Category Archives: Forward Friday
Forward Friday: Are you more physical or digital?
Are you more invested in your physical reality or in digital experience?
This week we considered the possible future of the Church and of body theology as we become more and more invested in digital community.
This weekend, take the opportunity to assess your priorities. Where are you investing your time and energy?
Try the following exercise:
Here’s an example.
1) Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle of the page, from top to bottom. On the left side, write PHYSICAL. On the right side, write DIGITAL.
2) Throughout the weekend, log the type and duration of your activities. Anything that plants you firmly in the physical world, write on the left side. Anything involving digital community, write on the right side.
3) At the end of the weekend, tally up your time spent on each side of the page. Which side receives more of your attention and investment?
4) Reflect on the results of your exercise. Are you pleased with the choices you made over the weekend? Does the amount of time spent accurately reflect the priorities you thought you had? Did you discover anything new about yourself?
Forward Friday: Finding God in the Physical
This week we talked about how I learned to find God not in the voice in my head but in the voice of a thousand mundane, ordinary, regular, unexceptional, physical things that mean that I’m ALIVE and DOING something outside in the world with other people.
This weekend, take some time to reflect on the past week, month, or year of your life. You could journal, go for a walk, or share with a friend.
When did you feel most connected to God?
What activities, events, or movements created space for that connection to take place?
Were you in your head or in your physical reality?
If you’re having trouble getting started, I highly recommend Miles to Run Before We Sleep: Step-by-Step Meditations and Reflections toward a Life of Persevering, Risk-taking, Justice, Mercy, and Humility by Tim Hoekstra.
Tim has an amazing ministry and life story to share, and my husband and I were very honored to have been married by him last April. I’m excited to start Tim’s devotional this weekend and may be sharing some insights here in the coming weeks.
Forward Friday: Write Your Letter
On Wednesday, I contributed to the SheLoves syncroblog on writing love letters to our bodies.
This weekend, you guessed it, try writing a love letter to your body. It’s a strange and unusual experience, but you might be surprised what comes out of it.
This is a chance to break the refrain that runs through our heads, reminding us what we don’t like about ourselves. Be bold. Be honest. Be funny. Be vulnerable. Embrace the body you have, just as it is right now.
Even if you already have a healthy body image, this is a great opportunity to reflect on your unique relationship to your body. It is, after all, the temple of the Holy Spirit, right?
Not sure where to start? Check out some wonderful examples on the SheLoves website.
Not just for women! Men, you go right ahead and write your body a letter, too.
If you feel comfortable sharing, post in the comment box below, or just leave a link to your blog or Facebook post. I’d love to read what you come up with!
Forward Friday: On the Act
On Monday we talked about the act of writing it down and on Wednesday about the act of creating art. This weekend, take some time to explore your spirituality and personal growth in a tangible way.
All my journals from the past six years, except one or two I can’t find!
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- write it down in a journal
- create a collage
- create a mural
- paint
- write it on a t-shirt and wear it
- use play dough
- draw a picture
- take pictures
- carve or sculpt
- choreograph and perform a dance
- write and record a song
- finger paint
Come back and share about your experience in the comment box below. I’d love to see what you create!
Forward Friday: What does God value?
This week we’ve been talking about church plants and what it looks like to be the community of God. For the weekend, try this short journal exercise:
Ask yourself: what does God value? How can the community of God be and behave more according to God’s values and goals for the body of Christ?
Not into journaling? Try discussing the question over coffee or tea with a friend.
Come back and share your experience in the comment box below.
Forward Friday: Thanking the Pace-Keepers
This week we talked about hiking as a spiritual practice toward achieving balance and rhythm in our lives. Today’s Forward Friday is short and sweet:
1) This weekend, take some time to identify people in your life who have helped you keep the pace in your spiritual journey. Let them know how their presence and companionship have affected you.
2) How can you be a pace-keeper in the lives of those around you?
Come back and share your experience in the comment box below.
Forward Friday: Relational Living
Wednesday, I wrote about my purpose in blogging on Holistic Body Theology. I shared that I write this blog because we are not made to be alone. We do not walk this journey alone.
Relational living is a simple, yet vital, element of body theology. This weekend, as you spend time with family, friends, maybe a church community, take the opportunity to be mindful of the way God created us to be together.
Then come back and share your experience in the comment box below.
How did you participate in the body of Christ this weekend?
Forward Friday: Reflecting on Community
This weekend, reflect on one of the following:
1) What does “community” mean to you?
2) Think about a recent interaction with someone in your community where you spoke, acted, or reacted out of woundedness and fear rather than healing and love. Identify the root or source of your behavior. Notice your emotional and physical responses. Invite God into your experience to help guide your reflection. Ask God to bring healing into the place of woundedness and to cast out fear with love. Write down your experience so you can return to it for further reflection as you grow in your spiritual journey.
Share what you discover with a close friend, or post in the comment box below.
Forward Friday: The Mary-Wannabe-Martha-Reality Check
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)
You wanna be like Mary, but in reality, you’re like Martha. Believe me, lovely reader, I know how you feel. I’ve been there, and I’m back there again.
So if you’re a Martha and wanna be like Mary, what do you DO about it?
Here’s a little exercise to try this weekend:
- Recognize your gifts, passions, and personality. Understand and accept who you are. God made you that way for a reason. God likes you like this!
- Recognize how you are feeling. Are you worried and upset? Are you critical and judgmental? Are you jealous of people who seem to have an easier time sitting at the feet of Jesus?
- Identify what is motivating you right now. Are you distracted by the preparations? Are you busy with things that seem necessary but really are not needed?
- Take it to God. Mary and Martha both went straight to Jesus. They just had different catalysts for their encounters with God. Maybe being stressed and overwhelmed by the tasks of your day can be used to turn your attention to the one thing that is truly needed.
- Allow God to redirect your focus. Where should your time and attention be right now? What is truly needed?
Maybe sitting at Jesus’ feet isn’t your natural state of being. Maybe it takes work. It was work for Brother Lawrence, St. Ignatius, and the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, too. That’s why they devoted so much time and effort toward cultivating their focus toward God.
If you’re task-oriented, make time with Jesus one of your “tasks” for the day. Maybe it’s your only task for one whole day, the only and best accomplishment. If you like lists, put time with Jesus on there along with runs to the grocery store and calls to clients.
And if you’re not like this at all, if you’re naturally a Mary, well then…
YOU ROCK! We all wish we could be more like you. Don’t let ANYONE take away what you have chosen. God promised you could stay right where you are at the feet of Jesus, and God will defend you! You just keep on sitting.
For the rest of us, put sitting on your list. And then DO it.
And then come back and share your experience in the comment box below.
Holistic Body Theology 