{neurotribe.net}

 

Pater Noster (Our Father) - Introduction

"Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."
Matt 6:9-13

Pater Noster, Latin for "Our Father".

Prayer is something that has intrigued me for most of my life. It is something that I was profoundly curious about, something that I tried to do before I began to take my faith seriously.

Ever since I took my faith seriously it has been something I have loved, something I have hated, something that I have to do, and as I get older something that I need to do and dare I say something that I really want and desire to do.

It is something that I feel like I do not do enough, want to do more, (mostly) love doing when I do it and more and more, really miss not doing.

Something that I didn't realise until I had a chance to sit down and have a thing about it is that I actually get asked quite a bit to speak on the subject. So what I want to do is work through the "Lord's Prayer" or the "Our Father" little bit by little bit over the next few weeks. I trust that as I muse out loud about the subject and this prayer in particular, you may find some encouragement, some rebuke, some hope, some help, some satisfaction, some transformation, but more than anything our father.

Filed under: Culture Discipleship Prayer Series Theology
 

Spiritual Capitalism

Once again, I rely on the words of Richard Rohr to describe one of the most exhausting phenomenon that I see in Australian Christian circles. The name of the phenomenon at the end of his reflection so caught my attention, I have used it as the title of this post, "Spiritual Capitalism".

It is fascinating to see just how deeply Christian Spirituality has been so profoundly coopted by the prevailing economic world view (we "spend time", we "pay attention" etc) and to see "spirituality" critiqued in this way will hopefully offer some degree of liberation and freedom, particularly to men.

The final word for mysticism, after the optimistic explosion that we usually call hope and the ensuing sense of safety, is an experience of deep rest. It’s the verb I’m told that is most used by the mystics: “resting in God.” All this striving and this need to perform, climb, and achieve becomes, on some very real level, unnecessary. It’s already here, now. I can stop all this overproduction and over-proving of myself. That’s Western and American culture. It’s not the Gospel at all.

Many of us have imbibed the culture of unrest so deeply. What got me into men’s work is that I found that males are especially driven in that direction. We males just cannot believe that we could be respected, admired, received or loved without some level of performance. So many of us are performers and overachievers to some degree, and we think “when we do that” we will finally be lovable. Even when we “achieve” a good day of “performing,” it will never be enough, because it is inherently self-advancing and therefore self-defeating. We might call it “spiritual capitalism.”

Adapted from Following the Mystics through the Narrow Gate ... Seeing God in All Things (CD, DVD, MP3)

Filed under: Discipleship Masculinity Pop Culture Richard Rohr Spirituality Theology
1102
To Posterous, Love Metalab