Session I - Part 3c Heptagon Prayer Stations

To help us think through, and pray through, the areas of our spiritual life we've talked about with the Heptagon, I created prayer stations throughout the church. Most of these ideas originated with materials designed by Janelle Hendrickson (who attended our church while her husband was in seminary) for teaching the Heptagon to different ages, but some I developed on my own. If you weren't at church that day, try to adapt these to your own environment. We may do them again later in the year, and we definitely will be checking in with each other on how we are doing in these different areas in the future, so it remains a good thing to be praying through, wherever you are.

A few ground rules:

*Please observe silence throughout this exercise; you should be talking to God rather than to each other.
*One person per station at a time; the exception being the MOVEMENT Station as you will be moving whenever you are traveling from one station to another. If you see a station is occupied, keep moving.
*Don't monopolize a station; obviously, you may need to pray through one area of your life more than others, but please remember there are others who also need time there.

1. MOVEMENT Station - Throughout the church. Whenever you are not at one of the other stations, consider yourself in this station. At certain points think about:

a. Destination - "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1-2). "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:10-14). Christ is the goal; where are you headed? Do you need to recalibrate your spiritual GPS?

b. Direction - "Thus says the Lord: 'Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls'" (Jerermiah 6:16). How can you tell you are headed the right direction in order to reach your destination? "There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death" (Proverbs 14:12). What maps, compass, or people (Luke 6:39) can you trust to give you good directions?

c. Luggage - Jesus told the Twelve when he sent them out, "You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food" (Matt. 10:8b-10), and to the Seventy-two he said, "Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road" (Luke 10:4). What kinds of "excess baggage" might you be carrying on your spiritual journey, and how could you lighten the load?

d. Detours - "And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them" (Isaiah 42:16a). Often we think we know the way, but find the way we know is blocked and we are forced to go another way, try something different, go outside our comfort zone. Have there been times in your life when you have had to go a different way? Were there things you saw or learned that you wouldn't have without the detour?

e. Accidents - "This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme" (1 Timothy 1:18-20). Have you ever seen someone make a wreck of their faith? Whether national celebrities or little known folk in the local parish, church scandals are nothing new. Has your life been affected by anyone who has lost their faith or whose lives have been revealed to be hypocritical? Have such incidents caused you to go off the road, become more cautious in your own journey, or caused you to take the law into your own hands?

2. RESPIRATION Station - The Living Room. “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10). "Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:18b-20). Spend some time resting in God's presence, opening yourself to his Spirit. Practice breathing prayer: Inhale saying "Lord Jesus Christ, Song of God" and exhale saying "Have mercy on me a sinner" or inhale saying "More of Jesus" and exhale saying "Less of me" (or something similar). Read Ezekiel 37 or Acts 2 and pray for the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13).

3. SENSITIVITY Station - Prayer Room (back right classroom). "Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.'" (Genesis 28:16). "Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: ‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Matthew 13:14-17). "These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). How do we become aware of God's presence? How do we hear his voice and sense his Spirit's leading? Think about the different names for God (flip through the book, Wonderful Names of Our Wonderful Lord by Hurlburt and Horton), especially concrete images such as "God is our Rock," "the Lamb of God," "He is my shield," "the light of the world," "my glory and the lifter of my head," "a mighty rushing wind," "a consuming fire," the bread and the wine. How does God use our senses to communicate to us?

Look also at the world around you. Proverbs 21:13 warns, "Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered." Scripture tells us repeatedly that God is compassionate (Exodus 22:27, Psalm 78:38, James 5:11), Jesus had compassion on the crowds (Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 15:32), and we are likewise to be compassionate (Colossians 3:12). Look at the pictures and read the facts posted on the wall regarding the needs of the world (or check out Operation World), think about the needs of your community and those around you, and pray as you become sensitized to such needs.

4. GROWTH Station - front stairwell. Unlike Alec Bings in The Phantom Tollbooth, we are not born in the air at our full height and then have our legs grow down to the ground; we start short and grow taller, and as we gain in height, our perspective changes. Think of this as you slowly climb the stairs, looking out the front doors and windows. How does your perspective change with each step. How do you view things more maturely as you "grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:15)? How is the "Fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22-23) growing in you, and how are you doing at "abiding in the vine" (John 15)? At the top of the stairs are some seeds, soil, and water; plant something, take it home and watch it grow as a reminder of how you need to cultivate your spiritual life!

5. REPRODUCTION Station - Copy Room. "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). Disciples make other disciples, and others will follow us as we follow Christ. What are some Christ-like qualities already in your life, or lessons you have learned, which you would like to pass on to others? Make photocopies of your hands, write on the hands those things you'd like to share, cut out the hands and clip them to other hands, creating a chain reaching across the room.

