I am excited to start the new year with a guest post from one of my favorite authors: Michelle DeRusha. Thanks for being here today Michelle with these insightful words to begin this first step into 2019. Two years ago on a warm June morning, my husband, our two boys, and I met Marsha, a volunteer guide, just inside the front gate of the Portland Japanese Garden. As we followed Marsha across petite wooden bridges, along with pea gravel paths, and overstepping stones set into spongy moss, the garden seemed to wrap us in a shawl of quiet. We spoke in whispers as we strolled, a lullaby of flowing water melding with the rhythmic crunch of gravel beneath our shoes. Our guide paused beside a large Japanese maple poised regal and elegant like a grand dame on a small, moss-covered hill. Its delicate chartreuse leaves fanned like antique lace over an elaborate network of dark limbs and branches spreading like veins beneath the canopy. Marsha explained that a particular Japanese … [Read more...]
How Does Art Enhance Prayer?
How does art enhance prayer? I miss being creative. With my head dug deep into a graduate course this past 6 months, my spirit is dry. Time to brush off the creative juices and find joy in my life, especially in my prayers. This will be a major goal of mine in 2019 - to be more creative. I am so excited to share the words today from a wonderful creative and friend - Therese Kay. Therese is a writer and photographer, and lover of God. She recently collaborated on a visual devotional featuring her photography called Messages from God: An Illuminated Devotional. You can read her blog here: https://therese-kay.blogspot.com/p/home.html and see more of her photography here: https://theresekayphotography.zenfolio.com/ Welcome, Theresa! Art and prayer have shared an intimate relationship since God appointed the skilled craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab, to create the artistic designs for the Tabernacle in Exodus 31:1-6. As humans, we were created and formed in God’s image – and … [Read more...]
5 Themes in Celtic Christianity
What themes emerge from Celtic Christianity? In preparation for my upcoming pilgrimage to Ireland, I have been digging deep into reading about this country, long on my bucket list, rich with spirituality, and enfolding my Irish heritage. Here are a few of the patterns, the themes in Celtic Christianity: Soul Companions – Last week I meet with someone I knew immediately was a soul sister. We shared the same interests and struggles. With her every story, I felt a connection. Celtic Christianity calls this soul friendships and an anamchara, a soul friend. They inspire us to open our hearts to live a more Christ-like life and to obtain more wholeness. We are not meant to travel this life journey alone – we all need a few soul companions. “A person without a soul friend is like a body without a head.” Brigid of Kildare Thin Places – A strong Celtic theme is seeing life as a journey. On this journey certain places are significant, they are “thin places”, where God seems closer, … [Read more...]
Invitation to Retreat – New Book by Ruth Haley Barton
Here is your invitation to retreat – Dear Beloved Child of God Your presence is requested in my Presence. You are invited to come away with me. This time is my gift to you – being together with your Creator, Savior, and Spirit. This time is also my summons, a necessity for your soul-health. Come. Be. Retreat. The spiritual practice of going on retreat is a discipline I have experienced and believe is one of the most essential tools for nurturing my spirit. I have written about this practice in the past on several blog posts such as How to Prepare Your Heart for Spiritual Retreat and 5 Ways Spiritual Retreats Transform Your Life. I even wrote a book called Spiritual Retreats in response to a friend's questions about my practice. I was thrilled to hear about a new book on this topic by one of my favorite authors. What a great combination! Ruth Haley Barton just released her latest title: Invitation to Retreat – the Gift and Necessity of Time Away … [Read more...]
Making Prayer Too Difficult
Are you guilty of making prayer too difficult? I know I do at times. Okay, most times. I was thinking the other day how I have been walking with you this entire year, discovering, exploring, and tasting prayer. Though the adventure has been rich and full, how am I going to remember to "do" all these prayers, these wonderful "techniques" and of course, do them correctly so I earn an A in the course? I know. I know. I know that isn't what God wants. Me neither. In September, a word to frame our traveling with prayer will be "difficult." Today is reflecting on making prayer too difficult and next week will be when it is too difficult to pray. Earlier in the summer, I updated a free prayer resources called "The Prayer Tool Box. " This pdf has lots of digital and analog ideas for spending your time with God. Click the button at the bottom of this post to get yours if you didn't get one in June. Making Prayer Too Difficult K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple, Sweetie! Sometimes the best … [Read more...]
Intercessory Prayer – Praying for Others – Even the Difficult Ones
As we continue our exploration of prayer this year, last week we began exploring intercessory prayer or praying for others. I have been rereading and pondering Phillip Yancey's book on Prayer during this year. Praying for others affects us in powerful ways as much as it affects others. Here are some of his thoughts on Intercessory Prayer: "When I pray for another person, I am praying for God to open my eyes so that I can see that person as God does, and then enter into the stream of love that God already directs towards that person….Bringing them into God's presence changes my attitude toward them and ultimately affects our relationship…Prayer allows me to see others as God sees them and me: as uniquely flowed and uniquely gifted bearers of God's image. I begin seeing them through Jesus' eyes, as beloved children who the Father longs to embrace." Nice image to hold when praying for others. But sometimes intercessory prayer is difficult: "Frank Laubach…describes how he sought to … [Read more...]
Intercessory Prayer
Intercessory prayer is simply praying for others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote "Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the fellowship must enter every day." This type of prayer is a form of loving the other. I imagine lifting people into God's light and love. This powerful prayer practice can be as a pointed, persistent pleading on behalf of someone else for a deep need. Some intercessory prayers are general: “Lord I pray for those forgotten or those suffering in such and such country.” Or they can be specific: “Lord draw Tom closer to you and give him strength to get through this difficult time.” Often I simply say, “Lord you know best what she needs today. Help her know your love.” Jane Vennard teaches about another form of intercessory prayer is called “arrow prayers.” It is like holding a bow, pulling the string back, and letting the arrow fly. This form is spontaneous — the times that prayers for others are pulled right out of me, such … [Read more...]
Praising God through the Prayer of Adoration
One type of prayer we haven't discussed yet in our pilgrimage into the different types of prayer this summer is the prayer of adoration. How do we response to God's unending, outrageous, overwhelming outpouring of love? God who pursues each of us as if there were only one of us. The One who knows our name. Knows the number of hairs on our head. Who loves us so much he sent is only son to save us. How else can we respond but by adoration? "Adoration is the spontaneous yearning of the heart to worship, honor magnify and bless God…In one sense, adoration is not a special form of prayer, for all true prayer is saturated with it, It is the air in which prayer breathes, the sea in which prayer swims…We ask for nothing but to cherish him. We focus on nothing but his goodness." Richard Foster. How to Build Adoration into our Prayers As ego-centered children of God, we must intentionally learn, then practice the prayer of adoration. Like reminding our kids to say please and thank … [Read more...]