There will always be areas in our spiritual life where we need to grow. There will always be places where God pushes past our own prowess, not so that we can learn a new skill, but so that we can receive God’s work through another. A spirituality defined solely by our own efforts is ultimately narrow in scope and narrow in experience.
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The Other Side of Stillness
There is another side of stillness, however, one we rarely speak about. The call to stillness isn’t merely enjoyed when we have the time free ourselves from distractions. Stillness isn’t just about prayer-filled contemplation. Long before Psalm 46 ever called us to “be still and know that I am God”, Moses instructed the Israel to stillness in the place of chaos and fear.
When I met a false prophet
A prophet visited the Cathedral recently. His first words to me were, “I am here to give you a message from God.” I politely listened to his message, but when I asked some clarifying questions, his pleasant nature changed. He told me gruffly that he was not sent to listen or discuss. He would speak, I would listen and obey, that was the deal.
Holding My Book in My Hands
Why do we allow our inner voices to be so critical of our abilities or efforts? Instead of resting deep in the delight of God, we pay attention to our own cranky curmudgeons which highlight every flaw, mistake, and shadow of imperfection. Henri Nouwen was right when he said that the greatest danger to our spiritual lives is our own self-rejection.
Walk in what is Good
I don’t want to play for the algorithms. I don’t want to put my writing on hold so that I can appeal to publishers. I don’t want to seek an audience or a platform. I simply want to walk in the way that Jesus leads me. For me, the good way is to uplift those who are discouraged and to live into that encouragement myself.
When I feel all scratched up
It can be easy to think that Jesus loves the shinier coins more than the scratched-up ones. It’s easy to believe that divine blessings are proportional to our perfection; the more spiritually enlightened we are, the greater the bestowal of define affection. But as much as the world tries to tell us that this is how things work, Jesus shows a different reality.
Asking Questions: A spiritual practice for Discouragement and beyond. (A guest post by Kandi Zeller)
In our culture of certainty, questions can seem threatening and unnatural. By contrast, Jesus spent much of his ministry asking questions and challenging assumptions. The sheer volume of these questioning instances in the Gospels should encourage us: if we are to be formed in the image of Christ (Romans 8:29), might we sometimes be formed by asking questions?
Searching Rubble for Gold: A guest-post by Sue Fulmore
The legalism, judgementalism, patriarchal systems, and poor Scriptural interpretations all need to be tossed out. As we do so, we also need to guard against tossing out the proverbial baby with them. I would never presume to tell anyone how to go about this process of deconstruction, but I also don’t want us to forget all that is good and worthy of holding onto.
Death and Life
We sometimes forget the extremity of Jesus’ language. For Jesus, the cross is hard and cruel. It was not an easy thing to carry. For Jesus, the cross was the place of his rejection and death. It is to this place that Jesus bids us to follow. Is it any wonder, then, that the cross is hard reality in our lives? We feel it viscerally pressing against us. The cross upsets our lives. What is more, taking up our cross means we may need to walk with it for a while. This can be involve walking a difficult and sometimes lonely path. Yet despite all of this, taking up our cross is an act of radical hope.
From Fear to Faith
Do you find that fear limits you from stepping boldly into the new life that Jesus calls you into? When we focus too much on that fear, or the lies it tries to tell us, we can easily get stuck in our faith. We may look at opportunities before us and believe that we are not ready or able to do what God asks. The truth is God’s grace often shines most brightly through the imperfect cracks of our lives.
Reverend Kyle Norman 