Calhoun Invitations from God

1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8308-6870-4
Verlag: IVP Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 208 Seiten

Reihe: Transforming Resources

Some invitations we desperately want: 'Will you marry me?' 'Would you consider a promotion?' Other invitations we never want to receive but must respond to all the same: 'What treatment do you want for your tumor?' Invitations pound away at the coastlines of the soul with a transforming force.God is also sending invitations. Sometimes they seem less compelling than anything on my to-do list. Why would I want to say yes to the invitation to rest when I'm already so far behind? Why follow when I could lead? Why accept invitations to weep or to admit I am wrong or to wait? Saying yes might slow me down, sabotage my agenda and even undo who I think I am.Adele Calhoun, author of the popular Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, offers a book about invitations like these-divine invitations we miss or ignore because we've said yes to going with the cultural flow.While these invitations from God can sometimes be difficult to accept, they can heal and restore even as they shape where we go, what we do and who we become. What we say yes to, what we say no to forms the terrain of our future.Included in this book are reflection questions and exercises as well as overview charts with recommended disciplines to guide you through each theme. As you attend to the often hidden, quiet voice of the Great Inviter, you will find yourself as God created you to be.

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun (M.A., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) has worked in Christian ministry for over thirty years and is currently copastor with her husband, Doug, of Redeemer Community in Wellesley, Massachusetts. A trained spiritual director, she is the author of Spiritual Disciplines Handbook. Adele is a founding member of the Transforming Center and continues to enjoy her involvement with this community.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Calhoun, Adele Ahlberg

Leseproben

Introduction

Invitations are powerful. Like tides, they ebb and flow, shaping the contours of our existence. Some invitations we desperately want but never get—“Will you marry me?” or “Would you consider a promotion?” Other invitations we never want to receive but must honor all the same—“We are letting you go,” “The test came back positive,” or “Your baby has Down syndrome.” Invitations pound away at the coastlines of the soul. They contain a transforming force that can carve out possible and impossible futures.

No one escapes the forming motion of invitations. All the kids in the neighborhood are invited over for a playdate down the street; your child gets the call, but the kid next door doesn’t. The list for the traveling team is posted; both parent and child hold their breaths to see who made the list. A daughter doesn’t get invited to prom. A father isn’t invited to give his daughter away. An aging relative isn’t invited to a holiday dinner because poor hearing and dementia make it less fun for everyone. Raw and sensitive places form inside us.

Invitations shape who we know, where we go, what we do and who we become. Invitations can challenge and remake us. They can erode and devastate. And they can also heal and restore us. Being wanted, welcomed, invited and included are some of the most mending experiences on the planet.

For many years I have watched invitations ripple across lives. An event organizer I know dipped into pain and depression when all the volunteers—except the organizer himself—were invited to a celebratory dinner. During graduate school, a man I knew invited every woman in the library on a date. I witnessed the devastation on his face when each woman he asked said no.

I have had my own experiences of being turned out of individual hearts, as well as out of groups where I had once been invited. Yet I also have had invitations into lives and opportunities wondrously beyond my ability to comprehend.

Whether we wait for sleepovers or lunch dates, birthday parties or job offers, deals or weddings, everyone waits. Some wait for the invitations; others wait for the RSVPs. The giving and receiving of invitations offers something essential to our sense of well-being. Invitations assure us that we are wanted, welcomed and included. being invited sends destructive messages into the most vulnerable part of our souls. At the deepest level, these messages are often lies: “You are not worth knowing,” “You are unwanted,” “You don’t matter,” or “No one cares about you.” Like the fingers of a cancerous tumor, these lies can devour our life. They come straight from the father of lies who plants untruth, like a malignancy, to do its soul-destroying work.

The things we say yes to and the things we say no to determine the terrain of our future. My convoluted journey is posted with invitations, and my RSVPs account for the twists and turns. Sometimes, half in love with my own self-destruction, I see a sign inviting me to “Stop!”—and I blow right through it anyway. Life is happening somewhere other than where I am, and I fear missing out on it. I choose my way, which is usually a fast track to somewhere or other. Other times I determine to follow Jesus and then anguish about which invitations are his. Which invitations appeal because I want to “make a difference”? Which ones do I avoid because they seem insignificant or ordinary?

