This morning we consider the third contemplative practice in our series: confession. Confession is not meant to depress us, but to cleanse us. Like stepping out of a dark, damp cellar into a bright, sunny day, confession can be uncomfortable and overwhelming. But you wouldn’t want to live your whole life in the cellar, would you?
Rummaging for God
As we continue our short series learning about contemplative spiritual practices, we approach the ancient practice called examen. As Fr. Dennis Hamm once wrote, Examen is like “rummaging for God—going through a drawer full of stuff, feeling around, looking for something that you are sure must be there.” This morning we consider how we might rummage for God, and how we might invite him to rummage through our life, so we might become more like Christ.
A Thunderclap and a Thin Silence
Early in his letter James teaches Christians how important it is to suffer well. But the question remains: how do I become the type of person who suffers well? This morning we consider the contemplative spiritual practice of listening. Do you even recognize the voice of God in your life? Are you listening for it? And when you hear it, do you have the courage to follow his voice?
Ordinary, Everyday Love
There is one commandment, God tells us, that is the most important: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. “How can I do that?” you may ask.
In Deuteronomy 6 God gives us not only the most important, overarching command, but also some very ordinary, everyday guidance to teach us how we can grow in our love for him.
Resources (Prayer Guides)
Every Moment Holy (Douglas Kaine McKelvey) – Mentioned specifically in this sermon, this book of prayers helps us see God in the ordinary events of daily life—liturgies such as “A Liturgy for Feasting with Friends” or “A Liturgy for Laundering” or “A Liturgy for the First Hearthfire of the Season.” These are ways of reminding us that our lives are shot through with sacred purpose even when, especially when, we are too busy or too caught up in our busyness to notice.
Rabbit Room Press
Although not mentioned during this sermon, the following two books also include patterns for regular family worship:
Celtic Daily Prayer (The Northumbria Community) – A modern prayer book with celtic influences that can guide you through morning, midday, and evening prayer practices along with guided readings and meditations.
Amazon; ChristianBook.com
The Book of Common Prayer – The most recent revision of a classic prayer book, first published in 1549. The early sections on Family Prayer are especially helpful.
Anglican House Publishers
The Fuel and the Accelerator
A car without fuel won’t go anywhere. Neither will a car full of gas, but without pressing the gas pedal. You need both fuel and an accelerator to get anywhere.
Knowing God is similar. We need a fuel—a hunger for him. And we need an accelerator—a way to put that fuel to good use. This morning we consider the accelerator of the Scriptures. How can a consistent, day-in-and-day-out engagement with God’s word draw you closer to God and make you more Christlike?
Scarcity and Abundance
There are two ways we can live: we can live from a mindset of scarcity, believing that everything is a zero-sum game, and we must get as much as we can, lest we don’t have enough; or we can live from a mindset of abundance, believing that God has limitless resources and wants to bless us abundantly. An abundance mindset leads to a radically generous lifestyle. Hear more:
The Antidote to Anxiety
There is a powerful antidote to anxiety, Paul teaches us: prayer. Not the short prayer we shoot up before a stressful meeting or in a tenuous time, but a lifestyle and habit of regular, constant prayer. Listen as we explore how prayer makes us aware of the presence of God and fills us with the peace of Christ.
Resources (Prayer Guides)
Celtic Daily Prayer (The Northumbria Community) – A modern prayer book with celtic influences that can guide you through morning, midday, and evening prayer practices along with guided readings and meditations.
Amazon; ChristianBook.com
The Book of Common Prayer – The most recent revision of a classic prayer book, first published in 1549. The early sections on Family Prayer are especially helpful.
Anglican House Publishers
Every Moment Holy (Douglas Kaine McKelvey) – A book of liturgies for the ordinary events of daily life—liturgies such as “A Liturgy for Feasting with Friends” or “A Liturgy for Laundering” or “A Liturgy for the First Hearthfire of the Season.” These are ways of reminding us that our lives are shot through with sacred purpose even when, especially when, we are too busy or too caught up in our busyness to notice.
Rabbit Room Press
Gratitude: the Antidote to Worry
This year has caused many of us to worry about many things. As our minds this year are drawn to themes of sickness and antidotes, can we find an antidote not to a virus, but to the worry so many of us feel? Terry Shanahan shares how gratitude can transform our attitude and our lives.
Appetites and Cravings
Spiritual practices are gifts God gives us that help us to know him better and become more like him. This morning we think about fasting, a practice many of us may prefer to avoid. It is helpful to think about fasting positively, rather than negatively. That is, fasting is not about what we give up, but about how we are filled up.
Babbling Brooks and Lumps of Coal
Spiritual practices are gifts God gives us that help us to know him better and become more like him. This morning we think about weekly gathered worship, a difficult topic when many of us are unable to gather because of the pandemic. Yet weekly, gathered, worship is an indispensible part of our faith practice. Why does God create us with a need for community, and how can we practice the principles of gathered worship when we’re not in the same room?
The Gift of Rest
Spiritual practices are gifts God gives us that help us to know him better and become more like him. This morning we focus on rest and Sabbath. More than an archaic demand to “reserve a day for God,” Sabbath is God’s gift to restore and refresh us spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. So why do we not take advantage of it? Listen as we parse the true ground for Sabbath, obstacles we face to practicing Sabbath, and how Sabbath can refresh us in our modern world.
Marinating Prayer
Spiritual practices are gifts God gives us that help us to know him better and become more like him. This morning we spend some time thinking about prayer. Jesus teaches us, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.” (John 15:7) But we have all asked God for things and not gotten them. What did Jesus mean? What is the true purpose of prayer? And how can we pray better?