Tag Archives: Detachment
Love at the Center
Action and Contemplation: Part Two Love at the Center Friday, January 17, 2020 When we named the Center for Action and Contemplation, I hoped our rather long name would itself keep us honest and force us toward balance and ongoing integration beyond the first generation. However, over the last thirty-five years, I have witnessed how… Continue Reading Love at the Center
Acceptance
Dying Before You Die Acceptance Thursday, April 4, 2019 All great spirituality is about letting go. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection show us how to win by losing. In fact, this “Path of Descent” could be called the metanarrative of the Bible. It is so obvious, consistent, and constant that it’s hidden in plain sight.… Continue Reading Acceptance
Beginner’s Mind
Jesus and the Bible Beginner’s Mind Friday, January 11, 2019 I’d like to offer some spiritual advice so that you can read Scripture the way that Jesus did and use it for good purposes. Offer a prayer for guidance from the Holy Spirit before you make your interpretation of an important text. With an open… Continue Reading Beginner’s Mind
Perceiving Reality
Contemplation: Week 2 Perceiving Reality Tuesday, December 18, 2018 All forms of contemplation share the same goal: to help us see through the deceptions of self and world in order to get in touch with what Howard Thurman called “the sound of the genuine” within us and around us. Contemplation does not need to be… Continue Reading Perceiving Reality
Joy in Contemplation
Joy and Hope Joy in Contemplation Wednesday, November 28, 2018 Joy proceeds from the inner realization of union with God, which descends upon us at ever deeper levels as we walk our faith journey. This deepening is the goal of Christian contemplation and is the heart of perennial wisdom from every faith. This is how… Continue Reading Joy in Contemplation
Seeing with God’s Eyes
Love: Week 2 Seeing with God’s Eyes Tuesday, November 6, 2018 Love [people] even in [their] sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth. Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the… Continue Reading Seeing with God’s Eyes
Growing in Love’s Likeness: Weekly Summary
Growing in Love’s Likeness Summary: Sunday, March 25-Friday, March 30, 2018 The Creator gives us our core identity as sons and daughters of God, “from the beginning” (Ephesians 1:4-5), and throughout our lives we co-create our unique likeness as we grow and mature. (Sunday) I call the classic pattern of spiritual transformation “order-disorder-reorder.” Paul calls… Continue Reading Growing in Love’s Likeness: Weekly Summary
Self-Emptying: Weekly Summary
Self-Emptying Summary: Sunday, December 10-Friday, December 15, 2017 Every created thing is the self-emptying of God into multitudinous physical and visible forms. (Sunday) “In sum, we are not called to love God or the world. Rather, we are called to love God in the world. We love God by loving the world. We love God… Continue Reading Self-Emptying: Weekly Summary
The Balancing Point
Contemplation in Action: Week 2 The Balancing Point Monday, July 3, 2017 Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the world. —Archimedes Archimedes (c. 287–c. 212 BC), a Greek philosopher and mathematician, noticed that if a lever were balanced in the correct place, on the correct fulcrum, it could… Continue Reading The Balancing Point
The Cross: Weekly Summary
The Cross Summary: Sunday, April 23-Friday, April 28, 2017 Jesus’ life, death, and raising up is the whole pattern revealed, named, summed up, and assured for our own lives. (Sunday) Jesus takes away the sin of the world by dramatically exposing the real sin—ignorant hatred and violence, not the usual preoccupation with purity codes—and by… Continue Reading The Cross: Weekly Summary
