Christianity

A Surprising Place to Find God
– by Carolyn Bell

by

This is a guest post by my friend Carolyn Bell.  She is a member of First United Methodist Church in Wichita Falls, Texas where she taught preschool at the School for Little People for 25 years – and still teaches yoga to four year olds!  Currently, she teaches the High School Girls Sunday School Class and participates in several study groups.  A certified yoga teacher, Carolyn teaches at Anytime Fitness, also in Wichita Falls.  You can learn more about a transformation in her life and her personal yoga journey on her blog:  yogafriends.wordpress.com.  She is married to Dewayne, and they have two adult sons.

Growing up, I had a traditional Christian upbringing within several Methodist churches, but I was surprised to discover a deepening of my faith on my yoga mat. I started a yoga practice about 14 years ago at a time when my personal anxiety was at an all-time high level. For many reasons, I have had a struggle with an anxiety disorder over the years. No amount of prayer or positive thinking or medications had helped me to overcome my overstimulated nervous system. My body was in that “flight or fight” syndrome most of the time, and I felt very fragile.  While I struggled to remain present in my body at my first yoga experience, I soon discovered the reward at the end of class… meditation.  It was in this contemplative state that I opened myself to new possibilities and to new life. I prayed for God’s presence and for His guidance. After six years of practice I knew that God was opening a path for me to teach yoga, and I responded. Yoga has given me techniques to calm and integrate my body, mind, and breath.  The continued practice of meditation has given me the ability to open myself as a vessel for the creative flow of God. I know more than ever that, “In God I live and move and have my being.” (Acts 17: 28) God is the creative spirit of life. I see his work all around me. Meditation has allowed me to open myself in ways that I never imagined.  I discovered for myself that yoga integrates the movement of the body and mind with the breath which allows your spirit the freedom to soar.

A few years after beginning my yoga practice, I was faced with more challenges to my personal belief system. As my heart softened, I altered my view of what I thought I believed. I discovered a new vision for the Kingdom of God, one that I was already participating in here on earth. As I let go of the rigidity of my mind, I understood anew ways of understanding the stories in the Bible and the message that Jesus brought forward. By softening the hard edges of my mind, body, spirit connection I leaned more into progressive Christianity with authors like Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, John Shelby Spong, Walter Wink, Brian D. McLaren, and Rob Bell. These authors make me think and re-evaluate my life purpose as a follower of Jesus. At times, I struggled with thoughts like, “Is it okay for me to think like this?” “What will others think about me if I don’t believe the standard message anymore?” and finally, “This is more exciting and amazing information than I ever thought possible!”  In years past I probably would have panicked and run away from anything that went against my traditional theology.  But because I had the tools that I needed to stand firm and open my heart to listen, and to use my mind to comprehend what I was presented, I gained new insight, new knowledge, new understanding.  I believe that my yoga practice has had an influence on how I accepted this new vision of Christ in my life.  There is something about yoga that requires you to step outside of your comfort zone… to be unafraid… to face your fears and let them flow out of your body with your breath.  Thomas Merton said, “When the heart is right, ‘for’ and ‘against’ are forgotten.”  Many yoga postures open your heart, freeing you from fear and encouraging you to stand firm, to find that balance between surrender and strength.  This balance of the body and mind with the breath allows you to flow in synchronicity within yourself, and it has an impact on how open your heart is toward others.  For me, the breath is the God given “pneuma” of life itself in God’s Holy Spirit.  You feel a connection with those near to you and to all of life.  In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus himself tells us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:  Love your neighbor as yourself.” Yoga has introduced me to another culture, to another philosophy, to tools for living, and even to new music. This gained knowledge has helped me to gain new insight for my own culture and religious belief system.  I have fellowshipped with and grown closer to people that I never would have known otherwise.  I have dropped the rigid dividing walls of my mind.  Yoga has given me the tools that I needed to face my fears, to cleanse them with the breath of God’s spirit, to be still before my God, and to serve others in love.

I have heard the Christian naysayers who speak up against yoga saying that the two practices are incompatible. For me, yoga has enhanced my spiritual life especially through the meditation practice.  I have learned how to be still before my God and listen for His voice and direction in my life.  Yoga did originate in India 6000 years ago, and it does have a philosophy that is described in the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali.  It is a scientific system that enables one to build strength along with flexibility which encourages inner growth and discipline.  Yoga has taught me how to breathe correctly, how to balance effort with relaxation, how to be present in difficult circumstances, how to feel grounded with good posture, how to quiet my mind in order to think or not think, how to move my body with the breath, and how important it is to rest in order to be at ease in the world.  Yoga balances the energy in my body. If I did not feel this balance then I would not be able to interact fully with those around me; I would be on the couch with a blanket over my head!  Through my studies, I have discovered that there is a yoga ‘mudra’ or hand position which symbolizes Christ’s presence in your life, and your hands are repeatedly placed in a prayer position throughout the practice.  Yoga has helped me to free my tense body, heart, and mind to God, to others, and to my own inner wisdom.  From my perspective God has blessed me with this physical practice of yoga.

