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Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak 
When Joy is Hard, II 

—Mary Lou Redding
The Power of a Focused Heart Wednesday, December 15, 2010

When Joy is Hard One Advent a few years ago a spiritual director said to me, "Maybe this year, instead of going to Bethlehem, you need to meet Jesus at Bethany with Mary and Martha, at the tomb of Lazarus, their brother and friend."
I'll always be grateful for that guidance. Those words invited me to be myself, to be present with the grief and loss I was experiencing. The truth is, the season's theme of joy can be an especially a heavy weight for those who are marking loss instead of celebrating new beginnings. Feelings of isolation and loneliness may be experienced by those who must work through the holiday so that others can celebrate Christmas- church professionals and clergy are among this group. Sometimes glad tidings just cannot be heard no matter the regularity or the volume with which they are made.

In many a devotional guide, this week, the third week of Advent, has a mini-break intended to help us breathe a little easier. If words of joy are difficult to hear, you may need to give yourself a break, and to cut others some slack. You are doing the best you can. So are the others in your life. God's loving delight in you comes from the overflow of the Giver of Life's generosity and goodness and joy, not from anything we can try to control, nor from the traumatic events that happen to us beyond our choosing.

God is patient with you wherever you are in this month's journey. Even if you are not where you want to be, God is with you there. And for that reason, you can be patient with all, beginning with yourself. Especially when you feel much more like Scrooge or the Grinch than Santa. But we don't have to conjure up the perfect Christmas anymore than we're supposed to self-produce joy and happiness. The real Christmas is the one wherever you are, because wherever you are, God's healing and compassionate love is with you- and in you.

Peace of the Incarnate Word be with you. Tuesday, December 14, 2010

2010's Trite and Worn Words & Phrases In grades 7-9, I used a progression of marvelous texts called Word Wealth to expand vocabulary. So I should know better if and when I use any of these overused words in the next few months.
on steroids/
counter intuitive/man up/
friend-ed/ life back/it's all good/
leverage/transparency/it is what it is

* Please feel free to add your own phrases you find mildly irritating. 
On Church-ese When God closes a door, does God open a window? Here's your answer!
Posted by Scott Endress at 3:00 PM No comments: Links to this post Friday, December 3, 2010

Cleveland, You Still Rock, and You've Got Company

Le Quitness doesn't get why all those people in Memphis kept booing him. He didn't do anything to them. Every city that's not a top market has an automatic affinity for the fan-dom of Cleveland, Ohio. It's all about knowing what it's like to be treated as second class and third rate.

There's no sense in cataloging much history here, because Cleveland's experience is the norm and not the exception. (By the way, it's the Mistake ON the Lake- not the Mistake BY the Lake. Know the difference). It's just that, when sports franchises want the economic support of their community, they like to tout the importance of fan loyalty. But, when it's time for a franchise to leave, or a player to be let go or traded, it all suddenly becomes about running a business and market-size. There is no city that hasn't felt that empty feeling of losing a team or player or coach the fans once passionately followed.

The same week that the player returned from South Beach to beat his former team on the North Coast, the man who moved the Browns-Ravens to Baltimore in 1995, Arthur Modell himself, was named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2011 class. Talk about great timing! Ya just gotta laugh.

So the Memphis folks booing Le Classless? He will continue to function as a lightening rod for every fan who has ever felt betrayed by broken promises.
Posted by Scott Endress at 10:00 AM No comments: Links to this post 
It's Time to Flush the Hallmark Theology Consider it your calling to debunk, in every way possible, the seasonal onslaught that's trumpeted in every piece of media, from the Grinch to the latest Hallmark special. The sad thing is, we so buy into it! What happens when we end up pinning all our hopes on whatever we can somehow produce on our own, whether it be good intentions or good actions?
We look back at another December and wonder why we feel so empty and exhausted. Maybe it was the toxic theology that we first ingested along with the primal Christmas special and the Thanksgiving turkey.
We don't have to swallow whatever anyone has to say about God. In fact, it is faithful pastoral work, as well as self-care, to disqualify some claims- to refuse them as sub- Christian. When someone says that God has a reason for the death of your loved one, instead of getting mad at God, learn how to get good and angry with that kind of this-for-that theology! But don't let that be an excuse for you to resist the life- infusion of the Spirit or to stop seeking God, the Lover of your soul!

