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.
Spiritual Formation
Pray Different
Many of us have a list of people we pray for, either mentally or written down. We pray for these people faithfully and diligently, regularly bringing their names to Jesus. But do we pray for these prayers like I prayed for Emmanuel, silently and quickly? Do these people know we pray for them? Is there an invitation we may be missing?
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.
Why Henri?
I recently led a summer retreat titled "The Spirituality of Henri Nouwen." Henri has long been one of my favourite authors to read, and it’s not too much of a stretch to say that I see him as a spiritual guide of some sort. During this retreat, someone asked the simple question, “So, why Henri?” In other words, why was Henri Nouwen the person that I gravitated to?
If God is your co-pilot….
Meister Eckert once wrote that many people follow the Lord halfway, but not the other half. By this he means that, too often, we believe in God’s presence, but refuse to let God to lead our lives. God remains the perpetual co-pilot, waiting for our decisions and directions.
When all is Silent, we truly hear.
Too often this is how we can treat silence. We assume the silence contains no voice or activity. We believe that silence speaks to the failure of our spiritual activity, and that God is not present. But what might happen if we rested in the silence, rather than avoided it?
Moving from Loneliness to Solitude
Loneliness distorts our inwards selves. It matters not whether we are in on the company of others or not, loneliness creates an emptiness within us. We are restless within ourselves, never at peace, never at home. Yet instead of drawing us closer to another, loneliness distorts our experience of community. It inevitably drives us away from others.
Who is your “Joshua”?
Who is the Joshua in your life? Who is the person that you can support in their faith development, or their experience of ministry? Who can you invite to join you as you journey in faith? This may seem like a tall task, but in truth, it doesn’t have to be.
Listen More, Do Less: An Advent Rhythm
The season of Advent, with its slowness and simplicity, calls us to a radical action of stepping away from the noise so that we can be attentive to a deeper voice. We turn away from the jingles so that we can hear the words of the of one who created us and comes to us in love and grace.
Responding to Rejection
Why do we give such credence to one negative comment rather than a plethora of encouraging statements? Logically we know this shouldn't be the case. We know we should rest in encouragement and love rather than in negativity. But we can’t always guard against rejecting comments, and when they come, they shake us in the deepest part of our soul.
Reverend Kyle Norman 