Missionary Renegade: "Weavings June 2016 newsletter - "For One Another" from The Upper Room Publishing in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Friday, 17 June 2016

Friday, June 17, 2016

"Weavings June 2016 newsletter - "For One Another" from The Upper Room Publishing in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Friday, 17 June 2016

"Weavings June 2016 newsletter - "For One Another" from The Upper Room Publishing in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Friday, 17 June 2016
For One Another
June 2016

"In a world of competition,
in a world of predatory animals,
in a world of cruelty and heartlessness,
the only hope one can have is an act of mercy,
an act of compassion,
a completely unexpected act
which is rooted neither in duty nor in natural relationships,
which will suspend the action of the cruel, violent,
heartless world in which we live."[Anthony Bloom, Beginning to Pray]
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For the Life of the World by John S. Mogabgab
Yes, I want you to know that I do have to struggle hard for you . . . and for so many others who have never seen me face to face.[Colossians 2:1, JB]
We [can] look at the spiritual journey as a "serious call to a devout and holy life." Now Paul's words remind us that the call is serious because the spiritual life exists not for its own sake but "for the life of the world" (John 6:51, JB). In what ways is the spiritual life undertaken for the life of the world? First, Paul suggests that our spiritual life is lived on behalf of other people, those known to us as well as "so many others" who have never seen us "face to face." There is a representative character to the spiritual life which resists every effort to separate the journey toward God from the journey into the heart of the world. A friend whose parish is in Detroit's inner city once observed that when you open your heart to God you never know who the Lord will bring along!
Paul also indicates that the spiritual life involves a call to struggle in service of others. The struggle may be with apparently small forms of faithfulness like finding space for simple spiritual disciplines in the midst of busy days. Or it may concern the great issues of our time. The struggle may move outward in group efforts to address specific needs or problems. But even our most solitary wrestlings can become a source of new life.
Seraphim of Sarov, perhaps the greatest of Russian mystics, said, "Learn to be peaceful and thousands around you will find salvation." Whatever form the struggle assumes, it is finally a battle against those things which separate us from God and thus diminish our true humanity. [From "Editor's Introduction," Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, Vol. I, No. 2 (Nov/Dec 1986), (Nashville, TN: The Upper Room, 1986).]
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Academy for Spiritual Formation Parrtners with St. Paul Seminary
Saint Paul School of Theology and The Academy for Spiritual Formation are partnering to offer a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) in Prophetic Witness and Service with an emphasis in Spiritual Formation beginning Fall 2016.
The new Doctor of Ministry degree weaves together the spiritual renewal and grounding of the Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation with Saint Paul coursework and faculty engagement. The goal is to maintain focus on pastoral leaders’ spiritual formation—both for their own lives and for their ministry in the church and the world.
Learn more
This monthly newsletter is a free service of Weavings/The Upper Room in partnership with The Academy for Spiritual Formation.

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"People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened."[Shubham Joshi]