Podcast Episode Eight: Fixed Hour Prayer & Liturgy

SEASON TWO - EPISODE EIGHT: FIXED HOUR PRAYER & LITURGY

In episode eight of the Why Behind the What, I introduce you to Fixed Hour Prayer and Liturgy; absolutely ancient and foundational practices in the history of the Christian tradition.

Fixed Hour Prayer is pausing to pray throughout our day at regular intervals- usually in the morning, around lunch, in the early evening, and before bed while utilzing a type of prayer book, such as the Common Book of Prayer. Liturgy, meanwhile, is the guiding and organizing principles of a church’s worship gathering; the rituals, traditions, and structure within the service.

When faith and church stopped working for me, when my prayer life seemed stagnant, when I didn’t know what to pray and felt pretty numb in a church service, it was Fixed Hour Prayer and the Liturgy that revived my soul.

They brought tears to my eyes, gave me the words I knew I needed to pray but didn’t have the words for, changed how I viewed and experienced church gatherings, and made me so much more appreciative of church history and global faith community.

Through prayer and liturgy, it was as if I was discovering and witnessing a language my soul knew how to speak all along. Through practicing them, I discovered depth, beauty, richness, and mystery; something I rarely found in other contemporary Christian traditions.

Fixed Hour Prayer and Liturgy are mysteriously mindful, refreshingly remarkable, strongly spiritual, and deeply theological.

They move me from not feeling it to saying, affirming, believing, and finally, living it.

They form me, mold me, and ultimately, transform me.

They are tools that open us up to the transforming presence of the Divine.

I don’t know about you, but I need the Liturgy and Fixed Hour Prayer, whether I’m feeling it or not and I’m convinced they are essential ancient practices for our continued transformation today. If interested, here are some great resources to start experiencing Fixed Hour Prayer: The Divine Hours (Volume One); The Divine Hours (Volume Two); The Divine Hours (Volume Three); The Divine Hours: Pocket Edition; Book of Common Prayer; The Online Book of Common Prayer; Hour by Hour.

As you experience the ancient contemplative practices of Fixed Hour Prayer and Liturgy, may you have peace, may you have calm, and may you have happiness.

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Podcast Episode Six: Journaling

SEASON TWO - EPISODE SIX: JOURNALING

Dear Diary,

After forgetting about you for almost 20 years, I picked you up and decided to reread parts of you. Oh dear Lord in heaven. What was I thinking of writing all that stuff? It’s some of the most hysterical, embarrassing, vomit-inducing, fundamentalist stuff I have ever read.

It is epic. So, I have decided to read those parts to my podcast listeners.

Sincerely,

Nathan

It’s true. In the sixth episode of the Why Behind the What, I read from my first journal when I was quite the young and immature conservative evangelical. But ever since then, I have always kept a journal with me to write down thoughts, ideas, prayers, quotes, and over things I want to remember and reference. I have a row of them on my bookshelf.

Journaling is a powerful spiritual rhythm. It gives voice to our prayers, longings, and desires. It filters our prayers and thoughts to their core and can become a time capsule for our prayer life. It also can be a way to hear the still small voice of God. 

I’ve found journaling to be an incredible funnel for our deepest thoughts and desires. The more I write, the more I am able to filter out random thoughts and bring focus to my thoughts or desires I have been ignoring or too distracted to notice.

Some of the most famous and impactful spiritual books in church history are simply journal entries. Whether it’s Saint Augustine’s Confessions or Mother Teresa’s Come Be My Light or works by Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton, these are all works by spiritual leaders who journaled their thoughts, desires, and spiritual journey.

Their words and prayers impact generations of people...while my words and prayers would be an embarrassment for generations of people.

In this episode, I also give a few tips on how to start journaling, so be sure to listen. My favorite journals are Moleskine. I have used them for years and I always have a handful lying around my office. A good resource I recommend is from a former professor of mine: Journaling as a Spiritual Practice: Encountering God through Attentive Writing.

As you start writing your thoughts and desires onto a page while listening for the Divine, may you have peace, may you have calm, may you have happiness.

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Podcast Episode Five: Centering Prayer

SEASON TWO - EPISODE FIVE: CENTERING PRAYER

Nothing can make me fall asleep quicker than being forced to do Centering Prayer for 20 minutes after lunch, during prime nap time, when you’re in graduate school and constantly exhausted. Yet, the first time I tried Centering Prayer, this is what happened. After 20 minutes, I awoke to drool streaming down my chin.

After this experience, I didn’t try this ancient practice again. It wasn’t until over a decade later that I tried Centering Prayer and this time I found it had become a profound practice for my soul that leads me into greater peace and calm, centers my soul, and allows me the space to listen for God. It’s been a game changer in my spiritual life. It was revived my soul and lead me into deeper awareness.

At it’s basic, Centering prayer is a type of silent prayer in which we center ourselves upon God’s presence.

This is why it is also one of the most difficult spiritual practices. It’s a practice where I can’t do anything, really. I don’t check things off my list. Instead, it forces me to be rather than to do. In Centering Prayer, I just am as I am. It’s just me and my thoughts, which can become quite noisy when sitting in silence.

But this is also why Centering Prayer is an essential practice.

Instead of me trying to achieve or do something, Centering Prayer becomes about me being present, as I am, to the Divine One who is always present to me. It becomes this centered place where I’m not working on my own soul, but God is working on my own soul. Through it, God does a transforming work in me and I am simply opening myself up to the One who does such good work.

Centering prayer allows us to be in union with God, to be aware of God, and to be as close to God as your very breath. It is a holy act, where we don't have to worry about doing, but instead settle into simply being.

Catholic Priest, Basil Pennington gives the following framework for Centering Prayer:

Be With God.

