My Year In Review - Flickr

January 7, 2010 // No Comments »

Go to the Flickr site for images from last Sunday’s “My Year in Review” stations.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fusionokc/sets/72157623035667587/



www.flickr.com convergence:OKC’s My Year in Review 01-03-2010 photoset

Posted in Awareness, Uncategorized, spiritual practices, the gathering

Saul Saul by Loren O’Laughlin

June 14, 2009 // No Comments »

Tonight we had the great opportunity to consider a local artists depiction of Saul’s experience on the road to Damascus (acts 9).  

How did you interact with the painting? the story?  How do you see Paul’s encounter as a ‘noetic’ one?

Posted in spiritual practices, the gathering

communion: ‘take this bread’

June 8, 2009 // 1 Comment »

last night, within our moments of communion, i read from a memoir of a woman truly impacted by the experience of the bread and cup, saying, “Jesus happened to me.”

She records, “the word (Jesus) was indisputably in my body now, as if I’d swallowed a radioactive pellet that would outlive my body flesh.”  Communion, for Sara Miles, was the beginning of her process to SEE the reality of Jesus.  Because of that moment, that becomes ongoing for her, leads her to SEE the great hunger around her–in her city.  

HOW DOES HER STORY CONNECT WITH YOU?

We’ll continue to read from her memoir as we experience communion together.

Posted in spiritual practices, the gathering

awaken:seeing (contemplative way)

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OUR CONTEMPLATIVE WAY

In a very real sense, the awakening we speak of is directly linked to the contemplative life.  to be prayerful - is to have our eyes opened to God, SEEING others, ourselves, the marginalized, all of creation with God-eyes.

Fusion has immersed itself in the {IMAGINATIVE thread} of the contemplative life over the years.  Lectio Divina (’divine reading’ - reading the Scriptures prayerfully, expectantly, being open to SEE God’s words for us/community), Imaginative Meditation (placing ourselves in the narrative scene—to interact with the surroundings to SEE what we might miss by our potential numbness/distance to the story), Ignatian Examen (reviewing our day–rewinding and pausing throughout our experience that we might SEE as God sees our day). The Jesus Prayer (repeating the desperate prayer for mercy as we breath in/out, SEEING our dependance upon God).

We are now introducing the {SURRENDERING thread} of contemplative prayer.  While the Imaginative Prayer thread creates a vital theology of imagination in us—knowing our mind wanders–but these practices train our mind to ‘wander’ in and through the experience of Scripture and our own life to be AWAKE to God.  Surrendering Prayer engages the other side of life—the one we often never heed, the silence.  One, we probably rarely allow for silence–and Two, our moments of silence may often not be silent at all–filling the moments with words/prayers/and again, mind wandering.  True silence is empty of thoughts, empty of words, but not empty of meaning.  Throughout church history, what we are calling Surrendering Prayer, is known as Centering Prayer.  Many ways of practicing/exercising Centering Prayer exist - and we will continue to introduce these practices.

To find a few of these practices, both from the Imaginative Thread and the Surrendering Thread of the Contemplative Way, you can open the Awaken Booklet PDF.

Posted in spiritual practices

awaken: to the footsteps of the stranger

May 18, 2009 // No Comments »

you are invited to consider the following practices this week . . .

(from Matthew 9)     Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, ⁽because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

As we experience a growing pattern of awareness woven in our life – we will see the world around us differently.  We will see glimpses of God in the most ordinary moments.  Being AWAKENED to God will mean that we are aware of Him in the things we See, Sense, Know, and Do.  

Quieting ourselves, slowing down our often, unrelenting speedy pace of life will mean that we are more aware of the way we take in and process what our senses are responding to.  Creation around us becomes brighter, richer, and louder.  People become more beautiful and valuable.  We recognize we are in the very midst of God and His created order.  

However, until we slow down and silence our over saturated life, we are most likely totally unaware of the judgments we make daily about the information and relationships we are encountering.  We especially make bold and rash value judgements upon the strangers around us.

“That guys a jerk”; “That person is X.”; “What an idiot–don’t they know how to drive?”

How would we be affected if we reserved those rash judgments to take a moment and consider their story?  Even if we don’t know them–and never will—what would it mean for us to first react with compassion?

GET INTO THE FOOT STEPS OF A STRANGER
* In a regular pattern of your day – go to a public place and take a few moments to observe a stranger.
* Once you’ve taken in their outer appearance, take a few more moments watching them, IMAGINING their possible emotions, their possible story, their possible family life, their possible joys, heartaches and brokenness.
* Now imagine them as the Image of God – a living, breathing, interacting, picture of The Living God.
* Pray for them, let the words, just flow.
* Now look again at them, remembering how you first chose this person to observe.  How do you see them differently? 

What would it mean if you encountered each person with the way you ended up looking at this one stranger?

PLEASE TAKE TIME THIS WEEK TO BLOG/SHARE YOUR STORY.

Posted in spiritual practices

Reflections:

May 10, 2009 // 2 Comments »

How are you becoming more aware of God in your everyday?
(especially through valuing and adopting Contemplative/Spiritual Practices)

How has solitude/retreat/silence affected you?

What challenges/uneasiness/hesitations are you encountering in your prayer life?

