I know many people who suffer from addictions and I offer these thoughts:
FIRST I do not think it is helpful to look at a compulsive behavior as sin. Although it certainly is on one level because it interrupts the flow of love from God to us, dealing with a compulsion simply as sin usually doesn’t erradicate the compulsion.
SECONDLY I have found Gerald May’s book Addiction and Grace very helpful to understand the neurological basis of a habit becoming a compulsion. In brief, there are neurological pathways in our brains that are laid down as if in concrete and they do not go away. Those pathways demand the compulsion.
THIRDLY The way of Grace is to layer a healing habit on top of it. For that I recommend the Jesus Prayer – practice this ancient prayer “Lord Jesus Christ Have Mercy on me a sinner” repeatedly. Do not just say it once but repeat it outloud and in your mind over and over again. I do this for a minimum of half an hour a day intentionally. Over time it becomes a prayer always on your mind.
FOURTHLY – a compulsion can be the doorway to grace on a level so profound it outdoes the compulsion. M. Scott Peck wrote about this in Further Along the Road Less Traveled. This book is a series of lectures and one of them is about the specific gift of being an alcoholic In his experience, those with addictions have an unusually deep desire for God.
FIFTHLY – You cannot fight a compulsion on your own. It isn’t a matter of the will alone. Do not let your shame keep you from getting the help you need. Personally, I would begin with a Christian doctor and then a 12 step group.
FINALLY – the Cross has covered this. Nothing you do can change the fact that God loves you just as you are, compulsions and all, whether you like it or not. This compulsion just may be a way God is bringing you to God’s heart in a far deeper way.
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The Shape of Living: Spiritual Directions for Everyday Life by David F. Ford utilizes the concept of being overwhelmed as a way that we are spiritual formed by the events in our lives and how we respond to those events. He calls these “overwhelmings” which got me to thinking.
We’ve had some overwhelmings in this part of the country – literally covered with a flood. Fortunately for us, we are fine – just lost a hunk of property to erosion from our creek that is usually 5 feet across and a few inches deep. Last week it was 35 feet across and about that deep, a raging river.
That makes me think about what it is really like to be overwhelmed when there is nothing to hang on to. I remember many times like that in my life, the last time being when I became too ill to work about five years ago and have since been in unremitting pain. I keep returning to the first chapter of John and to the 23rd Psalm, going deeply into meditation on phrases from those scriptures.
We’ve watched houses floating down our rivers, homes completely lifted off their foundations. It is no wonder that when people are overwhelmed, they dip into the darkness. Sometimes it appears that the darkness is all there is. Certainly I have had times when that was all I could see. In those times, it was only God holding me that saved me but I certainly was not aware that I was being held in the moment. Like those homes and pieces of homes swirling down the flooded rivers, there are times we have no choice but to just wait until we land and hope we don’t drown in the process. There is no ability to hold on to anything during those times. The floods move too quickly and unexpectedly.
We may not turn to what appears as darkness (whether it be drugs, sex or alcohol) but we might shrink back into being judgmental or clingy or angry or completely insecure or any number of other attitudes that are equally destructive. For myself, I have found that anything that I have judged negatively in someone else, I end up finding in myself at some point in time. Life just seems to me to be an adventure in one humbling experience (one overwhelming) after another with moments here and there where the light shines brightly and peace overwhelms into depths the darkness cannot reach.
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Senator Obama: Reach out to Christ — and to evangelicals
Washington, June 29, 2006 –The National Council of Churches USA and
other faith groups applauded remarks Wednesday by Senator Barack
Obama (D-Ill.) testifying to his faith in Christ and calling upon
progressive politicians to reach out to evangelical Christians.
“You need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash
away — because you are human and need an ally in this difficult
journey,” Obama told Call to Renewal’s Pentecost 2006. “It was
because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to
walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street
in the Southside of Chicago one day and affirm my Christian faith …
The questions I had didn’t magically disappear. But kneeling beneath
that cross on the South Side, I felt that I heard God’s spirit
beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to
discovering His truth.
That, said Obama, is “a path that has been shared by millions upon
millions of Americans Â- evangelicals, Catholics, Protestants, Jews
and Muslims alike; some since birth, others at certain turning points
in their lives. It is not something they set apart from the rest of
their beliefs and values. In fact, it is often what drives their
beliefs and their values.”
