Browsing by Author "Winner, Lauren"
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Item Open Access Curating the Pastor's Heart: A Prescription for Renewal Through the Contemplative Lens of Thomas Merton(2019) Griffin, Ruben Anthony“Curating the Pastor’s Heart: A Prescription for Renewal Through the Contemplative Lens of Thomas Merton” argues that one of the most significant problems faced by parish pastors today is that they lead complex volunteer organizations that are shaped by the surrounding culture as much, if not more, than any New Testament paradigm. Pastors are pulled in various directions by the expectations of a culture and members that call for relevance, popularity, and power in ways similar to secular organizations and leaders. These expectations are rooted more in power and acquisitiveness than in the self-emptying Gospel of Jesus Christ. How can parish pastors remain rooted in their relationship with God while facing these demands? Drawing on the work of the philosopher James K.A. Smith, this thesis argues that parish pastors are desiring creatures whose love is formed by their habits, and that parish pastors to rise to the occasion of today’s leadership challenge must cultivate habits that draw them into deep relationship with God. The contemplative tradition explicitly seeks direct experience of God and provides rich resources for the parish pastor of the twenty-first century. “Curating the Pastor’s Heart” then draws on a limited selection from the corpus of the writings of Thomas Merton on contemplation to construct a thematic paradigm of discipleship practice as a resource of hope and renewal for parish ministry. The result is a paradigm that defines contemplation and calls the parish pastor to pursue a contemplative life of integrity, solitude, prayer, discipline and gratitude leading to hope and flourishing in challenging times.
Item Open Access Formation Guide for Opening a Hospitality House for Asylum Seekers(2023) Harris, Tiffani CoxThis thesis, in part, seeks to provide a foundation for understanding the Christian call to ministry with those who are poor and suffering, specifically with the asylum seeker. It is a resource and formation guide for congregations and individuals sensing a call from God to extend themselves in this way. The project provides a foundation of Christian history and Scripture that speaks to the call of Christ to deny self and follow him in ministry with the least—those who are hungry, thirsty, poor, and forgotten. Included is some guidance on how to structure a ministry of this sort, important questions to consider, and reflection upon leadership challenges that arise in this type of work. It tells the story of one congregation’s approach to developing a ministry of a hospitality house for asylum-seekers and why churches should recover the discipline of hospitality.
Item Open Access Recovering the Disciplines: A Comparative Study on the Spiritual Disciplines as Expressed in the Lives, Teaching and Ministry of Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney and Richard Foster.(2018) Lengyel, Thomas GrantThis paper will examine the relationship between several prominent Evangelical leaders and the spiritual disciplines. By studying these figures, I hope to support two assertions. First, that the spiritual disciplines have always been an important part of the Evangelical tradition. Second, that the disciplines still have a role to play in the life and practice of the church today. In order to adequately defend these claims, I have chosen to focus on one Evangelical figure, from each of the last three centuries: Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney and Richard Foster. Edwards’s leadership of the Great Awakenings established him as one of the principal Evangelical leaders of the eighteenth century. Finney was later responsible for some of the largest revivals in American history, and therefore stands as one of the most influential Evangelicals of the nineteenth century. With the publication of his classic book, Celebration of Discipline, Foster established himself as the foremost authority in the twentieth century on the modern expression of disciplines. By examining the private practice and public teaching of these three men, I hope to demonstrate that Evangelicals of every age not only adopted the disciplines, but also adapted them to their unique context. Consequently, I hope to inspire a new generation of Evangelicals to do the same.
Item Open Access Shabbat Shalom: Clergy Sabbath as Disruptive Innovation and Renewal(2019) Turner, Sean ColinABSTRACT
As a practice in Western society, Sabbath has been largely eroded over the last few decades. This is true not only in the culture but in the church as well, both of laity and of clergy. The implications of this loss may be seen in terms of personal health or perpetual exhaustion, and while these are true results of a loss of keeping Sabbath the real loss is in a faithful life. More than a mere day off to recharge the batteries, keeping Sabbath rejuvenates us spiritually as we live into God’s invitation to live life abundant with God.
