I hate being told what I “want” by someone else. So why does St. Ignatius of Loyola keep telling us to “ask for what I want”?
Category: spiritual disciplines
Supplement, not Substitute Unpopular (probably) statement… Spiritual Direction is NOT a substitute for spiritual community (what’s often called church). It is only a supplement to church. I know that spiritual direction is richly relationally, and quite spiritual (except when it’s just psychological listening to the self, rather than spiritual listening to God). NOT AN INDIVIDUAL […]
Pray. Read your Bible. Go to church—twice on Sundays. And don’t sin. Be sure not to sin. These were my devotions (as they were called). I was raised independent Bible Church baptist. So we didn’t do that “spiritual discipline” crap. Only the Catholics did that stuff while trying to “earn their salvation”—so I was told. But […]
Ancient wisdom and the received science says we have three brains. But we don’t. So says Lisa Feldman Barrett. Or do we? This is what we are talking about as we continue with Barrett’s new book, Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain (I’ll be going through one lesson a week building up to the launch […]
As theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar says, “Most Christians are convinced that prayer is more than the outward performance of an obligation, in which we tell God things he already knows” (Prayer, 13). If prayer is more than an obligation, why do we pray? Why Pray? Well, we spontaneously pray when we are filled with […]
To the question, “Why pray?” I’ve heard the answer, “Because God commanded it.” This is pretty is pretty confusing, unsatisfying for me, and dangerous for the faith. Sure we can there are passages in the Bible that commands us to pray. “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful […]
(Reposted from last year). Last week I attended a conference in D.C, missing the Ash Wednesday service at our congregation in Chicago. Instead I attended one offered by the conference. The service was beautiful and well thought out. Some words were offered by Dallas Willard, but the only phrase I remember is when he said, […]
It is often claimed that the missional church might be loosing the high standard of expository preaching. And often we don’t exactly help to clarify this when we rail against individualized, overly rationalistic, disembodied information dumps which masquerade as the worst of expository preaching (love ya Dave). And when we claim that interpretation is a […]
Sin is nothing masquerading as something. Sin merely preys on something, on anything, but itself it is nothing. Sin produces desire for what doesn’t exist. It takes what is good, adds NOTHING to it, nothing but disordered desire, and, BAM, now there is something new, something disfigured and ugly. Wanton desires warp creation (what is […]