Today began with a lengthy and deep discussion about one of my favorite Spiritual Disciplines – Centering Prayer or Contemplative Prayer. if you want to learn a little more, check our Father Thomas Keating or Father Richard Rohr’s work through the Center for Contemplative Outreach.
We concluded the morning by “sitting” in a Centering Prayer group for 20 minutes. One can only say that we were filled with peace and awed in the presence of God. These times of prayer are always significant minutes for me.

Later in the day, Tony Jones entered the room. Tony is kind of like a time-bomb going off in a room that nobody was expecting in any way, shape, or form. A refreshing and shocking change of pace to the week. Maybe that’s why the entire week is called Re:Fresh. 🙂

Tony sees himself as an ecclesiologist. In his own words, “that’s like a proctologist for the church.” He’s is also a pastor at a really cool emergent congregation in Minneapolis called Solomon’s Porch. Tony challenges groups of pastor’s across the country to see the church differently. To see that many of the walls and institutions and silos and structures that Christianity has existed in for centuries are no longer effective in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if we’re honest with each other, they really haven’t been working for a long time.I found one of his insights extremely interesting today. He said, “We don’t use rotary dial telephones anymore. Why do our churches still look and feel and behave like they do.”

I’m not sure I think this is true across the entire Christian church, but it is causing me to think a lot this evening about what kind of telephone, if they even exist in 20 years, the Christian church will be known for using. And how will that telephone communicate the good news of God’s grace, mercy, and love for all people.

What kind of telephone are you using?

I think one of the most significant challenges of our life in Christ is believing that it’s not just a one time event, but a journey. A journey in which we are invited to grow continually. There are many ways in which we walk through this journey. And it often looks and feels a little different for every person. Christians grow in our life in Christ through something called “Spiritual Practices” or “Spiritual Disciplines” or “Contemplative Practices”.

Think of things like intentional times of quiet prayer or yoga or walking a prayer labyrinth or meditation or the liturgy of the hours. These are just a few of possibilities. Check out the Merton Institute or the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society for more examples.

As part of our experience at the Re:Fresh retreat this week, we are practicing and studying many of these disciplines. We are boldly asking each other the question “What’s in your spiritual toolbox?”

One of our teachers, Joe Stabile, offered this as a definition for a Spiritual Discipline. He said, “A Spiritual Discipline is any act habitually entered into with your whole heart as a way of awakening, deepening, and sustaining a contemplative experience of the inherent holiness of the present moment.”

In other words, a Spiritual Discipline is something that we actively enter regularly and through the rhythm of this practice we become more fully aware of God’s holiness and presence in every aspect of our life. Joe explained it is way, “So often we think we need to try and work our way toward some sort of unity with God, when in reality we are already in union with God.”

Spiritual Disciplines don’t require you to set aside several hours each day. And your salvation is not dependent upon whether or not you utilize these tools of faith or are any good at practicing them. But I believe deeply that they help you and me walk through every hour of our day experiencing just how incredible this relationship with God is.

So…what tools are in your Spiritual Toolbox?