Stay With God.

Return to God.

In this episode, I share more about Centering Prayer, but I also give instructions on how to do a sit as well as end the episode with silence to experience Centering Prayer. As I mention in the podcast, a few resources I recommend are: Centering Prayer, by Basil Pennington; Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, by Cynthia Bourgeault; and Centering Prayer in Daily Life and Ministry.

As you learn to center yourself through silent prayer, as you learn to be with God, stay with God, and return to God, may you have peace, may you have calm, and may you have happiness.

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Podcast Episode Three: Solitude

SEASON TWO - EPISODE THREE: SOLITUDE

Solitude. I know, it sounds boring, doesn’t it? Unless you're an extreme introvert and your probably rejoicing- “this is the best thing ever!”

I’m a bit of an extrovert, so for a long time solitude was torturous for me. I hated it. But, as an extrovert, I have learned that solitude isn’t torturous, it is actually essential to my spiritual transformation and my personal well-being.

As Henri Nouwen has stated, “without solitude it is virtually impossible to have a spiritual life.”

As a spiritual practice, solitude is more than getting away from people, untethering ourselves from technology. Solitude is an opportunity to turn away from other people, technology, and other ways we can be interrupted in order to turn toward and be present to God who is always present to us.

Solitude is the place where we encounter God as we are and we leave that place transformed and renewed because we were with God. It could be said that in solitude, we not only spend time with the Divine, but we also discover our true self, who we are truly meant to be in God’s presence.

As Ruth Haley Barton says in her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, that in solitude and silence the love of the Divine comes to us, but it also begins to flow out of us to others. So, solitude can be an avenue for God to transform us into healed, compassionate, and loving people who not only reflect the Divine, but also love others in the same way as the Divine.

I had always thought that being alone was simply a way to become quickly lonely or an opportunity to get away from those friends that you could only handle in small doses. But it is so much more than that. It is a proven way to be with God and hear the still small voice of God.

In this episode, I am going to challenge you to start exploring solitude. But don’t worry, I set the bar low; really low. If you want some resources, I recommend: Thoughts in Solitude, by Thomas Merton; Invitation to Solitude and Silence, by Ruth Haley Barton; The Way of the Heart, by Henri Nouwen. Be sure to share this episode and, if you could, write a review on iTunes.

And in the solitude, may you have peace, may you have calm, may you have happiness.

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Exploring the Spiritual Life in Public

In my younger and well-intended-but-ignorant-conservative-evangelicalism-slipping-into- fundamentalism Christian days, I used to love listening to the Bible Answer Man. It was a call-in radio program where Hank, the Bible Answer Man, would answer any and all questions about Christianity, the Bible, and faith.

Hank knew it all. He had all the right answers. He shot down certain beliefs and religious traditions, pointed out fallacies, proved Christianity to be true, and knew the Bible better than the back of his hand. He was what every Evangelical wished they could be. Thus, why I listened regularly to Hank. I, too, wanted to know all the answers.

Entering seminary, I assumed I’d learn enough to answer any question. Early on, however, I learned that I don’t have all the answers and probably never will have them. Seminary taught me just how little I actually knew. And, it didn't’ give me all the answers. Instead, it taught me to ask questions; about the text, about the context, about the original languages, about textual variants, about ministry models. Rather than avoiding difficult texts or topics, we were challenged to dig in deeper. But, it didn’t mean we always found an answer. Sometimes it was a theory or two while other times we discovered more questions.

The longer I have been a pastor the more I have realized I still don’t have all the answers. In fact, I think I have a lot more questions. As I study the text, explore spiritual practices, and listen to people’s experiences in life, I find myself with fewer answers and the realization that maybe I often ask the wrong questions.

Maybe I’m not supposed to have all the answers and knowledge, and maybe you’re not supposed to either. Maybe the more we contemplate the Infinite One, the more questions we find ourselves asking. Maybe exploring the Infinite One is more important than having answers about the Infinite One.

Recently, I was listening to a podcast of a former pastor who was sharing feedback he had received after a presentation he had given. The audience member came up to him and said, “I didn’t come to get answers. I came to watch you explore in public.”

“I didn’t come to get answers. I came to watch you explore in public.”

It got me thinking, exploring, and asking questions: What if this was how we understood a sermon? What if preaching wasn’t a way to give congregants answers, but instead a way to communally watch someone explore the spiritual life in public?

Instead of treating preachers and pastors as the ones with all the answers, the defenders of dogma and doctrine, the protectors of a particular faith, the gatekeepers of the godly, spewers of spiritual cliches and tweetable truisms, chaperones for the sacred, or judges of the heretics, what if we viewed them as people who were asking deeper and more human questions and allowed them to do that in public?

What if preachers, instead of being known for wearing expensive sneakers in public, were known to explore the spiritual life in public? What if they explored the character and dimensions of the Divine and, as congregants, we simply got to participate in that act?

What if pastors and preachers were never supposed to have the answers in the first place? What if they were simply to be people, like you and me, who ask the honest questions we are also asking, get us thinking together, and create the space so we can open ourselves up to the Divine?

What if a sermon wasn’t supposed to be simply an affirmation of what you already believe, but a chance for you to ask the questions and voice what you hope to someday believe?

I have a sneaking suspicion such preaching could move sermons away from simply giving spoon fed answers to an inclusive and participatory spiritual experience and event. I also think preachers would be less concerned about saying something that might offend and more able to say what congregants have been too afraid to actually voice. And, maybe such preaching would allow us to open ourselves up to the transforming Presence of the One always present to us.

I think that’s what I need in a sermon. And, I think that’s what I want to do in writing a sermon.

But again, I don’t have the answers, I just want to ask the questions and explore the spiritual life together in public.