I have continued as a yoga teacher for the past 8 years and even share my passion with children by teaching yoga through story and movement.  There are wonderful yoga stories available for children that teach ways for them to deal with their emotions, to playfully imitate animals, and to learn to quiet their mind and bodies. My yoga practice has been an amazing and opening experience for me. Each class is a time of present moment awareness and of opening myself to God’s presence and to His creative flow. I believe that God is working within me to share this practice with others. Relationships have grown with those who practice with me as we have become more connected through our shared experience. I know that I can’t help but include my Christian faith as part of my yoga practice. It is a part of who I am; however, I have discovered that yoga encourages the same qualities of love, compassion, peace, patience, and humility that Jesus shared with us as the fruits of the Spirit. I encourage you to add a time of meditation to your daily life and experience the ever present Spirit of God for yourself.  Every breath we take connects us to God if we acknowledge Him. That breath flows through every organ and vessel of our bodies, cleansing our systems and filling us with new life.  Experience the connection for yourself, and open your heart to new possibilities.  Find your strength in stillness before God.

Namaste – Carolyn

Hometown Prophet – A Book Review

by

Honestly, I’ve always been skeptical of the “supernatural” – predicting the future, speaking in tongues, miracles, and the like. On top of that, I’ve come to believe that the biblical prophets were not predicting the future so much as telling people to shape up for a good future or expect a dismal future if they stay on their current path. Think about it.  That’s the task that Jonah is faced with (that he runs away from), and when he tells his archenemies, the Ninevites, they actually do what he says, to his chagrin. Their future is good.

As I got about one third of the way through Hometown Prophet by Jeff Fulmer, a story about a slightly below average man turned supernatural predictor of the future, I was ready to give up on the book. Three things kept me going:

  1. I’d made a deal with www.TheSpeakEasy.info. They’d given me a free book in return for a review of it. I wasn’t going to go back on my deal.
  2. Some of my friends had told me that if I read the Left Behind series as pure fiction, they could be enjoyable. I’ll take their word for that, but I figured I could look at this as pure fiction and get past differences in theology.
  3. If I was honest, though, I had heard and experienced some supernatural events that called my thoughts into question:
  • My Grandma often told the story of my Dad as a little tyke riding his tricycle in the kitchen. He’d had a wreck, falling back on the wood burning stove neck first. Nothing they could do would stop his crying. I don’t remember whether the doctor was not in town, or he couldn’t do anything either. As a last resort, they took him to a local “healer” who said something, spit in her hand, and touched his neck. Grandma said he quit crying instantly.
  • A seminary professor of mine had told the story of a United Methodist seminarian who’d graduated a few years before my time. He’d grown up in and accepted his call in UM churches that practiced “traditional” worship. Once, as a requirement for a seminary class, he’d attended a Pentecostal church to write a paper about worship styles. Much to his surprise, he was “slain in the Spirit” and spoke in tongues leaving him questioning whether glossolalia was really “repugnant to the word of God” as Methodist doctrine proclaims.
  • I’d taken a college-aged group to a revival service featuring an exuberant preacher. After her sermon, she invited folks to come to the altar to pray if they felt led. She, in turn, went around to each person, laid hands on each, and prayed out loud for each without speaking to person. One young woman in my group went forward to pray. She had confided in me recently about some difficulties she was facing. She was a total stranger to the preacher, but the preacher prayed specifically for the problems the young lady was facing.

Armed with the insights above, I continued on.

Peter Quill is a 31 year old college grad who never really made it, and he finds himself back at home – without a job and living with his divorced mother. He’d given up on church, but when he is awakened by a very vivid, lucid dream about his childhood pastor, he decides to go to church. Inspired by his dream and the sermon he hears, Peter goes forward to tell the now-older pastor that he should get his heart checked out. Turns out he does have a life-threatening blockage. Thus begins a story of one who has dreams that predict the future following a time of interpretation.

Frankly, the first third of the book was rather predictable for me as Peter’s predictions get wider, affecting larger numbers of people of his community in and around Nashville. I also found this portion of the book rather slow moving failing to hold my interest. Yet, shortly following this, twists and turns began to happen and predictability went out the window. A love interest for the prophet entered the story adding more depth to the plot and to Peter. On top of that, Peter’s dreaming went from being simply foretelling the future to being about changing people’s attitudes and actions, too, which was closer to my way of thinking. By the beginning of the last third of the book, I was engrossed in a real page-turner, and I did not want to put it down.

Socially speaking, the book promotes ideas that I appreciate: care for the poor, care for the environment, and respect for other religions. It also highlights the hypocrisy of some forms of Christianity that pick and choose the “sins” they want to highlight in society while overlooking others. It promotes moving the church beyond its own walls out into community, and it encourages individuals to take the personal responsibility of looking out for one’s neighbors. It also encourages persons to grow in their self-esteem as they begin to discover and use their God-given gifts (as Peter does throughout the book).

