Integrating Spirituality In Our Living Space Series

Integrating Spirituality in Our Living Space

This morning… take up our series on Integrating Spirituality into our Everyday Life.

Last week…introduction…

Noted there is a false division of life… even if unclear or unconscious… that can cause us to

compartmentalize and confine our spiritual growth. The result is that…

• For 166 of the 168 hours in the week we lose our sense of God’s interest and involvement.

• Our spiritual lives become less dynamic and daily. Our lives can become safely divided….

but also strangely divided.

 We sense we are living two lives.

Jesus operated out of an entirely different reality… an undivided reality…. just life and His

Father at work in it.

• Heaven and earth are co-existent… and he comes to announce and embody this reality.

• “Let your kingdom come on earth as it… ‘will be’ in heaven ??? … as IT IS in heaven.”

• We are always living before heaven… living our lives in connection to that dimension…

and in relationship to the Father of all.

The apostle Paul came to understand this and declares…

Col. 3:23

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men…”

> God wants us to become “Whatever We Do People.”

(Wherever and Whatever)

The key isn’t about not dismissing some aspects of life as less spiritual but rather honoring and

heeding God’s involvement in them.

Fr. Gerald Weber

“Spiritual experiences are not a matter of finding God, nor are they a matter

of waiting till God fairly screams, "Look, here I am!" Spiritual experiences

surround us. We fall over them dozens of times a day. We can’t avoid them if

we try. A spiritual experience is simply a matter of recognizing and

acknowledging our relationship to God in whatever is going on in our lives at

the moment. God is involved in all we do and does not pop in and out of our

lives. We live surrounded by God. We live and breathe God just as we live and

breathe air. To know that either air or God is present, we need only to pause

and reflect for an instant to see that we are immersed in them.”

Ephes. 6:7-8

“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8because you know that

the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does…”

2

As we venture into the various dimensions of everyday life, this series will be notably

different from the way we usually approach seeking God’s Word to us… not beginning with a

particular text… not even simply a single topic… but a particular aspect or activity in life…

with the primary desire being that of seeking how God sees spiritual significance and spiritual

growth in such a dimension of our lives.

In future weeks we’ll consider our work, recreation, rest, entertainment, and citizenship…

but it only seems natural we begin where we begin and end our day.

Here’s a little visual introduction…

[ Video collage of Living Space related images ]

As the images just portrayed… begin with where much of our days begin… and end… our

LIVING SPACE.

Do all the activities associated with our home lives really have spiritual

significance?

I recognize that we represent a diversity of contexts and circumstances…so various aspects

will relate more to some than others… but with a little patience and creative thinking… I’m

confident that each of us can find news ways sense God’s involvement in our lives.

Four particular aspects related to our living space… general areas… which overlap

1. Homemaking - Shaping Communal and Family Values

I realize that many of us don’t live in actual houses… but a home is whatever context we

create to live in… for many apartments or similar living spaces.

Homemaking as a vocation has had it’s share of bad publicity in recent years. The popular

media delight in caricaturing homemakers. Those involved in the domestic dimension of life

are often pictured as less intelligent, less glamorous, and less important.

Who is the original homemaker?

> God… When God wanted to create beings in His image… he first created the

surroundings… took care of the preparations and provisions…

Homemaking is an act of human creativity. The attitude and personality of homemakers, the spirit

with which they approach their task, shape and define the homes they make. In the original act of

creation God brought order out of chaos. Establishing a home exercises a similar kind of

creativity.

What has Jesus said he has gone to do even now?

As Jesus spoke with his disciples about his ascension, he gave an intriguing glimpse into his

occupation until they would be reunited with him for eternity.

John 14:3

“… I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you