The Bible is Clear On How Their Lifestyle Should Be
Directions:
Write three short essays, following the prompts given below.
Short Essay 1
I. The Journey continues:
In the final chapter of his book, Holy Longing (chapter uploaded), Rolheiser takes up the questions of why and how to nourish and sustain spirituality once a person awakens and decides. A running
belief throughout the book is that everyone has spirituality as potential. How then does
one nurture and nourish that potential
On p. 214 Rolheiser writes: “To sustain ourselves on that road (the marathon journey of
life), even after we have some assurance that we are on the right road, requires that along
the way we continually find what metaphorically might be termed “Elijah’s jug,” namely
the sustenance that God promised to provide to those who are walking the long road
toward the divine mountain. (Read this story in the Bible in I Kings 19:1-8. If you do
not own a bible, just Google I Kings 19:1-8 to read the passage.
Rolheiser discusses what he believes are four commandments for the long haul. He views
the four as complementary directions. He titles them:
1. Be a mystic...
2. Sin bravely...
3. Gather Ritually around the Word and Break the Bread
4. Worship and Serve the Right God
Directions
Read Rolheiser’s insights on each of these four commandments.
Then reflect and write.
Name one image or idea in each section of this chapter that you most identify with as
meaningful, that is, offering insight and support for your spiritual journey and why.
That is from each of these four commandments what belongs in your own jug like
“[Elijah’s] jug.”
Short Essay 2
Engaged Spirituality:
A. Describe an “engaged spirituality.”
B. Then explain the two distinct but interrelated dual dimensions of an “engaged
spirituality.”
C. In what ways should our spiritual center and pathway shape our response to the
world’s most pressing needs? Illustrate using the story of Dorothy Day in the movie
“Entertaining Angels” and the assigned reading selections and one other figure of your
choice. (Reading uploaded)
Short essay 3
III. A reflection and A Poem :
Maria Harris identifies adoration as the “undersong of every discipline” (p.133). She
writes:
Adoration is not the last in a series of ten. Instead, it is, like the Divinity Itself, the
beginning, and the end, the top and the bottom, the inside, and the outside, as well
as the center, of all spirituality. Adoration makes spirituality possible.
For Adoration is the discipline that acknowledges we did not create ourselves and we are
not in control of the universe. Adoration is the discipline that compels us to say in one
form or another, “Although I do not know your Name, I know You are there. I place
myself before You and participate with you in the making of the world. I have received
all that is good from You: earth, water, fire, air; life, health, intelligence; other people,
myself. I am ready to fall on my knees in wonder and awe. I believe You are dwelling at
the Center of all things, and I give you thanks (134).
A poem by Mary Oliver
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes?
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
Directions:
Reflect on “adoration” by Maria Harris and the poem by Mary Oliver.
What for you is the message of each.
What for you is an important takeaway from your semester study of Spirituality?
Why?
The Bible is Clear On How Their Lifestyle Should Be
Essay 1: The Journey Continues
Be a mystic
To be acknowledged as a believer, one must follow the Bible's commandment. However, many Christians find it hard to live with the commandments that the Bible is clear on how their lifestyle should be. According to Rolheiser, many Christians partially follow the commandments and fear what people will say about them when they follow the commandments of the Bible. Some Christians feel they will look like fools if they align their lifestyle with what the Bible directs them on how to relate with other people in the world. The majority of Christians do not sustain their faith because of the worldly influence they encounter in their lives.
Sin bravely
Jesus assured the Christians that their sins would be forgiven when they prayed through him and confessed their sins. Therefore, Christians have different views that they will be forgiven when they sin and face the Lord through prayers and request forgiveness for their actions. However, Jesus said that if someone blasphemes against the holy spirit, then their sin will be recorded as an eternal sin that will not be forgiven. Sin, like lying, corrupts our hearts, and the more you lie, you will end up being a person that will never see the truth in anything that comes along your way and everything you say. You will feel the urge to lie in everything you inform people around you.
Gather ritually around the word and break the Bread
Jesus promised that when a group of people gathered and sought his presence by prayers, He would surely come to them and answer their hearts' needs. The Bible speaks of Jesus' promises to his believers. The Bible focuses that Christians can understand the promises of Jesus by reading the Bible. Therefore, Christians can gain their spiritual power by reading the Bible, where they will get answers to the questions they have in their hearts. Christianity is not just about personal prayers that different Christians make on their own. To make the Christian faith strong, they need to come together and participate in worshipping the Lord together to grow their spiritual faith together and practice acts like breading the Bread as the body of Christ together as a family.
Worship and serve the right God
As long as we try to sustain ourselves as Christians, we should be careful not to worship the wrong God. The main focus is to connect with the right God since there are Christians who mix their faith with wrong religions, such as the cultural beliefs that have ancestral gods and mix our beliefs with the false religion. Worshipping of other gods is a sin, and the Bible has identified that in the commandment where the commandment says that worshipping other gods is a sin and Christians should not worship idols but only the true God.
Essay 2: Endangered Spirituality
Endangered Spirituality Description
The developed engaged spirituality is a way of living, being aware of your surroundings, and paying attention to the relationships coming across in your daily life. Engage spirituality in Christians to help them be keen on the action they do that impacts their spiritual faith in Chri...