CategoriesEquipping, Seasonal by

A Lenten Rule of Life

Practices for Paying Attention to God

Through The Journey and A Way of Life processes, many have experienced what it’s like to be given a template for our energy toward God to wrap itself around—a shared rhythm of weekly gatherings, Scripture, prayer, reflection, and honest conversation. Over time, these practices become a kind of scaffolding for our longings: a way to channel our desire to know God, live attentively, and participate more faithfully in what God is already doing in our lives and communities.

As Dallas Willard once described it, this kind of formation becomes a curriculum for Christlikeness—not something rigid, but a simple structure that supports who we are becoming.

Spiritual director Adele Ahlberg Calhoun reminds us that a rule of life is “a simple statement of the regular rhythms we choose in order to present our bodies to God as our ‘spiritual act of worship.’” These rhythms aren’t burdensome checklists. They’re realistic, life-giving practices that keep our lives from drifting into unintended chaos and help us partner with God in the transformation only He can bring.

With Lent inviting us again to slow down and pay attention, Keith Anderson offers a thoughtful reflection on crafting a Lenten rule of life—one shaped not by striving, but by fasting, prayer, and generosity as gentle ways of becoming more present to God. Read More

CategoriesSeasonal by

Ashes to Go

Seeing with Fresh Eyes

It was an early Wednesday morning, and I was hurrying—almost running—to catch the ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seattle. The terminal felt especially busy that day, crowded with people moving at practiced speed, the way overachievers do, intent on finding their preferred seat or joining their familiar cluster of friends for the thirty-five-minute crossing over the eight miles of Puget Sound.

 

I wasn’t paying attention to anyone. I was distracted—preoccupied in the way a graduate school president often is—lost in my own thoughts, unaware that this was not just any Wednesday. This was a holy day in the life of the Church. 

 

As I reached the edge of the terminal building, I saw him.

 

There stood my pastor—our vicar, Father Dennis—vested as he would later be that afternoon in the sanctuary of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. I had never seen him on the ferry commute before. Then I noticed the sign placed deliberately at his small station near the flow of foot traffic: “Ashes to go.”

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CategoriesJesus' Way, Spiritual Conversation by

Prophet, peacemaker, or partisan?

Your emotional reaction to the title for today’s blog is already an indicator of your readiness for curiosity. It’s not a direct statement from Scripture, but I want to raise the question of the kingdom anticipated in the Bible for Jesus’ reign.

 

Isaiah 11:1ff puts us in mind of what God’s intentions were (and are): I ask you to read verses 1-9 to make sense of today’s blog.

 

Did you notice?  Jesus was “the shoot from the stump of Jesse.” If you’re an apprentice of Jesus, this is the mandate to which we bow: “His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.”  Not to be afraid of the Lord, but to honor, respect, follow, and obey the Lord. This oracle forecasts a new king coming out of the line of Jesse, not out of any political party, but from a long past of faithfulness to Yahweh. What is the nature of this new kingdom? Read More

CategoriesSpiritual Conversation by

“It happened again.”

“It happened again,” were the words with which Richard started his story that day. 

 

He told me how he and his wife had a dinner date over the weekend with another couple from church—“All in all, a less than satisfying dinner conversation.” 

 

Richard elaborated on how he and his wife felt they had asked all the questions, showing interest in their friends, drawing them out, and learning more about the couple’s experiences and perspectives on various topics. Yet their curiosity was never reciprocated; no questions were asked of Richard or his wife, and very little interest in them was expressed by this other couple. 

 

“It all felt like a one-way street of interest,” Richard paused and then continued, “A disappointing but not unfamiliar experience.”

 

These sorts of conversations were sadly all too common, according to Richard. “This same experience is frequent enough,” Richard shared with me,  “that my wife and I have developed a shorthand descriptor for it. When we get back in the car after the meal or when one of us returns from a coffee conversation, either my wife or I say—It happened again.” 

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