I and a few friends have admitted the need we have for community, as one of them put so perfectly, “IDK what I’m looking for, exactly, but my faith is rather dry, and I feel pretty distracted from the church community that was once a pivotal part of my life. And lonely. I feel lonely. There-- I said it.” We realized that each of us needed a space where we can be fully ourselves and ask the hard questions, so we decided to make a space.
We’ve loosely dubbed this new space a book club because some of us are reading Dietrich Bonhoffer’s Life Together. If you have not, you should get this in your hands ASAP. The reality is that we put the community before the book. We are in three time zones and all have busy lives. But you know what-- I think Bonhoffer would be proud, because that is what his book gets at, the need to be with each other and God. The need to lift one another up and sometimes to lift yourself up too. It is a beautiful dance to participate in, especially when you realize you are dancing rather than just falling.
By this point you are probably asking, what’s up with the title? Well, I just finished a book club and had this beautiful idea I wanted to share with the world. The final bit of discussion included my admittance that I never have been able to sit down and just do this “devotional time” thing. I have gone through the motions, but it has been riddled with guilt and has not made me feel any closer with God. Maybe I have felt a sense of achievement because I was able to check something off my list of “things good Christians do,” but I do not think that is the point.
Bonhoeffer sees devotional time as a time set aside in solitude that includes Scripture meditation, prayer, and intercession (89). I think the point of devotional time is to get outside of yourself and refocus on the way God is all around you. And for me right now, that seems to be in my little one and just everyday life.
I personify God, for better or worse (come at me, fellow theologians), and I imagine God feeling as I do. As my little one danced with an ice cream cone, I saw pure joy. There were bad dance moves, clapping, and lots of running in circles while feet stomped. And I looked on with such pride that this little one felt comfortable enough to dance and risk dropping the cone. I prayed she wouldn’t, not for myself, it would be an easy clean up, but because I knew it would stop the joy. I imagine God watching and thinking the exact same thing. I think God cared for that ice cream cone just as much as I did and reveled in the joy just as much as I did.
I do not think God is a puppet master, rather a loving creator that tries to teach us how to live the best love-filled life for ourselves and others. Sure, within this love are things like faith and hope. Faith allows us to see why we live the way we do, and we live in hope. Hope for a world that does not have dropped ice cream cones, and maybe has more freedom dance parties like only a toddler can teach.
I would love to hear what spiritual practices you may have. Have you tried something and it just fell flat? Or, have you done something and you were able to really connect with yourself and the Maker? Please share your ideas and experiences in the forum tab above.