Tag Archive: Mindfulness

Wait and Listen

May 14, 2020 0 Comments

What is your smaller world of interaction teaching you?

Some of you may have discovered a neglected discipline as your world has become smaller during the pandemic. Maybe you have cooked more, baked more, practiced an instrument more, gardened more, or perhaps you have rested. But my guess is that the discipline of waiting and listening for Jesus’ voice has not become “easier.” I pray that we would all be given grace to increase our capacity to listen to Jesus. If we don’t, we will miss out on so much joy.

John the Baptist’s life is full of so many discipleship lessons for the followers of Jesus. When his disciples are all stirred up by comparison and jealousy John responds with contentment, jubilation and joy.

His contentment had been nurtured through surrender and faithfulness.

He says, “A person can only receive what is given them from heaven.” Without this surrender and perseverance in relationship to God John would not have had joy.

John’s joy has been nurtured through clarity and conviction.

He is clear about who He is and what is about. His identity flows from His relationship with God and the unique time in which He has been situated in God’s plan. John richly describes his relationship with Jesus, with himself, and his relationships with people and the stuff of earth through the metaphor of the wedding party. John says,

“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:29-30)

The Friend of the Groom

When you are part of the wedding part, the groom’s men or the bride’s maids you have certain responsibilities and roles to play. At the wedding the point of focus is not you; it’s the groom and bride. As the friend of the groom you are not trying to upstage him; you want to attend to his needs and to his purposes in loving, celebrating, and building up his bride.

John says he has been attending to Jesus, the Messiah. John has been waiting for Jesus. John has been listening for Jesus. And when Jesus speaks, John has joy. When the bride moves toward Jesus John celebrates and feels a sense of completion in his life.

Are you learning to wait on and listen for Jesus? Our joy is in hearing his voice and responding to Him in obedience.

Waiting and listening are not passive; they require attentive effort.

At at wedding celebration the friend of the groom may be seen sitting, walking, and standing. Sometimes he appears to be alone — but he may actually be on task for the groom. Sometimes he appears to be with the groom: sitting, walking, standing. Sometimes the friend of the groom may be attending to a need of the groom’s bride on the groom’s behalf. There is joy in all of it.

But all the activity has as its point of reference that the friend of the groom has been able to wait and to listen.

Even while active in mundane or once-in-a-lifetime tasks, the friend of the groom is mindful to listen for the groom’s voice.

This is John’s internal posture: attending to the voice of Jesus.

Is it yours?

You can nurture this kind of attention through:

daily surrender to Jesus.

daily openness to His Spirit filling you.

daily feeding on His Words and the stories of Jesus’ life.

daily mindfulness to His nudge drawing your attention to people so you can participate in what He is doing in their lives and yours.

celebrating the union of the Church with Jesus the Lamb of God!

Discipleship, Jesus, Leadership, Work

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Mindfulness and the who.

June 17, 2019 0 Comments

Chalkboard at UBC, Mindfulness

Ronald Purser is pulling back the curtain on mindfulness; his book will be released in July. I am surrounding by mindfulness talk. This past year, reading Paulo Freire brought me to say to myself, “Mindfulness is not conscientization.” Maybe I should start saying that out loud so we can challenge this thought… so here we go.

In my work with students I find that mindfulness has become the mantra of the academy especially as it relates to student stress. That’s convenient isn’t it? Mindfulness changes the geography of a problem. It allows the university to off-load responsibility from the faculties so they don’t have to change the demands they are putting on students, staff, and even administrations. Instead the student bears the weight of being stressed out. The student bears the weight of not being able to learn fast enough. The student is solely and personally responsible. The student just needs to be trained in how to cope.

It’s a perfect storm. Top ranked universities are supposed to launch top notch students to the world (to the employers waiting on them.) At the same time, there is more to learn; the sheer amount of information and the depth of that information has made for enormous silo’s of specialization in university degrees. And yes, students may be showing up at universities with a lower threshold for some kinds of stress.

I’m all in for a holy pause. However, mindfulness is not helping address the conditions that a student may become aware of when they stop moving. I fear that mindfulness without an ethic for evaluating the world forces coming down on us may indeed be making us sicker. The source of some problems are located outside of us. However, mindfulness as a new technology for health has no authority for identifying oppressive forces.

Is mindfulness conditioning us to be passive?

While there may be some good brought through “mindfulness” maybe it doesn’t go far enough. If mindfulness does bring some pause and some space for restoration, maybe it just centres us in our selves. And here’s the catch: If its always our neighbour’s fault that they are not able to cope, then love for neighbour only means that I have to help them cope. That’s a small view of love isn’t it? I find that so unsatisfying. True love means that I may sometimes need to do something to lift the burden or to address a system that is arrayed against. True love will find a way for mercy to do its work.

Mindfulness as it has been constructed in public discourse creates a vision of society and what it needs. Ronald writes, “Underneath its therapeutic discourse, mindfulness subtly reframes problems as the outcomes of choices. Personal troubles are never attributed to political or socioeconomic conditions, but are always psychological in nature and diagnosed as pathologies. Society therefore needs therapy, not radical change.”

I read this article and feel primed to read Purser’s book when it comes out.

Be mindful of God.

In Vancouver I feel like I’m surrounded by the mindfulness mantra. It’s been a topic of conversation in our household. So here’s what I have been saying, “Be mindful; but be mindful of God.” I’ve been saying this to myself and to my kids while they are growing up in the school system. Be mindful of the God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ. The One who cares. The One who enters into life. The One who has moved into the neighbourhood. The One who is active, challenging, and prophetic toward the powers and principalities arrayed against the glory of God finding its home in people. Be mindful of God so you can live loved. Be mindful of the One who loves you.

The Apostle Paul lives out of this kind of mindfulness and encourages us: Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. (Phillipians 4:5)

See what this kind of mindfulness does?

We are to become a gentle force against that which would destroy people. So, be mindful of God. Being mindful of God unveiled through Jesus Christ fortifies us to love and to pray.

What’s your take on mindfulness?

Change, Education, Work

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