Peter Scazzero gave
a dynamite talk at our Church (watch here).
It was more than just a lecture; we had an experience, we engaged, we
interacted. I like this: too often we
think of religion as info about the Bible or God being downloaded into our
heads. But Jesus, it appears, was not much of a lecturer. He asked questions,
he probed deeply, he got people moving and involved.
Scazzero's value
is in his insights into the linkage between God and our emotional life. Sure,
many Americans think about God and feelings - as in Do I feel God? Do I feel
anything in worship? But God is interested in your inner emotional life, in
bringing healing, and redirection to your emotions. The Bible is an intensely
emotional book: the stories of complex people, the profound prayers, and even
the rich swirl of emotion in the very heart of God!
If we think of
depression, anxiety, and other maladies that afflict us, doctors and counselors
are of much help. But a healthy spirituality is pivotal to our well-being, and
to understanding the depth of God's own heart.
In yesterday's
sermon, I spoke of the sinister messages our world bombards us with, lies about
who we are and why we are here: I am a burden, a producer, I need others'
approval, I can't make mistakes, it's all up to me. No wonder we are
anxious. Beseiged by smug, pious people, Jesus said "Those who are well
have no need of a physician, but those who are sick" (Luke 5:31). Hint
hint: none of us are well, or not yet. We need this physician.
The way this
physician heals us is intriguing: he diagnoses our brokenness, and we are glad
- for we are healed, not by going faster, but by slowing to a stop, by faith,
abandoning our obsession with success and failure. Jesus heals us with mercy,
and we learn to be merciful with ourselves, and others, and life itself. Karen
Armstrong wrote that "For grace to be grace, it must give us things we
didn't know we needed, and take us to places where we didn't want to go."
{Join an Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Small Group! This is the best and most strongly recommended way to learn and grow in this process! We'll start the week of Feb. 3.}
Repetition as Saving Grace
Part of Scazzero’s genius
is the way he has found the intersection between the emotional situation of 21st
century people and the classic disciplines and spiritual practices the Church
has utilized for centuries. Christianity
has the goods – like being still and simply meditating (not just a Buddhist
thing!). John 20 tells us Jesus
“breathed on them” – and maybe he was teaching them how to breathe, how to
inhale and then exhale, deeply, and feel the grace of God filling body, mind
and soul. Jesus showed them how to be
with other people, who also need grace, to open up, to be a church where deeply
flawed people love and help each other toward healing.
To be well, we think
about all our habits, like diet, sleep and exercise; we rely on our physicians,
and more of us should go in for counseling – which can be wonderfully useful
for the spiritual life! Kathleen Norris,
who underwent plenty of therapy herself, found immense value there – and yet
also realized how therapy “falls short of mystery, a profound simplicity that
allows for paradox. In therapy I search
for explanations, causes, and information to help change behavior. But wisdom is the goal of spiritual seeking.”
Wisdom. Mystery.
Grace. This is God’s realm. We might fix anxiety or depression medically,
but still feel a hollowness, a restlessness.
St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, You have made us for Yourself, and our
hearts are restless until they find rest in You.” Finding that rest in God is actually
essential even for dealing with anxiety, depression, guilt, sorrow, and broken
relationships. There is a deep weariness
in the soul no vacation or napping can alleviate.
I’m riddled with uneasiness; do you have anything to take for this? How about reading the Psalms, or a breathing
app on your phone, healthy prayers, listening to a hymn, joining (maybe for the
1st time) a group to grow in God?
There is a spiritual malaise at the deepest marrow of your self. Building spiritual habits into your daily
routine: this is the only way to
complement diet, exercise, sensible habits, and whatever the doctor has
prescribed.
Kathleen Norris spoke of
“Repetition as Saving Grace.” No single
prayer, lecture, sermon or email will do it.
We are embarking upon a discovery of a committed rhythm of connection to
God and others – and the very repetition itself will be God’s grace for you.
Think about your heart –
not just that fleshy engine that pushes oxygenated blood throughout your body,
but that inner core of your being that desires, loves, grieves, and hopes. The Bible tells us about God’s heart – and
the healthiest I can be spiritually is when I get my heart beating as closely
as possible to the heart of God.
I learn God’s heart by a
long project of immersing myself in Bible, worship, prayer, and conversation
with others. I come to want what World
Vision founder Bob Pierce spoke of – for my heart to be broken by the things
that break the heart of God. An
emotionally healthy spirituality involves caring about God’s world, growing up
and away from self-absorption, frustrating by injustice out there, discovering
what God is calling me to do, becoming a person who embodies God’s own
compassion.
You may say, But I am too broken myself to do any good. Yet, your brokenness may prove to be a
surprising, lovely gift. Nassir Ghaemi’s
intriguing book, A First-Rate Madness,
explores how great leaders like Lincoln and Churchill led brilliantly, not in spite of their bouts with deep
depression, but precisely because of
them. Studies show that depressed people
are more realistic, and are naturally more empathetic to suffering.
Of course, we all battle something or
another in our souls – and the battle is the way to compassion, and ministry to
others. Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a
striking letter to his young poet friend in which he urged, “Do not believe
that he who seeks to comfort you lives untroubled. His life has much difficulty and
sadness. Were it otherwise he would
never have been able to find these words.”
So, believing in the
saving grace of repetition, we pray once more, You
called people from their daily work, saying to them ‘Come after me.’ Today, may we hear your voice, and gladly
answer your call - to give our lives to you, to serve your Church, to offer our
gifts, and give away our hearts to you only. Bless our hopes: the first tiny
stirrings of desire, the little resolve to go forward, the small vision of what
might be. Deal gently with our fears, the hesitation of uncertainty, the
darkness of the unknown, the lack of confidence in our own capacity, and turn
it all to trust in you.
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