Guest post: Reflections on Prayer

Reflections on Prayer

by Sabbatical Team member, Mariann Witthar
John 15:4-5 and Psalm 46:10
Are you tired of trying harder and doing more in desperate attempts to fix what's not working in your life? Are you facing a time on your faith journey when you have lost hope and feel like giving up? Have you tried every known human strategy to solve stubborn problems you are facing? If so, I invite you to join the rest of the human race. Is it possible that you've been trying to solve a problem that has no "human solution"?

After many years of desperately striving to get my life in order, I'm finally experiencing the truth of God's solution, which I find almost always looks like the opposite of what I expect. Rather than trying harder or doing more (which fit my deeply engrained work ethic), God was inviting me to practice "being still and abiding" in him. This idea sounds wonderful but in our culture, is this even a remote possibility? Living under a neurotic sense of co-dependent responsibility, in addition to the constant distractions of the world around me, I finally had to give up "striving" to get my life in order when I was diagnosed with a serious medical condition. The only option I had was to collapse in a heap and surrender my future into someone else's care.

"Burnout" is a very common (mental, emotional, and spiritual) condition in our society today. It is a diagnosable condition which indicates that something is wrong or out of balance in our lives. It is debilitating in that we, as human beings, are uncomfortable with the idea of giving up control or surrendering the outcome of our lives to someone other than ourselves. But from God's perspective, that is the best place to be. In my exhausted condition, I had no other choice but to give him permission to begin to reveal himself to me, the way he had always intended. In Sunday School, as a little child, I had memorized many Bible verses like, "He is the Vine and we are the branches", or "Be still and know that I am God", etc. Even though I could recite them easily, I had no experiential frame of reference for what God was saying to me personally. That is, until I experienced "burnout". I was finally ready for him to teach me how to "be still" and "abide" in him and how to practice remaining in his presence throughout the complex circumstances of my daily life.

LORD JESUS, continue to reveal yourself to me at deeper and deeper levels, as I practice quieting myself and remembering that you are God and I am not. THANKS BE TO GOD for this wonderful gift of rest.

So what could it look like if we allowed him to be the VINE and we practiced "abiding in him?" In my own life, I had to start by giving up the strange notion that "if I tried hard enough or just did the right thing", I could be my own "savior". What an arrogant thought! As I look back at it now, I see how absurd it was, and yet how subtle the temptation is for all of us to return to the garden and participate with Adam and Eve in the deception that separated them from the real source (the Vine) of their lives. As I confess my sin of trying to "save" myself, I'm becoming convinced that regardless of what I do, or how well I do it, good fruit will be a natural outcome. I no longer have to strive, because he is my Source, I am experiencing his life flowing through me, as the Vine continually gives life to the branches. Thank you, God, for this life-giving revelation and the "experiential knowledge" that Jesus is my Savior!

Would you like to join a group interested in becoming more intentional in learning how to practice entering into his rest, even in the midst of our hectic lives? I am willing to help individuals find useful resources and offer practical insights and suggestions which I have discovered in this exciting adventure of experiencing an organic/living relationship with Jesus where I am able to find rest. If there is interest, I am willing to offer a small group on this topic sometime this fall.

New Friday Morning Small Group Book

The Friday morning small group, which meets every other Friday morning at 7:00am at Clark's Fork, will begin reading and discussing a new book, Friday, March 18th. Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer by Rowan Williams is a short, but meaty, book about the essential elements of Christian life. All are welcome to join the conversation! You can order the book here, or find it at a local book store.
Want to read and discuss the book, but don't want to be up and out the door for a 7:00am small group? Let the church office know, and we'll talk about starting a new group!

Exploring Faith and Life Together - Friday Morning Small Group has a new book

The Friday Morning Small Group will begin reading/discussing a new book at their next meeting on August 28th: Wearing God: Clothing, Laughter, Fire and Other Overlooked Ways of Meeting God, by Lauren Winner. The group meets every other Friday morning at 7:00am at Clark's Fork, for conversation about the current book and life and faith. Participants usually head out about 8:30am or so. Now is a great time to join the group!
If you have questions, please talk to Pastor Lindean.

NEW book for Friday Morning Small Group - Join the Discussion!

The Friday morning Small Group finished reading and discussing The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James Cone, this past Friday morning. Just a day and a half after the horrific attack on Bible Study participants at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, we wondered together what to do, as white Christians in America, where clearly racism is alive and well. That will be an ongoing conversation, but includes continuing to learn about American history as experienced by people of color, to listen to perspectives different from our own, to speak up against racial slurs and stereotypes when we hear them, to pray, to examine and repent of our own racist thoughts and behaviors, to work for justice and reconciliation...

One of the quotes at the beginning of the book's Conclusion especially struck me:
"Perhaps nothing about the history of mob violence in the United States is more surprising than how quickly an understanding of the full horror of lynching has receded from the nation's collective historical memory." - W. Fitzhugh Brundage

Yes, the shooter on Wednesday night appears to have acted on his own, though he certainly did not live and form his opinions and beliefs in isolation. Yet, the history of lynching in the US is something most of us in the Friday small group didn't know much about. And it's not ancient history. As hard as reading The Cross and the Lynching Tree was, we're all glad we read it. And I think I can safely say each member of the group would encourage you to read it, too.

