{"id":3084,"date":"2013-01-10T15:00:19","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T23:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=3084"},"modified":"2013-08-26T17:15:32","modified_gmt":"2013-08-27T00:15:32","slug":"nurturing-elders-how-to-grow-spiritually-for-boomers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/nurturing-elders-how-to-grow-spiritually-for-boomers\/","title":{"rendered":"Nurturing Elders: How to grow spiritually for boomers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transforming faith is an adult task!<\/strong> | By the Rev. Paul Graves<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now that I am a man\/woman, I have no more use for childish ways.\u201d (Paul\u2019s affirmation in I Cor. 13:11)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

How do people over 50-60 years old deal with their spiritual health IF they want to grow beyond where they are currently? We see the word \u201ctransformation\u201d used a great deal in our denomination literature and in meetings in our churches.<\/p>\n

While I\u2019m all for this focus, I must admit to some skepticism about the depth of transformation we really want to endure. Are we looking mainly at changing the procedural ways we do ministry as United Methodists? Might we also consider changing who we are – deep inside – as United Methodists?<\/p>\n

The second task is much harder than the first. It\u2019s certainly the longer task. It will take our whole lives long!<\/p>\n

In a powerful and sometimes disturbing book, \u201cA Lever and a Place to Stand: The Contemplative Stance, the Active Prayer\u201d, Richard Rohr says some very important things about this transformational task in a chapter called \u201cReligion: A Transformational System?\u201d (pp. 29-44). Here is a bare-bones description of what he says about faith transformation.<\/p>\n

The three parts of Hebrew Scriptures \u2013 Law, Prophets, Wisdom \u2013 represent the three stages of faith development. We begin Stage 1 right where Jewish self-awareness begins, \u201cand that is Torah: Law, structure, identify, boundaries, certitude, order, authority, and clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is here we hopefully develop a healthy, happy, secure ego structure. But if we stay with this first life-task too long (trying to \u201cget it right\u201d?), we tend to focus more on the \u201ccontainer\u201d and less the \u201ccontents\u201d of life to put into the container.<\/p>\n

Rohr says it this way: \u201cAfter a while one gets so invested in doing the task of Law and (trying to maintain) social and personal order that we almost always think that is what religion is for!\u201d We can easily get stuck here and yet think we have a mature faith.<\/p>\n

But wait! There are two more stages before we reach maturity.<\/p>\n

The second life task we need to engage is represented biblically by the Prophets. They criticize \u201cnormal religion\u201d and offer alternatives.<\/p>\n

In stage 1, we rely almost exclusively on outside authority (parents, teachers, church, etc.) to bring meaning and order to our lives. Then we move into a time (teen rebellion is a great example) where we seek a more inside authority \u2013 ourselves.<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t \u201ctrust anyone over 30\u201d, or anyone who doesn\u2019t agree with our life views. Of course, those life views are based on our limited life experiences as teenagers or young adults. (Even now, we do well to consider that our life experiences at 70, 80, 90 years old may actually be only one lived year\u2026but repeated 70, 80, 90 times!)<\/p>\n

But Rohr suggests that to move toward spiritual maturity, we need to experience a third life stage as symbolized by Biblical Wisdom Literature. It presents us \u2013 both subtly and directly \u2013 with life\u2019s paradoxes and mysteries. These wisdom books are not \u201cconventional\u201d, either\/or wisdom, but alternative wisdom (contemplative, non-dualistic).<\/p>\n

Rohr sees this alternative wisdom particularly in the book of Job, \u201cwhere the psyche is finally mature enough to have faith in the form of darkness instead of light, whereas stage one insists upon total light and explanation.\u201d We can see this in many of our own liturgies, hymns, attitudes and ingrained perceptions.<\/p>\n

The third task of dealing with paradox \u201ccannot be tackled until one has walked through the first two. It is a sequential journey (There are no short-cuts to wisdom!). If you stay just in stage one conformity or stage 2 criticism, you are in no way ready for mystery, paradox, the collision of opposites that is the cross, or quite simply, adult faith.<\/p>\n

You are really not capable of anything except dualistic, either\/or thinking. That is the best explanation I have found for why most religion remains so immature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wow! Rohr certainly calls as he sees it, doesn\u2019t he. His insights may not always set well, but they are certainly worth our wrestling with.<\/p>\n

Next month, February, is \u201cheart month\u201d. I will expand on his reflections as we consider how our hearts reach out to \u2013 or pull away from \u2013 God\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

\n

The Rev. Paul Graves is the chair for the Conference Commission on Older Adult Ministries for the PNWUMC.
This article will appear in the upcoming January issue of Channels. Visit www.pnwumc.org\/channels<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transforming faith is an adult task! | By the Rev. Paul Graves \u201cWhen I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now that I am a man\/woman, I have no more use for childish ways.\u201d (Paul\u2019s affirmation in I Cor. 13:11) How do people over 50-60 years old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":3086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[111,142],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-channels","8":"category-older-adult-ministries"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/COLUMNS_Elders.jpg?fit=600%2C307&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-NK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3084"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3101,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084\/revisions\/3101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}