dennis martin papp

Soul Care Exercise 4 • Screen Control

During SouthField's Summer on the Soul we've been recommending a different Soul Care Exercise each week. The activities are cumulative, so we keep practicing them as we add new ones.

The first three included:

Solitude
Intentional Slowing
Stare

Week four is relevant to modern life: Screen Control.

Our lives are dominated by screens--
     TV's, Computers, Smartphones, Tablets, etc.

Screen can draining the life from our souls. They are influencing our ethics, modifying our morals, distancing us from those closest to us, causing us to choose virtual interactions over face to face conversations and in the darkest moments, leading some to choose internet intimacy over biblical sexual encounters.

We left the application of this one pretty wide open, realizing that everyone interacts with screen differently.

Choose a screen that could have a draining influence on your life. Pay attention to its impact and modify your interaction with it.

Let me share mine.

My morning routine is deadly predictable:

Wake up
Wish I could stay in bed
Get up
Groan
Brush teeth
Head to the coffee pot
While coffee is brewing, peek at phone (overnight emails and Facebook updates)
Click on the morning news
Sit down with coffee
Wish I could go back to bed

I know from past experiences, my life is better, my soul is healthier, when the screens do not make it to the short list of my first activities of the day.

This week I am not looking at a phone, computer or TV before my morning prayer walk or before 9:00am.

I will not say it has been easy. The impulse to click the remote or pick up the phone is strong. I've gotta say, my soul feels better. Connecting with God before I connect with my virtual life is restoring my soul.

I'll be away for a bit...

I've been reading a book. Actually, re-reading it.

It's called, "A Hunger for God" by John Piper.

I'm reading it in preparation for a Journey Group I will lead on Thursdays during Lent.

I'm also reading it to ready my heart for Lent.

Piper has so many quotable lines...

"Christian fasting is a test to see what desires control us." p.19

"Fasting reveals the measure of food's mastery over us--or television or computers or whatever we submit to again and again to conceal the weakness of our hunger for God."  p.20

"If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk too deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great." p. 23

That last line has been haunting me. Let me state it as a question...

Is my soul so stuffed with small things that there is no room for the great?

I want to find out.

For me, social media, even more than food, represents the nibbling that is killing my appetite. 

So, starting tomorrow (March 5, 2014), I'll be signing off until Easter (April 20).

It's time for a detox of my soul. 

I debated saying anything. I believe such practices should be observed without fanfare (Matthew 6:16-18). Here's my dilemma. I comment a lot. I "Like Button" a lot. I post a lot. If I disappear, you may misread my intent. This is about me, not you. My soul nibbles way too much, and in doing so, I think I may be missing out on a deeper connection with God, and that is truly what my life is about.

So, the plan is now through Easter. No Facebook or Twitter, no Fourquare check-ins. Instagram is killing me, which tells me I need to do that one too. I thought about blogging the experience...but even that will go silent. This needs to be a technological wilderness experience. Phone and email will remain, but that's only because I do still have a job!

So, while many of you gorge on Paczkis today, getting in your last sugar fix, I've been scanning statuses and liking everything I can as I prepare for 50 days in the digital desert. 

Pray for me, not just to resist temptation, but to connect with God at a level that I have not in a long time. Hopefully by the next time I check in the snow will have melted and the building will be started!

Don't know how I'll make it without Bob's weather reports.

Guess I'm about to find out.

40 Days--An Update

Thanks for joining in this church-wide prayer effort.

I missed posting for a few days last week. I was teaching at a family camp and the internet situation is not as convenient as at home. I was praying, just not posting.

Wow, I missed the prayer chairs while I was gone. I went over tonight and passed someone leaving that sacred spot. I love that so many of you are heading over to sit under the oaks and dream with God. It is a beautiful, quiet sanctuary in which to pour our your heart to our King.

Tomorrow I'll get back to my normal posts.

Earlier today I came across a verse. It is the first verse of Luke 18--

One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.

Never give up.

Always hope...

Pray, and keep praying.

St Patrick's Breastplate

Today we honor a man who brought the Gospel message to Ireland. Like a true warrior, he battled spiritual darkness so others could be rescued from the enemy's grip.

A beautiful prayer is attributed to him, one that he is said to have used as he battled satan's armies.

This is a small portion of the prayer, one that has been revised to be more rhythmic and recitable.

I like to pray it as I walk and think of Christ with me and in me, before me leading me, behind me guarding my back, beside me as a close friend.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ above me, Christ beneath me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all who love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

This link is helpful in learning more about the true St Patrick.

