Frederica Mathewes-Green on the Jesus Prayer

"The topic was the Jesus Prayer but I expanded it to Eastern Christian spiritual disciplines in general, and said a bit about the Christ of Sinai."

The Jesus Prayer

‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner’

The Jesus Prayer components

• ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me , a sinner’
• Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11
• The parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, in which the Pharisee demonstrates the improper way to pray by exclaiming: "Thank you Lord that I am not like the Publican", whereas the Publican prays correctly in humility, saying "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner" (Luke 18:10-14).

The Jesus Prayer

• Paul teaches us to ‘pray unceasingly’ (1 Thess 5:17)
• It is also linked to the Song of Solomon's passage from the Old Testament: "I sleep, but my heart is awake" (Song of Solomon 5:2)
• The analogy being that as a lover is always conscious to his or her beloved, people can also achieve a state of "constant prayer" where they are always conscious of God's presence in their lives.
• Prayer of the heart
• The Jesus Prayer is composed of two statements. The first one is a statement of faith, acknowledging the divine nature of Christ. The second one is the acknowledgment of one’s own sinfulness.
• Out of them the petition itself emerges: "have mercy."
• The Jesus Prayer is, first of all, a prayer addressed to God. It's not a means of self-deifying or self-deliverance.
• The aim is not to be dissolved or absorbed into nothingness or into God, or reach another state of mind, but to (re)unite with God (which by itself is a process) while remaining a distinct person.
• It is an invocation of Jesus' name, not vain repetition
• Acknowledging "a sinner" is to lead firstly to a state of humbleness and repentance, recognizing one's own sinfulness.
• Practicing the Jesus Prayer is strongly linked to mastering passions of both soul and body, e.g. by fasting.
• Unlike mantras, the Jesus Prayer may be translated into whatever language the pray-er customarily uses. The emphasis is on the meaning, not on the mere utterance of certain sounds.
• There is no emphasis on the psychosomatic techniques

picture source
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How do you spend your free time?

Leadership Weekly

How do many of us spend our free time (assuming we have any free time)? Do you collapse on the couch and watch television? Do you feel guilty that you are not doing anything? John Ortberg has some thoughts on this especially what he says about musing (random musings, get it?)

Time Well Wasted

Why you need downtime and how to spend it

John Ortberg | posted 8/17/2009

Most pastors don't waste enough time.

At least that's my conviction. But wasting time well is an acquired skill, because there is good wasting and there is bad wasting. Bad time wasting is the hang around/watch TV/perform random online search kind that leaves you with less life than you started with. You may be doing it right now. I don't need to say any more about that, except to stop.

The good kind of time-wasting will actually lead you to be more connected with God and more full of life. But it's hard to engage in, because there are always more pressing matters. This isn't really wasting time, of course, but our culture makes it feel as though it is.

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A Call to Spiritual Formation (6)

Paragraph Three

Our engagement with God’s transforming grace is vital. Renewal into the image of Christ is not a human attainment; it is a gift of grace. God mercifully uses all our experiences, including our suffering and trials, to teach and transform us. Even so, transformation requires our involvement and effort. We need to make ourselves available to the Holy Spirit’s work in all our life experiences, particularly through intentional engagement with historical Christian disciplines, including Word and sacrament. These practices open us to the presence and grace of God. As a result, we become, through time and experience, the kind of persons who naturally express love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self‐control.

I am in full agreement with this paragraph. Christian spiritual formation is a paradox. On one hand, it is pure grace. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in our inner lives, transforming us. On the other hand, it requires consent on our part, making ourselves available, and “intentional engagement with historical Christian disciplines, including Word and sacrament.”

Christian spiritual formation takes place in the context of who we are and where we are. At any one time, there are external and internal influencers on our Christian spiritual formation. External influencers may be the country we are residing in, freedom of worship, religious pluralism, post-modernism, post-Christendom, denominational biasness, socioeconomic stability, and the effects of globalisation. Internal influencers may arise out of our cultural legacy, childhood trauma, deep inner wounds, and our psychosocial development. Effective Christian spiritual formation must be able to counteract the negative effects of all these influencers. Thus Christian spiritual formation can never be a program because the challenges are unique to every Christian. There is no “one size fits all” in Christian spiritual formation.

