A Digital Space for Spiritual Formation
Photo by Hannah Wei on Unsplash
This post originally appeared on Rev. Angela Denker’s new Substack newsletter, I’m Listening. We share this here because we appreciate Angela’s work and because we want to continue to provide you with new ways to think about and put spiritual practices into action. Rev. Denker’s newsletter is one such example. May the contents and the concept nourish you as you seek to lead thriving faith communities!
As you’ve doubtlessly read over the past few decades now, church membership and attendance continue to atrophy faster than your old DVDs. One of my first-ever spiritual blogs, written early in my ministry career in Chicago, was a response to a viral piece titled: “Why doesn’t anyone want to go to church anymore?”
A young-ish parent at the time, I took exception to the piece’s assumptions. I think for a lot of people, reluctance about regular church attendance has less to do with outright antipathy or anger and more to do with disillusionment and distrust that what happens in American church buildings on Sunday mornings has any connection to the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.
Most people I talk to, in between rushing from work and parenting and caregiving responsibilities — scrambling to pay one bill and then the next — are still longing for a deep spiritual connection in their lives. They’re just tired: tired of searching for genuine connection with God and getting met with a kitschy coffee shop and a signup sheet for small groups, with a promise of free church “merch.” Or worse, getting sucked into a church only to realize that the real goal of the leadership is not the world’s salvation but instead Christian political takeover. That was so Middle Ages.
Anyway, it’s true that while working as a Pastor, I will indeed be in church most Sunday mornings (and I hope you find a local faith community, too - whether it’s a Christian community or not) - I wanted to use this space to offer up something for you on Sunday mornings as well, either as a supplement to your local community and ministry leaders, or as a place for you to find respite and renewal while you sort out your faith walk at home.
So each Sunday morning, I’m going to promise to send you a newsletter with a few items: (1) a quick take on three pieces of Scripture, with some questions to send you searching for more; (2) a prayer; and (3) an invitation: to send me your prayer requests, with a promise that I will be praying for you.
As our community grows, I hope that you’ll indicate when you’d like your requests to be public, so that we can be a community who prays for each other. Even on days when I struggle with doubt, when I wonder what I believe anymore, I believe in prayer and its power to act and change and transform me, you, and even the world.
So here’s Sunday Stretch: Vol. 1:
Bible Stories
Here are some weekly readings (from the Revised Common Lectionary), and some reflection thoughts/questions:
Amos 8:4-7
Amos 8:4 Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
and practice deceit with false balances,
6 buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
Amos 8:7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
You can always count on the Prophet Amos for some plain-spoken, grassroots truth on justice and everyday life. This is the Prophet who first gave us the idea for No Justice, No Peace - and called out the futility of religious ritual without grounding it in care and justice for the poor and marginalized.
I’m struck in this passage by the phrase: “you that trample on the needy.”
I encourage you to pause here for a moment. Maybe you know what it feels like to be trampled on. To feel dismissed, ignored, and dehumanized. To be told that you really don’t matter as much as somebody else, especially somebody else with more access to wealth and power than you have.
The Prophet condemns those who trample on the needy. And though many of us may know in our bones how it feels to be trampled on - we can also recognize the times and places that we have trampled on the needy: have lamented our own struggles and relative position while ignoring the cries of our siblings in need.
Questions to Ponder
How can I lift up the needs of those who are trampled upon? How can I tell their stories?
What do I pray when I am trampled?
When do I confess to being the one who is trampling upon the needy?
1 Timothy 2:1-7
1Tim. 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For
there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
6 who gave himself a ransom for all
—this was attested at the right time. 7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Let’s keep this one simple. Paul is prescribing for Timothy that our highest calling is to lead a “quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.”
I often don’t feel contended with a quiet and peaceable life. In moments of calm, too often I am disquieted by the notion that I should be doing more: working harder, achieving more, being better. Paul urges against this notion. In line with the Theology of the Cross, he reminds me that what brings godliness and dignity is a quiet and peaceable life. For today, that is enough.
What are the marks of a quiet and peaceable life?
Who do I know who is living a quiet and peaceable life?
What is keeping me from a quiet and peaceable life?
Luke 16:1-13
Luke 16:1 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2 So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3 Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7 Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ 8 And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
Luke 16:10 “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Many a sermon has been preached on this one, but probably still not enough - because Christians just can’t seem to learn it. You cannot serve God and wealth.
In an age of ballooning church budgets and celebrity pastors, and a nationalist American Christianity hungry for power, money, and influence - we have strayed far from Jesus’ words. But let’s take it deeper than that final line. Notice what Jesus admires. He admires the manager who prioritizes his relationships over his money. The work of faith runs through our relationships. We are called to care for people, not money.
What does it mean to serve God over wealth?
When is a time when you’ve served wealth over God, and vice versa?
Have you been faced with a choice like that of the manager?
What does this story tell us about mercy?
PRAYER
Dear God,
This week I pray intently for each person who is reading these words. You promise that if we seek we will find, and if we knock the door will be opened unto us. I pray for each reader this week, that they will find answers and solutions for the desires and wanderings of their hearts.
I pray that you will bring healing for pain: physical and mental and spiritual,
I pray that you will place loved ones in their lives to hear them, and know them, and love them.
I pray, God, that you will nurture our souls in Sabbath rest, that you will help us to see clearly our own sins and shortcomings, that we will feel free to confess and be forgiven, and that you will draw us together in trust.
I pray, for each person reading today, that you will bring days of a quiet and peaceable life.
In Jesus’ name,
AMEN
An Invitation
A Community that prays for one another is transformed by the power of the Spirit. Here are my prayer requests for this week:
For my recovery from COVID and time outdoors
For refugees around the world, especially from the war in Ukraine
For victims of famine, especially in the Horn of Africa
For those facing climate-related disasters, and upheaval from their home
For farmers preparing for harvest
What are your requests? Feel free to add them below or send them to me via email. Make sure to mark those that you’re OK with being public requests, and I’ll add them our weekly prayer next week.
Keep the faith,
Angela