I've always taken the Grinch story as a good critique of our materialism. But just to rid yourself of the attachment to stuff doesn't necessarily lead to life until you ask, what is filling the void? The story implies that human kindness and gratitude is what makes Christmas what it is. As helpful as human warmth can be, it's not my own goodness that can deliver me from the addiction to excessive grabbing, and the fear-based mantra that enough is never really enough.

I wish we weren't so susceptible to this season's message of salvation through buying and the self-manufacture of happiness. It's time to spare ourselves of all of the false consolations of a Hallmark theology--and receive the promise of the One who is coming, the One who is more wondrous and life-giving than we can ever think or imagine... the One who exceeds any human expectation.
Posted by Scott Endress at 6:00 AM No comments: Links to this post 
Surrender Can Be Gentle Looking for a softening of the austere Covenant Prayer from the Puritan and Wesleyan tradition? You may not be the only one that reacts to its harshness, especially the way some churches just throw it out there for everyone to read (not necessarily pray) every New Year. I struggle to pray and not mouth the words.

You find a gentler expression of a similar prayer by Charles de Foucauld, the posthumous founder of the Little Brothers of Jesus, the Little Sisters of the Sacred Heart and the Little Sisters of Jesus.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, these groups seek to conform to the social milieu where they earn much of their own living, working regular jobs, wearing ordinary clothes, and exercising their influence by sharing the life of those around them. Henri Nouwen cites Foucauld's prayer in The Road to Daybreak.
Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
Do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you;

I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
And in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
For I love you, Lord,
And so need to give myself,
To surrender myself into your hands, without reserve
And with boundless confidence.
For you are my Father. 
St. Francis de Sales on Ingratitude Consider particularly the sin of ingratitude toward God, a general sin that reaches out to all the rest and makes them infinitely more enormous. Note then all the benefits God has granted you and how you have misused all of them against the giver. Note especially how many of his inspirations you have despised and how many movements you have rendered useless...So often God has run after you to save you, and you have always run before him in order to destroy yourself.
from Introduction to the Devout Life (Image), p. 47, Part One, The Fourth Meditation- On Sin 
Civil Religion: Not Always Civil When it comes to gratitude for our blessings, November reminds me that there is a very healthy civil religion in the U.S. With Thanksgiving, each generation has added to the richness of it. Being grateful for your life is good for you, and if practiced, can lead to doing good things.
But there's also a toxic sort of civil religion that really doesn't do anything for me, like when I hear the refrain that "they" have taken God out of schools, (where did "they" put God?). We have "secularized" Christmas so we need to "Put Christ back in Christmas." The literalism of moving God or putting Jesus anywhere is baffling to me.

As a life-long student of the Bible, I doubt that a pristine worship of the One and Only, the God who made heaven and earth, ever really existed in ancient Israel. But it's not about what "they" have done to "take" God away. If the whining does anything truly constructive, it challenges Christians to ascertain where in the world is God moving in our lives.

We need to thank God we're free from the terrible religious wars that our founders had the wisdom to protect us from, constitutionally, by law. Wars among self-professed Christians. Or try the book, Holy Terrors. As the majority faith, we're limited from using our "faith-based" anything on others, or as a pretext, a cover, for doing actual harm to others.

Do you really think that the One who is Lord of all the powers of the universe cares about having a space in our cultural pantheon, whether it's on the bumper of a car or statuary in front of a civic building? No, I don't see Jesus as a culture wars commander and I don't hear the call to engage in a continual battle for most favored religion status. Rather, I see Jesus' way as the one where disciples take responsibility for their own faith- and express it in concrete action. The freedom from doing harm and the freedom for doing good is a gift for which we can be truly grateful! 
Discernment: End of Life as Its Beginning I sometimes wonder when we ask to know God's will, do we really know what we're asking? Would I be able to receive it? Or is our knowing just overrated? Maybe that's why Jesus told the disciples they could not bear or even understand everything he had to say. (John 16:12) So we do well not to judge our entire lives based on whatever we happen to be feeling or thinking at the moment.
More often than not, we only know the right and true and best by looking back at it. Bearing good fruit from our chosen spiritual practice is one of the best ways to discernment. And the results- doing not just knowing- are equally important. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Remember that the "blessed" of Matthew 25: 31 ff. didn't even know the significance of their actions- they just did God's will.
Faith calls us to discover that in every ending, though we may not have seen it or even chose it at the time, God's grace was there offering us a new beginning in hope and healing. The invitation- and choice to see now what we couldn't at the time- is ours. 
On Offering What We Don't Have 
Can We Let God Be Kinder than We Are? 
Survivors of Suicide- A Grief Like No Other 
The Wisdom in Weeds While some stuff we call weeds can actually be beneficial for soil development (like clover), what makes a weed so bad is that, given the right conditions, it can easily dominate the grass. I've had a long-time battle with something called wild aster.The weed appears to be totally immune to any and all treatments including just ignoring it. There are times it seems under control, but mostly it's an infernal struggle against this creeping, woody, well-rooted nightmare in my St. Augustine.

