Sometimes you don’t feel close to God. I know because you’re a human. I’m also a human and sometimes I don’t feel close to God. It is a common human experience.
I say ugly things to my wife, I hold onto resentment, I lose my patience with my kids over the dumbest stuff. These are not the actions of a man close to God.
I’ve always had a pretty good relationship with non-Christians and have been able to have conversations with them about spirituality and Christianity that a lot of people generally can’t. So, in the spirit of Christmas, I thought I’d share my secrets with you.
Here is my definitive guide to dealing with non-Christians.
I’ve written a lot about meditation. In fact, I think I may have written about it more than any other single topic.
And there’s good reason for that. Of all the ways to experience God, it has been the most profound for me. Even when I have no desire to worship, study, or teach, meditation always seems welcoming. Its comforting to me. I don’t have to prove anything. I just sit and be.
Maybe it’s the lazy man’s worship. Or maybe the introvert’s worship. That’s probably what I like about it.
Beyond that meditation has a ton of physical and mental benefits. Meditation can:
(Here’s a great explanation of what happens to our brains when we meditate.)
These health benefits can come from any form of meditation, but I’m encouraging forms of meditation that are specifically Christian. There are a few reasons I practice this specific kind of meditation.
So here’s why I meditate (and why you should too).
Thanksgiving is in two days. If you haven’t already, go move your turkey from the freezer to the fridge. Seriously, go, this will still be here when you get back.
Thanksgiving conjures up images of construction paper headdresses and pilgrim hats, football, cornucopias, and giant balloons in parades.
But most commonly it brings to mind this.
Our culture is obsessed with busyness. I can’t count the number of e-mails I get that basically say, “Sorry I didn’t respond to your message, I’ve just been so busy.” (Or how many I’ve written) Everyone used to answer “How are you?” by saying “good,” now everyone answers it by saying, “tired” or “busy.”
I’ve fought this tendency for most of my adult life, but over the last few months I gave in.
I think the most common question Christians ask is “What is God’s will for my life?” But as common as this question is, most Christians don’t know how to answer it or how to help others to answer it.
Right now my wife and I are trying to ask an even more complex question: “What is God’s will for OUR life?” Adding in the desires and doubts of another person makes it even more difficult to discern.
So I’ve been thinking about what makes discernment possible and how that works in a group and have created this guide as a result.
I’m bad at praying.
I’ve admitted it before, but I’m not very good at talking to God. I feel much more comfortable in silence. But I’ve been trying to grow and will look anywhere for lessons.
Lately, my 3 year old has been teaching me about praying. Through our nightly ritual of praying before bed, Soren has taught me three things about prayer.
These days the term “Spiritual Formation” is thrown around a lot. It is used just enough that we all feel like we should already know what it means and so nobody asks. But most of us really only have a small understanding of what is meant when people say Spiritual Formation.
For Christians, it is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).
But what does that mean?
In Matthew 22, a man asks Jesus what is the most important law.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
According to Jesus, directing all of your heart, soul, and mind towards the divine is the most important thing for you to do.
As part of my ongoing attempt to expand my understanding of Christianity I have been reading old books. To find out why I would do such a thing check out my previous post about that very thing.
While not nearly as old as our previous books, The Way of a Pilgrim, is considered a spiritual classic in the Eastern Orthodox Church which makes it different from the works we are used to reading and therefore able to widen our understanding just as well as an old book from within our tradition.
Nobody knows who wrote The Way of a Pilgrim (or even when it was written), but its mention of the Crimean War and some indicators that it was written before the Liberation of the Serfs makes it pretty clear it was written sometime between 1853 and 1861.
The book is different from previous Old Books because it is a narrative rather than a treatise. Broken into four sections called “narratives” it tells the story of a pilgrim as he attempts to understand what the apostle meant by “pray without ceasing.” He discovers a form of prayer called the Jesus Prayer which transforms him. Without knowing the author it is hard to know if it is a real account. Some scholars believe it was written as an allegory of the Christian life by a monk in a monastery on Mount Athos (where it was discovered). Nevertheless, the book has been popular outside of the Eastern Orthodox and is credited with bringing the Jesus Prayer to the west (in part from its importance in J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey).
The pilgrim carries with him a collection of the church fathers writings on prayer called the Philokalia. These texts are mentioned often and quoed extensively, so this an old book in side an old book, or as I’ve been calling it O L D C E P T I O N (please click that link).
I really struggle with prayer. I am by no means an expert on the issue. I would say of all the disciplines it is the one I have the most trouble with. I have no business telling people how to improve their prayer, but I know a thing or two about how to ruin it. So here are three ways to make sure you ruin your prayer (the idea being not to do them).
