Monday, December 01, 2014
Healthy Church #4 Faces the cost of change and growth
Thursday, November 13, 2014
There's a thought...
Monday, November 10, 2014
Healthy Church # 5 Operates as a Community
Tuesday, November 04, 2014
Healthy Church #6 Makes Room for All
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Luminous Darkness...
The goal of the dark night of the soul is to draw the self beyond ego into full transfiguration and union in God. (Sunday)
The gift of darkness draws you to know God’s presence beyond what thought, imagination, or sensory feeling can comprehend. (Monday)
“The only action left to the soul, ultimately, is to put down its self-importance and cultivate a simple loving attention toward the Beloved.” –Mirabai Starr (Tuesday)
God needs to catch us by surprise because our very limited preexisting notions keep us and our understanding of God small. (Wednesday)
Without the inner discipline of faith (“positive holding instead of projecting”) most lives end in negativity, blaming others, or deep cynicism. (Thursday)
“You called, you shouted, you broke through my deafness, you flared, blazed, and banished my blindness, you lavished your fragrance, and I gasped.” —St. Augustine (Friday)
"The only people who pray well are those who keep praying. In the dark night, when all other practices and beliefs about God lose their meaning, keep returning to silent, contemplative prayer. It will keep you empty and ready for God’s ongoing revelation of an ever deeper love."
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Healthy Church #3 seeks to find out what God wants
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
The different drum - Scott Peck 3/3
The different drum - Scott Peck 2/3
The different drum - Scott Peck 1/3
Healthy Church #2 Outward-looking focus
Monday, July 07, 2014
Let God Be Who God Is.... Rohr
Friday, June 20, 2014
mutual apology, healing, and forgiveness
I was struck with Richard Rohr's thoughts yesterday about the place and responsibility of relationship restoration and what it is for human beings move ahead with dignity.
"Only mutual apology, healing, and forgiveness offer a sustainable future for humanity. Otherwise, we are controlled by the past, individually and corporately. We all need to apologize, and we all need to forgive or this human project will surely self-destruct. No wonder that almost two-thirds of Jesus’ teaching is directly or indirectly about forgiveness. Otherwise, history winds down into the taking of sides, deep bitterness, and remembered hurts..."
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
Healthy Church #1 Energised by faith
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Healthy Church #intro ...
Monday, May 12, 2014
The values of Renovaré ...
- LIFE WITH GOD The aim of God in history is the creation of an all-inclusive community of loving persons with God himself at the centre as its prime Sustainer and most glorious Inhabitant
- THE AVAILABILITY OF GOD'S KINGDOM We can experience genuine, substantive life in God's Kingdom through Jesus Christ, beginning now and continuing through all eternity
- THE MEANS OF GRACE Amongst the variety of ways God has given for us to be open to his transforming grace, we recognise the crucial importance of intentional spiritual practices and disciplines (such as prayer, service or fasting)
- A BALANCED VISION OF LIFE IN CHRIST We seek to embrace the abundant life of Jesus in all its fullness: contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice, evangelical, and incarnational
- A PRACTICAL STRATEGY FOR SPIRITUAL FORMATION We encourage the creation of Spiritual Formation Groups and other forms of spiritual friendship as solid foundations for mutual support and nurture
- THE CENTRALITY OF SCRIPTURE We immerse ourselves in the Bible: it is the greatest revelation in history, a sure guide for growth in Christlikeness, and an ever rich resource for our spiritual formation
- THE VALUE OF CHRISTIAN TRADITION We are engaged in the historical "Great Conversation" on spiritual formation developed from Scripture by the Church's classical spiritual writings
Wednesday, May 07, 2014
More Rohr on Grace
Friday, April 04, 2014
What it is to receive...?
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Rohr on grace...
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Lost Themes of Mission ... Community
Living community in whatever form - family, parish, twelve-step program, or intentional community - challenges us to come together at the place of our poverty, believing that there we can reveal our richness."
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Touching the Holy.... 2/5
Saturday, March 08, 2014
Celebrating the great variety in being human...
Saturday, March 01, 2014
Touching the holy.... 1/5
Here are two quotes to set the scene.
Due to our lack of complete trust in God's revelation that we are made in the divine image and likeness, most of us get caught up in trying to be extra ordinary. We become insecure and are tempted to rest our sense of self on something less than God's love for us. As a result we waste our energy worrying about whether we are liked, respected, effective, or as good as other people. 15
Wicks, R. (1992) Touching the holy : ordinariness, self-esteem, and friendship
Thursday, February 20, 2014
A closer look at prayer...
Friday, February 14, 2014
Transformation or simply transmitting information...
Saturday, February 08, 2014
Levels of Spiritual Development (Part Two)
Richard Rohr concludes his insights to faith development. Here's his edited highlights...
Stage Four: My deeper intuitions and felt knowledge in my body are who I am. (Sunday)
Stage Five: My shadow self is who I am. (Monday)
Stage Six: I am empty and powerless. (Tuesday)
Stage Seven: I am much more than who I thought I was. (Wednesday)
Stage Eight: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). (Thursday)
Stage Nine: I am who I am. (Friday)
Saturday, February 01, 2014
Levels of Spiritual Development (Part One)
Rohr is looking at faith development, here are his highlights for this week.
So many of our problems can be resolved if we understand that people are at different levels. (Sunday)
Growth is going somewhere, and the trajectory is toward union: union with God, with the self (of mind, heart, and body), with others, and with the cosmos. (Monday)
Stage One: My body and my self-image are who I am. (Tuesday)
Stage Two: My external behavior is who I am. (Wednesday)
Stage Three: My thoughts and feelings are who I am. (Thursday)
Without great love (and I mean great love) and great suffering, where there is a major defeat, major humiliation, major shock to the ego self, very few people move to Stage Four. (Friday)
Saturday, January 11, 2014
God's Cadets ...
The new Richard Rohr daily emails ...
Rest: Lectio Divina
The Shining Word “And”
“And” teaches us to say yes
“And” allows us to be both-and
“And” teaches us to be patient and long-suffering
“And” is willing to wait for insight and integration
“And” does not divide the field of the moment
“And” helps us to live in the always imperfect now
“And” keeps us inclusive and compassionate toward everything
“And” demands that our contemplation become action
“And” insists that our action is also contemplative
“And” is the mystery of paradox in all things
“And” is the way of mercy
“And” makes daily, practical love possible
Thursday, January 09, 2014
'...the essence of being the body of Christ'
[Riddell, M. (1998) Threshold of the Future: Reforming the Church in the Post-Christian West. SPCK]