The process of Christian spiritual formation is often likened to a journey. As in any journey, we are often required to move out of our comfort zones and encounter difficult obstacles. The Holy Spirit journeys with us and often uses the circumstances (James Loder’s transforming moments) to transform us. It is this constant interaction involving the Holy Spirit, our being and the world that enable the Holy Spirit to bear fruit in us. Christian spiritual formation takes place in our everyday world, not somewhere far away in a monastery or hermitage.

Spiritual disciplines and practices are important in Christian spiritual formation. The key to spiritual disciplines and practices are that they open us to God. All spiritual disciplines and practices must revolve round the Word and sacrament. Ressourcement is the act of looking into our past rich Christian heritage and reappropriating these spiritual disciplines and practices that we can use in the 21st century. It is important to be aware that spiritual disciplines and practices are the means of Christian spiritual formation and not its end. It is equally important to clarify the misconception that spiritual formation is equivalent to spiritual disciplines. This is because in some churches, spiritual formation has become synonymous with practicing the spiritual disciplines.

In summary, Christian spiritual formation involves both grace and human choice. The choice is to seek God and detach ourselves from all influences that will draw us away from God and into the world. The spiritual disciplines and practices are useful only in that they open us to God.

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Cloud of Unknowing

A No-Name Monk of Prayer and Love
The Cloud of Unknowing teaches us the peace that comes from learning to love.
Compiled and translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher

Sometime during the last half of the 14th century, somewhere in England's East Midland area, some anonymous Carthusian monk (or priest) created one of the most enduring how-to books on prayer—The Cloud of Unknowing. His intentional anonymity illustrates his main message: Christ must become more visible as his followers grow kinder and humbler. Anonymous wants readers "sincere in their intentions to follow Christ" in love.

Finish this article from ChristianHistory.net.

The Ancient Practices Series

published 2008

published 2008

published 2009

published 2009

This new series, The Ancient Practices Series published by Thomas Nelson, edited by Phyllis Tickle. I find the series, the above 4 books published so far interesting reading.

The series is fascinating because the authors of the four books published, with the exception of Robert Benson, are not well known as spiritual writers. They are more well known in the circle of the emerging church movement. Over the last few years, the emerging church movement has found a friend with the ancient-future church movement so I guess this is how this series of books come about.

These books were written in the fashion of the emergent church movement with plenty of examples and personal relevance. Yet somehow I find that it lack the depth of those who are really seeped in the traditions of the contemplative or spirituality movement or traditions. I wonder if our age lack spiritual writers in the tradition of Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen or in an earlier age Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

The Ancient Practices Series

published 2008

published 2008

published 2009

published 2009

This new series, The Ancient Practices Series published by Thomas Nelson, edited by Phyllis Tickle. I find the series, the above 4 books published so far interesting reading.

The series is fascinating because the authors of the four books published, with the exception of Robert Benson, are not well known as spiritual writers. They are more well known in the circle of the emerging church movement. Over the last few years, the emerging church movement has found a friend with the ancient-future church movement so I guess this is how this series of books come about.

These books were written in the fashion of the emergent church movement with plenty of examples and personal relevance. Yet somehow I find that it lack the depth of those who are really seeped in the traditions of the contemplative or spirituality movement or traditions. I wonder if our age lack spiritual writers in the tradition of Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen or in an earlier age Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

Movie Review: Into the Great Silence

Will you watch a 162 minutes movie/documentary with no music score, no voice over and no archival footage? And all about monks?

Into the Great Silence is about the life in the monastery of The Grand Chartreuse in the French -Alps. It is considered one of the most ascetic monastery in the world. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Groning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. Sixteen years later, they replied that they are ready to be filmed.

Groning spent six months living in the monks' quarters recording the documentary, without a crew or artificial lighting. It was first shown to a stunned world in 2005 and became a great spiritual classic.

This 2007 2-disc release features the original documentary on the first disc. The second disc shows a full Night Office service, video-documentary history of the Carthusians, photo gallery of the monastery and many others.

I was hesitant to watch this last night because my soul was in anguish in learning about a good friend who has been diagnosed to be suffering from an incurable disease which has no effective treatment. We have worked together in an NGOs to help the poor and the sick. Apart from that he has contributed a lot to the community in Johor Bharu. In a way, I was angry at God for the injustice in making him suffer.

