April 21, 2003
Look for spiritual truths in family life, Wright says
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___WACO--People who pay attention may see spiritual truths in the everyday occurrences of family life, according to a theologian who addressed Texas social workers April 6-7.
___Wendy Wright, theology professor at Creighton University, called Christians to "prayerful attentiveness" as she delivered the Barbara Chafin Lectures in Family Ministry at Baylor University. The lectures were given during the annual Hand in Hand Conference sponsored by a consortium of seven Texas agencies, most related to the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___Identifying the Spirit of God at work in the chaos of family life requires occasionally clearing away the noise, Wright said. "You can't pay attention if the space is filled with other things. ... You have to turn off some of the noise."
___Families may find spiritual moments in reading together, sitting on a child's bed, spending time with a spouse at the end of the day, gathering around a kitchen table, visiting grandparents' home or in a variety of other simple yet sacred places, she explained.
___"We locate our sense of the presence of God in the ordinary fabric of everyday life. ... In ministering to families, one of the most powerful things we can do is to empower families to know themselves."
___The seasons of welcoming a child in a family's life and eventually letting go of that child also illustrate spiritual disciplines that shape all of life, Wright continued.
___"To welcome a child is not the same as welcoming a house guest," she explained. "To welcome a child is a radical throwing open of your life, allowing this person to be a central presence."
___Welcoming a child also "causes us to decenter ourselves," she added. "Loving someone else ... calls me to hear, 'What does love demand that I do?'"
___Taking an 18-month-old child for a walk illustrates the change in perspective an adult may experience, Wright said. Rather than the purposeful and utilitarian walk of adult, a young child engages in a "process of exploring" that may cause the parent to "see things again for the first time, ... to become aware of wonder again."
___Likewise, by letting go of a grown child, parents may learn the power of trust in God, the theologian said. "We have to entrust them" to the arms of God. ... "We learn a way of loving that trusts more deeply in what we cannot understand."
___The Chafin lectures were established by the late Ken Chafin in honor of his wife, Barbara, who lives in Houston and is a member of South Main Baptist Church.
___Wright, who is Catholic, is author of "Sacred Dwelling: A Spirituality of Family Life."
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