List o' links

Feeling a bit like Alexander today?

Worn out from trying to know the unknowable?

Say yes to Christ's whispered invitation to your soul.

Stop and look all around you.

Breathe in, breathe out, repeat.  


Jen Hatmaker's got her favorite things...and so do we.  Look for more compilations of recommended music, books, blogs and outings from women within our community!

Discipline & Rest: The path before me

I glance at path laid out before me, not knowing where it will lead, peering up at the glorious sunny day and breathing in the fragrant, dewy grass.  In the garden behind Avondale Presbyterian Church, there’s labyrinth that mirrors the famous one painted on the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France.  It’s Wednesday morning. The only day of the week where I have 3 hours of alone time – no kids, no work (well, always housework, but it can wait), nowhere to be.  This is the day I’m attempting to set aside for practicing disciplines of silence, solitude, worship, meditation, and prayer. 

I pick up a guide from the box beside the labyrinth, tentative about stepping on to the first cobblestone. “You will show me the path of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence.” Psalm 16:11.  Yes, you will show me where I am on the path; you will be with me as I walk. 

As I enter in, I’m breathing deeply, noticing my surroundings, until I find that I must look at where my feet are going to make sure I stay on the path.  The first portion inward has short twists and turns that beg my attention.  Hmmm, this is interesting… I’m journeying inward and there seems to be a lot of detail to this path.  I’m feeling anxious. My first tendency is to want to skip and jump across this part to the longer stretches of path that wind around the outermost part of the circle.

God gently nudges me, “This inner work is hard. There are habits and patterns in your life that need attention. You often skip this part to more exciting things, but I’m with you in the everyday.  The mundane. In the details and the inner workings of your heart.  It’s just as important and I want to transform you there.”  He goes on, “See how you’re circling back around, orbiting around the same spot? These patterns and issues will creep back up unless you pay attention to them and invite me in.” The whole time I’m walking and pondering this, the center of the labyrinth, the very core of it, stays in my peripheral vision. I’m circling it – “Jesus you are always right there, right at the core. You dwell in me. You are there as I examine my idolatries, as I confess my sins, as I notice my addictions, as I do the inner work.”

I make my way beyond the center to the outer ring and find myself in the most divine shade given by beautiful green trees above my head.  The grass here is greener, a cool breeze blow, it feels like a covering…”You hide me in the shadow of your wings. You make me lie down in green pastures, you lead me beside still waters, you restore my soul.” In this place I sensed God saying, “As you venture out, I will restore you, I will shepherd you, I will replenish you.”  I stood there for a very long time.  “Write this promise on my heart, Lord.”

I walked for quite a while that morning. There’s something about walking and listening that feels dynamic to me.  There’s momentum and movement. A sense that I’m not stuck and that God has me on a path and that path is going somewhere.  God gave me questions to ponder. He reminded me of his presence. He used the analogy of the path to give me a deeper understanding of where we are in relationship with each other right now.  I made a commitment to invite God into those intricate spaces of my life that need more attention, pruning and transformation.  I thanked Him for his continual presence with me as I venture out and use my unique and creative gifts to serve him.  In walking the labyrinth that day, I truly experienced that part of the verse we used in our last women’s retreat -- “Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

written by: Laura Strahl

Discipline and rest: Centering Prayer

Before we launch into all of the disciplines listed in the last post about how rest and discipline go hand in hand, I wanted to share about the practice of Centering Prayer.

If you attended En Route last week, you heard about the church calendar, and specifically, the time we are in now: Ordinary Time. Steph Vander Lugt shared how the color for this season of the church calendar is green to signify growth. It’s not the extraordinary time of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, etc, but a time of growing deeper in our faith and preparing to celebrate the busier seasons paramount to our faith.

So, in the nature of Ordinary Time, centering prayer seems like a wonderful way to be with God in the ordinary. And, in full disclosure, I’m new at this type of prayer, but it’s been really helpful and connecting for me to slow down and rest in and beside God.

I will quote from the bulletin of a prayer service that I attended recently as it gives a beautiful, simple explanation of what centering prayer is:

Centering Prayer is a method of prayer, which prepares us to receive the gifts of contemplative prayer. Centering Prayer consists of responding to the Spirit of Christ by consenting to God’s presence and action within. Centering Prayer facilitates a movement from more active modes of prayer - verbal, discursive or affective prayer - to receptive prayer of resting in God. Centering Prayer is meant to enrich and complement other forms of prayer, not exclude them or replace them.

I have heard Roxanne Morgan explain that Centering Prayer is somewhat like sitting beside someone you love and just enjoying being with them in silence. It is a stilling of ALL of oneself to receive and realize the fullness of Christ within (Col. 1:27) It is prayer CENTERED in Christ alone, yielding and consenting to him.

Here are some directions from the book “Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening” by Cynthia Bourgeault:

“It’s very, very simple. You sit, either in a chair or on a prayer stool or mat, and allow your heart to open toward the invisible but always present Origin of all that exists. Whenever a thought comes into your mind, you simply let the thought go and return to that open, silent attending upon the depths. Not because thinking is bad, but because it pulls you back to the surface of yourself. You use a short word or phrase, known as a “sacred word,” such as “abba” (Jesus’ own word for God) or “peace” or “be still” to help you let go of the thought promptly and cleanly. You do this practice for twenty minutes, a bit longer if you’d like, then you simply get up and move on with your life.”

