My Journey Towards Being a Yogi

In years past, devotion to God and taking care of myself meant hour-long quiet times at Starbucks with the latest Bible study or listening to the latest praise and worship CD for hours on end. As I’ve stretched my idea of spirituality a bit in the last few years – I feel sure that devotion and spirituality can be found in the most unexpected of places and in the most surprising ways. I’m thankful for a place like Journey that values the many facets of worship and spiritual practice – a community that sees God in art, music, serving humanity – and sometimes even serving ourselves.

For me personally, reading books, good music, journaling and spending quiet time – are all great resources to sense God’s presence in my life. These same things are also crucial for me to remain grounded and calm in a chaotic world. However, recently, I’ve found something that helps me see myself and see God in a new way. Yoga has given me an inner peace lately, and a lot of physical strength. Yoga originates in India and most of the “yogic” terms have their roots in Hinduism. As a group of ancient spiritual practices that encourage connection with the Divine and your own personal existence, yoga is something that stretches the body and mind. However, most churches discourage the practice – because it is not a Christian one. Because yoga finds its roots in another religious practice, I can remember worrying that I should steer clear of such “teachings.” However, something about yoga has always been a draw for me – and this year I’ve made it a regular part of my week.

I think communities like Journey and my yoga class are on to something. If God is within us and we are the present-day manifestation of His presence in our world – then doesn’t it make sense to participate in something that allows us to look inward? Doesn’t it make sense to know ourselves mentally and physically? I imagine people experience more of a “Divine” presence about me when I’m relaxed, feeling cared for, and whole – rather than when I’m frazzled, spread too thin and overwhelmed. Maybe this is the one holy truth within yoga – and something I have decided is worth my time. I don’t think God is as interested in what specifically we are doing to find Him and know ourselves – I don’t think there is a one-way ticket to becoming a “spiritual person”. For me, yoga contains a thread of truth – that in being quiet and strong, we are being spiritual. At the end of a busy workday, there is nothing more substantial to me than stopping, being quiet, taking care of myself, honoring my body and soul, and in that – I often remember that God cares about these things too.

I read in my new favorite book, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert that “If humanity never evolved in its exploration of the divine, a lot of us would still be worshipping golden Egyptian statues of cats….and this evolution of religious thinking does involve a fair bit of cherry-picking. You take whatever works from wherever you find it, and you keeping moving toward the light.” For me, I’ll keep moving toward that, and maybe along the way – I’ll finally be able to touch my toes.
-Michelle Randall

Happy Birthday Pub Theology!

Pub Theology has turned 1 year old! As I look back over the year, I’ve seen how it has been an integral part of my spiritual life at Journey.

Last week, Ed brought up that the word “conversation” (or “convo”) has been used more frequently these days in our public lexicon. It could be a new trend where the mutual sharing of ideas and viewpoints has become more valued than the regular way of heated debate or dry lecture where a particular position is argued. But I think that Pub Theology has been a true conversation of friends who want to gain useful perspectives and viewpoints of God in our everyday lives.

For me, I enjoy the fact that this weekly gathering of people joins together to discuss without an agenda. Pub Theology is not a book study per se, but we do use a book and have chapter readings for the week to serve as a launchpad for our conversation. But more times than not, we end up talking about anything and everything to do with faith and God. People will sometimes bring up an issue where faith has intersected with something they’ve faced that week. Or sometimes people will bring up an article or world event that totally gets the wheels turning (and occasionally shoots the wheels off).

I’m an armchair theologian. At pub theology, I don’t feel pressured to deliver a sunday-school answer or come to the table with all of my thoughts and opinions about faith fully prepared and mapped out. For as long as I have had a faith of God in the way of Jesus, my theology has been in a constant state of flux. I don’t have any desire to go to seminary and I’m quite comfortable to leave the heavy lifting to the professionals. However, I do appreciate the good company, the tasty beverages, and the engaging, accessible conversations at Pub Theology.

-John

We are taking a break on Oct 23^rd, but join us on Oct 30^th as we start up the next book:
Mark Scandrette – Soul Graffiti

Books we’ve looked at over our first year:
Stanley Grenz – Created for Community
Peter Rollins – How (Not) to Speak About God
Tony Jones – The Sacred Way
Scot McKight – A Community Called Atonement

soul food

Most of my favorite memories involve two things: good food and good company. Growing up in the south, Sunday dinners (which actually means lunch in that region) were a golden fried tradition. We shared recipes, news from the community, and stories from before my time. The locale for this was always my Grandmother's house, and for her hospitality equaled one thing: as much food as she could possibly cook. Even though she usually wore herself to a frizzle in the preparations, she was never happier than when her house was filled with folks she loved enjoying the feast of her labor.

