This week in Chapel, Dr. Gibson encouraged students to engage in specific disciplines and led students through a journaling exercise over Acts 1: 9-11. As Christ ascends into heaven, the disciples are simply gazing at him. As the disciples look upward toward heaven, they are in the “meantime.” The “meantime” in which we are waiting is often a “mean” time, in which “one is placed in a situation where what you know about God intellectually and experientially will be challenged.” We experience the mean time, when we are engaged in the lives of others. In order to have guidance in how to love and care for others, we must engage in spiritual disciplines to bring us closer to God. Journaling is a form of spiritual writing, in which we record our prayers, insights, impressions, in a spiritual journal we reflect on the presence of God in our lives and what we sense what God is saying to us.
To hear more on how the spiritual discipline of journaling can help us to navigate the calling God has given each of us, listen to the whole sermon below.
https://soundcloud.com/grand-rapids-theological-seminary/41818-dr-walter-gibson
About the Speaker
Rev. Dr. Walter R. Gibson, Jr., currently serves as pastor of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in Lansing, Mich. Having earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Southern Methodist University, Dr. Gibson began his theological training at the College of Biblical Studies (Houston, TX), and Houston Graduate School of Theology where he earned his master’s degree (2001) and Doctor of Ministry (2014). He is the author of the inspirational book “No More Business As Usual.” He is married to the love of his life, Tarsha Gibson, and they have two dynamic sons, Cameron and Christian.