Heat, drought, insects, and lack of good soil can stress a lawn and make it susceptible to problems. Like the life of your lawn, the root of bitterness can grow in us, especially when we're stressed. We may stop seeing temptations for what they are: distractions from our main goal of loving God and serving others. We begin to pay so much attention to these, that, like the wild aster of my lawn, most of our energy is consumed with either fighting or feeding them.

Jesus has plenty of stories using weeds."As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature." Luke 8:14 Weeds are a fact of lawn health and temptations are a fact of spiritual care. How we choose to care for the soil of our spirit will determine the extent of whatever your dreaded wild aster is.

St. Francis de Sales liked to use insects in many of his illustrations. He likened temptations to little gnats, nothing more, nothing less. We see and notice them. If we want to stop them from disrupting our lives, we must choose to simply swat them away.

Happy swatting!

Posted by Scott Endress at 12:05 PM 2 comments: Links to this post 
Love is safe...but are Christians? Let mutual love continue. Hebrews 13:1 
On Giving from a Full Cup My Dad’s main instrument was clarinet then followed by sax. As a teenager, dad appeared on the Major Bowes radio broadcast, THE amateur talent show of his generation. While in college at Drake University, Steve Allen was the pianist in his band. When Dad went to law school and become an attorney, he never left his passion; rather, he guided my older brother’s many Big Band and Dixieland groups for about a decade.

Every Sunday, musicians of all generations and hair lengths jammed into our living room, filling our house with every sound from Glenn Miller to Count Basie to the Dukes of Dixieland.

In a weird way, I miss the community, as intrusive as it was, that assembled in my living room those many Sundays. That kind of doing for the simple love of it is very rare. When you share your gift and passion with others, it can make you a better person, you can “fulfill” your mission, and you can improve the world beyond just yourself.

The good news is that there is enough of God’s grace for everyone and everything God created: “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” I Peter 4:10. This isn’t about “volunteering.” It is about fulfilling your baptism in Jesus Christ and not wasting the time and ability God gives you.

Posted by Scott Endress at 3:50 PM No comments: Links to this post 
Is a Day off the Answer to Clergy Obesity? Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Is "Unworthy" Worthless? 
Study Leave, 2010 

Reading, Study, and Prayer

New Day and Lakewood Experiences 
What Would "the Beave" Lie About Today? Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Why We Take It Personally 
Why Join the Church? 
A Word About Numbers Bishop Will Willimon challenged us to say, in light of the Acts of the Apostles, that numbers (of conversions, people in pews, etc.) don't really matter. I don't know who is saying numbers don't matter, but I did what he asked us to do. I reflected on why Luke, who wrote the narrative, would have included numbers in the story of the church's expansion, in Acts.
I believe they are not unimportant in the larger story but they are, by themselves, not very meaningful. These instances are recounted, like the conversions of former persecutors (Saul) and Roman officials like Cornelius, to teach that your persecutors or occupying military officer might just become your brother or sister if you are faithful in your witness. And about numbers: the more people who see following Jesus not just dangerous, but also possible and workable, the more likely others will accept the invitation to join in. In a sense, numbers do attract more numbers.

That, in my opinion has little to do with reporting of numbers, paid attendance or actual, as we do it today, whether at the ballgame or the pew. Those are business figures. Are our numbers incidental or unimportant? To be PC, absolutely not. In a way that matters to the UMC and those employed by it, numbers are important. Is that the main message of Acts, or of Jesus' parables of growth, or, for that matter, the ministry of John Wesley, as the Bishop maintains? It would seem that a variety of responses can be reasonably argued.

