By Barbara Henderson

Barbara Henderson will be presenting her ideas about Simple Spirituality at Off The Map Greater Philadelphia April 4-5 in Souderton PA. Barbara has been married to Jim for thirty-two years and together they have three grown children. Barb was a Sister of St. Joseph prior to marriage and has been involved in pastoral ministry with Jim for the past thirty years.

After asking people “”What do you know for sure about God?”or “What do you use in your everyday life?” I developed materials for a support group for people who are trying to make sense out of God and life. I call this Simple Spirituality. I designed Simple Spirituality to help Christians become more real in their spirituality while also providing a safe place for non-Christians to discuss their spiritual experiences.

“Simple Spirituality is an attempt to help people get God out of their heads and into their lives.”

Simple Spirituality is an attempt to help people get God out of their heads and into their lives. It is built on the 7 Practices. These 7 Practices flow out of fundamental beliefs about God. The practices are important to practice even before the beliefs are acknowledged. Doing them can trigger surprises, unexpected coincidences, and God anonymously showing up.

Several influences prompted me to develop this material.

• My mother-in-law’s spiritual transformation through Alcoholics Anonymous.
• I asked myself, after years of sermons and lots of Bible, “What did I really use?”
• I wondered, “What was really portable?” Could my beliefs sustain me under any circumstance?”
• If I had to explain what I use on a daily basis, how would I articulate it?

The purpose is to cultivate a functional spirituality.
The touchstones are maintaining your personal peace and lovingly serve others.
The intent is to get God out of our heads and into our lives.
Our hope as a result of this endeavor to become better human beings.

We use the seven practices we meet each week to share our experiences with “practicing the practices.”

The 7 Practices
When we come to group we share honestly about our own reality and the discrepancy between what we believe and what we do. At the same time, however, we begin sharing small everyday experiences. We listen to other people’s stories, to their reality. This might encourage us or confuse us. In either case we are in the real world where God intersects with real people. We begin to learn that God is not afraid of difference or humanity. We loosen up and watch God work. We start noticing that our spiritual life is getting richer. While doing this our beliefs become more real and more personal.

In order to get God out of our heads and into our lives we must practice doing what we say we believe. We have found that when we practice the practices, these beliefs take root and grow in our minds and hearts. Our group rules provide the container of respect that is necessary if we expect people – Christians or not – to open up about what’s real about their spiritual life

• God is good – I will practice trusting Him with my life
• God loves me – I will practice taking care of myself and loving others.
• God is always with me – I will practice peace and not being afraid.
• God wants to talk with me – I will practice listening to Him and talking with Him
• God always forgives – I will practice forgiving myself and others
• I feel blessed with this Good News – I will practice being thankful and celebrating moments
• God has a story of love, He tells it through us – I will practice partnering with Him to bring it to others