I will testify that this is harder than it sounds! It’s hard to still your mind, stop letting your mind race, and simply be with the Lord. Bourgeault states in her book that the hardest part is agreeing to not think. For me, one very significant piece has been learning that I am not who I am because of my actions, my thoughts, my desires or hopes; I am just me… something deeper than all these things. And that rest in God and rest with God simply means letting this very inmost part of me connect with Him. I am trusting God delights in this and longs for more of it.

If you are interested in learning more, here are a few resources:

• “A Taste of Silence” by Carl Arico.
• “Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening” by Cynthia Bourgeault
• Contemplative Outreach of Charlotte (http://www.cpcharlotte.org/) is hosting an introduction to Centering Prayer workshop on November 2nd. See website for details.
• “Open Mind, Open Heart” by F. Thomas Keating, a classic by one of the modern day "founders."
• Join a Contemplative Practices small group at Warehouse 242! . It is one of the practices we try out/ introduce in these groups.

As we continue through our year of learning more about resting with the Lord, I hope you will consider trying Centering Prayer. If you find yourself especially intrigued or moved by what you have read here, consider participating in one of our short term Contemplative Practices groups that will be offered in the spring. For more information about those groups, email libba@warehouse242.org

written by: Jennifer Coggins

En Route: October 2nd

Women of Warehouse,
Our next En Route is tomorrow evening, Wednesday, October 2nd. 
Doors open at 6:30pm.  

Our hope for En Route this year is to build upon the theme of Rest. Believing that true soul rest comes from a life lived with Christ, we want to explore how we can create pause, quiet and space for Jesus in our typically busy, noisy lives. Over the year we intend to look to the Church calendar to imagine what can it look like to order our days and the seasons of the year with intentionality and focus on Christ.

At October’s En Route we are excited to be hearing from Steph Vander Lugt as we learn a bit about the church calendar and the season we are in that is referred to as “Ordinary Time.” Ordinary times looks, well, ordinary. But it is actually a season of growth. How are we growing? How in our busy ordinary days do we act intentionally to move towards growth in our lives?

Childcare available upon request. Please email women@warehouse242.org to inquire

Make a place to sit down

Two poems from Wendell Berry that seem fitting as we contemplate the intentional choosing of disciplines for a full life.

I go among trees and sit still.

All my stirring becomes quiet

around me like circles on water.

My tasks lie in their places

where I left them, asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes

and lives a while in my sight.

What it fears in me leaves me, 

and the fear of me leaves it.

It sings, and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.

I live for a while in its sight.

What I fear in it leaves it,

and the fear of it leaves me.

It sings, and I hear its song.

After days of labor,

mute in my consternations,

I hear my song at last,

and I sing it. As we sing,

the day turns, the trees move.

------

How to be a Poet
( to remind myself)
Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill - more of each
than you have - inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your work,
doubt their judgment.
Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.

Submitted by: Roxanne Morgan

Discipline & Rest: A new series

When you read the words discipline and rest, do you think they are antonyms? Discipline implies work, focus, and intention. Rest kind of seems the opposite.

And yet, maybe in the context of sacred resting, they are not so different. As our women’s community continues through a year of learning about rest, maybe there’s more to learn in the being still. Maybe we can rest more fully through a little intention.

I continue on my hope to learn how to rest more fully, more intentionally. As I’ve been praying and thinking about this as the summer wore on, I think there is something to practicing more of the spiritual disciplines in hopes to know God more fully and to rest in His truths, his love, and his grace.

When I want to review more about spiritual disciplines, I start by pulling out my ol’ copy of Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline. This book was published originally in 1978, but continues to be a good summary of the classical spiritual disciplines.

In his introduction, Foster states, “God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.” He goes on to walk the reader through twelve different spiritual disciplines: meditation, prayer, fasting, study, simplicity, solitude, submission, service, confession, worship, guidance, and celebration.

The sheer number of these are daunting to me, but I love that God creates each of us to experience him and know him uniquely. I think each of us leans towards certain disciplines that we hear and experience God’s presence more readily or easily, although there’s much to benefit in practicing or experimenting with learning more about each one.

As we continue to journey through this year of rest, look for more blog entries about these disciplines. Our hope is to have people who love to practice a certain discipline share more about what it is, what it looks like in their life, and how they rest more by their practice. Our desire is this will lead to more true, deeper, connected, sacred rest for each of you.

Interested in sharing your experiences with one of the disciplines mentioned here? Contact libba@warehouse242.org, we'd love to hear from you.


Written by: Jennifer Coggins

List o' links

Headed into a doozie of a week?

Or a season already feeling too full? 

Take a swim in grace's ocean.

And take a cleansing breath out.  

Have that 2nd cup of coffee.

And stay in the pool.

But know when the juice ain't worth the squeeze.

And remember: you are the "only."


submitted by: Libba Armenta