The group's next book is Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, by Imaculee  Ilibagiza. The discussion of the first chapter begins on Friday, July 3rd, at Clark's Fork at 7am. All are welcome!

Friday Morning Small Group: The Cross and the Lynching Tree

Every other Friday morning, I meet with a small group of folks (all women, currently, but there's no reason it must stay that way) at Clark's Fork, here in Bozeman. Most of us order some kind of breakfast, and I think everyone has coffee or tea. We tend not to arrive all at once - a 7:00am start time means we trickle in.

While we gather, we check in on each other's lives, and sometimes jump start conversation of the chapter or two we've read for the morning's discussion. More often than not, once everyone is there we turn to "highs and lows" before we dig in to formal discussion of the text: we go around the table and each person shares a high point and low point of her life since we last met. And I've noticed a change in our lows over recent months: while they are still sometimes quite personal, it's no longer an anomaly for someone's lows to consist largely of what she's heard on the news - natural disasters, political machinations, wars and the violence of extremist groups, racially motivated hatred. It's all a lot.  Maybe even too much, sometimes.

Our tendency to be "plugged in" most of the time probably doesn't help. This morning one of my friends said that she didn't listen to the radio on her way to small group, so that she wouldn't start the day depressed by the news. And I wonder if a general sense of powerlessness, and of not understanding those who think about and experience life so differently from how we do, contributes, too.

In order to learn from someone with a radically different life experience and history, and to have some likely tough conversations about race and faith (and their interweaving in American history), the Friday morning small group is going to read The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone. YOU are invited to join the conversation. The first conversation, on the introduction and first chapter, will be Friday, April 10th, at 7:00am at Clark's Fork.

Want to learn more? Here's James Cone on Bill Moyers Journal in 2007, a CNN blog post about the theologian and author, and a 2008 NPR "Fresh Air" interview with him. Here, also, is a link to the ELCA Social Statement Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity and Culture.

Surprised by Hope

Every-other Friday morning, a CtK small group meets at Clark's Fork restaurant at 7:00am. Some folks just drink coffee or tea, some eat a big breakfast. All are part of lively conversation, stimulated by the chapters read for the morning's discussion.
This Friday, November 7th, the group will discuss the last chapters of Take This Bread, by Sara Miles. It's been great food for thought. (pun!)
Beginning Friday, November 21st, the group will discuss the first two chapters of Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by N.T. Wright. Wright, an Anglican bishop and professor, tackles the question of what happens when we die, and how most Christians get it wrong. This book is more "academic" than the group's previous selections, heavier on early church history and biblical theology, but it is a fascinating read and will inspire great conversations. You are invited to join in! Pick up a copy at your favorite bookseller, bid on the "Friday Morning Small Group Basket" at the PB&A this Sunday, or get a copy here at Amazon:

All are welcome to join the conversation!

Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion

The Friday morning small group finished reading/discussing Learning to Walk in the Dark, by Barbara Brown Taylor, this morning. I think everyone in the group would recommend it!
And we chose a new book, Take This Bread, by Sara Miles, which we'll begin discussing on Friday, August 1st at 7:00am at Clark's Fork. The chapters are quite short, so we'll be discussing the first three.
ALL ARE WELCOME to join the conversation. Pick up a copy at your favorite bookseller, get reading, and join in! Questions? Just ask!

Pedal for Peas

Cyclists from around the Montana Synod will be joining together for "Pedal for Peas" - a 160-mile bike ride to raise awareness of, and funds for, ELCA World Hunger ministries.
Two members of CtK will be riding, and we will be participating as a congregation by providing a staggered lunch for the riders after the last leg of their trip. We'll be offering lunch on Thursday, July 3rd, from 11:00am until 4:00pm.
Want to help? Contact the church office.
Want to donate? Put a check made out to "CtK," with "Pedal for Peas" in the memo line, in the offering plate this Sunday. Thanks!
Want more information on the whole thing? Check out this site (Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church in Helena).

Want to ride your bike with others? Join the new-ish CtK small group that gathers to ride for a couple of hours on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays each month. Meet in the CtK parking lot (bring your bike, helmet, water bottle, etc.) THIS SATURDAY, June 28th at 9:00am. The group will return about 11:00am.

Happy cycling!

Looking for a small group or book group?

The Friday morning small group (currently meeting every-other Friday at Clark's Fork at 7:00am) just finished one book (Consider the Birds, by Debbie Blue) and will begin reading another, Learning to Walk in the Dark, by Barbara Brown Taylor.
Time Magazine recently named Barbara Brown Taylor one of the most 100 influential people, and has featured her new book.
Interested in joining the conversation? Pick up a copy and dig in! The group meets next on May 23rd and will be discussing the introduction and first chapter.
Happy Reading!