Something to Ponder on Saturday Night

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou Art

Thou my best thought by day or by night

Waking or sleeping Thy presence my light

Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my True Word

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord

Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son

Thou in me dwelling and I with Thee one

Riches I heed not nor man's emptly praise

Thou mine inheritance now and always

Thou and Thou Only First in my Heart 

High King of Heaven my Treasure Thou Art

High King of Heaven my victory won

May I reach heaven's joys, O Bright Heaven's Sun

Heart of my own heart whatever befall

Still be my vision O Ruler of All

Something To Do This Weekend

I like to post images the walks I take along the I & M Canal.

My friend Mary asked where I find all of this scenery, so I'm posting my path.

I start walking at the I & M Canal Access off McLinden Road. Take Hansel Road to where it ends at McLinden Road, then turn left. Just over the bridge is parking area to the left. It is very open and safe. You can also catch McLinden on Route 6 just west of Ridge Road.

I walk toward Morris, about two miles. The whole walk has so much to enjoy, but the area just after Tabler Road is beautiful. This is the lock system at Aux Sable Creek. You'll find an aqueduct that carries the canal over the creek, the locks and a little bypass creek that ends with a waterfall. They've done a nice job with bridges and sheltered places to sit. If you wanted to skip the walk, you can take Cemetary Road just past Tabler Road. Once you cross Aux Sable Creek you'll find a small parking area.

Looks like it will be sunny tomorrow. Might be a nice day to go exploring!

The images below enlarge with a click: 

The Beginning

The Path

Lock #8 and the Creek/Waterfall

Group Registration is Now Online!

Here it is!

Your first chance to see the new Journey Group catalog.

Click here to view and download your own copy.

Go to this link to register on SouthField's Website.

Be the first to find a typo....I owe you your favorite candy bar!

Challenge for a New Year...a Renewed Life.

Saw this ysterday. Loved it. Makes me think...

Praying in Sevens

I love when God causes us to stumble on something that helps us to connect with Him.

I use a string of beads while talking to God. There is no inherent spiritual blessing or power in the beads themselves. I employ tools like beads to focus my attention while praying. Focus is a universal issue for humans who want to connect with a God who is there, but who cannot be seen or touched.

The set I use is divided into four sets of seven beads with a larger bead separating the sets of seven; thirty-two beads in all around the circle. You can browse samples at Full Circle Beads. 

One day I stumbled on an idea. I assigned a topic to each of the large beads and then prayed seven prayers related to the topic. The subjects were short prompts...words that naturally trigger fill-in-the-blank sentences. The prompts were not particularly profound. They were words like You are... or I'm amazed that... or Thank you... or I love...

Starting with a large bead, I state a prompt, then work my way though seven prayerful statements. In time, I found this process to be transformative. It brought focus to my prayers; it made me think beyond just requests and it forced me to go beyond easy answers. The first three "sevens" are typically easy to rattle off, four to seven make me dig and think.

I pray four sets of sevens each time I pray. It is the opening movement in my conversation with God.

By the way, some days I want to pray sevens, and some days I have to force myself to do it. On the forced days, a life issue is dominating my thinking and I want to just rush into God's presence and start requesting or begging or whining. I've found that if I stick to the discipline of working through praying in sevens, by the time I'm done, the issue is not as dominant as the power and presence of God. 

I select different prompts each day, but every day, on the third set of sevens, I start with the phrase This Is True. Planting truth in our minds is vital for the transformation of our hearts. I start with the phrase This Is Truth, then I pray a biblical truth and end with the line again, This Is True. Hearing truth--stating it and embracing it is life-changing. 

So try it. Click on the link below to download a pdf of prayer prompts.

Download Praying in Sevens 

There are four cards on a sheet, so you'll need to do some cutting.

You do not have to stick with this list. Make up your own. Personalize it. Modify to do what works with your wiring. 

You don't have to have beads. If you can keep on task without them, congratulations! If not, you can use coins, pebbles, your fingers, a piece of twine with knots in it, or head to Hobby Lobby and craft your own set of beads. Use any set of seven object that will help you to maintain prayerful focus.

Try it, and share your experience if you are willing.

Prayer that Changes Me

On Sunday mornings we've  been talking about practicing Transformative Prayer.

Transformative Prayer moves from seeing God as a magic genie who grants our wishes to a loving Father who wants us to connect with Him. We give up presenting lists to God, and instead find ourselves changed in His presence.

While the classic motto may have been Prayer Changes Things, when prayer is tranformative, Prayer Changes Me.

There are three movements in Transformative Prayer:

Connect

Come Clean (Confession of Sin and Confession of Truth)

Clear Focus

This coming week I will share more details of each stage and post prayers and passages that will help you to practice Transformative Prayer. I'll format them so you can print them for your use.

If you want to gain a deeper understanding of Transformative Prayer, we are offering seminar on December 10 from 7-9pm at the Warehouse to share practical guidance, present useful tool and field your questions.

You can click this link to register.