Portlandia and Spiritual Formation

For many people, spiritual formation is about reading the Bible in 90 days. I am not discounting that reading the Bible in 90 days is not a fine thing, but I am more concerned about what one does on the 91st day. ​

Reading the Bible at such a pace makes me wonder how does it form us? Does it render the Bible as just another source to get information and then move onto the next source? ​

Have you seen this sketch by Portlandia?​

Of course Christians should read the Bible, but is it worth seeing the Bible as something that we need to conquer? Or is the Bible something that conquers us?  ​

As a person who rarely reads a book more than one time, I can be at fault for reading the Bible as an "information source" rather than a source of formation. ​

Karl Barth was right, read the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other. One for information, and one for formation. ​

Let us not be formed by the shallower source.​

Spirituality = Medicne, Religion = Hospital

Time and time again we hear that there is a growing interest in spirituality but not religion. ​

After discovering what my calling is, I have had people tell me, "Yea, I am very spiritual but I think organized religion is horrible." 

While I feel the above statement is laced with irony and contradiction (spirituality of all sorts always calls the devotee into community and structure), this is not really what I find interesting.

What I find interesting is why there is push back against the institution we call religion. 

For me it is like saying, "Yes, I like medicine but I think hospitals are horrible."​

Hospitals are institutionalized medicine. Religion is institutionalized spirituality.

We may never get sick, but we are sure glad that hospitals exist. And because hospitals exist we take greater risks with our lives. If we did not have institutionalized medicine we would not do a great number of things and we would be scared or many more things.

For instance, if you are ever stranded in the deep forest without a lifeline, we will behave much differently than when we are camping in the woods. When we do not have the security of the things that can heal us, we will become much more cautious with our actions. ​

Likewise, with institutional spirituality we take greater risks and we have much less fear than without it. 

And so, for those who push the boundaries of medicine I am thankful for you. You are helping advance the practice. But you also know that you have the institutionalized ​medical community to support you in case you fail to find the cure you are looking for.

For those of you who push the boundaries of the spiritual practices, I am thankful for you as well. ​You are helping advance the practice of spirituality. But you also must know that you have the institutionalized spiritual community to support you in case you fail to find what you are looking for. 

CentUp - A way to practice generosity

You know how there are those "share" buttons around the internet? You can post something to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, G+, Pintrest, etc. with just a push of a button. (for instance you can share this post!)

Here is the thing, many people who create internet content do not want to have ads all over their stuff. Additionally, ads are based on the idea of selling you something. ​

​CentUp is another model for generating money that is based on your generosity and not trying to convince you to buy something you don't want. And it is fully funded!!! 

From their fundraising website:​

What is CentUp?

CentUp is an intentionally simple button that lives next to all kinds of web content. It lets people toss a few cents at blog posts, photos, videos, and songs they really love. The kicker? Half that money goes to charity.

That is it! Do you see how awesome this is and can be!​

Imagine a button, next to the "share buttons", that allows you to give a direct contribution to the creator of the content. Oh, and in case you missed it, half of the donation you make goes to charity. ​

So, be among the first to give a buck to the development of this tool to better the internet and contribute to the demise of those "wonderful ads" we all love...​