religion, occupation, family life, values? What do you intuit to be their challenges, joys, and sorrows? Take time to notice their expressions, pace, companions, etc. Open to their lives, not assuming that you know what is good for them. Prayerfully ask God how best to respond to the persons in your immediate environment.
At the very least, you can bless the people that you meet, noticing the “ordinary” people in your life (store clerks, toll booth operators, receptionists, co-workers), and blessing them, and placing them in God’s care.
When we are connected to God, we are connected to others. When we are connected to others, we are connected to God. In the spirit of Paul’s affirmation: “in God we live and move and have our being,” experience God in every breath and in everything you see. Experience the events and encounters of your life as windows into God’s presence. Experience your connection with God in everything and everyone.
Transforming Affirmations.
Spiritual affirmations are ways that we connect to the deeper realities of life. In repeating spiritual affirmations, we reframe our lives and renew our minds. We are no longer conformed to false limitations, but are “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” Spiritual affirmations heal both the conscious and unconscious minds, and open us to divine insight, energy, and inspiration.
In this chapter, we will focus on three affirmations emerging from Acts 17. Repeat them several times each day, especially when you feel yourself being trapped by unhealthy behaviors or limitations.
God is the reality in whom I live and move and have my being.
God is near me at all times.
I am God’s child. I am God’s offspring.
I treat everyone as God’s beloved child.
Manifesting Mission.
Mission takes many forms, some are primarily theological and evangelistic, while others involve social concern and justice. Today, we know that our mission is, first of all, where we live and not some far off place. Being faithful to the Way of Jesus involves walking the talk and talking the walk. What we believe shapes our behavior, but our beliefs are made flesh in everyday life. The love of God is not just a theological doctrine, but the inspiration to a life of reconciliation and healing. Believing that God speaks through young and old, male and female, slave and free, challenges us to honor and respect the rich diversity of human experience. Affirming that God is the reality in whom we live and move and have our being inspires us to become God’s partners in healing the earth.
As a matter of personal reflection, consider the following: If someone were to ask you, “What are your deepest beliefs?” how would you respond? What beliefs or doctrines most shape your understanding of God, the world, humankind, the meaning of life, and the afterlife?
Acts of the Apostles is clear that doctrines are symbiotically related to behavior. Our doctrines emerge from spirit-centered experiences. Our experiences are clarified by our beliefs and take shape in practical application. Accordingly, what behaviors might your beliefs inspire in the areas of:
Personal stewardship
Care of family and children
Marriage and other significant relationships
Community involvement
Political involvement
Care of the Earth
Response to diverse opinions
Ways we respond to personal or global conflict (violence, reconciliation, consensus, peace-seeking balanced by appropriate protection).
Involvement in justice issues – first-hand support of vulnerable people and/or political involvement to achieve a social order more reflective of Jesus’ values.
1 Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity (San Francisco: Harper One, 2011).
2 John Shelby Spong, Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2009).
3 John B. Cobb, Christ in a Pluralistic Age (Westminster/John Knox, 1975).
4 For an excellent summary and analysis of the current religious situation, see Diana Butler Bass, Christianity After Religion: The End of the Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2012).
5 Gabe Lyons and David Kinnamon, UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks of Christianity and Why it Really Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007).
6 Gerald May, The Awakened Heart: Opening Yourself to the Love You Need (San Francisco: HarperSan Francisco, 1991).
7 Rhonda Byrne, The Secret (New York:Atria Books/Beyond Words, 2006).
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