This silent movie was a balm to my soul. In the daily routine of the monks, in their prayers, their tasks, their daily rituals and their rare outdoor excursions reveals to me the transcendence and immanence of God. In the slow dance of light and darkness, movement and hush, doing and being, I begin to see what the Teacher in Ecclesiastes was teaching us about living and dying, and what Job discovered in God's answer to his questions about God and living.

What others say

• Decent Film Guide
• New York Times

Movie Review: Into the Great Silence

Will you watch a 162 minutes movie/documentary with no music score, no voice over and no archival footage? And all about monks?

Into the Great Silence is about the life in the monastery of The Grand Chartreuse in the French -Alps. It is considered one of the most ascetic monastery in the world. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Groning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. Sixteen years later, they replied that they are ready to be filmed.

Groning spent six months living in the monks' quarters recording the documentary, without a crew or artificial lighting. It was first shown to a stunned world in 2005 and became a great spiritual classic.

This 2007 2-disc release features the original documentary on the first disc. The second disc shows a full Night Office service, video-documentary history of the Carthusians, photo gallery of the monastery and many others.

I was hesitant to watch this last night because my soul was in anguish in learning about a good friend who has been diagnosed to be suffering from an incurable disease which has no effective treatment. We have worked together in an NGOs to help the poor and the sick. Apart from that he has contributed a lot to the community in Johor Bharu. In a way, I was angry at God for the injustice in making him suffer.

This silent movie was a balm to my soul. In the daily routine of the monks, in their prayers, their tasks, their daily rituals and their rare outdoor excursions reveals to me the transcendence and immanence of God. In the slow dance of light and darkness, movement and hush, doing and being, I begin to see what the Teacher in Ecclesiastes was teaching us about living and dying, and what Job discovered in God's answer to his questions about God and living.

What others say

• Decent Film Guide
• New York Times

Lectio Divina with Eugene Peterson

Discipleship
Having Ears, Do You Not Hear?
Ancient practices help us stop merely studying the Bible, and start listening to it.
An interview with Eugene Peterson

The Bible is not a textbook. Nor is it a manual to be studied, mastered, and mechanically applied. Instead, pastor and author Eugene Peterson believes we should listen to the Word of God and reflect upon it like poetry till it infiltrates the soul.

read more

Lectio Divina with Eugene Peterson

Discipleship
Having Ears, Do You Not Hear?
Ancient practices help us stop merely studying the Bible, and start listening to it.
An interview with Eugene Peterson

The Bible is not a textbook. Nor is it a manual to be studied, mastered, and mechanically applied. Instead, pastor and author Eugene Peterson believes we should listen to the Word of God and reflect upon it like poetry till it infiltrates the soul.

read more

Richard Foster on Spiritual Director

What Is a Spiritual Director?

Richard Foster | posted 2/04/2009 08:52AM

What is spiritual director?

1. A person who has a continuing hunger for intimacy with God.

2. A person who has an ability to forgive others at great personal loss.

3. A person who has a lively sense that God alone can satisfy the longings of the human heart.

4. A person who has a deep satisfaction in prayer.

5. A person who has a realistic assessment of personal abilities and limitations.

6. A person who has a fundamental freedom from boasting about spiritual accomplishments.

7. A person who has a demonstrated ability to live out the demands of life patiently and wisely.

Richard Foster on Spiritual Director

What Is a Spiritual Director?

Richard Foster | posted 2/04/2009 08:52AM

What is spiritual director?

1. A person who has a continuing hunger for intimacy with God.

2. A person who has an ability to forgive others at great personal loss.

3. A person who has a lively sense that God alone can satisfy the longings of the human heart.

4. A person who has a deep satisfaction in prayer.

5. A person who has a realistic assessment of personal abilities and limitations.

6. A person who has a fundamental freedom from boasting about spiritual accomplishments.

7. A person who has a demonstrated ability to live out the demands of life patiently and wisely.

Richard Foster on Spiritual Direction

What Is Spiritual Direction?

Richard Foster | posted 2/04/2009 08:50AM

What is spiritual direction?

1. Spiritual direction is an interpersonal relationship in which we learn how to grow, live, and love in the spiritual life.