Invitations from people I admire or enjoy can divert me from invitations that might be wiser for my family and better for my soul. Invitations can get so snarled up with zeal, naïveté and the need to prove myself that I say yes to the wrong things. Still, there are moments of trustful knowing when I sense that my yes or no comes from God. Learning to listen and respond to God’s invitations is the path to real freedom. Invitations from God bring healing and liberation from the gnawing lies of the enemy.

RSVP

Navigating invitations is no small matter. Jesus tells a story in Luke 14:16-23 that gets at how easily we miss the most important invitations of all. “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses” (Lk 14:16-18).

One had just bought a field, another had just bought five yoke of oxen, and a third had just gotten married. They were all busy, with better things to do. So they refused the invitation. “Please excuse me,” they said; “I cannot come.”

How do you navigate the variety of invitations that come your way? Let’s look at four types of invitations that you probably field on a regular basis.

Jesus’ parable makes it clear that there are Some people had real estate that demanded attention, and others had invested in oxen that needed tending so as to increase profitability margins. Our own workplaces are not so different. They invite us to more productivity, vision, initiative and profitability. Business invitations often come in the form of questions: “Do you have the right people in the right seats on the bus?” “What is your BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal)?” “How can our goals for this year top last year’s?” “What is your growth rate?” “What is your five-year plan? Your ten-year plan? Your strategic plan? Your business plan? Your self-improvement plan?” These questions are invitations to expect more and more and more. Their answers provide fuel to make things happen. Saying yes to invitations of the workplace may make you a business success, but saying yes also comes with consequences. We can get so busy, stressed and driven that we don’t RSVP to God’s invitations. Like the people in the parable, we say no because business comes first.

Jesus’ parable also includes . One of those invited had just gotten married and used that as a reason to say no. Every family system comes with invitations. Invitations to spend holidays and take vacations with certain extended family members or friends that exclude other family members or friends. Invitations to parent in particular ways. Invitations to volunteer for this committee or that worthy cause. Invitations to be home more or less. Invitations to climb a social ladder, join a certain club, spend more or spend less, or downsize or upsize. Repercussions of invitations given or withheld reverberate over generations. Our individual responses to these invitations are not just private; they have a way of throwing off family equilibrium and setting individual priorities at cross purposes. Dad refuses the wedding invitation because he doesn’t approve of the match. A sibling refuses the invitation to the family reunion unless there is an apology. A sister invites one sister to her room and tells the other to “stay out.” And then there is the constant litany of “invitations” to “Shut up,” “Speak up,” “Get up,” or “Fess up.” Invitations are relentless and carry tremendous emotional freight.

, which offer opportunities for self- improvement and enrichment, are endless. In the past year I have taken continuing education courses at the local high school and Loyola University. In the fall I will learn icon painting. My husband is learning Spanish online. At age forty-five, a good friend of ours with an information technology background took a second bachelor’s degree.

Children, of course, are flooded with invitations to learn. When my children were at home, our mailbox was flooded with glossy catalogs and brochures inviting them to camps and extracurricular programs: this sports team, that theater experience, this cooking class, that music course. On and on the invitations go. Learn horseback riding. Take the SAT prep. Study a foreign language. Saying yes to these invitations supposedly gives your child a leading edge in the competitive world ahead of them.

Finally, there are In Jesus’ parable, a certain man invites folks to a party. Our world is filled with invitations that divert and entertain. Invitations to be on the go, in the loop and having fun never stop. Indeed, our commitment to fun is so strong that Neil Postman described us as a people who are “amusing ourselves to death.” Entertainment is a multimillion-dollar enterprise devoted to keeping us diverted. Actors, musicians and TV personalities invite us to see the new movie and get the latest CD. If it’s a nice day, amusement parks, water parks, national parks and even the park across the street invite us to leave work behind and go in search of fun. We can play sports or watch sports. We can accept the trial invitation to the health club. We can go to a party or to the beach. We can climb a mountain or use the invitational coupon at the new restaurant down the street. If none of these things appeal, there is always Xbox, Wii, Facebook, Twitter and TV, with anything on demand at any time. If technology is not our thing, we have board games, yard games, theaters and museums that invite us to enjoy.

Our culture invites us to experience everything! If we fail to take advantage of it all, we think we are missing out. But honestly, the web of invitations we are called to navigate is massive and complicated. In an attempt to say yes to as much as possible, people burn the candle at both ends. I love the lines from Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem “First Fig”: “My candle burns at both ends / It will not last the night; / But ah, my foes, and oh, my...