Elements City Church
The Rooted Life wk1 - A Contemplative Cadence
Many believers live in the state of "being a Christian" without ever being deeply formed by Christ. Our pace is too frenetic to be in union with God, and we don't know how to quiet our hearts and minds to be present. Our emotions are unhealthy and compartmentalized. We feel unable to love well or live differently from the rest of the world - to live as people of the good news. The Rooted Life is a road map to live in the richly rooted place we all yearn for: a place of communion with God, a place where we find our purpose. In this series we want to help us discover some transformational practices and habits that can root your life in the way of Jesus!
Locations & Times
Elements City Church
1825 N Alvernon Way, Tucson, AZ 85712, USA
Sunday 5:00 PM
Thanks for joining us...
Whether you're on-site or online, we are praying that tonight will be an encouragement to your soul. May God whisper to you and help you in taking your next steps in a journey with Him. If you're new, we'd love to have you fill out our connection card here...
https://connect-card.com/yr4Y0g8VLBSqzKXeubjbOur pace of life can take us to places of unnoticed and dangerous spiritual depletion if we’re not careful.
Quote:
“As long as we remain enslaved to a culture of speed, superficiality, and distraction, we will not be the people God longs for us to be. We desperately need a spirituality that roots us in a different way.”
- Rich Villodas. (book: The Deeply Formed Life)
“As long as we remain enslaved to a culture of speed, superficiality, and distraction, we will not be the people God longs for us to be. We desperately need a spirituality that roots us in a different way.”
- Rich Villodas. (book: The Deeply Formed Life)
A contemplative cadence is all about SLOWING DOWN… our lives, our minds, — instead of racing, it’s about slowing in order to connect with God; to have his truth, his whispers get into our lives MORE than the commotion driven voices of the world.
N.T. Wright Quote:
"It’s only when we slow down our lives that we can catch up to God."
N.T. Wright Quote:
"It’s only when we slow down our lives that we can catch up to God."
Luke 5:16 — But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
A Contemplative Cadence of prayer, solitude, silence, a honing of our God awareness and tapping into His presence to connect and get fueled up.
The TRUTH IS: We are regularly being formed by the pace, noise, values and voices of the surrounding world. Yet to be deeply formed to be more like God, THAT calls for us to have regular rhythms that are counter cultural.
A Contemplative Cadence of prayer, solitude, silence, a honing of our God awareness and tapping into His presence to connect and get fueled up.
The TRUTH IS: We are regularly being formed by the pace, noise, values and voices of the surrounding world. Yet to be deeply formed to be more like God, THAT calls for us to have regular rhythms that are counter cultural.
Building a contemplative cadence is:
— the call to less complexity and commotion and to engage in contemplative attention to Jesus - to be present with Him…to reflect upon him and his teachings, to sit at his feet if you will.
— the call to less complexity and commotion and to engage in contemplative attention to Jesus - to be present with Him…to reflect upon him and his teachings, to sit at his feet if you will.
-PURPOSEFUL PAUSING
=it’s not trying to fill up every square inch of your calendar
-it’s giving time to reflect upon life, lessons your learning, to lean into what God might be saying to you and up to within your life.
-Social Media fast
-Solitude
Quote: Thomas Merton
Solitude is to be preserved, not as a luxury but as a necessity; not for ‘perfection’ so much as for simple survival’ in the life God has given you.
=it’s not trying to fill up every square inch of your calendar
-it’s giving time to reflect upon life, lessons your learning, to lean into what God might be saying to you and up to within your life.
-Social Media fast
-Solitude
Quote: Thomas Merton
Solitude is to be preserved, not as a luxury but as a necessity; not for ‘perfection’ so much as for simple survival’ in the life God has given you.
-SILENT PRAYER
Matthew 11:28
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Sitting quiet and contemplating God - standing in nature and losing yourself in the stillness focused on your Creator and the Creator of ALL things is meant to re-anchor you, to ground you in the ONE who loves you best and loves you most. You can come to Him. He longs to connect with you. It may not be earth shattering moments, but it’s re-centering experience.
At the end of it: Silent Prayer is not a technique to master; it’s a relationship to enter into. Jesus said, 'come to me'.
Matthew 11:28
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Sitting quiet and contemplating God - standing in nature and losing yourself in the stillness focused on your Creator and the Creator of ALL things is meant to re-anchor you, to ground you in the ONE who loves you best and loves you most. You can come to Him. He longs to connect with you. It may not be earth shattering moments, but it’s re-centering experience.
