Simple Spirituality
By Barbara Henderson
Barbara Henderson will be presenting her ideas about Simple
Spirituality at Off The Map Greater Philadelphia April 4-5 in Souderton
PA. Barbara has been married to Jim for thirty-two years and together
they have three grown children. Barb was a Sister of St. Joseph
prior to marriage and has been involved in pastoral ministry with
Jim for the past thirty years.
After asking people
""What do you know for sure about God?"or "What do you use in your
everyday life?" I developed materials for a support group for people
who are trying to make sense out of God and life. I call this Simple Spirituality.
I designed Simple Spirituality to help Christians become more real
in their spirituality while also providing a safe place for non-Christians
to discuss their spiritual experiences.
"Simple Spirituality
is an attempt to help people get God out of their heads and into
their lives."
Simple Spirituality
is an attempt to help people get God out of their heads and into
their lives. It is built on the 7 Practices. These
7 Practices flow out of fundamental beliefs about God. The practices
are important to practice even before the beliefs are acknowledged.
Doing them can trigger surprises, unexpected coincidences, and God
anonymously showing up.
Several influences prompted me to develop this material.
-
My mother-in-law’s spiritual transformation through Alcoholics
Anonymous.
-
I asked myself, after years of sermons and lots of Bible, “What
did I really use?”
-
I wondered, “What was really portable?” Could my
beliefs sustain me under any circumstance?”
-
If I had to explain what I use on a daily basis, how would I
articulate it?
The purpose is to cultivate a functional spirituality.
The touchstones are maintaining your personal peace and
lovingly serve others.
The intent is to get God out of our heads and into our lives.
Our hope as a result of this endeavor to become better human
beings.
We use the
seven practices we meet each week to share our experiences with
“practicing the practices.”
The
7 Practices
When
we come to group we share honestly about our own reality and the
discrepancy between what we believe and what we do. At the same
time, however, we begin sharing small everyday experiences. We
listen to other people’s stories, to their reality. This
might encourage us or confuse us. In either case we are in the
real world where God intersects with real people. We begin to
learn that God is not afraid of difference or humanity. We loosen
up and watch God work. We start noticing that our spiritual life
is getting richer. While doing this our beliefs become more real
and more personal.
In order to
get God out of our heads and into our lives we must practice doing
what we say we believe. We have found that when we practice the
practices, these beliefs take root and grow in our minds and hearts.
Our group rules provide the container of respect that is necessary
if we expect people – Christians or not – to open
up about what’s real about their spiritual life
-
God
is good –
I will practice trusting Him with my life
-
God
loves me – I will practice taking care of myself
and loving others.
-
God is always with me – I will practice peace
and not being afraid.
-
God
wants to talk with me – I will practice listening
to Him and talking with Him
-
God
always forgives – I will practice forgiving myself
and others
-
I feel blessed with this Good News – I will practice
being thankful and celebrating moments
-
God
has a story of love, He tells it through us –
I will practice partnering with Him to bring it to others
Download
the entire Simple Spirituality book for free