Posted in spiritual practices

imagine + holy week (sunday)

April 12, 2009 // No Comments »

Posted in livetheforty, spiritual practices

imagine + holy week (saturday)

April 11, 2009 // No Comments »

Posted in livetheforty, spiritual practices

imagine + holy week (friday)

April 10, 2009 // No Comments »

Posted in livetheforty, spiritual practices

imagine + holy week (thursday)

April 9, 2009 // No Comments »

Posted in livetheforty, spiritual practices

image + holy week (wednesday)

April 8, 2009 // No Comments »

Posted in Uncategorized, livetheforty, spiritual practices

imagine + holy week (tues)

April 7, 2009 // No Comments »

Posted in livetheforty, spiritual practices

imagine + holy week (monday)

April 6, 2009 // No Comments »

We invite you to prayerfully engage in the following passage from the Story of God (Scripture) by using the practices described earlier (in this blog) as “Imaginative Meditation” . . .

Online: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012:1-11;&version=65;

PDF (pages 20ff): http://www.fusionokc.com/resources/livetheforty2009.pdf

Posted in livetheforty, spiritual practices

imagination + holy week

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We are encouraging you to take a moment, each day of Holy Week, and enter the scene with Christ.  Below is a short excerpt from our Metanoia book and insights from “Inner Compass” by Margaret Silf that describes the Contemplative Practice of “Imaginative Meditation.”

Ignatius teaches us how to open ourselves up to intimacy with God through Gospel-based meditation, through which we can, in our prayer, become participants in the life and ministry of Jesus and discover its reality for us where we are here and now.” 

1. ASK God to reveal himself to you; express your desire to experience Him

2. READ the passage several times until it is familiar and you feel at home with it

3. IMAGINE that you are an active participant in the scene.  What role do you find yourself taking in the scene

– for example, are you one of the disciples, a bystander, or the person being healed? Listen inwardly to what God is showing you through your role in the scene. Talk with the characters in the scene, especially with Jesus.

There are always two rules:

* never moralize or judge yourself  

* always respond from your heart and not from your head…our purpose in prayer is not to defend or condemn

ourselves or to come up with any kind of analysis or sermon, but simply to respond, from our inmost depths, to what God is sharing with us of himself.

If you find it difficult to enter into the scene…don’t worry about getting the facts right. You may well find that the scene doesn’t take place in first century Palestine but in rush hour traffic.  

Posted in spiritual practices

my lack of interior life…

January 19, 2009 // 2 Comments »

as i shared in the gathering - i identify with the things Rolheiser writes, that work against the interior/mystical/spiritual life.  I thought i’d enter the quote i read last night.

“Among the many things that work against interiority today, three can be singled out as particularly cankerous: narcissism, pragmatism, and unbridled restlessness.  Defined simply, narcissism means excessive self-preoccupation; pragmatism means excessive focus on work, achievement, and the practical concerns of life; and restlessness means an excessive greed for experience, an overeating, not in terms of food but in terms of trying to drink in too much of life.  Narcissism accoutns for our heartaches, pragmatism for our headaches, and restlessness for our insomnia.” pg 32

The Holy Longing

Any thoughts?  Do you identify?

Posted in spiritual practices, the gathering

My Year In Review 2008

December 29, 2008 // No Comments »

We just provided our evening of contemplative reflection on our past year.  Each station was designed to introduce a spiritual practice and a creative reflection upon your life and our life in community and world.  Below is a brief summarization of each station and a place for you to blog about each one individually.  take a moment and share with the community what you “carried away” from the evening.  If you missed the evening - download the pdf (link is on the right column) and do some of the actions at home.

STATIONS:

* AWARENESS
How have you been awake this year – to perceive and assess emotions, circumstances, and the movements of God?  What colors did you use in the painting?  What did you assess about the entire canvas - the collective colors of the canvas?

* BOUNDARIES
Who is most real, known, and loved by you?  Is your “heart” large and burgeoning outward – or is the room you are making for love small, including those who are like you in race or education or culture or economic status?   Write out some ways in which you saw God push you further in love of neighbor, enemy, and those marginalized.

* COMMUNITY
Who did you pray for?  Who has been a blessing and encouragement to you?  What prayers, for fusion, for fusion children, or for those yet to follow Christ were most powerful to you?  How did it feel to write encouragement to another person?  What was it like to receive encouragement?

* CONFESSION
What is God “killing off” asking you to “leave behind”?   How did you feel writing the ‘word’?  What was it like to wipe the ‘word’ from the sand?   How did you feel to leave the station, essentially, leaving your ‘word’ behind? 

* DEVOTION
Do you see the devotion in Mary’s action of anointing Christ?  How was it worshipful to do the same?  Did you imagine yourself before Christ in gratitude and love? 

* EMBRACE
What does it mean for you to be ‘embraced’ by God? how does your view of communion grow to include this embrace language?

* IMAGINE
What are you imagining for 2009?  What do you see your life with God and community looking like?  What hopes did God affirm in your heart as you listened to the song? 

* ICON
What was it like to try centering prayer?  Are you willing to continue the practice at other times in your life?

* REORIENTATION
The poem, Contrast, (found on the Bridgeway CD - ‘Brand New Mountain Speeches’) was an assault on much of the systems we have grown to believe “go with” the Western Christian way of life.  What systems are you finding your faith in?  Are you willing to leave the mass acceptance of these things and be a very present ‘contrast’ as you follow fully the way of Christ?

Posted in spiritual practices, the gathering

trinity icon

October 20, 2008 // 4 Comments »

What stood out to you as you ‘contemplated’ the Rublev Trinity Icon.

How does the idea that the table is open, inviting us to find our place with God?

Posted in spiritual practices