I recently observed a system go through about a week of acute anxiety which spawned reactivity in the system. All systems experience episodes of acute anxiety, of course, but systems manifest it differently. Relatively stable and non-anxious, high-functioning systems seem able to respond to episodes of acute anxiety, while chronically anxious systems can only react to it. That is, they have little tolerance or resources of imagination or self-regulation to handle times of acute anxiety.

Here are some observations of a chronically anxious system experiencing acute anxiety. I think these can be generalized to any system that is chronically anxious, like those which are structured for it—either because of their nature, or because someone has set it up that way. (A chronically anxious system is one in which someone (or a group) is made responsible for someone else’s functioning; is structured around the formation of triangles; or is set up to hamstring the effectiveness of the designated leader in the system).

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We’ve posted some new resources on the Educational Consultants website. Look under the “/Resources/FREE Resources” section. Check them out, and check back periodically for new resource materials.

You’ll find a new section of handouts for Family Life and Parenting. Another handout is on “Ministering to the Terminally Ill and to Families Facing Life-threatening Illnesses.” This nine-page handouts pack can be useful for deacon or lay ministers training or for Stephens Ministries leaders.

You’ll also find a series of teaching handouts from a study called “A Crash Course in Church History.” These handouts are from a Sunday School class study I did some years ago. The set includes timelines, quizzes, and study handouts. You can use these as support or enrichment material for a study, or build your study around these themes or framework.
The handouts include:
* Test Your Church History Knowledge and The First 300 Years (5 pages)
* The Years 300 to 1054 (6 pages)
* The Years 1054 to 1305 (4 pages)
* The Reformation Timeline
* Scholasticism (2 pages)
* Calvinism and Armenianism chart
* The Denominations (2 pages).

Additional Church History related handouts posted are: A denominations quiz; What Do Baptists Believe? (1 page); “Baptists” an introductory article (1 page).

Share your stuff.

A student gave me a tough assignment: what are the 10 Best books to read for the next 10 years? She’d gotten that as an assignment in class, but I warned her that it likely was a “trick question.” The right answer, of course, is to give the teacher a list of the 10 books she’ll read each MONTH for the next ten years! Philosophical Perennialist that I am, I didn’t have to go far a field from certain authors. I’m going to assume non-fiction, though if there’s a fire my poetry books get saved first. Here’s my list, what’s on YOUR list?

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Five years as a hospice chaplain cured me of any desire or illusions related to “working hard” at one’s health. Keep two things in mind: (1) YOU ARE GOING TO DIE (no matter WHAT you do), and (2) LIFE IS TOO SHORT to deny oneself unduly of the pleasures of God’s world. Like chocoloate. And sex. But not sex AND chocolate—that’s a little creepy. And if you find your calling, then you can add “work” to that list too, unapologetically.

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Denise Levertov remains one of my favorite Christian poets (a qualifier I make reluctantly given that she is a great poet, period.). You can read a short profile of her here. Like with so many great poets whose passion, art, and vision was informed by their faith—and found expression through their art—characteristically there ever hardly is any mention of her deep personal faith in most references about her. Reading most of the profiles on her one would never guess she was a devout Christian.

The following poem, suitable for the Lenten season, is from a small collection of her religious poems in The Stream & the Sapphire: Selected poems on religious themes (New Directions Books: 1997). Her collections are well worth collecting and savoring.

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A new Lenten art and poetry group study has been posted on the Educational Consultants website (you?ll find it under the ?Resources/FREE Resources? section). The handouts are from a Lenten art and poetry presentation titled, “Poetry, Art, and the Spirituality of Imagination.” The file contains a list of poems related to the passion narratives and handouts with discussion questions for a four-session study.

Print it out and file it away for next year?s Lenten season. You can adapt this study by using your own art and format of study, or just focus on the poems. The poems are easily available from several sources, including the internet, anthologies and in collections of poems by the authors.

The .pdf file contains ten pages that include:
Overview handout
Week 1: Entering the Lenten Season discussion handout
Week 2: Prayer and Betrayal discussion handout
Week 3: The Passion discussion handout
Week 4: Hope and Glory discussion handout.

It doesn’t get better than this in Baptist life—or worse.

“CEDARTOWN, Ga. (AP) – For three years, a group of deacons from the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church has tried to oust the congregation’s pastor. And three times, the church leader has taken the case to the Georgia Supreme Court. Pastor Willie M. Bolden simply refuses to leave.” You can read the entire story here.

I must admit that I admire pastor Bolden’s tenacity. In fact, I’m in awe of it. I suspect most pastors would have given up this fight and moved on to settings that promised a more peaceful ambiance. Few would think it worth the trouble to put up with this level of attack and conflict. Many of us have been there. And for those of us who will be there again at some future ministry setting, it may be worth remembering that sometimes the victory goes to the one determined enough to “endeavor to persevere,” outlast the critics, stand put, or just decide to be bullheaded enough to wear out the opposition.

I’ve made available a new Stations of the Cross (via crucis) poster set in the Art Gallery section of the Educational Consultants website. A friend asked about it, so here ’tis. Here’s a sample poster:
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This can be a great teaching or devotional tool for Lenten meditation.

No one has ever accused me of being “sensitive.” Most of the time I come off as “aloof,” and the spouse one of my hospice patients, no doubt expecting more empathy or sympathy to his plight (never mind the patient’s) than I could muster, described me as a “cold fish.” I took no offense.

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The question: Are we hard-wired to believe in God? James Fowler, author of Stages of Faith, claimed that we are genetically disposed to have faith. And William James said, “All of our raptures and our drynesses, our longings and pantings, our questions and beliefs . . . are equally organically founded.”

In this article in the New York Times Robin Henig explores the question of evolution, cognition, anthropology and the belief in God. A good review of current thinkers and thinking on the question, and nicely written.