An NCC spokesperson said, “The senator speaks a profound truth for
all Americans, and I hope all Americans read his address.”
The full text of Obama’s address follows:
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I just found this old inteview on-line with Susan Howatch very interesting. A Novelist Looks at Faith and Fiction
Here’s a quote from it:
I think if mystics try to operate outside a church framework, they go over the top into gnosticism and cloud cuckoo-land. You need a framework to stop you from being dishonest. In the Starbridge books the mystics had to have spiritual directors to focus—otherwise how do you know if you have it spot on or not?
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Law of Mechanical Repair:
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch or
You’ll have to pee.
Law of the Workshop:
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.
Law of Probability:
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.
Law of the Telephone:
If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal.
Law of the Alibi:
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire.
Variation Law:
If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will start to move faster than the one you are in now (works every time).
Law of the Bath:
When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.
Law of Close Encounters:
The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don’t want to be seen with.
Law of the Result:
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won’t work, it will.
Law of Biomechanics:
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
Law of the Theatre:
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive last.
Law of Coffee:
As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.
Murphy’s Law of Lockers:
If there are only two people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.
Law of Rugs/Carpets:
The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor covering are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet/rug.
Law of Location:
No matter where you go, there you are.
Law of Logical Argument:
Anything is possible if you don’t know what you are talking about.
Brown’s Law:
If the shoe fits, it’s ugly.
Oliver’s Law:
A closed mouth gathers no feet.
Wilson’s Law:
As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it. (I’ve found this to be oh so true…) Amen to this one!!!
* Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply.
Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God
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I graduated from seminary two decades ago. At that time, I was adamantly NOT a feminist. I usually began my prayers with “Father God” and balanced this (in my own mind) with the belief that the Holy Spirit was the divine feminine principle of the Trinity. I recently re-read some of those seminary papers and was surprised at all I once knew about this subject. In truth, the whole question of the gender of God has always seemed very silly and a moot point. How could the Divine be confined to any sense of gender?
Continue Reading »
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I’m about half way through a series of novels by Phil Rickman featuring an Anglican priest by the name of Merrily Watkins. Although these are mystery novels, they are also well researched in areas of mystical Christianity versus New Age religions, paganism, Pentecostalism and much more. The main character being an ordained woman and single parent of a teenage young woman is especially intriguing and more than a little close to my own history. I am enjoying them immensely and learning various historical nuances of New Age and other religious practices. For example, I did not know that Wicca arose in the 1960’s as a conglomeration of celtic pagan practices.
An older set of novels by Susan Howatch have long been be my favorite. The series on the Church of England and various ministries of healing and deliverance are probably the only books I have read two or three times. These novels are set in the 1920’s through the end of that century and therefore do not deal with more recent challenges to the ways of Christ. However, the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and some sections of the novels themselves are so profound and challenging that I re-read them as spiritual food.
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The following is a prayer used by the Anglican church in it’s ministry of deliverance. This is a powerful prayer to counteract any sense of psychic attack. You will also find it in more traditional hymnals.
I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three.I bind this today to me forever
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river,
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today.I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord
And purity of virgin souls.I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility
I bind to me these holy powers.Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.
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“He whom the entire universe could not contain was contained within your womb, O Theotokos.”
From a Hymn of the ancient church
“O Marevlous Palace of the Master, make me to be a house of the Divine Spirit.”
From a Russian Orthodox Prayer Book
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1. We admitted we were powerless over nothing – that we could manage our lives perfectly and those of anyone who would allow us.
2. Came to belive that there was no power greater than ourselves and the rest of the world was insane.
3. Made a decision to have our loved ones turn their wills and their lives over to our care even though they couldn’t understand us at all.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of everyone we knew.
5. Admitted to the whole world the exact nature of everyone else’s wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to make others give us the respect we deserved.
7. Demanded others do our will because we were always enlightened.
8. Made a list of all persons who had harmed us and became willing to go to any lengths to get even with them all.
9. Got direct revenge on such people wherever possible except when to do so would cost us our lives or at the very least a jail sentence.
10. Continued to take inventory of others and when they were wrong promptly and repeatedly told them about it.
11. Sought through complaining and medication to improve our relation with others as we could not understand them at all, asking only that they do things our way.
12. Having had a complete physical, emotional and spiritual breakdown as a result of these steps, we tried to blame it on others and to get sympathy and pity in all our affairs.
Author Unknown
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