2. Spiritual direction involves a process through which one person helps another person understand what God is doing and saying.

3. Discernment is a crucial gift in the work of spiritual direction.

4. In spiritual direction there is absolutely no domination or control.

5. The spiritual director/mentor/pastor guides another in spiritual things through the spiritual world by spiritual means.

6. God has ordained that there be spiritual directors/mentors/pastors among his people. This is the structure of love in practice.

7. Supremely, spiritual directors/mentors/pastors are persons who have a sense of being "established" in God. Otherwise they are too dangerous to be allowed into the soul space of others.

Richard Foster on Spiritual Direction

What Is Spiritual Direction?

Richard Foster | posted 2/04/2009 08:50AM

What is spiritual direction?

1. Spiritual direction is an interpersonal relationship in which we learn how to grow, live, and love in the spiritual life.

2. Spiritual direction involves a process through which one person helps another person understand what God is doing and saying.

3. Discernment is a crucial gift in the work of spiritual direction.

4. In spiritual direction there is absolutely no domination or control.

5. The spiritual director/mentor/pastor guides another in spiritual things through the spiritual world by spiritual means.

6. God has ordained that there be spiritual directors/mentors/pastors among his people. This is the structure of love in practice.

7. Supremely, spiritual directors/mentors/pastors are persons who have a sense of being "established" in God. Otherwise they are too dangerous to be allowed into the soul space of others.

Chris Webb on Lectio Divina

Chris Webb, the President of Renovare writes about lectio divina in his Heart-to-Heart Fall 2008 Pastoral Letter.

The roots of lectio divina lie back in the earliest days of the Christian church, especially in the teaching of the desert fathers and mothers and in the Benedictine tradition. The classic description of lectio was written sometime later, though, by a Carthusian prior called Guigo II who lived in the French Alps during the twelfth century. He writes about his thinking in a simple, unaffected way:

One day when I was busy working with my hands I began to think about our spiritual work, and all at once four stages in spiritual exercise came into my mind: reading (lectio), meditating (meditatio), prayer (oratio) and contemplation (contemplatio) . . . Reading is the careful study of the Scriptures, concentrating all one’s powers on it. Meditation is the busy application of the mind to seek with the help of one’s own reason for knowledge of inner truth. Prayer is the heart’s devoted turning to God to drive away evil and obtain what is good. Contemplation is when the mind is in some sort lifted up to God and held above itself, so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness (Scala Claustralium, chapter II).

Guigo is describing a way of reading Scripture which is quite different to the approach many of us have learned. This is not a “study” of Scripture, an attempt to draw out from the Bible eternal principles which we then teach others or apply in our own lives—coming to the Bible as though it were a user’s manual for the Christian life. Guigo assumes that, when Paul writes that “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16), he is speaking less about issues of truth and infallibility, and more about the infusion of divine life itself into the text. So, when practicing lectio, we do not come looking for doctrines to be learned—we come looking for a Presence to be encountered. The Bible is not so much the stone tablets recording the law, as it is the burning bush from which God speaks . . . here and now.

Lectio divina begins, of course, with reading. A careful, attentive, prayerful, and open-hearted reading of the Bible. This takes time. We cannot read Scripture the way we read the New York Times or an article on Wikipedia. The Bible is not susceptible to skimming, to summarizing, to speed-reading; there is a fundamental difference between Google and the gospel. Scripture is deep, rich, complex, and multi-layered. It speaks through nuances and details. It yields its fruit slowly and gently. This means we need to find the right environment to practice lectio with prayerful attention. We can, of course, read the Bible anywhere: on a train, in a mall, over a coffee in Starbucks. But some places are more conducive to lectio than others; a good length of time spent reading in uninterrupted quiet is essential. For some, that is hard to achieve. Try not to fret about this: take what time you can, where you can. A good half hour once a week is better than a frantic five minutes every day.

