For the past several months, I have been spending time with the spiritual practice of The Welcoming Prayer. This prayer was created by Mary Mrozowski and taught and popularized by Father Thomas Keating and the Contemplative Outreach Community.
Read MoreCHRIST IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN, INDEED!
VICTORY OVER SIN AND DEATH HAS BEEN WON.
LOVE WINS!
As a contemplative myself, I am always interested when people talk about silence. For most, a time of silence is about withdrawal from the everyday world for a time of introspection. It is quite common for people to describe a time of silence wistfully, as if it were some unachievable goal. When I suggest getting up a little earlier, or going to bed a few minutes later, or setting an alarm during the day, people often smile and set the idea aside, unwilling to devote any time in their schedule for something as self-indulgent as a quiet time for themselves.
Read MoreFinding God in Culture
Read MoreThe B-I-B-L-E
The Wesleyan Quadrilateral, Week 2
by Andrea Lingle
The B-I-B-L-E, yes, that’s the book for me.
Actually, I have a rather volatile relationship with the B-I-B-L-E. It is a book that I have read and re-read, but do not understand. It is surprising, confusing, infuriating, and precious. There are stories that have left me terrified, inspired, and everything in between.
Neighboring
What Does Missional Mean?, Week 13
by Andrea Lingle
Living missionally might, with all of its connection with New Monasticism and intentional community, seem impossible for those living within the confines of a school schedule and a minivan.
Read MoreMissional Imagination
What Does Missional Mean?, Week 12
by Andrea Lingle and Bret Wells
The active work of the Missional Wisdom Foundation is lived out through ongoing missional experimentation. These experiments are developed through a conjunction of the contemplative stance and missional imagination.
Imagination is what we experience when a story takes root in our mind. As the tendrils of narrative spread, new regions of brain activity are ignited. Once our imagination is fully
engaged, we not only hear the story but we see the story; we can smell it, taste it, touch
it...experience it.
Choose "C"
What Does Missional Mean?, Week 7
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. Matthew 11:28-30 The Message
The surveys are in. The numbers are down. Church is changing.
Within church walls the conversations center on what to do. How do we hang on? What has changed? Why do we gather for an hour one day a week to sing and listen to someone else talk?
The Contemplative Stance
The Rule of Life, Week 5
by Andrea Lingle
We will practice a contemplative stance in order to be present to the world and ourselves.
-From the MWF Rule of Life
How are you here? How are you absent? Do you believe that contemplation is a good use of time?
When a pilot is learning to fly in low visibility conditions, he or she is instructed to disregard the sensation of being upright and rely on the gyroscope. Without visual reference, a person cannot tell which way is up. That is why divers tell you to follow your bubbles.
