James Bryan Smith - The Magnificent Journey: Living Deep in the Kingdom

InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
ivpress.com

2018 by James Bryan Smith

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, a movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges, and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, visit intervarsity.org.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

While any stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information may have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

The Annunciation, 1898, by Henry Ossawa Tanner (18591937). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, PA, USA. Purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund, 1899/Bridgeman Images. Used by permission.

The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, 1652, by Gianlorenzo Bernini. Photo by Jastrow, 2006, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1290870.

Cover design: Cindy Kiple
Interior design: Jeanna Wiggins

Images: Tree of Life by Gustav Klimt at MAK (Austrian Museum of Applied Arts) Vienna, Austria/De Agostini Picture Library/Bridgeman Images

ISBN 978-0-8308-8929-7 (digital)

ISBN 978-0-8308-4638-2 (print)

This digital document has been produced by Nord Compo.

To Dallas Willard,
who invited me and guided me on this
magnificent journey of eternal living,
without whom I would not
have known it existed

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS BOOK

T HIS BOOK IS INTENDED TO BE USED in the context of a communitya small group, a Sunday school class, or a few friends gathered in a home or coffee shop. Working through this book with others greatly magnifies the impact. If you go through this on your own, only the first four of the following suggestions will apply to you. No matter how you use it, I am confident that God can and will accomplish a good work in you.

1. . Prepare: Find a notebook or journal with blank pages. You will use this journal to answer questions sprinkled throughout each chapter (in boxes) and for reflecting on the soul training exercises (instructions are at the end of each chapter).

2. . Read: Read each chapter thoroughly. Try not to read hurriedly, and avoid reading the chapter at the last minute. Start reading early enough in the week so you have time to digest the material and to do the exercise.

3. . Do: Complete the weekly soul training exercise. Engaging in exercises related to the content of the chapter will help deepen the ideas and narratives you will be learning. It can also be healing, as it connects you to God. The exercises in this book are best done over several days.

4. . Reflect: Make time to complete your written reflections. You may not be a journaling type, but I encourage you to find some way to keep track of your answers to the box questions as well as your reflections on the exercise.

5. . Interact: Come to the group prepared to listen and share. If everyone takes time to write out answers in advance, the group conversation will be much richer, and your time together will be more effective. Remember the group discussion rule: listen twice as much as you speak. But do speak! The other group members will learn from your ideas and experiences.

6. . Encourage: Interact with each other outside of group time. Use technology to stay in touch with the members of your group between gatherings. One good idea is to have a group email thread in which someone posts a thought or idea or question, and others can chime in. Another great thing to do is intentionally email at least one person in your group each week with an encouraging word.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

D URING MY SECOND YEAR OF SEMINARY, the spiritual moorings of my life came loose. I had been studying about God but had grown distant from God. I decided to go on a five-day silent retreat at an Episcopalian monastery in the Northeast to try to reclaim the spiritual warmth I had somehow lost.

Upon arrival I was assigned a monk who would be my spiritual director for one hour each day. He walked into our meeting room with jogging clothes underneath his cowl. I was disappointed. I had been expecting an elderly man, bearded to his knees, who would penetrate my soul with searing blue eyes. Instead, I got the jogging monk.

My director gave me only one task for the day: meditate on the story of the Annunciation in the of Lukes Gospel. I walked back to my room wondering how I would occupy my time with only this one assignment. After all, I thought to myself, I could exegete this entire text in a few hours.

What was I to do for the rest of the dayin silence?

Back at my room I opened my Bible to the passage and began reading. Birth narrative, I muttered to myself. For the next hour I spliced and diced the verses as any good exegete would do, ending up with a few hypotheses and several hours to sit in silence. As the hours passed the room seemed to get smaller. There was no view to the outside through the window of my room. Other rooms, I would come to find, had a beautiful view of the river that flowed adjacent to the monastery. Without any view to the outer world, I was forced to look within. Despite my hopes of finding spiritual bliss, I had never felt more alone.

Why is it often difficult for us to look within? What are we afraid we will find?

The next day I met with the monk again to discuss my spiritual life. He asked what had happened with the assigned text. I told him it was just shy of disaster in terms of profound spiritual revelations, but that I had come up with a few exegetical insights. I thought my discoveries might impress him.