I've always thought familiarization is one of the greatest spiritual dangers we face. We become immune to the miracles that surround us. We lose our sense of awe. The sacred becomes mundane.
I just discovered the neurological reason. Neuroimagining has shown that brain stimulation depends on task familiarization. Novelty stimulates the right-brain. Familiarity stimulates the left-brain. So what happens is this: our relationship with God shifts from the right-brain to the left-brain. And God becomes routine.
The same thing happens with just about everything. The job we used to love becomes routine. Our marriages become routine. Kids become routine. Hobbies become routines. Every dimension of our life is subject to routinization. And before we know it, we stop living out of imagination (right-brain) and start living out of memory (left-brain). We repeat the past instead of creating the future.
I think that has huge implications on everything from worship to prayer to preaching.
Preaching needs an element of novelty to stimulate the right-brain of listeners. My preaching motto is say old things in new ways. In other words, find novel ways of communicating ancient truth. That is what Jesus did with the parables. The parables appealed to the right-brain of listeners.
The goal of every preacher should be to stimulate the anterior superior temporal gyrus. That is the part of the brain that is stimulated when you make new connections. That is where eureka moments and aha experiences happen. That is the part of the brain that is activated when you say: "I've never thought about it that way before."
I think one of our jobs as preachers is to keep God from becoming routine. We've got to help people think about Him in new ways (and obviously biblical ways). There are more than 400 names for God in Scripture. And each name reveals a different dimension of His infinite personality. We need to keep reintroducing people to God over and over again.
I think familiarization is one of the dangers we face in worship. Too often we worship from rote memory. But left-brain worship is often lip service. We're lip syncing. There is a difference between singing from memory and singing from imagination. Studies have shown that once we've sung a song thirty times we stop thinking about the words.
The same thing happens with prayer. We pray cliches. Our prayers become empty incantations.
We've got to keep our routines from becoming routine. In other words, one key to spiritual growth is reinventing our routines so we continue to engage the right-brain.
Try fasting something you've never fasted before.
Try reading another version of the Bible like The Message or The New Living Translation.
Try meditating on a passage of Scripture for a week.
Keep a prayer journal.
Take a personal retreat.
Try worshipping God in a new way or a new place.
Try a prayer experiment where you pray for someone or something for a month.
Do something, do anything, to keep your relationship with God from becoming routine. There is so much more of God to discover!
I just discovered the neurological reason. Neuroimagining has shown that brain stimulation depends on task familiarization. Novelty stimulates the right-brain. Familiarity stimulates the left-brain. So what happens is this: our relationship with God shifts from the right-brain to the left-brain. And God becomes routine.
The same thing happens with just about everything. The job we used to love becomes routine. Our marriages become routine. Kids become routine. Hobbies become routines. Every dimension of our life is subject to routinization. And before we know it, we stop living out of imagination (right-brain) and start living out of memory (left-brain). We repeat the past instead of creating the future.
I think that has huge implications on everything from worship to prayer to preaching.
Preaching needs an element of novelty to stimulate the right-brain of listeners. My preaching motto is say old things in new ways. In other words, find novel ways of communicating ancient truth. That is what Jesus did with the parables. The parables appealed to the right-brain of listeners.
The goal of every preacher should be to stimulate the anterior superior temporal gyrus. That is the part of the brain that is stimulated when you make new connections. That is where eureka moments and aha experiences happen. That is the part of the brain that is activated when you say: "I've never thought about it that way before."
I think one of our jobs as preachers is to keep God from becoming routine. We've got to help people think about Him in new ways (and obviously biblical ways). There are more than 400 names for God in Scripture. And each name reveals a different dimension of His infinite personality. We need to keep reintroducing people to God over and over again.
I think familiarization is one of the dangers we face in worship. Too often we worship from rote memory. But left-brain worship is often lip service. We're lip syncing. There is a difference between singing from memory and singing from imagination. Studies have shown that once we've sung a song thirty times we stop thinking about the words.
The same thing happens with prayer. We pray cliches. Our prayers become empty incantations.
We've got to keep our routines from becoming routine. In other words, one key to spiritual growth is reinventing our routines so we continue to engage the right-brain.
Try fasting something you've never fasted before.
Try reading another version of the Bible like The Message or The New Living Translation.
Try meditating on a passage of Scripture for a week.
Keep a prayer journal.
Take a personal retreat.
Try worshipping God in a new way or a new place.
Try a prayer experiment where you pray for someone or something for a month.
Do something, do anything, to keep your relationship with God from becoming routine. There is so much more of God to discover!
5 Comments:
This is fun, funny, and interesting. Sent from a friend.
This is from a strictly mathematical viewpoint.
What equals 100 percent? What does it mean to give
MORE than 100 percent? Do you ever wonder about those
people who say they are giving more than 100 percent?
We have all been in situations where someone wants you
to give over 100 percent. How about achieving 101
percent? What equals 100 percent in life?
Here's a little mathematical formula that might help
you answer these quest ions:
If
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Is represented as
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26.
Then
H-A-R-D-W-O-R- K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98 percent
and
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96 percent
But
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100 percent
Look how far the love of God will take you
L- O- V- E- O-F- G-O-D
12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4 = 101 percent
Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical
certainty that while Hard Work and Knowledge will get
you close, and Attitude will
get you there, it's the Love of God that will put you
over the top!
Lou/ PA
that is such a class wee thing! thanks for sharing! I try different ways of praying and worshipping to keep it from becoming routine... even something as simple as not singing songs i know as the words become so familiar i dont think abot them anymore. keep it fresh!
Mark, it's so true, try something new with God. I just stated facilitating a Sunday morning Bible Fellowship (Sunday School Class ;)) and I found that using different versions/translations of the Bible has greatly improved the class not only myself but the other class mates as well. It has broadend my walk with God more than I can explain because His word is always new and fresh, no matter how many times I read the passage.
Mark,
This has been on my heart all week and you just helped crystalize what's been stirring inside. With your permission, I will include some of it in my message this Sunday. You and God will get all the credit!
Randel,
This is an open-source blog :)
Mark
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