But saying we need more numbers when the UMC has had generational membership losses is not prophetic exhortation- it's simply more empty reporting of the previous day's weather.
Posted by Scott Endress at 7:00 AM No comments: Links to this post 
Is the Disciple Making Mantra Working? 
Bryant Gumble on Lebron

On Weds,Real Sports on HBO , had something to say about the THE KING:

“Finally tonight, a few words about championship rings. Just when did they become the all-important barometer of who does or doesn’t count in sports? When did they supersede personal excellence or exemplary character as a standard of greatness?

“I got to thinking about that the other night after the self-anointed chosen one, LeBron James, embarrassed himself as he tried to make his decision to seek rings in Miami sound like a search for the Holy Grail. It’s when he essentially admitted to placing a higher priority on winning than anything else.

“LeBron’s decision is typical of our immediate gratification era, but it flies in the face of history. Even though he never won a title, Dan Marino is still the biggest hero in Florida. And in Boston, all those Celtics championships are dimmed by the unforgettable brilliance of Ted Williams, who never won anything. In Chicago, Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus have legendary status despite playing on losing teams. And even in the NBA, where guys seem obsessed with being viewed as ‘the man’, real men like Barkley, Ewing and Baylor are ringless, but revered.

“Despite such evidence to the contrary, LeBron James seems to think he needs a ring to change his life and secure his legacy. Maybe he’ll get one, maybe he won’t, but it’s probable that no amount of rings will ever remove the stench he wallowed in last week. LeBron may yet find that in the court of public opinion, just as putting on a tux can’t make a guy a gentleman, winning a ring can’t make one truly a champion.”
Posted by Scott Endress at 1:53 PM No comments: Links to this post 
Just Another Fake Line in the Sandbox Did you know that the culpable behemoths are not the B.P.'s who risk lives and worlds for a little more profit (and for our cheap gas). They're not the too-big-to fail giants on Wall Street bailed out by our tax dollars. The demagogues in the U.S. Senate, in a piece of work before their July 4 recess, took on the unemployed and their families, some of which possibly live on a street near you. Happy holiday!
Yup, our Senate heroes, especially its bold minority, is doing what it does best: rigging a cat fight for their hell-benders! After months of dubious negotiating the bill's size, they managed to shut down, at least temporarily, renewing expiring federal unemployment benefits. Maybe when the senators are finished taking a stand something will get done, who knows?
Two- off- the- book- wars, huge, unfunded, budget-toxic tax cuts for the leisure class, drug company hand-outs, and other stuff still unpaid? Naw, THOSE deficits are different. Now, deficits really do matter.

The stand is a symbolic "I was against those terrible deficits under our current President and I did what I could to counteract the flow of big guvmunt!" in a campaign speech. The poor, the vulnerable, the already-stressed- out families who are without one or both incomes? Extending benefits goes immediately into the economy, and stimulating the economy with real cash infusion (read: success) is one thing that terrifies these Jim- dandies. They have nothing to offer except maybe some warmed over advice from St. Ronnie about checking the want ads.
But pitching a fit here and now would only be credible if anything was attempted about the huge budget shortfalls in the last ten years. "The one who mocks the poor has contempt for their Maker," says Proverbs 17:5. "Mocking" includes your pretend stands that mislead and don't work, even if they can get you re-elected.
Posted by Scott Endress at 6:00 PM No comments: Links to this post 
To Entangle, Enable or Empower Why does it matter? Enabling keeps us in ruts, wastes time, drains energy and, ultimately robs life of our direction.

If you answer yes to most of these you may be more of an enabler:

Enabling others prevents people from knowing God's will and using their spiritual gifts. Being "entangled" with others does sap your energy, verve, and purpose. If you are functioning too much as an enabler, it may be a struggle being your own person, to stand on your own two feet. You may even "love too much" or try to get from others what you really need to give to yourself: respect, patience, and self-acceptance. Clergy are especially susceptible to wanting everyone to like them.
Equipping and empowering others is different than enabling. Empowering others frees and supports others to do what God is calling them to do and be. It encourages us to use our gifts rather than to deny them. We aspire to fulfill the highest vision, not just to please others. The courage to be your own best self is connected, on the deepest level, to be a faithful steward of what God has given you, in love, to be and do. That in itself requires strength, clear thinking, and attention. Thursday, June 24, 2010