This book fits into what I call theological fiction. Other books that fit this genre for me include Marcus Borg’s Putting Away Childish Things: A Tale of Modern Faith (which I really enjoyed), Joseph F. Girzone’s Joshua: A Parable for Today, and William P. Young’s The Shack. These seem heavy-handed in theology, though. Some sections could easily be excerpted from these works of fiction and plopped down in a non-fiction theology book; thus, in many ways, they don’t always feel like novels to me.

In contrast, I enjoyed how Fulmer includes theology in his book in a more background way. There are no long speeches or narratives espousing theology. There’s theology there but not overtly. Thus, the book was much more readable as a novel.

And yet, I still struggle with some aspects of the theology. Most I can squint my eyes through, but I’m left with the idea that the author might be espousing a theology in which God causes natural disasters to teach people lessons.  Now, I’m not sure, after looking at his website, that Fulmer feels that way, but the book certainly left me feeling that way.  I just can’t go there. The character of God that I see in Jesus doesn’t do that. For sure, God can teach us things in response to natural disasters – and I believe God does. But, the God I know doesn’t cause natural disasters.

As a work of fiction, I think Hometown Prophet is a real good read, especially once you get past the first third with the last third being the best. There are good elements of theology sprinkled in, but one should think critically about all aspects of the theology found there – and anywhere, for that matter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About Jeff Fulmer, the author of  Hometown Prophet:

Jeff grew up in Franklin Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, where he attended a conservative, charismatic church that actively sought the gifts of the Holy Spirit. After graduating from Pepperdine University, he bounced around for a few introspective years before eventually moving back home to Tennessee. Along the way, he began to question some of his longstanding beliefs and attempted to reconcile his political and religious views. Increasingly, he became saddened and angered with how Christianity was so misrepresented for personal and political gain.  Hometown Prophet was born out of that frustration.  Learn more at www.hometownprophetbook.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR,Part 255.

D-I-V-O-R-C-E and the C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N

by

“Can I talk to you,” I asked, a bit sheepishly (I’ve always been a bit shy).

“Sure,” was the response.

I was considering a call to vocational ministry, and a few mentors had advised that I should ask to hear call stories of others that I knew who were in ministry or going into ministry to help me discern my own call. This was the intent behind my question.

“I know that you have recently decided to go into ministry and that you’ll be starting school soon. I’m wondering if I’m called to ministry, too, so I was hoping to hear your call to ministry to help me understand my own.”

“You can’t be a minister. You’re divorced. The Bible is clear that a minister should have but one wife. You couldn’t manage that relationship; how can you manage a church?”

A bit perturbed but trying to stay positive, I responded, “Okay, but I’d still like to hear your call.”

The glare along with immediately seeing his back moving further away from me as he walked off told me that was not something I’d be hearing.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

A friend of mine was a minister of another denomination. He had been married, but his wife decided that marriage to a minister was not something to be envied or lived. So, without seeking any counseling as a couple, she left.

That particular denomination would allow a minister to remain in ministry following divorce, but only so long as that one remained unmarried. So, when he found the love of his life, he was forced to make a decision: drop her, forget ministry, or change denominations.

I’m pleased to say he has joined the rest of us “heathens” in the United Methodist Church!

++++++++++++++++++++++++

As I think about “the Church’s” approach to divorce, the first thing that frustrates me is this. According to Jesus the only unforgivable sin is blaspheming the Holy Spirit (see Mark 3:28-29), and yet, “the Church” has taken it upon itself to essentially insist that divorce is not forgivable. The Apostle Paul can persecute the church (maybe even kill Christians), and that can be forgiven. He can do ministry now, but not someone who has been divorced.

The typical reason given by “the Church” for this is found in 1 Timothy 3:

2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) (NIV, Italics Added)

That’s all well and good, but think about. Not even God has been able to manage us human beings. Despite all of God’s wooing, we keep turning away. Consider Isaiah 50:1:

This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away. (NIV)

Even the LORD has gotten so upset with God’s people that God divorced them! If even God cannot “manage us,” why is it that “the Church” thinks we can “manage” our spouses who are the same wayward people that not even God can manage!

Of course, the next response from “the Church” is a quote from Matthew 5:

31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. (NIV)

“Unless the spouse has committed adultery with another person, there are no grounds for divorce,” “the Church” says.

There is something important to consider in thinking about this passage (along with other similar passages), though. God, in speaking through the Hebrew prophets, often says that the Israelites’ lack of commitment is “adultery.” Just read the book of Hosea, and we read that God sees that the Hebrews, in breaking their covenant with God, have become adulterers or prostitutes. We see this even in Hosea 1:2:

When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD.” (NIV)

In the full biblical context, then, adultery / prostitution is not simply having sex with another person. It is also departing from one who loves you. For sure, God is willing to take them (us) back, but God does not force us (manage us?) to come back. God is not any less God because people turn from God, and ministers are no less ministers because someone has turned from them.

Can we, please, get back to the message of Jesus and accept all who are called to ministry and willingly serve together to bring God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven!