Tag / Christian

picture of Jesus
by Karen Twinem

The Church in Crisis: Jesus Who?

“Is the church in crisis? If so, what?” That’s the answer I found in a notebook I retrieved to go a community meeting.

I don’t even remember the meeting where we discussed the question. But my answer is there: “The crisis is that the truth of Jesus has been obscured, often by His own people.”

I wrote it about a year ago, and it’s more true that ever.

Exhibit A: The failure of my Lenten pledge.

I wanted to find a group of committed Christians to deepen my experience of contemplative prayer. The first two Christian groups I tried were miles away from the truth about Jesus. For example, this is the meditation passage I was sent this week from one of the groups:

“Jesus answered: I am the way of love, I am the truth of love, and I am the life of love. No one comes to God except through love.”

Hmmm, that’s not what my Bible says. It would be fairly easy for these folks to persuade others that all religions worship the same God. Because some faiths believe in multiple gods, that’s not really possible. .

Exhibit B: Christian nationalism

Americans aren’t God’s chosen people. Look it up. Self-righteousness, particularly when exhibited with hate and vile name calling, doesn’t reflect God’s character. It makes Jesus look bad when people say they are Christians and hate others, particularly other Christians. These days many people don’t even bother to keep quiet about it.

Exhibit C: Hypocrites

Religious leaders who are hypocrites or abuse their position, hurting others, are poor reflections of Jesus. In fact, the Bible indicates that they are among Jesus’ least favorite people.

I believe, from experience, that a close relationship with Jesus results in love, joy, peace, patience and the other fruits of the spirit. The Lord teaches that you can tell a good tree by its fruit.

How can we reflect the truth about Jesus? Through kindness. Through empathy. Generosity. Listening to understand. Respect. But, most of all, love.

Non-Christians watch Christians. When they see exhibits A, B and C, they think that is who Jesus is. Those of us that want the world to know Christ need to strive for holiness. So when people think “Jesus who?” they can see He’s reflected in your behavior.

by Karen Twinem

Resource: Enjoying the Presence of God

The most delightful experience I had this Lent was reading “Enjoying the Presence of God: Discovering Intimacy With God in the Daily Rhythms of Life” by Jan Johnson.

I met Jan Johnson on Zoom doing a class during 2020. Calm and funny, she seems like a person who has great insight into God. She also was a close associate of Dallas Willard, so she was well taught.

Her wonderful short book gives examples of how others have spent the day … and night … with Jesus during their ordinary circumstances. As the back cover says, “It shows that continual awareness of God is not just for the super-spiritual, but that anyone can sense His companionship in the mundane, in-between moments of life.”

Easy and quick to Read, Yet Profound

The contents are divided into three sections: Moments to Turn Over, Skills to Develop and Questions to Ponder. The first chapter is “Trying Too Hard,” which has been a serious problem for me. I have tried to practice the presence of God by talking to him continually, which gets tiresome, I’d guess, to both of us.

Jan Johnson talks about weaving prayer into activities and praying without words. She also dispenses good advice about asking God questions and addressing our deeper fears, including coming to believe that God actually loves us.

For example, in the chapter “Hearing God,” she writes, “Continual conversation with God means that there are moments when God speaks and we listen. Even though it may be scary to think of God speaking to us, it is normal and not weird.” Some of those ways include:

  • Recurring thoughts
  • New ideas
  • Fictional characters
  • Works of art
  • Kinesthetic experiences
  • Journaling

I’m not alone in loving this book. It has an average 4.41 star rating with 150 readers on GoodReads and a 4.9 star average rating with 87 readers on Amazon. Trust me. This book can change your walk with God.

cross and crown of thorns
by Karen Twinem

Fridays in Lent

Adding the Stations of the Cross to your Lent routine allows God to vividly display what Jesus endured for us. During Lent, I add this to my lunchtime routine on Fridays. The prayer “Look Down Upon Me, Good and Gentle Jesus” is another good addition.

The Stations of the Cross developed out of a desire for Christians to walk “The Via Dolorosa” in Jerusalem, the route from Pontius Pilate’s praetorium to the cross. It’s popular in Western Christian traditions, including Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist.

In churches, 14 pictures or plaques are on the walls or on an outdoor walk that allow Christ followers to go from station to station. We stop at each station to pray and reflect.

This free PDF from the Diocese of Manchester takes you through the stations so you can do them at your desk or your kitchen table. The Archdiocese of Portland offers this PDF of the stations, with some preliminary prayers.

Stations of the Cross are available on YouTube. I particularly like this one, which is less than 15 minutes long.

When you only have a few seconds to yourself on Friday at noon, you can pray this:

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before Your face I humbly kneel and with burning soul, pray and beseech You to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment, while I contemplate with great love and tender pity your five most precious wounds, pondering over them within me and calling to mind the words that David, your prophet, said of you , my Jesus, “They have pierced My hands and feet, They have numbered all my bones.”

by Karen Twinem

How Do You Want to Spend Lent?

Ash Wednesday is this week, so today is a good time to prepare our Lenten resolutions. I’ve used Lent to give up bad habits, but more often I take this time to create positive habits.

Think about how we can improve our prayer life, fasting and giving. Some families pick a charity and put their change into a bowl each day. Others give up eating out and give away the money they saved. My church took a recent pledge to not have cell phones at the dinner table. We can find many things to improve if we think and pray about it.

I also always have a Lenten reading program. In the past, I read a biography of a Christian I admired, a devotional and a general book about faith each Lent. Today it’s a lot more random. I just look at the bookshelves to see what I think would be helpful and inspiring.

Take some time today to figure out how you want to spend Lent. Your resolutions can be positive and prayerful. May you have a blessed Lent.

by Karen Twinem

Try Scripture as a Breath Prayer

Breath prayer is an important part of my Christian mindfulness practice. That’s common. The Christian breath prayer is a supercharged mantrum: the repetition of a word or phrase repeated in conjunction with a breath to center the mind on the presence of God.

I have used the phrase “Come, Holy Spirit” frequently during the day for more than 20 years. I inhale on the word “Come” and exhale on “Holy Spirit.” I plan to continue that practice for the rest of my life, but there are times when I could use another phrase.

Some Christians use short pieces of Scripture in breath prayer, and I see an advantage to this. I’ve found several ideas on Christian websites. For example, a piece written by Joe Iovino for the United Methodist Church website nicely summarizes various ways to expand our prayer lives, including using breath prayer. As he says,”The Holy Spirit is as near as the air we breathe.”

The mennoniteusa.org website offers a pdf on breath prayers with good ideas for using breath prayer. Two are different from anything I’ve seen before:

  • Confessional Breath Prayers: Exhaling, you breathe out a confession of a personal failing or worry. Inhaling, you breathe in an assurance of God’s love. An example that they give is: (exhaling) I breathe out worry. (inhaling): Grant me your peace.
  • Breath Prayers for the World: In this style, we exhale as we live up the sins of the world. We inhale as we breathe out corrections, such as “I am the hands and feet of God in the world.” The corrections are about love and justice. One example from me: (exhaling) I lift up all the suffering in Ukraine. (inhaling) May you bring peace and justice.

Finding Answers

Finally, the website Soul Shepherding talks about breath prayers as a way to “deal with stress, overcome anxiety and be more effective in ministry to others.” The author, Bill Gaultiere, offers more information in his book “Your Best Life in Jesus’ Easy Yoke.” He recommends using Bible verses in breath prayers.

One of Gaultiere’s suggestions that I love is asking God a question first. Then do a breath prayer to “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”

You can find Bible verses that meet your needs in “The Bible Promise Book,” which has verses organized by topic. Any other source that presents Bible verses for various situations could work as well.

The breath prayer is an important tool in Christian mindfulness. Using the Lord’s own words can expand its use.

emotionally healthy woman
by Karen Twinem

Resource: Everything Belongs

Fr. Richard Rohr’s outstanding book “Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer” is for people who “hunger for a deeper spiritual life but don’t know what contemplation is.”

He does an excellent job explaining it, and, even more, he helps us to understand a form of prayerful living that’s not based on speech. I’ve seen the book called “meandering” in my reviews. I think it follows the forms and shapes of real life.

Repeatedly Rohr challenges us to move beyond our comfort zone to a deeper rest in God. There, he says, we can find the freedom to become all we can be. Only when we “live and see through God can everything belong.”

What does that mean? Rohr writes, “Everything belongs; God uses everything. There are no dead-ends. There is no wasted energy. Everything is recycled. … I believe with all my heart that the Gospel is all about the mystery of forgiveness.”

Contemplative prayer can help us to see that God loves us as we are. And then we can better see who we are.

But it’s not easy. Rohr notes, “Our first response to anyone calling us to truth, greatness, goodness or morality at a higher level will be increased anxiety.”

Later on, he writes, “That’s what happens in the early stages of contemplation. We wait in silence. In silence all our usual patterns assault us. Our patterns of control, addiction, negativity, tension, anger, and fear assert themselves. That’s why most people give up rather quickly. When Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, the first things that show up are wild beasts (Mark 1:13). Contemplation is not first of all consoling. It’s only real.”

Yet, once you open yourself to this journey, you discover more peace. “Know that things are okay as they are. This moment is as perfect as it can be. The saints called this the ‘sacrament of the present moment,’ ” he writes.

The book has been revised and updated with a reading guide. It received 4.25 stars out of 4,556 ratings on Goodreads and 4.2 stars out of 4,541 ratings on Amazon. It is a book to read and re-read. Enjoy the journey.

Fr. Rohr is on a journey himself as he has stepped back from public ministry after a cancer diagnosis last year. May God bless his life and work.

