Meaning in Church

I put a lot of emphasis on meaning-making, for better or for worse. My heart feels at home with Viktor Frankl's logotherapy orientation, focused on meaning as the way to deal with psychological problems. And I pursued a career in psychology because I saw it having more meaning for me than other paths. So this will start a little series on reflections on meaning.

Most people would agree a major component of church and religion is to contribute to meaning. But how does it contribute to meaning? Does everyone even want meaning from church or its analogues?

When people think of church, they often think of certain songs and sermons. Style preferences can create great debate and even schisms. What I've come to realize over the years is that the "service" (I still don't like that word, thanks to the criticisms of it from the emerging church conversation) doesn't give much meaning to me. I can enjoy them, but they're not really transformative or filled with meaning.

Even in writing that sentence, I realize that central to meaning for me is some process of transformation. If no transformation of any kind occurs, can there be meaning? Songs and sermons can be stimulating in a variety of ways and encourage us to do things differently, but I have a hard time believing that they are the primary drivers of true change.

Relationships cause change. Change occurs within relationships. This is the core of the interpersonal approach to psychotherapy, which has some strong evidence base. Church services really aren't about relationship, for better or for worse.

It's been many years since I've felt like I've found much meaning in that hour (or so) on Sunday mornings, and it's not for lack of good music and speaking. I have found much more meaning in conversations, discussions, and ways of living life together.

Where do you find meaning in your faith practice? Not enjoyment, pleasure, or confidence, but actual meaning that's long-lasting?

From One Extreme to Another Without Support

Rosaria Champagne Butterfield's book, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, is almost an understatement. Butterfield's text tells of some of her journey from an activist lesbian English department chair specializing in LGBT studies and publicly critical of the Religious Right to a Christian in a heterosexual marriage homeschooling her children as part of an ultra-conservative denomination. That alone would catch most people's attention, as it did mine.

Right up front, I have to give Butterfield kudos for being willing to share her experiences and "secret thoughts" honestly. She's had quite a life, and if more people were willing to put themselves out there to be honest about their journeys, our world and ability to be spiritually transformed would probably be improved.

Unfortunately, there are major limitations of this book. It is advertised as exploring her conversion experience and "journey into Christian faith." Very little of the book deals with her change of heart and mind. Most of it focuses on her post-conversion development.

With moving from one extreme to another, Butterfield did not really provide any explanation as to what made the change. She just vaguely says that she was convinced of the Christian faith. I also give major kudos to the pastor who walked with her without judgment or pressure. Butterfield explains that this played a major role. But it doesn't really provide an explanation as to why she made such a quick, radical shift to the polar opposite side of the spectrum. If she were able to explore that process, this text could potentially be much more helpful for many individuals who struggle with the many challenging questions she brings up in the book.

Butterfield clearly has very strong critical thinking skills, yet she seems to regularly drop them when explaining her theological convictions. For instance, she defends her Reformed Presbyterian stance of only a capella versions of Psalms (never using movement or dancing) by saying, "I believe God directed us to sing Psalms during worship to the exclusion of man-made hymns" because that's what Jesus sang. Um, how does she know that's what Jesus sang and without instrumentation? Did she forget about David worshipping through dance (also not allowed in her denomination), instruments, and clearly not singing Psalms in group worship, since he wrote many of them?

Her tendency to make large, absolute statements about theological truth without adequate support made her lose credibility to me. She really lost my support when she quoted Jay Adams (for those unfamiliar, he reads the Bible extremely literally and thinks it provides everything we need to know about humanity to the exclusion of anything else, like psychology) as having strong biblical and intellectual legitimacy. I've read plenty of books by people with whom I disagree theologically (and I differ from her on most points), but I can at least follow their line of reasoning. She has some of the best scholarly credentials, but doesn't apply them and actually provides some of the weakest explanations and support of any book I've read.

However, I would give this book two stars to give her credit for putting herself out there, for maintaining and promoting hospitality, diversity, and openness to people who differ from her, and for advocating for adoption (obviously close to my heart). I do have to say that I was quite impressed and even surprised by the ability of her denomination, which I would classify as ultra-fundamentalist, to accept people as they are. If more of these congregations would approach others like Butterfield and her colleagues do, then we would see more conversions and fewer condemnation of Christianity.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Transformation and Sin

I frequently hear a lot of talk about sin. Mostly about condemning sin and needing to focus on reducing sin in our lives. Is reducing sin a good thing? Absolutely. But I've come to realize that all the talk about sin reduction reminds me of my battle with the emphasis on symptom reduction in the psychology world.


Christianity and psychology are about a whole lot more than inappropriate behavior. Sure, some people like focusing just on those things. In some ways, such a concrete focus is easier because it can clearly let us know if what we're doing is working or not.


But just as I did not go into the field of psychology to reduce symptoms, I did not accept a relationship with Christ to reduce sin. I pursued both to become transformed and help other become transformed.


In order to become transformed, we do usually need to change some of our behavior. But that is simply a means to an end. We need to address aspects of our lives that impede transformation. Yet we need to keep our eyes on the ultimate goal of being like Christ, not just in behavior, but in mind, body, and spirit.


