerated fashion to the individual's personal relationship with God, with Jesus, or with the Holy Spirit as it other persons and the wider created order did not enter intrinsically into those relationships.  Our spirituality must open us to others, therefore, is never a sign of personal intimacy with God, who is present in others.

Christians, therefore, are people of virtue.  They are people of faith, hope, and love.  They are people of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude.  They are people of mercy and compassion.  And they have an exquisite sense of humor because they really do see the great discrepancy between our finite human pretensions and the grandeur of the Kingdom that the Lord has promised us.  To be a Christian is to love God in the other.  Consequently, ministerial spirituality must be other-oriented, not individualistic.

Pluralistic Spirituality

Each individual has to have the freedom to cultivate his or her own personal relationship with God, but always in the contest of the Church at large and the particular community of faith with which the believer is associated.

Humane Spirituality

We are graced.  God is present and active within us.  In fact , God's presence enters into the very definition of what it means to be human.

Trinitarian Spirituality

To be graced is to be alive by a principle that transcends us, namely, the presence of God.  For the Christian, however, God is triune.  Christian spirituality, therefore, is trinitarian, not unitarian.

We are created, called, and sustained by the Father, redeemed and recreated by the Son, and renewed and empowered to live a fully human life by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, spirituality is not authentically Christian if it seeks to fashion a relationship with God the Father alone, with God the Son alone, or with God the Holy Spirit alone.

Kingdom-oriented Spirituality

Humankind and the world in which we live are destined for and therefore oriented toward the Kingdom of God.  But the Kingdom of God, is a kingdom of justice and peace as well as of holiness and grace.

Justice is a cardinal virtue.  To lack it is to lack something essential to Christian holiness. "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them" (Matt. 11:4-5).

Jesus himself has set the standard for his Church's ministers.  Let them minister as he ministered.  Let them cultivate a style of spiritual life oriented to the Kingdom of God, not one turned in upon itself and insensitive to the legitimate claims of the poor and oppressed.  Let them not confuse attention to religious duties- rituals, laws, traditions, and customs-with the service of God.  Ministerial spirituality, therefore, is Kingdom-oriented, not religion-oriented.

Sacrificial Spirituality

We are graced, but we are also sinners.  There can be no authentically Christian spirituality apart from the Cross.  Christian spirituality, therefore, is always marked by sacrifice, denial of selfish interests, even contradictions.  It is mindful always of the impact of Original Sin: of pride, apathy, temerity, lust, hypocrisy, sloth, and the like.

The Christian knows, as a Christian, that there is no Easter without Good Friday.  "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat but if it dies, it produces much fruit" (John 12:42).  The Christian also knows, as a human being, that there is no love without cost.  Love by its nature is sacrificial.  It gives to the other without calculation.  It seeks only the well-being of the other.

Married Christians who have raised a family know exactly what this means.  This is not textbook spirituality.  It is what life is all about.  Just as we love sacrificially within the family, so we must be prepared to love sacrificially within the larger family of the Church and beyond that within the still larger human family.

A sacrificial spirituality, therefore, will be rooted in the theological virtues (faith, hope, and love) and moral virtues (prudence justice, temperance, and fortitude).  It's center, however, will always be love.  For sacrifice without love is empty.  Ministerial spirituality is sacrificial, not selfish.

Church-oriented, Spirituality

Our Christian faith comes in the first instance from the Church's proclamation of the Word of God, and sustained within the faith community itself.

There is no authentically Christian spirituality apart from the life of the Church and especially from its life of worship.

Spirituality for All Christians

The call to Christian holiness is a universal call.  There is no "higher" spirituality for the ordained, or is their a "lower: spirituality for the laity.  The whole Church is the People of God, and the whole Church is called to holiness.

For that reason Christian spirituality is for all Christians and that includes, of course, all the Church's ministers.

Homework

1. In light of your understanding of theological, doctrine, and sacred Scripture, how would you describe a truly holy, or spiritual, Christian?

2. That ministers must personally embody what they proclaim is a textbookish statement.  Can you verify  this from your own experience?  Can you cite a case or two of people who have ministered to you or to your family and friends?  How did the minister's personal witness enter into the act of ministry itself?

3. From what you know of the charismatic movement and the Pentecostal and "born-again" movements in some of the Protestant churches, would you actively encourage or discourage Christians influenced by those movements to minister in your church?  Explain?

4. Which of the ten criteria for spirituality do you think are most often violated in the Church as you know it today?  Which of the ten criteria seem to be most frequently honored?  Can you think of other criteria that might be useful in helping you and others to discern authentic from inauthentic Christian spiritualities?

5. Having a vibrant ministerial spirituality is easier said than done.  If you were appointed as a spiritual director )a mythical post, of course), how would you go about reaching ministers at all levels: presbyters, deacons, religious educators, youth ministers, College chaplains, hospital chaplains, ministers to the elderly, social ministers and so forth?

6. You're on duty in the church office one day, and someone comes to the door.  The person acts a bit self-conscious but is obviously intelligent and serious.  First comes a question:  "How do I go about becoming a minister in the church?"  Before you can even begin to answer, the person adds a request: "I'd need someone to help me grow spiritually so that my ministry here would be as fruitful as possible."  Could you offer such a person any help?  Where would you begin?

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