Spirituality and Our Life Stories

Logically, many of the people I have conversations with these days are of my own generation...  former colleagues from my years of work in many places, long time friends, cousins and siblings, and people we meet in the churches we attend and the community in which we now live.  Also it seems to be that, so far at least,  most of those who are reading my book and finding it interesting, are of a mature age. 

I had hoped and perhaps somewhat naively thought that the themes of the book, with stories of service from various places and cultures around the world, might appeal to young people who are exploring careers of service.  But they are busy people, these young ones, and have many other things to read and do.  We have made the book available to some of those who are entering the Young Adults in Global Mission program of the ELCA.  (Lutheran Church)

I do try to communicate with and keep connected with some young people - especially our own kids and grand kids, but we seem to spend a lot of time now with "old people".  Unfortunately there aren't many youth in the churches we visit and relate to, and a common lament we hear is about the diminishing numbers in the churches and the departure of the next generation after ours,  and the next... the generation of our children and grandchildren. 

A Lutheran theologian, Brad Hanson, is working on a book about spirituality and our life stories.  He says that the intersection of our spirituality with our personal life story is impacted (and I suppose greatly influenced) by our childhood story and the major cultural stories of success, romantic love, friendship, revenge-apology-forgiveness, migration, loss, and what he calls a master story. 

In my career I spent a lot of time working with communities and organizations on values as the basis for and guiding principles for their work and life together.  And if we think about it, many of our values are spiritual in nature. We learn some of them in our families as we grow up and others we take on as we grow to maturity.  How we learned and took ownership of our values during the various stages of life have much to do with our spiritual lives and practice as adults.  Think of the fruit of the spirit:   

                                                        

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23  New International Version (NIV)

My life story and the era in which I grew up, where and how I got an education, and how and when I proceeded into the cultural milieu and work world greatly influenced my faith and commitment to the church and the story line of my life. In some way, and I am not exactly sure how, the idea of service in the world caught on for me, and I think for many of our generation.  

Back in college the term "Call" was used to refer to the "pre-seminary" young male students (yes just men at that time).   They were said to be "called to the ministry", but we didn't use the same term to refer to those who were headed into social work, business, teaching, nursing or other careers.  

However, I think there was an underlying theory and teaching about vocation that was implicitly understood.  Indeed we are called, though I prefer the term "prompted by the Spirit", to made a good contribution in society and the church through our lives. In recent decades we have come to use the term discernment much more than in earlier times.   I will not delve into Luther's thinking on vocation here, or I will certainly get way over my head in theological fine points - 

Last fall I went to Homecoming at Luther College for my 50th class reunion, and Judy will soon be together with classmates who graduated 50 years ago from nursing school at Lutheran Deaconess Hospital in Minneapolis.  Our granddaughter Leslie will be graduating from Luther College in a few weeks.   Our experiences as students at Luther, separated by 50 years, are vastly different, but I am pleased to see that the values of service, compassion, respect for others, the environment and service to the poor are alive and well in her and many of her generation.   

However, there does not seem to be the same overall attention to church going and participation in the life of the faith community in this generation.  Are we then to conclude that there is less spirituality in their lives?  I would not dare make that judgment.  We do hear the terms seekers and explorers and "spiritual but not religious" a lot, but I don't really understand all that is going on here.  I will continue to ponder this question as I have been for some time.  

It seems to me that in each stage of life we have the possibility to grow spiritually - not to perfection, but in relationship with God.  And we also have the freedom to take no notice of the prompting of the Spirit.  I believe one of the greatest attributes we have as humans is the capacity for reflection - that is, the ability to step back and take a deliberate look at ourselves and ask deeper questions about the meaning of life - looking back and forward to examine our own life stories. 

So here is a challenge: write something about your own life story, remembering and reflecting on the stages of your life. In your own voice and words, what are your observations about your and your family's stories, rituals, community and faith-traditions.  How did you respond to what you were taught and to the Spirit's prompting at different stages in your life?  Whether in the form of anecdotes, stories, poems, journal entries, letters (especially letters), a blog, or a book - even scrap books and photo albums, if well documented - each of our stories and reflections will be of interest to someone and beneficial for our own spiritual life and development. 

This is part of the legacy we leave for those whose life stories are in formative stages of development and with whom we have a hand in shaping:

 Leslie, our oldest grand child with Melkamu, our youngest. Leslie's, whose life story is influenced by being the only child of a single mom, is about to graduate from Luther College with a degree in social work.  Melke was born in Ethiopia, adopted and lives with his parents in Portland.

Frances and Lucinda, age 8. Their life story will be shaped in part by the fact that they are twins.




Henry, growing up in a culturally diverse urban city - Albuquerque.