We also need to remember Paul's words in Romans 8:12-17 that we are no longer slaves to sin nor under any obligation to sin. Yet we frequently believe the lie that we are defined by sin. As John Eldredge so eloquently states in Wild at Heart:

You are not your sin; sin is no longer the truest thing about the man who has come into union with Jesus. Your heart is good. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you" (Ezek. 36:26). The Big Lie in the church today is that you are nothing more than "a sinner saved by grace." You are a lot more than that. You are a new creation in Christ. The New Testament calls you a saint, a holy one, a son of God. In the core of your being you are a good man. Yes, there is a war within us, but it is a civil war. The battle is not between us and God; no, there is a traitor within us who wars against our true heart fighting alongside the Spirit of God in us: 

A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death . . . Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells . . . if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus . . . When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. (Rom. 8:2, 9-11 The Message) 

The real you is on the side of God against the false self. Knowing this makes all the difference in the world. The man who wants to live valiantly will lose heart quickly if he believes that his heart is nothing but sin. Why fight? (p. 144-145)

We often believe a lie that Jesus has not redeemed us, our hearts, our minds, and our behavior. We fight with ourselves to change something and then also believe we have no hope of changing it because we are irreversibly evil.


Without God, little will change. With God, everything will change. However, that does not mean our circumstances, moods, and even all behavior will change. What I have found is that often God leaves those things to help further develop our spirit and character.


Character doesn't mean perfection. It's how we respond to life, even when those responses aren't perfect.


We should continually strive to put on the character of Christ, as Dallas Willard puts it. We should also strive to refine our behavior, attitudes, and moods. Our spiritual disciplines can help with this. So can psychotherapy. Yet if all we focus on is reducing or removing a certain misdeed, we miss the bigger picture of true transformation. And that might be the biggest sin and tragedy of all.

Prayer Books Summarized

This week, I have reviewed seven rather different prayer books. If you missed any of them or would like a summary with links, here you are!

Celtic Devotions: Based in the Celtic Christian tradition with short morning and evening prayers and devotions. Portable and useful for individual use. Could be used in a group.

A Pastor Prays for His People: Developed and transcribed from a pastor's prayers over the years for his congregation during weekly church services. Has an index of themes. Probably more useful in a group setting. Good portability.

Prayers: A Personal Selection: A short audiobook of prayers from the Bible and from Church history set to music. Particularly good for individual meditation time.

Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals: Thick and dense book rooted in the long history of liturgy from several Christian traditions, making it quite comprehensive. Included is a songbook, making it quite unique. Focused primarily on a contemplative tradition. Not as portable as some. Could be used individually, but more useful in a group.

Light for the Journey: Morning and Evening Prayers: Written with a goal of becoming more active participants in our lives and with God to renew the world. I received a PDF version, so I cannot comment on portability, but it is like mobile. Could be used in both an individual or group setting.

Eucharistic Prayer for Inclusive Communities (Vol. 1 & 2): Coming from a feminist Catholic perspective, the editors bring together "high church" liturgy from worldwide authors for use in group while celebrating the Eucharist. A unique element is using gender inclusive (and often female) language around God. It comes in a spiral bound version that lays flat for easy use. I received a PDF version, so it is difficult to know the dimensions, but they appear to be 8.5x11.

BodyPrayer: Focused on a more Incarnational tradition, emphasizing the role of our bodies in prayer, reminding the reader that the body is important to holistic spirituality and prayer. Very mobile and can be used individually and in a group.

Light for the Journey: Morning and Evening Prayers for Living Into God's World @msa @ChristineSine

This post is part of my series on prayer books. I received a complimentary review copy of this book without a requirement or expectation of a positive review.

Christine Sine, the author of Light for the Journey: Morning and Evening Prayers for Living Into God's World, along with her husband, is the Executive Director of Mustard Seed Associates, an intentional Christian community that extends worldwide to try to live out the Gospel and transform the world and future "one mustard seed at a time." It's a great organization, which I particularly like because of its focus on Celtic Christianity, so I was excited to review Sine's prayer book.

Like some of the other books in this review series, the introduction is particularly powerful and sets the stage well for a powerful engagement with the prayers and devotions. The mission of MSA is immediately evident in the introduction of the book, laying the foundation for the purpose of this prayer book:

I believe that we need to regain our focus. God’s grand plan is not for war and violence with an end-times cataclysm of death and destruction, but rather a renewal of the earth and all its creatures and the restoration of the abundance, mutual concern and love of God’s original creation. (p. 10)

I love this focus not just on contemplation or avoidance of sin, but true renewal of ourselves and the world. It takes great intention to be renewal-minded. And I agree with Sine that God's "grand plan" is for "a renewal of the earth and all its creatures." Being focused on a particular goal helps makes this prayer book more coherent than many, which can definitely be a benefit. As I often advocate on this blog, Sine asserts that "our faith should not be a passive expression of our love for God, but rather an active participation in God’s work to

change our world" (p. 21). Having this kind of excellent foundation makes this prayer book particularly helpful and focused on not just passive contemplation, but meditation with a focus on transforming ourselves to go out again and be active in the world. And that is good.

Further, Sine has a healthy and biblical view of the Gospel, stating, "The good news of the gospel is that we don’t need to wait to see God’s wholeness come into being" (p. 15). So often we assume things will change later and miss out on the transformation going on right now. And so often we forget that we can be a part of that change and transformation.

Sine also states that a central purpose of the prayer book, like many other similar tomes, is to help us gain a rhythm of life that is focused on God. She says it so beautifully that I have to share her words:

In order to move our devotional life beyond its chronic randomness, we need life rhythms that intentionally renew our hope in God’s kingdom vision and connect us to the essential foundations of our faith. Only then can the Holy Spirit work to shape how we allocate time and use resources with God’s priorities in mind. (p. 14)

The prayer book is divided into a rhythm of seven days, with a daily theme. The daily devotions are not short, but they are meaningful. Sine also suggests using one of the themes per week, focusing the whole week on a theme rather than a single day. I like the flexibility of the work, being able to adapt it to each individual's needs.

Additionally, this prayer book can easily be used in both an individual or group setting, which adds to its flexibility. It's definitely one I want to continue using personally.