As I've gotten older, I've begun to realize that I am just like her, only I've left the family fried tradition behind and embraced pasta and soup as my specialties. My favorite memories from my time at Journey involve hanging out over dinner with friends. I'm normally my very happiest when I can share hospitality with others and help them connect over food. I love that Jesus shares his love for his friends over a meal. I really think it's a sacred practice for all involved.


All that being said, we are starting a new event at Journey, and we are calling it "Soul Food" because we believe this kind of communion is truly good for our souls. As a way to connect newcomers to our community, different Journey members will be hosting a potluck dinners in their homes. The host/ess will prepare the main course, and we will let you know what that will be. If you would like to come, simply RSVP by email to the host/ess, and they will let you know what you need to bring. We will have one dinner every other week. The nights may rotate, so that people with weekly commitments can make it to a few dinners. Here's the schedule for the rest of this month:

Thursday October 18: Janalee's place in The Village (Central Dallas)

Tuesday October 30: Jen Wilson's place in Richardson

Check Journey emails and handouts for details and addresses. If you have any questions, please email Janalee at: jleeshad (at) gmail (dot) com

This is a great way to learn more about Journey and to meet the folks that make this community so important to us. We hope to see you there!
-Janalee

Thanks for stopping by...

He came, he spoke, he read some poetry, and shamelessly promoted his new book. But we are not complaining, nope... Mark can shamelessly promote his book at Journey anytime. A good time was had by all on Sunday night as "new" Journey opened its doors for the first time as a completely finished out gathering space. Complete with art on the wall and a sound system.

Thanks to everyone who came together to pull off a fantastic gathering. We enjoyed Mark Scandrette reading excerpts from his book so much that we will be using it as our discussion point for Public Theology on Tuesday nights at 7pm (meeting at The Flying Saucer in Addison).

Mark's talk touched on many topics. I particularly enjoyed his insight as to how Dallas is, according to some data, "the most Christian city." His thoughts on this centered around an actual difference in "Christian Folk Religion" to "Following in the Way of Jesus." If we really are the most Christian city, is there a difference being made as to how we treat the earth, love others that are not like us, and live in transformative community? Hmmm... I am not sure. Leave your thoughts in the comments...

Coming soon to a church near you...

The tagline of a new book, "Making a Life in the way of Jesus" might seem like a broad statement. Or maybe a statement that makes you think, "sure... easier said than done." But this is not only an idea that Mark Scandrette tackles in his new book, Soul Graffiti, it is one he really lives out. Trust me, this guy is crazy. But in a good way. Some of us from Journey met him at a conference and I took one of his classes (which were more like conversations). From those few hours came the series at Journey a while ago we called "Radical Contentment and Generosity," aka, RCG. Over a year later, many of us at Journey are still mulling over the ideas he presented about living content and simply in order to be generous to others. In other words- living a life in the way of Jesus here in Dallas or wherever we find ourselves. Turns out it is easier said than done.

Mark is one of those guys whom you can't help but be impacted by. At first I thought that maybe he just had interesting ideas. But upon further examination, Mark really lives out "A Life in the way of Jesus." In his book, Mark talks about the gang shootings on his street and how he befriends the marginalized around his neighborhood in San Francisco. Sounds a little like "a life in the way of Jesus" to me (in an 'off the beaten path' sort of way).

Mark will be speaking at Journey this Sunday, October 7th. Following the gathering we will have a house-style concert with The Cobalt Season and provide dinner. (Please bring $10 to support the band and help with dinner costs.)

Sound interesting? I'm sure it will be. For more info on Mark check out these links...

Mark's website

ReImagine, The organization the Mark leads in California.

MP3 of Mark Reading from his book, Soul Graffiti, via the emergent podcast.

First gathering in our new location...

So we had this grand plan to have an amazing "housewarming" gathering in our new location. It was going to be so cool to see people look around the room and see it all finished out. They would finally believe all the great things we were saying about how awesome our new location was going to be.

Rewind to a few days before this first gathering...The leaders and Elders get a call from Danielle informing us of how the construction on the interior of the new space is far from being done. "WHAT?", we were baffled. "But is HAS to be done, it is our first gathering, we even had fancy postcards printed," were our comments to this bad news. We thought it was hopeless.

So now we were left with trying to decide if we go forward with meeting in an actual construction site or find somewhere else to meet. (hint, we ended up meeting in the space, dust and all).

I think I can speak for all of us there, we are very excited about this new location and new season for Journey. Despite the place being unfinished and the fact that we had to sit on a hard concrete floor (complete with a fresh sprinkling of dust from the walls being sanded) our original goal was met. I think it was even more meaningful in this unfinished state. People got to walk around to see how cool the room will be. And there was this feeling of excitement in the air for what is next. Which hopefully includes finishing the construction.