February 2009

I am continuously challenged by the diverse and competing demands on my time and attention. In order to address this, I find myself returning time and time again to the wisdom of the ancient ones that have gone before me. The monastic tradition in the Church deconstructed their lives in such a way that they primarily focused on two pillars: Prayer and Work. The “Ora et Labora“ motto has galvanized and motivated a movement that has withstood the test of time, and many believe is increasingly relevant in our overloaded and stressed culture.

It’s alright I am not turning into a monk. What I am doing, however, is gleaning from some of their wisdom and practices in order to enrich my own life and spirituality. I am applying “Ora et Labora” in my own life, albeit within the context of married and family life, career development, workplace ministry, and pastoring a small but very dynamic church.

Ora et labora.
The deconstruction of life into work and prayer is meaningful to me because I find that this is the balance that I try to achieve in everyday life at ground-level. You see, “Work-Life balance” does not work for me. The reason for this is that my work is life…….and I do not check my life at the door to my office and become a zombie-automaton from nine to five. I am pursuing the idea of “flow” where life becomes a continuous movement between working, spirituality, family, rest, fun and fellowship. This is the “Clock“, the practical hands-on issue of scheduling my time, making sure that demands for my attention do not crowd-out other “higher-order” priorities that form the guiding vision or “Compass” for my life.

The Celtic Knot
At another higher level (33,000ft level), a more strategic focus means that I must have three fundamental components in my life and ministry that will direct the way my “work and prayer” flow happen at the day-to-day runway level. This is best represented by a Celtic Knot (HT: Eric J. Swanson) where each of the three points symbolizes three words that are taking on a lot of meaning for me: Contemplation; Community and Cause. To put it in less “Churchy” language, think Believe, Belong, and Bless, or even Faith, Community and Mission. These are the higher-order priorities that are the compass for my journey in life.

Contemplation
involves deepening my relationship with God, turning inward to experience God, seeking His face in the Word and often simply enjoying His embrace, His love, relishing His promises over my life. This is the way that I “refuel” my soul, recharge my batteries and build my faith and passion. The busier I get, the more of a priority my inner life must take. I cannot afford not to pray and be near the presence of God.

Community involves belonging. Humans are creatures of community. We crave deep relationships and connections with other people. I find that many of my relationships with people, even within church, are at a very superficial level. I am making it a top priority in my life to deepen my heart connections with people who can pour out into me, and build me up and encourage me, holding me accountable my heart’s wildest dreams.

Cause involves our mission to bless a broken world. This involves getting to know people – developing relationships with people and understanding their hurts, disappointments, desires and hang-ups – then praying for them and introducing a supernatural encounter into their situation that will make them experience the love of God. This makes all the difference.

Life always pushes me to attend to the “Clock” first and then the “Compass”. I am learning to turn this the other way around and make sure that my guiding compass (Contemplation, Community and Cause) press upon the use of my time in order to ensure that my life actually counts for something.

How about you?
What are you doing today that will give direction and purpose to your daily activities?

The west’s material wealth belies a deep poverty of soul and heart that makes it, Europe in particular, among the “poorest” people in the world. Last Saturday saw a group of us taking the Father’s love to the streets in the Spanish town of Los Barrios. With clues in hand we walked across this cute Spanish town around 15 minutes away from Gibraltar, and sought treasure among the hurting, the broken, the really “poor” of the 1st world developed Europe.

After following the clues for a while the group eventually came across the person they thought really resembled the one that the clues pointed to – to the disappointment of everyone present, he politely declined the offer for prayer. Sadly, a supernatural intervention and healing is so alien in our modern western culture that for many “prayer” is a bunch of religious baloney – powerless mumbo-jumbo that conjures-up images of dead church services that they were forced to attend as a child.

We are committed to reaching out and spreading the love of the Father among these needy ones. We are convinced that love will find a way where there seems to be no way. We are sure that as we leave the church’s walls and we step out in faith to be used by God, He will respond in power ushering-in a manifestation of His Kingdom here on Earth as it is in Heaven.