Long before the Ten Commandments, Sabbath comes to us in the creation stories of Genesis 1 and 2. The “day of rest” is actually a day of continuing creation where God brings menuhah – peace, rest, harmony – that is not separated from the previous six days but crowns them. In an attempt to define and protect the Sabbath, Jewish leaders set categories of work to be avoided on the Sabbath that were derived from those tasks necessary to build the tabernacle. Over time, the rules became ever more involved and stricter. This was the context of Sabbath that Jesus found himself in, and his Sabbath healing stories in particular show where the attempts to protect Sabbath were actually stifling its life.
This thesis focuses on keeping Sabbath by clergy as a means to renew not only themselves but the wider church as well, drawing from written sources as well as my own experiences serving in United Methodism and British Methodism. For clergy, Sabbath is not a luxury. Clergy are not so indispensable that they are unable to take Sabbath. Some clergy have trouble with saying “No” to doing things, a practice that is needed as Sabbath time must be protected. Clergy are important in Sabbath keeping because clergy are called by God to their life and Sabbath is integral to that life. Sabbath is integral to the life of all disciples, and clergy are leaders and modelers of that life.
Using the concept of Disruptive Innovation developed by Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School, clergy can begin to reclaim keeping Sabbath and find in it renewal of themselves and of the wider church. The wider national culture has overtaken much of church culture in this regard, and keeping Sabbath is a means to disrupt the new normal of living busy, hectic, exhausting lives and call us back to participation in the life rhythm of God. Duke’s Clergy Health Initiative found that clergy needed to repeatedly be given permission to take care of themselves, and this is a stark reminder of how far we have strayed from keeping Sabbath. Keeping Sabbath is part of our communal life together, and Christians have much to (re)learn from our Jewish brothers and sisters as to how we do that. Western life has become largely ruled by the clock, which is not without its benefits but also becomes an uncompromising taskmaster when completely submitted to. God’s children are invited to share in a life that is more than the big hand and the little hand and how much can be squeezed into a day. It is a life of creative rhythm.
Clergy can lead a renewal that embraces life abundant over a life of unrelenting busyness. Keeping Sabbath is a cornerstone of this life. By keeping it themselves, clergy can inspire members of congregations to follow suit and the ripple effects will spread outwards. While the ideal goal is to recover a Sabbath for all on the same day, there are also realizations of those who cannot keep Sabbath because of financial realities as well as professional realities such as emergency and medical workers. Nevertheless, part of keeping Sabbath is finding way to include these others, often beginning in small groups. Further, what is defined as “work” has personal and group dynamics.
We too often live as less than we are. In keeping Sabbath, we acknowledge that the Lord of the Sabbath is not I. The Sabbath is not just to be remembered. It is to be kept holy.
Item Open Access Toward an Ecclesiology of Presence: Understanding the Church as a Thin Place Where Heaven Touches Earth through the People of God(2022) Sefa, Craig JosephIn a world that often seems to be burning around us, both literally and figuratively, it is difficult to notice a single burning bush. In a world deafened by the noise of the loudest and most powerful voices, the still small voice of the Holy Spirit all but disappears. Yet God continues to speak in the stillness, in the silence, and in the quiet out of the way places so few dare to walk, let alone take off their shoes. What will it take to notice? What will it take to pay attention and stay awake to God’s presence in our midst? And what will it take for the church to recover her role as sacred space where all people can drink deeply from the fountain of living water flowing forth from the loving presence of their creator?
Beginning with the Celtic image of “Thin Place,” I will explore our need to rediscover a sacramental worldview in which everything and everyone is sacred and all of creation is aflame with the light of God’s Holy presence if only we have eyes to see. I will then move toward a scriptural foundation for thin places with particular emphasis on Jacob and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, as each encounter the presence of God in the unexpected places of their ordinary lives. I will consider how the theme of God’s presence with us through the incarnation and the Holy Spirit is central to the entire Biblical narrative.
On the practical side, I turn toward the question of how we might become more aware of thin places in our midst and more readily encounter and respond to the presence of God with us. The ancient practices of silence and stillness offer a doorway into such sacred spaces in every time and place. I will also explore the vital role of the faith community or church in cultivating sacred space through the practices of silence and stillness together and examine our role as the Body of Christ to be a thin place both gathered and scattered throughout the world so that others may encounter God’s presence embodied in the life of the Church through the Holy Spirit. I believe that recovering a sacramental worldview and living a sacramental life is essential to our identity as Christians. As the Church, we must become thin places through whom the living water of God’s presence is readily accessible to a dry and weary world.