Multitasking and Spiritual Practices

"Multitasking and Spiritual Practices" - FaithLink - Sunday, July 27, 2014

As we discussed, multitasking "is more accurately described as task-switching since our brains are built to focus only on one task at a time.  Rather than multitasking, we are really just moving from one task to another quickly."

View and interact with the perspective of a multitasker, Kord Campbell

"Stop Texting, Dad!  I'm Talking to You!" - graph showing results of a study measuring the number of words spoken by adults to a child while smartphones/computers were on and again when they were off

"What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains" - the YouTube video below summarizes what Nicholas Carr says about multitasking feeding short-term memory at the expense of long-term memory

Journalist Christine Rosen argues in an article in The New Atlantis that "people who have achieved great things often credit for their success a finely honed skill for paying attention."

Core Bible Passages

Luke 10:38-42 - Martha is caught off guard when Jesus tells her to value BEING over DOING

Deuteronomy 11:18, Philippians 4:8 - We should replace what is in our minds with the thoughts and ways of God

Psalm 46:10 - We can let go of our anxiety and trust in an ever-present Creator

Genesis 1:1 - 2:25 - God is intentional and focused in his work and finds great joy in his accomplishments.

Spiritual Practices can help you be more present to God, to your family and friends, and even to yourself.  Our handout suggested Centering Prayer, Mindfulness, and Walking the Labyrinth

The following verse from Psalm 46:10 can be practiced as a centering prayer.  This was in the "lesson plan" handout and I planned to conduct it, but we did not have time.  These were the instructions that you can practice on your own:

Invite participants to read the verse silently, take a deep breath, and spend one minute in silence.  Erase the last word so it reads, "Be still and know that I am," and read the verse in silence. Repeat the breath and silence.  Erase the last words so it reads, "Be still, and know."  Repeat the breath and silence.  Erase the last words so it reads, "Be still."  Repeat the breath and silence.  Erase the last word so it reads "Be."  Invite participants to close their eyes and focus on any part of this verse.  Spend 2-5 minutes in silence.

Breath Prayers - written by Nancy Walsh, 2013 UMW Spiritual Growth Chair

God wants us to to pray to him.  Paul exhorts us to "pray without ceasing."  Although there are any number of ways to pray, the important thing is just to do it.  One of those ways is known as the "Breath Prayer."  It is a short petition which is repeated in an intake of air and an output of air, like inhaling and exhaling.  

You may wish to

a) Sit comfortably with a straightened back and your eyes closed

b) Pay close attention to your breathing

c) Ask for the trinity to be with you, to lead, guide, and protect

d) Wait patiently

e) When ready, pray in your breathing rhythm.

Examples are:

Inhale: "Lord, Jesus Christ"

Pause: "Son of God"

Exhale: "Have mercy on me"

OR

Inhale: "Help me (us)"

Pause: "O Lord my (our) God"

Exhale: "for I (we) rely on you"

OR

Inhale: "Lamb of God"

Pause: "who takes away the sin of the world"

Exhale: "have mercy on me (us)"

 

Interesting and Related Links

Hyde Park UMC's booklet on Methods of Prayer (Tampa, FL)

Pray as You Go - daily prayers for your mp3 player/smartphone/desktop

Article by Pastor Beth on Balancing Physical and Spiritual Health

Article on the connection between Mindfulness and Multitasking

Interesting information on labyrinths and how they are used in churches

Curious if you're a good multitasker?  Take these online interactive tests

The Take-Away - Methodism

 John Wesley

John Wesley saw many of his classmates at Christ Church College (in Oxford) have a more rigorous faith in God, and he felt a desire for more faith himself.  "In 1725, he wrote that his desire was no longer to be a 'nominal' Christian but to be a 'real' Christian" (113).  He met with a group of college students who also had similar beliefs to go deeper in the faith.  They worshiped together and sought to pursue acts of charity in their community.  Critics called them "Methodists" because of their methodical approach to the pursuit of holiness.  John Wesley did not set out to form a new denomination; he simply encouraged its beginnings as a renewal movement within the Church of England.

He was shaped by both the Enlightenment (search for logic and reason) and the Pietist Movement (skeptical of reason).  "This union of reason with the desire for a personal faith would become a defining characteristic of Methodism.  To this day United Methodists see themselves as people who bring together both a reasonable faith that is intellectually satisfying and a passionate and emotionally compelling faith that touches the heart" (113). 

Wesley sought to experience assuarance of salvation.  In 1738, while listening to the words of Martin Luther being read, Wesley said he "felt [his] heart strangely warmed" with a new passion and vitality.  Many describe Wesley and other early Methodists as being "reasonable enthusiasts" because they could hold together reason AND a passionate faith.

Once Wesley began preaching outdoors, he found satisfaction there.  He declared that the world was his parish, and he spent the rest of his life traveling by horseback preaching and calling people to follow Christ.