Is "Tilting" Enough? In Tilt: Small Shifts in Leadership that Make a Big Difference, authors Erik Rees and Jeff Jernigan describe the difference between being managed by change and leading it. By choosing the later, we can become part of the process of transformation instead of blocking it. A significant theme throughout the book: too much management and control leads to burn-out. And that deadens all forms of leadership, volunteer as well as professional.
The best chapters were on "Becoming an Empowering Leader" and "Value-Driven Behaviors." The importance of inviting new people and investing in them is the first step in empowering others, especially if Christ's ministry is ever to be replicated and multiplied. The strength of the book is the emphasis on behaviors or fruits. The authors do a good job of identifying what they mean by values- driven behaviors, a popular topic in the corporate world. As you begin to establish value-based behaviors, you actually have a good chance of limiting toxic relationships.

The best quote was found on page 133: "If visibility is something you need, you need to be in theater, not ministry." You might also find the Appendix, Value-Driven Behaviors Card-Sort a useful exercise for any group or team you lead.

The authors tend to lump everyone under the catch-all "ministry." The leadership issues are not the same. Clergy have responsibilities that parishioners do not, for example, in the areas of setting and maintaining healthy space, time, energy, and rest boundaries, both for self and for others. Too, I could have seen fewer grids, graphs, quizzes and inventories, and few more metaphors, biblical and otherwise, developed.

Because growth and change is messy- and not just the cause and effect manipulated or "driven"- a more helpful approach would be to focus on the organic, grass roots aspects of transformation. Vision can strangely diminish the more we dissect its parts, rely on general formulas, and ignore the one and only movement of God's Spirit in our midst. That's why I think Tilt falls short as a guide for encountering the Holy One in Christ's ministry. As such, it's more of a leadership manual for the 1990's. More of a last gasp of the purpose-driven technique than a breath of fresh air. 
Beginning Second Half Ministry @ Chapelwood 

I look forward to our ministry together!

Posted by Scott Endress at 7:00 AM 1 comment: Links to this post Tuesday, June 1, 2010

An Old Idea Looking Better 
Include Integrity on Next Resume 
The Weekly Watchword: The Miracle of Adoption 

Light saber or pixie dust? Holy Spirit is neither. We don't control Holy Spirit; better to yield and surrender. Think of it not as the Spirit coming down on the church, but rather, the church offering all to Holy Spirit. As the Moravian Watchword from Romans implies, it's Spirit's work of adopting and leading us that is significant, not our claim on the Spirit.

Just as important as receiving, it's sometimes helpful to look at what we're receiving. Paul makes clear that it's the very spirit of adoption, so that when we cry out to God as our loving Abba, it is the Spirit bearing witness to us that we belong to God, now and forever. (Romans 8:16) So any other voice that refutes that affirmation is not from Holy Spirit but from the father of lies.

The wisdom in this is that we don't have to look elsewhere. Though I don't always choose the hope and freedom and healing that the Spirit offers, Paraclete is nonetheless here opening that door to life, inviting me to know and experience new possibilities. The spirit- life is finally about making small movements, and learning to live as God's beloved in Jesus.

We CAN choose gratitude for God's extravagance and grace as the center from which we live. In this, we can offer ministry bearing resemblance to Jesus- and the same worthy of his name. Blessed Pentecost! 
I Sincerely Doubt It I remember there was a phase in our boyhood when my older brother would retort, "I sincerely doubt it," to almost anything I would try to state, frustratingly, as fact!
Have you ever wondered about the presence and purpose of doubt? Why do we get to have it and centipedes or toads apparently don't? Wouldn't life be easier if we could just get over it and move on?
Doubt plays an important function because it can save us from ourselves. Doubt can keep us from making bad decisions or doing harm due to run- away hubris, and thinking we're always right. Knowing we don't have all the answers is apart of honest humility. Faith without this kind of doubt can serve to strengthen, not question, all pet peeves and prejudices. Then, I no longer think I'm right, I know I am.
When it comes to the Bible, doubt means different things. One of the well-worn texts on doubt comes from the Epistle of James:

If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not to expect to receive anything from the Lord. James 1:5-8