At the end of it: Silent Prayer is not a technique to master; it’s a relationship to enter into. Jesus said, 'come to me'.
-SABBATH
Sabbath keeping a regular 24 hour period of unhurried delight with no have-to’s or ought-to’s, resulting in deep rest and renewal. Sabbath is an invitation to a life that isn’t dominated and distorted by overwork, overthinking, overcommitment and an overloaded schedule.
In our culture: Performance & Production = your identity.
Sabbath is a call to return to our identity (as people of faith) founded in Christ and all He did for us; to push back against a merit-based, production calculated identity that so fills our world.
Sabbath is NOT just a rest from making things — it’s a rest from the need to make something of ourselves! It’s a day of noticing, a day of simple joyful presence, it’s a day of undivided presence.
Sabbath forms us to be present in one place amid the desire to be omnipresent everywhere. Only God is able to do that. We are not.
Sabbath shapes us to enjoy the limits of our humanity rather than grasp at omnipotence.
Sabbath keeping a regular 24 hour period of unhurried delight with no have-to’s or ought-to’s, resulting in deep rest and renewal. Sabbath is an invitation to a life that isn’t dominated and distorted by overwork, overthinking, overcommitment and an overloaded schedule.
In our culture: Performance & Production = your identity.
Sabbath is a call to return to our identity (as people of faith) founded in Christ and all He did for us; to push back against a merit-based, production calculated identity that so fills our world.
Sabbath is NOT just a rest from making things — it’s a rest from the need to make something of ourselves! It’s a day of noticing, a day of simple joyful presence, it’s a day of undivided presence.
Sabbath forms us to be present in one place amid the desire to be omnipresent everywhere. Only God is able to do that. We are not.
Sabbath shapes us to enjoy the limits of our humanity rather than grasp at omnipotence.
-SLOW READING OF SCRIPTURE
It’s undeniable that we often find ourselves in a skimming, speed-reading, the scrolling of Scripture…when we do choose to read.
This consumption culture has profoundly influenced the way we engage (or don’t engage) the Holy Scriptures. Instead of slowly ingesting the truth of God’s Word, we live on the surface of the text, rarely settled enough to hear God’s whispers and word’s to us. Psalm 1 challenges us to rest in - not race through the Word.
Relational theology is to know God relationally, not just settle to know more about him intellectually. What’s in this text that helps me grow in love for God and love for people? How does this text help me relate with God, to KNOW him?
Ephesians 1:17 is a prayer I pray over my life and over our church often.
1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
It’s undeniable that we often find ourselves in a skimming, speed-reading, the scrolling of Scripture…when we do choose to read.
This consumption culture has profoundly influenced the way we engage (or don’t engage) the Holy Scriptures. Instead of slowly ingesting the truth of God’s Word, we live on the surface of the text, rarely settled enough to hear God’s whispers and word’s to us. Psalm 1 challenges us to rest in - not race through the Word.
Relational theology is to know God relationally, not just settle to know more about him intellectually. What’s in this text that helps me grow in love for God and love for people? How does this text help me relate with God, to KNOW him?
Ephesians 1:17 is a prayer I pray over my life and over our church often.
1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
...in the words of Ferris Bueller - “life moves pretty fast sometimes…”
We all have moments of busyness and preoccupation. But if your busyness and preoccupation is always centered on yourself then you’re never anchored to something bigger than yourself.
A contemplative cadence anchors us to someone BIGGER - instead of being pushed along by the current and commotion of our culture. It’s tuning out the voices of society so we can lean into and hear from the ONE voice that matters most!
We all have moments of busyness and preoccupation. But if your busyness and preoccupation is always centered on yourself then you’re never anchored to something bigger than yourself.
A contemplative cadence anchors us to someone BIGGER - instead of being pushed along by the current and commotion of our culture. It’s tuning out the voices of society so we can lean into and hear from the ONE voice that matters most!
Thanks for partnering with us...
Elements family, thank you for enabling us to be the Church in our city! Your gifts help fuel the mission, as well as our capacity to share His love with as many as we can. You help us bring the HOPE and LIGHT of Jesus to our city! You can give here, online, or through the Elements app.
http://elementscitychurch.org/giveWe hope you have been blessed by your time worshipping with us -- through song and through the Word!
We'll see you back at Elements next weekend -- on-site or online -- as we continue our series: The Rooted Life...transformational values that help us walk in the way of Jesus.
We'll see you back at Elements next weekend -- on-site or online -- as we continue our series: The Rooted Life...transformational values that help us walk in the way of Jesus.