David Williams, general superintendent at Evangelical Friends Church–Mid-America Yearly Meeting, writes in Rhythms of Grace: Life-Saving Disciplines for Spiritual Leaders, that “there is no greater privilege in the Christian life than to serve as a spiritual leader within the body of Christ. Unfortunately, we are in the midst of a genuine crisis in the church today. Pastors and other spiritual leaders are leaving vocational ministry faster than we can replace them.”
David’s book, now available for purchase and scheduled to ship July 10, identifies the problem as burnout, “a pastoral pathology resulting from a lethal combination of extraordinary job-related stress and woefully inadequate self-care.”
“Most of us know someone experiencing burnout,” David writes. “They might be serving in your church right now, or more than likely, they may have recently left. They may be your friends; they may be part of your own family.”
So what is the cure? David writes about the answers we find “in the life of the prophet Elijah, in his practices of physical refreshment, spiritual renewal, and vocational realignment, renewing rituals or rhythms of grace [that] prove to be life-saving disciplines for spiritual leaders.”
Charles Mylander writes that “this is a helpful book for any Christian who feels stressed, overworked, or severely criticized.” Before retirement, Charles served as the superintendent of Evangelical Friends Church–Southwest and also as the director of Evangelical Friends Mission. “Rhythms of Grace speaks to the exhaustion and burn-out that many (if not most) spiritual leaders experience sooner or later. Williams cites his own story of trying so hard and ending up exhausted, disillusioned, and isolated. Then with the Old Testament prophet Elijah as a model, enormous research on the subject, and his own pastor’s heart, he takes the role of a shepherd to the wounded.”
Eric Muhr
On arches
In this morning’s Fruit of the Vine, Karen Swenson reflects on the Stari Most (Old Bridge) in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Built in the sixteenth century by the Ottomans, the Old Bridge stood for 427 years until it was destroyed in 1993 during the Croat-Bosniak War. Now rebuilt, it is one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.”
Arch bridges like Stari Most have a “semicircular structure [that] distributes the compression through its entire length and diverts the weight onto its two abutments (supports at the ends that rest on the banks) and into the ground.” Karen points out that the physics of this shape change “the downward force of gravity into a sideways push” giving the arch bridge “more strength than a simple beam bridge.”
What if Christian community is a bridge? Do we stand alone, like a beam bridge, using our strength to hold up under the pressures of life? Or do we lean against one another, helping to change the downward forces on our neighbor into a sideways push?
In Scripture, we find all kinds of ways to lean into each other: encouragement (Hebrews 10:25), service (Galatians 5:13), mutual submission (Ephesians 5:21), hospitality (1 Peter 4:9), harmony (Romans 12:16), love (John 13:34-35).
Karen offers this prayer: “Father, may each of us see practical ways we can be an ‘arch’ that helps support”
Eric Muhr
Changes to Illuminate
Almost six years ago, we launched Illuminate, a six-year collection of twenty-four studies on the Old and New Testament. That cycle is coming to a close this summer, and in the fall, we’ll be starting a series of fifty-two lessons in four studies, all from the life of Jesus. These lessons – intended for adult Sunday school classes, small group gatherings, and in-home Bible studies – are designed to provide a solid biblical basis for the uniquely Quaker perspective of how Christ’s presence with us informs our reading of Scripture and our vision for the purpose to which Christ calls us today.
Each lesson includes three scripture passages. The first reference gives context for a saying or teaching of Jesus from the gospel of Matthew and will serve as the central Scripture focus. The second reference is for an Old Testament passage that serves as a foundation for Jesus’ words. The third reference is a New Testament passage that illustrates a way in which Jesus’ words were lived out in the early church, demonstrating for us a trajectory or direction in which the Spirit has worked and continues working in us and through us.
With this new series, we wanted to give group members better tools for engaging Scripture together, so the participant guides now have a brief introduction and three sets of questions for each Scripture passage: questions for comprehension, questions for reflection, and questions for application. At the same time, we know that commentary on the passages can be an invaluable tool for group facilitators, so the facilitator guide will continue to include “Illuminate the Passage” essays for each scripture section as well as learning objectives, a suggested opening activity, and a “Living It Out Together” section at the end of each lesson.
Over this next year, we’ll be working on the next six-year cycle of studies, designed to guide participants through major portions of the entire Bible. Watch for that new collection in fall 2018!
Eric Muhr