You may hear “fixed hour prayer” or “daily office” or “liturgy of the hours” or “morning prayer/evening prayer” but each speaks to having appointed times during the day and night to pray. It is a regular and consistent pattern of … Continue reading
This week I am away from my normal routine at a retreat center attending a four day workshop on spiritual direction. This seemed a very good time to think about a practice we have not yet mentioned, retreat. Adele Ahlberg … Continue reading
“In a noise-polluted world, it is even difficult to hear ourselves think let alone try to be still and know God. Yet it seems essential for our spiritual life to seek some silence, no matter how busy we may be. … Continue reading
Adele Ahlberg Calhoun may help us to see how service can take us beyond superficial activity, “… many of us look right through others and never see them let alone care about what they need. When we are preoccupied with … Continue reading
Adele Ahlberg Calhoun covers a lot when she writes about service in Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us, p 144, “Service is a way of offering resources, time, treasure, influence and expertise for the care, protection, justice, and nurture … Continue reading
Can it be prayer if “We do not give God information about all our needs, projects, ideas, programs, plans and agenda. We don’t suggest things we would like Him to do.”? (Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook”, p 208) If … Continue reading
While the Jesus Prayer can be considered a form of breath prayer, it is a much used and deceptively simple practice that deserves our attention. Frist, the words are simple and might take one of several forms, “Lord Jesus Christ, … Continue reading
Breathing is not only the most natural thing to do, it sustains life. Breath prayer for many is a prime sustainer of life. In breath prayer we repeat a short, repetitive prayer phrase to the rhythm of our breathing. As … Continue reading
This past Sunday the minister mentioned the “spiritual discipline of thankfulness” in his sermon “Choose to Be Thankful” (1 Thessalonians 5:18), so this seemed an opportune time to add Thankfulness/Gratitude to our list of spiritual practices. “Gratitude is a loving … Continue reading