Cross formed by large group of Christians
by Karen Twinem

How You Can Advance Christian Unity

This time of January is the traditional time to pray for Christian unity. Jesus did this at the Last Supper. You might even call it one of his dying wishes.

Today, the Christian church is far from unified. Searching about this unity online brings up a lot of material about why unity is not a particularly good thing. As well as some divisive material on both sides of the political spectrum.

Weird, isn’t it? I myself have experienced hateful behavior from other Christians who view issues differently than I do. Surely this is not what Jesus wants for us, especially when everyone in the disagreement is sure that Jesus is on their side.

What Martin Luther King Can Teach Us

Recently, I attended a Vineyard USA workshop on principles and practices that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used as the core of the civil rights movement. This was a nonviolent movement, so much so that Dr. King told people who couldn’t promise to remain nonviolent to stay away. His “10 Commandments” of nonviolence offered me inspiration for dealing with the divisive nature of today’s Christianity:

  1. Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.
  2. Remember always that the non-violent movement seeks justice and reconciliation – not victory.
  3. Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.
  4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men might be free.
  5. Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all men might be free.
  6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
  7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.
  8. Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.
  9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
  10. Follow the directions of the movement and of the captain on a demonstration.

If we follow these rules (which King insisted that even nonChristians in the movement do), we will find it much easier to approach each other as Christians.

Pray for Christian Unity

Then we can truly pray for Christian unity. I’ve adapted this prayer from “Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers.” 

Oh Lord, help me to speak and behave in Christian love with all who claim you as Savior.
Give me the grace to have courtesy and refrain from violence of tongue, heart, fist and online behavior. 
We pray to you for your holy Christian church in my own neighborhood and around the world.
Help us to accomplish reconciliation. 
Fill the church with your presences and your truth.
Keep it in your peace.
Where it is corrupt, reform it.
Where it is in error, correct it.
Where it is right, defend it.
Where it is in want, provide for it.
Where it is divided, reunite it.
For the sake of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. 


			





			
				


	
			suffering child in bombed out area
	
	

				

			 by Karen Twinem		

		
		
The Suffering of the Innocent
	


	


	


	

		

The feast of the Holy Innocents falls just three days after Christmas.  And that’s no accident.





Jesus came into the fallen world as an infant to start the process of ending suffering.  But the world was filled with evil then, and it’s filled with evil now. This day we can meditate on the suffering of the innocent in our own time.  Think of Ukraine. Afghanistan. The unborn and the born who are hungry and cold in wealthy nations.





Today we think about how we can be the hands and feet of Jesus to suffering children.  





This prayer, from the Catholic Household Blessing and Prayers, is a good one to contemplate: 





Heavenly Father,
your holiness revealed in Jesus
challenges us to renounce violence,
to forsake revenge,
and to love without discrimination, without measure.

Teach us the surpassing truth of the Gospel,
which puts worldly wisdom to shame,
that we may recognize as one with us
even our enemies and persecutors
and see all people as your children.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen

			





			
				


	
			
	
	

				

			 by Karen Twinem		

		
		
Take the Christmas Pledge
	


	


	


	

		

As the first week of Advent begins, decide to enjoy the season with Christian mindfulness. I always take a Christmas Pledge.





I wrote this down decades ago, and I can’t find the source online.  It has served me well.





The Christmas Pledge





    

  1. To remember those people who truly need my gifts.
    2. 




  2. To express my love for family and friends in more direct ways that presents.
    3. 




  3. To rededicate myself to the spiritual growth of my family.
    4. 




  4. To examine my holiday activities in light of the true spirit of Christmas.
    5. 




  5. To initiate one act of peacemaking within my circle of family and friends.
    6. 






Amen to that.

			





			
				


	
			
	
	

				

			 by Karen Twinem		

		
		
Prepare for Advent
	


	


	


	

		

The first Sunday of Advent is the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  It’s a great time to make sure you have your supplies, books and ideas ready for the season. 





Having a mindful Christian Advent is a time of joy and wonder.  It’s a quiet time spent intentionally concentrating on the miracle of Jesus’ birth rather than the commercial version of Christmas.  This kind of Advent is build peace instead of panic. 





two books for Advent





Some ideas for Advent prep include: 





    

  • Get or make Advent candles.  (We are doing beeswax candles from a kit this year.  You can find the kit here.)
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  • Purchase an Advent calendar or stock up one if you have a reusable model.
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  • Get the Advent wreath out of storage … or buy one.
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  • Order a new Advent devotional or order new ones.  This year I’m using two favorites:  “Preparing for Christmas” by Richard Rohr and “Living in Joyful Hope” by Suzanne M. Lewis. 
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  • Get out your Christmas music.
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  • Organize children’s Christmas books. 
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  • Pick the name of a saint or devout Christian.  You can study their life during the season. I’m doing Henri Nouwen this year. 
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