General Rules
1.  Avoid doing what you know is wrong.
2.  Do all the good you can to everyone you can.
3.  Pursue the spiritual disciplines, including prayer, worship, Scripture reading, and fasting, among others.

Practicies that Shaped Methodism (in early times and today)
1.  Outstanding preaching
2.  Organiztion of small groups (holding each other accountable and helping each other growing in grace)
3.  Singing
4. Social reform

Characteristics of Methodism
1.  Wesley and subsequent generations of Methodists were ecumenical and willing to work with and learn from Christians of other denominations.  "United Methodists tend to build bridges with other Christians rather than erect walls that separate" (119).
2.  Methodists believe in bringing their intellect to their faith.  "United Methodists still value the intellect and believe they are not to 'check their brain at the door' when they enter the church" (119).
3.  Wesley and the early Methodists valued passion and experience.  The "Wesleyan Quadrilateral" added Experience to the Anglican three-legged stool of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason.

 
4.  Wesley and the Methodists, drawing from the Pietist movement, placed major emphasis on a personal faith.
5.  Wesley and the Methodists stood against Calvin's teaching on predestination.
6.  Wesley brought together the high-church tradition of the Anglicans with the low-church simplicity of worship that characterized Puritan churches.
7.  Wesley placed major emphasis on two seemingly contradictory ideas: grace and holiness.  we have life and salvation only by God's grace (God's undeserved favor and blessings).  Methodists also believe that we are saved from sin in order to do good works.  Wesley also emphasized sanctification (Christian perfection) as a lifelong goal of the believer.  It means to have one's heart so transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit that one expresses perfect love for God and neighbor.  Holiness, for Methodists, has two dimensions - personal holiness (love of God and surrendering to God while avoiding anything that would offend God in one's thoughts, words and deeds) and social holiness (love of neighbor, which includes addressing injustice and shaping our communities so they are patterned on the kingdom of God).


According to Bishop Scott Jones of the Kansas Area, Methodists "tend to be a people of the extreme center.  The extreme center means that The United Methodist Church at its best is conservative in some areas and liberal in other areas.  We don't fit a stereotype very well.... By occupying the extreme center, we see the value of both sides and try to carve out a position , whether it involves theology or social justice, that embraces the whole gospel" (122-123).


John Wesley's Passions
1.  To change lives
2.  To transform the community
3.  To revitalize the church


"United Methodists invite other Christians to listen to and learn from one another; to recognize that truth is often found most fully not on the extremes, but in the center; and to pursue the life of faith by maintaining a balance between grace and holiness, intellect and emotion, evangelism and social justice" (124).

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Hamilton, Adam.  Christianity's Family Tree.   Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007.

The Take-Away - Anglicanism

Last week our section of Christianity's Family Tree focused on Anglicanism.  King Henry VIII sought an annulment from Catherine of Aragon.  The Pope excommunicated him from the Roman Catholic Church.  King Henry VIII declared that the KING should be the leader of the Church, and he developed a new group - the Catholic Church of England.  Religious chaos ensued, and Queen Elizabeth I sought to find the via media ("middle way") between Catholicism and Protestantism.  She brought forward the Book of Common Prayer.  James I thought that a new translation of the Bible was needed, and the translation that became the Bible of the via media was the King James Bible.

Anglicans wanted a "middle road" between Catholicism and Protestantism:

Catholicism - Bishops, priests, and deacons
                       Seven Sacraments
                       Sense of reverence and liturgy

Protestantism - Baptism makes everyone a minister of the Gospel
                         Bishops, priests, and deacons can be married and can be women

Anglican's beliefs are centered on the "Three-Legged Stool" of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason

Adam Hamilton emphasized the importance of prayer to the denomination.  Their phrase, lex orandi, lex credendi, translated from Latin as "As you pray, so you believe."  The Apostle Paul advised Christians in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to "pray without ceasing."

Here's a funny meme that I found, and I thought you all would enjoy it  :-)

Also, I came across this article on the differentiation between the Anglican Church and the Episcopalian Church.  I never knew this and thought it may be helpful for you, too!



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Hamilton, Adam.  Christianity's Family Tree.   Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007.

Week Nineteen - Open

 

Next week our focus will be on the nineteenth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Open."  Helen will lead us in this casual discussion.

Does prayer really help?
Many of us have experienced situations where we've prayed and it felt like God wasn't listening. And yet other times we've prayed or known someone that prayed and the situation changed. Does God answer prayer? Sometimes, but not all the time? Or does God always answer prayer and it's just that sometimes God says no? Some of us are angry with God for not answering the prayers we've prayed for years. Why did he answer their prayer but not ours? What if there's more to prayer than just God listening and answering? Maybe if we understood how Jesus prayed, our concepts and expectations of prayer would change.

Click this link to watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on January 6th:

http://nooma.com/films/019-open

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!