That's strong language against doubt. The gist of the doubt here is contention or differing with God. It makes sense. Why would anyone ask God for anything if they're going to turn around and say, "No thanks God, I changed my mind. I don't really want what you have to offer-wisdom- after all." So the doubter here is double-minded, or literally, "double-souled."
THUS, doubt depends on context. A truly healing confession is from Mark: [Jesus said] “Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9: 23-24
Doubt is about intention. Being careful for what you pray is only part of it. The other, maybe larger part, is about whether we choose the healed -or- sharply divided self. Doubt can play a helpful role if it can lead us to be more honest with God and genuine with other people. It can waste precious energy if we end up turning away from whatever God is offering us. It can lead to greater transparency or self-defeat. Choose the former, by God's love and grace. A few months ago I was asked by the retreat leader to reflect on my spiritual season. In what season am I living spiritually? I couldn't get beyond the fact that Houston, Texas was experiencing its first winter in years. Maybe partly because of the four seasons in nature, our spirits too have seasons of energy, growth, denouement, and dormancy.
Discerning spiritual seasons can serve us well as we become aware of the center from which we give and serve and offer our ministry. Acknowledgment of our inner reality is a step in first doing no harm to self or another. Especially if we're at a place of ebbing energy, then offering gentleness and compassion to ourselves is easily blown off. We're supposed to be there for others, right?

I once knew a gardener who cared for an amazing array of roses, among other foliage. The trouble with our weather, he said, was that roses never had a rest, a break, a time when they were not on. Keeping the roses going throughout the year was a struggle because of the lack of a real winter.

Pastors, too, are always on. However, there is a season for everything. We may not want to be in the season of waiting because our first inclination maybe to do something. Waiting doesn't necessarily play well on anyone's success meter or effectiveness grid. But if we as clergy leaders are not able to name our own reality, then what, finally, do we have to offer to anyone else?

It's the miracle of life sustaining life that has gripped me this year. A winter of dormancy made this spring especially vivid, something to savor. Which is what our spiritual life can be, something to enjoy, whatever season in which you find yourself. Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Monastic Methodists 
Brain Healthy Faith You are what you eat. According to Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman, authors of How God Changes Your Brain, your brain is only as healthy as your best spiritual practice or worst God -image.
In short, the book is all about the nexus of God and science as seen in the human brain, and how that coming together can affect and transform our lives. And the research presented is a stirring case for how "God," i.e., our spiritual practices and religious faith, can affect the life and health of our brain, for good or ill.

The first part of the book is a primer of sorts. We learn the function of each part of the brain. There are certain "God" circuits where perception of God is formed. The amygdala is implicated in creating the reptilian brain and the fight or flight response. The frontal lobe's job is to logically think about God. The striatum helps to control the amygdala, allowing us to know safety and a sense of well-being in God's presence. The thalamus is the key organ that makes God feel objectively real.

This book has much to caution about unhealthy brain-faith, a persistent theme.The more our faith is fear and anger based, the more damaging it is for our brain: "...the problem arises when individuals use their religion to justify angry feelings toward others. Specifically, expressing or listening to angry thoughts can disturb the normal neural functioning of many parts of the brain. In fact, just reading emotionally evocative words stimulates...in ways that resemble traumatic coding." For me the best quote is: "As doctors, we have come to realize that people need to deal with their spiritual pathology in addition to their physical and mental concerns."

The real meat of the book seems to be the long list of exercises that not only contribute to brain health, but overall well-being and serenity. The reader is reminded that it's regular practice of any and all exercises that bears the most fruit. Yawning and "deep yawning" are listed separately in case you find brain health boring. And there is a separate chapter for "compassionate communication." Even minimal religious participation supports greater longevity and health. Meditation, even the kind that is unrelated to faith, can permanently strengthen the parts of the brain that are responsible for lowering anxiety and depression, and enhances empathy and intellectual functioning.

There are some who would find this topic unnecessary: after all, do people of faith really need medical evidence to motivate them in adopting certain spiritual practices? On the other hand, why wouldn't we want to know how our faith affects our brains, especially if it complements health? It was St. Paul who spoke of the "renewing of your minds" in Romans 12. In light of this volume, we have to ask ourselves, how is the spiritual life we have chosen contributing to- or hindering- that renewal of mind?

Posted by Scott Endress at 6:00 AM 4 comments: Links to this post UMC Bloggers Why Clergyspirit? Wag More, Bark Less! Try Gratitude Making Good Decisions

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