discerning god’s voice – Jesus @ 2 am blogs and podcast

Loving God 101, Part 12: Contemplation “Lab” (Palm Sunday 2015)

August 26, 2015August 26, 2015Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

Having – hopefully – made the theological case for contemplation (as St. Ignatius of Loyola describes it), in this episode our pal, Jon Saur, gives a short example of the practice.

This sermon was preached on Palm Sunday 2015 and thus uses the traditional story of Jesus’s “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem as the gospel text to be contemplated.

If a short refresher is helpful, the goal of Ignatian contemplation is encounter, not “exegesis.” That is to say, in contemplation we read the scriptures so as to find ourselves within them (vs. writing an academic/interpretive commentary that explains the author’s intended meaning). As we read the story (particularly stories from the gospels), we try to identify the perspectives and experiences of the original participants. In this case, what was it like to be in the crowd as Jesus entered? How would a 1st century Jew have interpreted the events? How would a Roman soldier? How would one of the 12? (Clearly this requires a good bit of exegetical/interpretive background to be able to answer and thus we spend a lot of time in other sermons on this!)

As we move around the scene – viewing it from various perspectives (like scene in a movie being shot from the vantage point of different characters) – we ask: Where am I (in this moment in time) in this story? (And we know the answer might be different tomorrow.) And having identified ourselves we then ask: What does God have to say – through this story – to someone in my position? And what might God, then, be saying to me?

Because such reflections are deeply personal, they obviously are not the stuff from which doctrinal theology made (or, at least, ought not be!). And – as Ignatius regularly reminds us – if the direction we receive in such moments of prayer feel dramatic or at odds with our current course, we need very much to discuss them with wise counselors before acting. But as a habit of prayer, contemplation has done me – and many, many before me – a tremendous amount of good!

This is a sermon that was originally presented at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), March 29, 2015. To learn more about Canvas, click here!

Loving God 101, Part 11: “Contemplation” Explained

August 7, 2015August 4, 2015Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

“Contemplation” is one of the most transformational practices I was ever taught. While the word carries connotations of abstract pondering, for St. Ignatius it describes a very active method of reading the Bible (more on why we care about St. Ignatius is found here.)

What Ignatius reminds us is that Jesus is truly risen. That is to say, Jesus is – here and now – carrying on the work that we read about in the gospels. Jesus’s ministry of healing the sick, calming storms, forgiving sinners, declaring “good news” of God’s victory…did not end on Good Friday. No, Jesus is risen! And in his resurrection he continues his ministry of bringing all creation to shalom.

This awareness, then, brings us to a very different way of approaching the Bible – particularly the gospels. Surely we ought to continue to read them as historical records of historical events, and apply our best scholarship to their interpretation in this manner (Ignatius was devoted to academic study). But the Bible – “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” is more than a narration of history. It is also a narration of the present. Jesus is still doing what Jesus does. He may not be – at this very moment – calming a literal storm on the Sea of Galilee (though he might be!). But he is forever exercising his power to bring storms to cease – physical storms, emotional storms, relational storms, political storms…

In this episode we examine Ignatius’s understanding of scripture as a window into God’s immediate presence and how the practice of contemplation can bring us into direct contact with Jesus right now.

This is a sermon that was originally presented at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), March 22, 2015. To learn more about Canvas, click here!

Loving God 101, Part 03: Discernment (Learning to Hear God’s Voice)

May 31, 2015June 2, 2015Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

One of the great struggles in the life of faith is the sense that God is vastly distant. We may talk about “intimacy” and “relationship” and “making contact.” But in day-to-day experience, it feels like we do a good bit of talking to God, and God rarely talks back.

Yes, we have been given the scriptures. And there is much guidance, and even a sort of intimacy, in them. But how can we really talk about “abiding” and “habitual recollection” when there is no dialogue, no direct communication? Does God talk back? And if he does, what must I do to be one to whom he speaks???

One school of thought (born of the desert fathers in the 3rd and 4th centuries) is that such contact with God is earned. They might not say it quite that way, but their ascetic practices and austere life – in the name of holiness – suggested that God speaks only to the worthy, to those who have demonstrated the utmost devotion by forsaking every creature comfort in pursuit of the divine. Such a view surely endures. And I think many of us give up on the idea of actual contact with God, imagining that we will never achieve the level of piety required for God to talk back. I did for many years!

Another school of thought – also quite popular today – is that God’s voice is so obvious that it cannot be missed. Every circumstance is a clue to God’s intent, every coincidence a message. Hit a red light at the intersection? God wanted me to wait. Ran into an ex- at the store? Perhaps God wants us to get back together…??? (If this seems rather pick-and-choosey to you, it does to me, too!)

Somewhere in the middle is the wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola – the 16th century founder of the Jesuit Order who argues passionately that God is speaking to us – all of us! – regularly. The work is thus not to convince God to speak, but to learn how to listen. Or better said: To learn how to discern. Ignatius says (and I think he’s right), that the real struggle to hear God is that his voice is but one among many that crowd our “ears.”

God, he says, is regularly speaking, but so is culture, family, friends, fears, whims, lusts, greed… They are powerful voices, ones that can easily drown out the steady, gentle voice of God.

In this episode we examine Ignatian discernment and how we might slowly begin to actually hear the voice of God. Perhaps it won’t be “audible,”but it will be clear enough.

This is a sermon that was originally presented at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), January 25, 2015. To learn more about Canvas, click here!

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