Reading leads to meditation (meditatio). Christians of past generations had a very rich idea of what the inspiration of Scripture might mean: for them, it meant that the consistent character and purposes of God were reflected in every part of the Bible, so each passage of the Bible spoke to all other passages. We see this in Paul’s letters: the lives of Sarah and Hagar are figures of the two covenants (Gal. 4:12); the Hebrews drank water from the rock, and that rock was really Christ (1 Cor. 10:4); the veil over the glory of Moses’ face is the veil over the hearts of those who do not receive Christ (2 Cor. 3:15). Meditation is the process of slow reflection on Scripture that allows these perpetual echoes to be heard, so that over time the various voices and stories of the Bible integrate into the one great narrative of God and creation. By reflecting on Scripture, we allow the Spirit to speak through the words of the many human authors; we take inspiration seriously.

After meditation comes prayer, oratio. But this is not the place to lay down the Bible and take up our intercession lists. When we speak of prayer in the process of lectio, we are speaking of allowing the text to draw us beyond the page into the Presence. As we listen for the voice of the Spirit in Scripture, so we respond to the Spirit present within us. We transform our reading into conversation, sharing with God our responses to the text, the concerns it raises, the memories it provokes, the people it reminds us about. In turn, we listen for God’s direct and present voice replying, bringing the text alive in our current experience. We allow the living and active word to speak into our lives, to challenge and provoke us, to comfort and console us.

And finally we come to rest in contemplation—perhaps the least understood movement in lectio divina. We often use the word “contemplation” to mean thinking; perhaps, then, contemplation is yet more reflecting on the words of the passage? No. In the Christian tradition, contemplatio is becoming still in the presence of God, neither speaking nor necessarily being spoken to, but simply waiting attentively and lovingly on God. Think of the way old friends can allow conversation to drift into companionable silence. When our relationship is deep and rich enough, we do not need to talk all the time: it is enough just to be together. This is contemplatio. We have allowed Scripture not only to increase our knowledge of God, but also to entice us into deeper relationship with God.

read more

picture: fickr: Idiay

Chris Webb on Lectio Divina

Chris Webb, the President of Renovare writes about lectio divina in his Heart-to-Heart Fall 2008 Pastoral Letter.

The roots of lectio divina lie back in the earliest days of the Christian church, especially in the teaching of the desert fathers and mothers and in the Benedictine tradition. The classic description of lectio was written sometime later, though, by a Carthusian prior called Guigo II who lived in the French Alps during the twelfth century. He writes about his thinking in a simple, unaffected way:

One day when I was busy working with my hands I began to think about our spiritual work, and all at once four stages in spiritual exercise came into my mind: reading (lectio), meditating (meditatio), prayer (oratio) and contemplation (contemplatio) . . . Reading is the careful study of the Scriptures, concentrating all one’s powers on it. Meditation is the busy application of the mind to seek with the help of one’s own reason for knowledge of inner truth. Prayer is the heart’s devoted turning to God to drive away evil and obtain what is good. Contemplation is when the mind is in some sort lifted up to God and held above itself, so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness (Scala Claustralium, chapter II).

Guigo is describing a way of reading Scripture which is quite different to the approach many of us have learned. This is not a “study” of Scripture, an attempt to draw out from the Bible eternal principles which we then teach others or apply in our own lives—coming to the Bible as though it were a user’s manual for the Christian life. Guigo assumes that, when Paul writes that “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16), he is speaking less about issues of truth and infallibility, and more about the infusion of divine life itself into the text. So, when practicing lectio, we do not come looking for doctrines to be learned—we come looking for a Presence to be encountered. The Bible is not so much the stone tablets recording the law, as it is the burning bush from which God speaks . . . here and now.

Lectio divina begins, of course, with reading. A careful, attentive, prayerful, and open-hearted reading of the Bible. This takes time. We cannot read Scripture the way we read the New York Times or an article on Wikipedia. The Bible is not susceptible to skimming, to summarizing, to speed-reading; there is a fundamental difference between Google and the gospel. Scripture is deep, rich, complex, and multi-layered. It speaks through nuances and details. It yields its fruit slowly and gently. This means we need to find the right environment to practice lectio with prayerful attention. We can, of course, read the Bible anywhere: on a train, in a mall, over a coffee in Starbucks. But some places are more conducive to lectio than others; a good length of time spent reading in uninterrupted quiet is essential. For some, that is hard to achieve. Try not to fret about this: take what time you can, where you can. A good half hour once a week is better than a frantic five minutes every day.

