14 09, 2021

Courage

By |2021-09-08T08:41:02-04:00September 14th, 2021|Community, Courage, Spiritual Disciplines|0 Comments

Jotham of Judges 9, son of Gideon, courageous and wise with a timely word. 70 sons of Gideon were leading God’s people. The same people that God delivered from the cruel and abusive rule of the Midianites through the courageous leadership of Gideon. One son, Abimelech, decides this ruling together creates a bottle neck and starts a campaign to be the king. He went to his father’s house and murdered his 70 brothers. Everyone except Jotham, for “he hid and was not killed”. As they were gathered to make Abimelech king, Jotham shows up and tells them a

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7 09, 2021

It Takes a Body

By |2021-09-07T10:45:59-04:00September 7th, 2021|Community, Creation, Passion Week, Spiritual Disciplines|0 Comments

“Christianity is to have one’s body shaped, one’s habits determined, in such a manner that the worship of God is unavoidable” (Stanley Hauerwas). A spiritual discipline is “an activity within our power—something we can do—which brings us to a point where we can do what we at present cannot do by direct effort” (Dallas Willard). Practicing spiritual disciplines shape us so that we become the kind of person who more instinctively lives the kind of life that is pleasing to our Lord. That is to say, they change our being through our doing. They shape our souls through our

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10 08, 2021

When the Dew Dries

By |2021-08-10T12:21:35-04:00August 10th, 2021|Character, Clarity, Decisions, Future, Responsibility, Spiritual Disciplines, Suffering, Time|0 Comments

When I, Jim, was going for a morning walk last week I noticed an unusual sight on the sidewalk. There were hundreds of dead worms. Strange. I’ve seen a few on the sidewalk before but nothing like this. I wondered what caused them to die there. After a couple of miles, I seemed to stumble on what I thought was a reasonable answer. Worms need moisture. And we haven’t had rain in a week. Instead of doing the hard work of digging their way into the sod of the lawns, they seemed to be seduced by the heavy

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29 06, 2021

Imagination and Our Spiritual Journey…a post by Rich

By |2021-06-29T12:15:41-04:00June 29th, 2021|Desire, Emotions, Future, Imagination, Prayer, Scripture Reading, Spiritual Disciplines|0 Comments

Have we lost our capacity for imagination as Christians?  Have we assigned imagination to child’s play but now of course we are adults so we set aside childish ways?  Imagination is about pretend, we all know that.  We use our imagination for fantasy. Imagination takes us into the world of the improbable and the impossible.  Adult life has to face what is real and not engage in some imaginary goose chase.  So this is how many have come to think about imagination.  Could there be more to imagination than what we imagine? Imagination is a faculty or capacity of the mind. We all use our  imagination.

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11 05, 2021

Spiritual Disciplines

By |2021-05-10T14:08:52-04:00May 11th, 2021|Clarity, Discernment, Listening, Prayer, Solitude and Silence, Spiritual Disciplines, Stillness|1 Comment

Spiritual Disciplines.  I’m curious what you feel when we put the idea of spiritual disciplines before you? Spiritual and Discipline, two of my favorite words! When I think of the word spiritual, I think about why we were created as spiritual beings, we were created for connection. We were not created as only physical beings for function, we are not intended to be robots, but God created us because he wants to commune with us.  He wants to connect!  Of course, we are also intended to connect with each other. The word discipline can seem a bit daunting for

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3 05, 2021

Be Still And Know That I Am God…a post by Joy

By |2021-05-03T15:00:43-04:00May 3rd, 2021|Clarity, Discernment, Emotions, Fear, Listening, Prayer, Solitude and Silence, Spiritual Disciplines, Stillness, Trust and Faith|1 Comment

“Being Still” can be one of the most challenging things we do in the journey of Christian spiritual formation. In our culture, there are so many distractions. Some of them are good distractions, such as our jobs and tending to our families and friends. Others are distractions of guilt, shame, or fear that keep us from even considering “being still” much less actually “doing” it. Scripture doesn’t say to us, “Be still and be perfect” or “Be still and God will love you forever,” or “ Be still and God will protect you.” Psalm 46:10 says, “BE STILL and KNOW

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8 02, 2021

Silence and Imagination by Rich Plass

By |2021-02-09T13:11:04-05:00February 8th, 2021|Imagination, Self-Clarity, Solitude and Silence, Spiritual Disciplines, Stillness|4 Comments

A good friend of mine, Pastor Dan Braga sent along to me Andrew Sullivan's article entitled, "I Used to be A Human Being." Sullivan writes, "The Judeo-Christian tradition recognized a critical distinction — and tension — between noise and silence, between getting through the day and getting a grip on one’s whole life. The Sabbath — the Jewish institution co-opted by Christianity — was a collective imposition of relative silence, a moment of calm to reflect on our lives under the light of eternity. It helped define much of Western public life once a week for centuries —

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1 05, 2018

Seeing the Unseen…a post by Joy

By |2021-02-09T13:11:07-05:00May 1st, 2018|Attachment Patterns, Clarity, Discernment, Emotions, Listening, Spiritual Disciplines, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, Trust, Trust and Faith, Vision|1 Comment

About a month ago, my eyeglass frames with progressive lenses broke. Knowing it was time to get a check-up I scheduled an appointment instead of getting my glasses repaired right away. Unfortunately, I had to wait another week to see the eye doctor. Thank goodness for another set of glasses that I use for computer work and reading music at the piano. When the time came, the check-up revealed that my eyes would require a change on my lenses so I would need to wait about 7-10 days for the new glasses to arrive. In the mean while, we

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31 01, 2018

I AM with you always…a post by Joy

By |2021-02-09T13:11:07-05:00January 31st, 2018|Community, Discipleship, Rest, Silence, Solitude and Silence, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation, Waiting|0 Comments

  Psalm 139: 1-3; 7 Oh Lord, You have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment, You know where I am. I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from Your Presence!  In today’s world it seems that the human race is constantly trying to be more connected with others through the constant use of their phones. I’ve seen teen-agers

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