Wednesday, March 22, 2006

an iPOD spirituality OR passionate practices of discernment

cdcross.jpg We ended the first cycle of passionate practices – discernment of music – on Sunday. (I introduced the concept on my blog here).

Theology: We are passionate. God is passionate. Passionate practices help us connect our passion with God’s passion.

How:


How: The practice for the last month has been discernment. We can connect our passion for music with God’s passion through the passionate practice of discernment. Go listen to your favourite music and discern where God is.

On the first Sunday we told the life stories of musicians we were passionate about. We played God made Rock and Roll, by Kiss, juxtaposed by various scriptures (Psalm 119:105; Romans 12:2; 1 Timothy 4:4; James 1: 5). We offered two models of discernment.

For the next three Sundays we looked at three case studies. With U2 allegedly coming to New Zealand; three people looked at where they found God in three U2 songs; I still haven’t found what I’m looking for; Stuck in a Moment; Bullet the Blue Sky. This meant that each week we were offering a practical case study, seeing someone “do” discernment of their favourite musician.

Interaction: On Sunday we celebrated the end of the practice. What had we learnt about a passionate God and our passionate over the month? We opened the floor. People shared a favourite artist, played a song and where they found God. People read helpful quotes from each other’s blogs, insights from among our Digestion community discerning music. And we offered to God our CD cross.

cdcross.jpg

Each CD represents a favourite song from among our youth group. On each CD is a “post-it”, a hand written note, explaining where God is found on their favourite CD. That’s practicing a practice and offering it to God.

Reflections: I am sort of proud of this. For the last 4 weeks we have loitered with intent. We have mixed (DJed) Scripture, theology, stories, practice, interaction, our culture. We have been able to integrate Sunday services with our youth group cell groups on a Wednesday, church with our blogs, God with our headphones.

Growing up, I was either told to burn my music, or the church was silent about my music. Either withdrawal or assimilation. Yet for the last 4 weeks, an iPOD generation has been given practical skills to help them connect their beats with God.

Next week we turn to the passionate practice of pilgrimage. What does it mean to walk a journey, spiritually toward, and away from, Easter, physically, toward, and away from, Easter Camp?

Resources I’ve used:
Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church which gave the initial theological framework and opened my eyes to passion as a way to affirm youth spirituality; God bearing life:The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry, which has excellent reflection on passion and passion in youth ministry; and Soul Tending which is stacked with actual practices.

Posted by steve at 10:41 AM

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