Reading leads to meditation (meditatio). Christians of past generations had a very rich idea of what the inspiration of Scripture might mean: for them, it meant that the consistent character and purposes of God were reflected in every part of the Bible, so each passage of the Bible spoke to all other passages. We see this in Paul’s letters: the lives of Sarah and Hagar are figures of the two covenants (Gal. 4:12); the Hebrews drank water from the rock, and that rock was really Christ (1 Cor. 10:4); the veil over the glory of Moses’ face is the veil over the hearts of those who do not receive Christ (2 Cor. 3:15). Meditation is the process of slow reflection on Scripture that allows these perpetual echoes to be heard, so that over time the various voices and stories of the Bible integrate into the one great narrative of God and creation. By reflecting on Scripture, we allow the Spirit to speak through the words of the many human authors; we take inspiration seriously.

After meditation comes prayer, oratio. But this is not the place to lay down the Bible and take up our intercession lists. When we speak of prayer in the process of lectio, we are speaking of allowing the text to draw us beyond the page into the Presence. As we listen for the voice of the Spirit in Scripture, so we respond to the Spirit present within us. We transform our reading into conversation, sharing with God our responses to the text, the concerns it raises, the memories it provokes, the people it reminds us about. In turn, we listen for God’s direct and present voice replying, bringing the text alive in our current experience. We allow the living and active word to speak into our lives, to challenge and provoke us, to comfort and console us.

And finally we come to rest in contemplation—perhaps the least understood movement in lectio divina. We often use the word “contemplation” to mean thinking; perhaps, then, contemplation is yet more reflecting on the words of the passage? No. In the Christian tradition, contemplatio is becoming still in the presence of God, neither speaking nor necessarily being spoken to, but simply waiting attentively and lovingly on God. Think of the way old friends can allow conversation to drift into companionable silence. When our relationship is deep and rich enough, we do not need to talk all the time: it is enough just to be together. This is contemplatio. We have allowed Scripture not only to increase our knowledge of God, but also to entice us into deeper relationship with God.

read more

picture: fickr: Idiay

Rediscovering Centeredness

©Andris Piebalgs | Dreamstime.com

M. Scott Rogers discovered his centredness when reading Henri Nouwen's The Genesee Diary.

I started a journal to pair with reading this book. It’s the first such journal I have consistently written in. What strikes me, is the fact that journaling is too a lost practice among many Christians. Which has prompted me to find the reason for disappearance of these disciplines. The only answer I can find is the trend to become more free-spirited in our religious pursuits, trading what benefits us for what feels better, what is more enticing. The idea of prolong stretches of silence in a church service equates to the unexpected interruption of a blockbuster movie at the theater. We leave, we check out.

Moments of silence, of stillness offer us the opportunity to reflect, to consider, to digest what we’ve seen, heard, and emotionally felt. Instead we tend towards the side of annoyance, disparaged by the halt in “entertainment” which what so many evangelical churches have become. I know they, the pastors and church staff, mean well. Still, how can I really implement anything they teach if I don’t quiet myself long enough to hear the expressed and implied meaning of the message?

read more

Rediscovering Centeredness

©Andris Piebalgs | Dreamstime.com

M. Scott Rogers discovered his centredness when reading Henri Nouwen's The Genesee Diary.

I started a journal to pair with reading this book. It’s the first such journal I have consistently written in. What strikes me, is the fact that journaling is too a lost practice among many Christians. Which has prompted me to find the reason for disappearance of these disciplines. The only answer I can find is the trend to become more free-spirited in our religious pursuits, trading what benefits us for what feels better, what is more enticing. The idea of prolong stretches of silence in a church service equates to the unexpected interruption of a blockbuster movie at the theater. We leave, we check out.

Moments of silence, of stillness offer us the opportunity to reflect, to consider, to digest what we’ve seen, heard, and emotionally felt. Instead we tend towards the side of annoyance, disparaged by the halt in “entertainment” which what so many evangelical churches have become. I know they, the pastors and church staff, mean well. Still, how can I really implement anything they teach if I don’t quiet myself long enough to hear the expressed and implied meaning of the message?

read more

John Ortberg on Stewardship

John Ortberg, Pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California, takes on the topic of stewardship at the 2007 Presbyterian Global Fellowship Conference in Houston, TX.

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