6. EXCRETION Station - Top Floor Bathroom. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). There is a place for confessing our sins to another human being (James 5:16), but for the purposes of this exercise, it is between you and the Lord. Ask him to call to mind any "spiritual toxins" you need to deal with and get out of your system (Psalm 139:23-24). Write them down on sheets of toilet paper, confess them to God, and flush them away! The Ambridge Sewage System may not take them "as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12), but rest assured that God in his forgiveness will banish your sins that far, and remember them no more (Hebrews 8:12)!

7. NUTRITION Station - Kitchen. All bodies need food in order to produce energy which enables them to grow, move, and do all of these other things necessary to life. There are water and juices in the fridge and nutrition bars on counter. As you consume these, thank God for your "daily bread" (Luke 11:3), for "the word of God" which feeds our spirits (Matthew 4:4, Jeremiah 15:16), and Christ's body and blood given to us in order that we may live eternally (John 6:51-58). Commit yourself to a nutritious diet--physically and spiritually!

Session I - Part 3b: "Dead to sin and alive to God" (Romans 6:11)

In the last post, I began describing the seven traits shared by all living things, as developed by Mike Breen in his book LifeShapes. The first three (which form the acronymn MRS) are MOVEMENT, RESPIRATION, and SENSITIVITY. If something isn't moving, breathing, or aware of its environment, chances are it is dead! And what holds true in the natural realm is also true of spiritual life; if we are not moving when God commands, being filled with the Spirit, and aware of the presence of God and the needs of those around us, then it is right for us (and others) to question the health and viability of our spiritual lives.

The next four traits which finish the Heptagon (and make the acronym GREN--however you want to picture MRS GREN in your mind is up to you!) are all equally necessary for an organism to live. GROWTH is natural in a healthy living thing. It is most dramatic when the organism is young, but even once something reaches "adult" size, growth continues, until disease and death set in. Likewise we are expected to grow spiritually. Second Peter 3:18 encourages us to "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Though Christ told us to "become like children," Paul clarifies the difference between being "child-like" and "childish" in 1 Corinthians 14:20 when he says, "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature." Throughout the Old Testament, the "righteous" (those who are right with God) are described in terms of lush growth:

The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

- Psalm 92:12-14
And in the New Testament, Paul lists "the fruit of the Spirit" (qualities which should be growing in us) as "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23).

The next trait is REPRODUCTION. This is growth in the social dimension; if a tribe, herd, or species does not reproduce, it will soon become extinct. Though we don't have to worry that Christ will allow his Body to die off completely, there are churches which have died, and neighborhoods or entire countries where a once-strong representation of the Body of Christ has become virtually non-existent (think of North Africa, for example). One of the marks of a disciple is that they make other disciples; God is faithful and he will not leave himself "without a witness" (Acts 14:17), but his chosen strategy for sustaining and building his body is to use US to bring others into the life of God, and train them in the faith. The content of what is taught is important, as Paul instructs Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, "what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also," but the personal touch is also incredibly important, as Paul tells the Corinthians, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). Or, as Mike Breen says, "We all look like sheep from the front, and shepherds from the back." In your relationship to God and to those more mature in the Lord, you are a sheep looking for guidance, but there are people coming up behind you (which you might not even notice), who will be looking to you as a shepherd. And that is all part of discipleship.

The next one we don't like to talk about, but every living creature builds up toxins as a natural process of living, and those would cause sickness and death if they didn't have a healthy process of EXCRETION. Our bodies must eliminate sweat, urine, feces and carbon dioxide, and our spirits must eliminate sin, guilt, fear, anger, bitterness, selfishness and other spiritual toxins. The chief way of doing this involves confession, repentance, seeking forgiveness, perhaps making restitution, and altering our lives. All of this is possible, not by our own merit or effort, but through the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace," says Paul in Ephesians 1:7, and John tells us "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). James highlights the benefit of confessing to other believers (and notes the way in which our spiritual lives can impact our physical lives) when he says "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16). We might not like doing it, but we won't be healthy if we don't!

And, finally, all living creatures need NUTRITION, taking in food, breaking it down, and putting it to use in providing the body with what it needs for energy, growth, and maintenance of health. Psalm 34:8 encourages us to "Taste and see that the Lord is good," and at the conclusion of the Eucharist we thank God for "feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ" (BCP p. 366). Communing with God is what nourishes us spiritually, and most often this means feeding on the Word of God. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, and Satan suggested he turn stones into bread, he responded by saying, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). Peter encourages his readers to, "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk [or "milk of the word" KJV], that by it you may grow up into salvation" (1 Peter 2:2), but the writer to the Hebrews reproves his readers for still needing "milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil" (Heb. 5:12b-14). Clearly our spiritual faculties are expected to mature--as an infant's digestive tract matures--through taking in more and more nourishment, and not simply sticking with the same diet of "soft food" we start with.

So... (here comes the "Dr. Phil question") How are we doing with all that? What areas of our spiritual lives are strong and healthy, and where do we need some attention? Take some time to think about which areas you may be weak in, and what you might do to strengthen your spiritual life.