He has a Master of Divinity, but feels more like a beginner in divinity most days. Ed didn’t go into ministry because he’s an introvert. Reading Richard Rohr has helped him accept all of that.
His guest post credits in the publishing industry include posts for leading bloggers such as Rachelle Gardner and Jane Friedman. His post, “Can You Promote a Book without Making Yourself Miserable?” has been featured in Digital Book World and The Passive Voice.
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You have a master’s degree in divinity from a seminary. Can you explain where the writing career fit in? Did that come before, after, or during your seminary training? What was/is your motivation for writing?
Writing started out as a side project. I had planned to attend seminary and then go into ministry. After working in a church for a few years, I immediately knew that I wasn’t cut out for ministry. I kept working on writing and tried out the nonprofit sector for a while. However, when my wife went back to graduate school full time for her PhD, I felt freedom to explore writing as my full time job. Having said all of that, the writing that I do on my blog and in most of my books has a pastoral focus. I never stopped sensing the call to be a pastor of some sort, and I find that I do quite a lot of pastoral work through my writing, comments, and emails that I receive from readers.
In your book, A Christian Survival Guide (CSG), you mention the importance of ‘listening prayer.’ Could you elaborate on that? Why is it important to hear God’s voice?
It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that prayer depends on us somehow calling down God or grabbing God’s attention. I know a lot of evangelicals are especially anxious about prayer and worry that it just doesn’t work. Listening prayer or contemplative prayer takes us out of the driver’s seat for prayer and helps us rest in the truth of scripture that God loves us. We should still offer prayers of thanksgiving, praise, lament, and petition, but so much of prayer should also involve waiting on the Lord in silence.
I should add that “listening” prayer doesn’t necessarily mean God is actually going to speak to us. Listening prayer is much more about rest and trust. The church’s contemplative prayer teachers warn us against the desire for spiritual epiphanies. Rather, silent or listening prayer teaches us to rest in the trust that God is present to remain open for however God will minister to us—even if that “ministry” is something we can’t quantify.
You also mention a ‘conservative’ vs. ‘liberal’ view of the Bible. How does this influence a person’s view of life (world view) and of God?
The impact of this conservative/liberal divide probably depends on your church background. Generally speaking, conservatives believe that the Bible must not only be completely historically accurate, but in many circles it must be historically accurate within extremely stringent guidelines in order to be the Word of God. This has led to Christians engaging in acts such as interpreting the poetic creation story literally or obsessing over the chronology of the kings of Israel and Judah. This results in conservatives potentially missing out on the encounter with the risen Christ that the scriptures speak of, which was the exact problem Jesus addressed in John 5:39. We don’t have to concede that the Bible is erroneous, but we should get our priorities straight and use scripture in order to find the risen Christ. Coming out of a conservative background, I find it far more compelling to let the Bible defend itself in the lives of the people in the church. Does the stuff described in the Bible actually happen in the church? That’s borrowing heavily from John Wimber of the Vineyard, and I suspect that he’s onto something.
Painting with broad brush strokes, liberals may tend to back away from the historicity of the Bible. In some cases this is an overreaction to conservatives who have picked many historical hills to die on. From the conversations I have with my friends who are liberal Christians, they believe that liberal Christians struggle to find the love and compassion of God for them even if they engage in activities that are very loving and compassionate.
In CSG, you pose an interesting question: “What if we thought of reading the Bible as simply having a good time with God?” Could you expand on that?
The Bible first and foremost testifies of God’s great love for us and the way that God restores us through his indwelling Spirit. This is a God who is present with us, loves us, and desires nothing more than for us to love him back—this is why Jesus said that loving God is the first commandment. The Bible had long been something to defend in my conservative background, and I had lost the simplicity of the joy of the Lord.
There’s another question you pose in CSG that’s quite thought-provoking. “What would happen if we spoke completely honestly to God about everything we don’t understand or struggle to believe?” What do you see as the results of this type of communication with God?
I think we would come up with theological problems that we cannot solve to our satisfaction or to the satisfaction of others. We may spend years struggling to come up with answers, or we may never find answers. Most importantly, we need to learn to be OK with this. Jesus never promised us all of the answers. He promised to remain with us until the end of the age. Jesus promised us presence, not problem-solving. I wonder if we have a lot of atheists today because we assured them that they could find all of the answers of God in Christianity, when in reality, Christianity promises something far better: God with us.
In another section of CSG you wrote: “Having the right information about the love of God isn’t the same thing as living in that love daily.” Can you offer additional insight? Or an example of this? (On pg. 39 of CSG you quote Frederick Buechner, “Believing in Him (God) is not the same as believing about Him.”)
Perhaps the best way I can answer this is to address the tongue in cheek nature of the book’s title: A Christian Survival Guide. This is a book that aims to clear away the clutter of “Christian Survival,” pushing away all of the things that we are told we need in order for our faith to survive. My goal is to point us to the love of God because that is the only thing that can truly ensure the survival of our faith. It is very possible in my experience to intellectually believe in the love of God and to still fail to believe that God loves me and the people around me.
If you had the opportunity to speak about what you considered the single most important aspect of maintaining a relationship with God and growing in it, what would you say?
I’m sure this will depend on the season of faith for each person, let alone the life stage, as the younger we are, the more we need concrete statements, and the older we get, the more we can handle uncertainty and nuance. However, the thing I keep coming back to after 37 years is the simple practice of believing that God loves me and that I can find my identity in that belovedness before God. I am the sheep the God sought out, I am the lost coin that he turned the house upside down to find, and I am the prodigal son that he will always run out to meet. That is the message of Jesus from the incarnation straight on through to the Resurrection and Ascension. God loves me. God loves you. This is what we must spend our lives untangling, living in, and remembering even when we can think of reasons to suggest otherwise.
What’s your favorite book of the Bible? Or verse? And why?
I used to really love 1 and 2 Corinthians because they were just such a mess, and I think that helped me remember that the early church wasn’t this utopia of spiritual perfection. They really struggled and at times it seemed like they weren’t ever going to make it. However, these days I lean heavily on the Psalms. It makes me wonder why I haven’t leaned on them sooner.
Who are some of your favorite Christian writers? Writers, in general?
I don’t think I have read anyone who can write with the power of Brennan Manning, especially in his book Furious Longing of God. Henrí Nouwen writes with a spare prose and striking focus that I also find jarring. He packs so much into his tiny books, and they are well worth reading, savoring, and re-reading. It’s basically required for a Christian writer to love Anne Lamott. I mean she invented spiritual memoir as a genre with Traveling Mercies.
You also pose a very thought-provoking question to your readers in CSG. “What do you want out of life?” Would you mind giving us your answer to that question?
It’s such an important question because I think the answer shifts and changes. One moment I am focused on resting in God’s love and the next moment I’m trying to survive financially in a tough situation and then the next our family really needs to spend more time together. It’s one that I return to often because it’s so easy to get caught up in the “tyranny of the urgent.”
Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Thanks so much for interviewing me!
Folks can find Ed at www.edcyzewski.com.
He's on Twitter at @edcyzewski and have an author page on Facebook.
His website offers daily prayer prompts is called www.thecontemplativewriter.com.
Folks who are interested in A Christian Survival Guide may want to check out his book Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life, which has been re-released on Kindle (and other eBook sites) for just $2.99 (price subject to change).
He's on Twitter at @edcyzewski and have an author page on Facebook.
His website offers daily prayer prompts is called www.thecontemplativewriter.com.
Folks who are interested in A Christian Survival Guide may want to check out his book Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life, which has been re-released on Kindle (and other eBook sites) for just $2.99 (price subject to change).
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