Tag Archives: love

Living Faith for 2013

A pastor friend of mine from Vancouver recently asked my long-time mentor, Leighton Ford, the following question: “I’d love for you to email me 200 words or so on how Christians can live out their faith every day.” Leighton, in response, sent him a paragraph from a recent e-mail he received from Geri! It reads: “I’m here in Queens amidst the long lines and gridlock traffic of the Christmas (and somewhat Christ-less) season. I am re-reading your book The Attentive Life. For me, it is the gift that keeps on giving. I feel motivated to “not be conformed to this world” but try to follow a different drummer, that of our invisible/visible God … to know Him in all the ways He reveals Himself — if I’m not too busy or distracted, or preoccupied, or anxious, or indifferent to the Real behind the real.” For a related message I recently preached on a “Spirituality. Read more.

Sorrow that Transforms – Newtown, CT

We join the families of those twenty children as we watch their funerals – two yesterday and, probably, more today. Jeremiah wrote a book called Lamentations in the midst of his unspeakable horror. David wrote two-thirds of the Psalms out of his pain. Consider the words of Gerald Sittser. May they serve you as they have served me. In A Grace Disguised, after the horrific loss of his daughter, wife, and mother in a car accident, he wrote: “Catastrophic loss by definition precludes recovery. It will transform us or destroy us, but it will never leave us the same. There is no going back to the past…It is not therefore true that we become less through loss – unless we allow the loss to make us less, grinding our soul down until there is nothing left…Loss can also make us more. I did not get over the loss of my loved ones; rather, I. Read more.

"Getting Saved"

Geri shared the following out of a Conversations Journal article by Henry Cloud entitled “Getting Saved” at a recent NLF Marriage Leadership Meeting. Her goal was to help us refocus on the central themes of our spiritual formation for the ministry in 2012-2013. God wants to heal (i.e. save) us and the people we lead so that we can do the following: 1. Connect Deeply with God and Others. Emotional connection is central to life. The Trinity lives in unbroken communion and union. God exists, three in one, in an ongoing, unbroken relationship; He created us for the same. How are your emotional connections with God and your family? 2. Establish Boundaries. God is free from the ones He loves. He stands up to the ones He is in relationship with, and set limits when He is violated. He is free from being controlled by those He loves. For relational or psychological problems to. Read more.

Midday Prayer and Lectio Divina with the New Life Fellowship Staff

Stopping 3-4 times a day and cultivating rhythms to be with God each day out of which we serve Him is foundational to our staff life at New Life. The following is Geri’s midday prayer handout that she led the staff through this past Wednesday. Savor it before the Lord during one of your Offices (pauses) during the day. There are actually five movements of Lectio Divina: Silentio–Preparing to be read by God. Lectio – Ingesting the Word Meditatio – Wrestling with God Oratio –Letting God know how we feel Contemplatio – Abandoning ourselves to God in love Incarnatio – The Word becoming flesh in us. Lets now, together do each of these overlapping phases togetherSilentio 1 min. Lectio – Ingesting the Word My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed myself and quieted my ambitions. . Read more.

Midday Staff Prayer — Julian of Norwich

NLF Staff Midday Prayer Sept. 26, 2012 Stillness and Silence – 2 minutes to be still First Reading: Ps. 146 1 Praise the Lord.Praise the Lord, my soul. 2 I will praise the Lord all my life;I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God 6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—he remains faithful forever…The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down… The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord. Second Reading – Lamentations 3: 21-27 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They. Read more.

Pastoral Gleanings from the Trappists -2012

At the end of my summer vacation each year, I take a week for a retreat on the lovely grounds of St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts. About 60-70 men live there, dedicated to a life of prayer. I love the silence, the singing of the Psalms, the beauty of the landscape, the contrast to my life in New York City. One of the highlights for me continues to be a growing relationship with Father Dominic. He his a former Dominican priest with a PH.D in Thomas Aquinas.He taught at Georgetown University before sensing a call to a greater life of prayer. This led him out of the Dominican order to become a Trappist. He now serves as the prior of the monastery (i.e. the COO, or#2 person). We met each day for spiritual direction and a “conference.” He is engaged in many “un-monastic” things, such as strategic planning, running a business, dealing with. Read more.

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