Tag Archives: life

Welcoming Prayer and Leadership

When we are forced to acknowledge our very limited real control over what happens to us, a “thin” place opens up – one that is filled with spiritual possibilities and gifts. David Benner says it well: “Surrender is simply inner acceptance of what is. There is probably nothing more difficult for humans. But there is also nothing more freeing.” While many demands scream for our attention, I remain convinced the most important thing we do, especially as pastors and leaders, is to surrender our will to His. Towards this end I have been experimenting with a well-known practice known as Welcoming Prayer. It provides a framework for how to respond to something emotionally upsetting with a spirit of surrender. Cynthia Bourgeault describes the three simple movements or steps as follows: 1. Focus on the difficult emotion (e.g. anger, fear, depression, shame). Face it directly and feel it in your body. Don’t try to change. Read more.

Review: "A Book of Silence"

During my Sabbatical I slowly read a thought provoking book entitled “A Book of Silence” by Sara Maitland that deepened my understanding of silence and its implications for my own life. I remain convinced that silence, along with solitude, remains one of the most indispensable and neglected spiritual practices today. The following are her insights (out of her journey into silence) that I noted in my journal: 1. Silence has a positive power and presence. It is more than simply “the absence of all noise and words.” It has at least eight effects: 1) intensification of our physical sensations; 2) stripping of our public self as “silence un-skins us”; 3) the hearing of voices; 4) connectedness; 5) a boundary confusion with time; 6) an exhilarating sense of peril; 7) bliss or ineffability and; 8) playful joy. 2. God has created many types of silence. The silence of the snow or the sun or the. Read more.

Centering Prayer: Entering the Apophatic Prayer Tradition

Be still and know that I am God (Ps. 46:10) At our staff meeting yesterday, I introduced “Centering Prayer.” I shared from the notes below and answered a few questions. Then we took ten minutes of silence together before the Lord. Their overwhelming positive response truly surprised me! While my life has been significantly impacted over the last four and half months by this, I was unsure of what to expect. The following notes are quotes and insights from my Sabbatical journal. They come from the following three books: Thomas Keating’s, Open Mind, Open Heart, Cindy Bourgeault’s Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, and Basil Pennington’s Centered Living. Introduction: There are 2 primary ways of praying in the church:kataphatic – prayer that uses words, images, e.g. Scripture, icons, song, worship and; apophatic – prayer that is beyond words, thoughts and images. There are many ways of prayer. Centering prayer is only one form, a form. Read more.

Emotionally Healthy Deliverance!

For a number of years, in the early days of New Life Fellowship Church here in Queens, NYC. I was involved in driving demons out of people. Yes. Real demons. I didn’t seek it out. They simply began screaming out during services in the early years. In fact, there was a season in the early days of New Life’s history (from 1988-1994) that we had weekly meetings with people who had demons. It was exciting, exhilarating, exhausting. So we learned from the best deliverance ministries in North America at that time. However, something was clearly missing. They were “better” and “freer” for a while. Yet only for a while. Something was clearly wrong. Emotional health and contemplative spirituality filled in missing components in people’s spiritual formation.Yet it is rare to meet pastors/leaders who are contemplatives, who integrate the emotional components of discipleship, and who also embrace the need for driving out demons when needed.. Read more.

Going Deep into Yourself to Know God

It was Meister Ekhart, a Dominican writer from the 13th century, who wrote: “No one can know God who does not know himself.” Teresa of Avila said, “Almost all problems in the spiritual life stem from a lack of self-knowledge.” I am convinced that discerning God’s will, especially for leaders with diverse interests like myself, requires an ever-deepening knowledge of oneself. Without it we find ourselves beyond our limits and overloaded. (Commitment to Scripture and the willingness to do God’s will, of course, is assumed). Why? Because God reveals Himself through what we cannot not do. He made us that way. The following story comes from the poet Rainer Maria Rilke as he advises a young man wondering if he should be a poet. The counsel applies to each of us as we sort out God’s priorities: “You ask whether your verses are good. You ask me. You have asked others before. You send. Read more.

The Local Church and Monasticism… a Growing Learning Curve

We move our membership at NLF a few years ago to a Rule of Life in order to focus more clearly and succinctly on how we do spiritual formation. The commentary on our NLF Rule of Life can be read online. The image of our need for a “trellis” or structure to provide rhythm to our days and order to our lives has been immensely helpful. At the same time, we continue to look for ways to communicate our DNA and clarify the pathways to help people in our community move towards greater Christlikeness. The following reflect, of course, our local church and context. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. We call them the 5 M’s.(the values and foundations of NLF) Monastic – slowing down to be with God. Growth in this area includes learning about silence/solitude, Daily Offices/prayer, Sabbath-keeping, Scripture, the examen. Multiracial– bridging racial,cultural, economic and gender barriers. Growth here includes learning about. Read more.

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