Tall Monastic Guy

Access: a 5 week summary

When we walk into a room full of strangers we typically react by drawing comparisons. How will I stack up to these folks in a conversation? Am I smarter? Better educated? Am I as attractive?  What level am I at?

Our understanding of theology and our lived spirituality is often far more reactionary than we’d like to think.

The reality of our cultural matrix is powerfully shaped and even dominated by ideals of consumerism and competition. Rather than carrying a sense of prayerful awareness into our daily relationships and exchanges we often tend to settle for the reactionary grasping of the next level. The desire expressed in these first few weeks of Access was to develop an everyday street-level spirituality, one we can carry with us into day-to-day living which certainly includes the mess of pain and the mundane.

lenses of levels (or hay baler envy)

I remember summer afternoons as a kid when I would sit on the fence with my head resting in my hands as I watched the older boys bale hay in the field behind our house. Very Norman Rockwell-esque. At 8 years old it seemed being on the back of that flat bed wagon lifting those heavy bales was the ultimate level of humanity. After I couldn’t stand it any longer, I’d go back in the house find my brother’s Sears weight set and nothing could stop me from one day having the sun tanned defined pectorals of the 17 year old hay bailer. I just had to reach that next level status of manhood.

Access is...

After 9 months of going hard at it the ministry of Access has been chiseled and adjusted and honestly blessed by God’s hand as a unique spiritual formation initiative under the organizational banner of Mile High Ministries.

I wanted to update via blog post where we’ve currently landed with a mission statement. I’m so exhausted with all the word-smithing but it’s been a necessary aspect of shaping and communicating this endeavor with integrity. And with all the books read and experiences under my belt I continue to wade through the temptation and convenience of using insider language in which only us cool kids catch on. So, what I mean by integrity is allowing Access to be, well… accessible. Frankly, I look at some of my blog posts and wonder what I was thinking as I notice myself using cool language that came from a recent book I’ve read or words exchanged with a friend. Life and ministry is a continual process of living with integrity to who I really am. And I hear that’s kind of a big deal in our relating to God.

Anyway here’s where we’re at...

Access: A communal experience that combines both presence in hard places and honest spiritual formation.