In my youth I joined the choir at my family’s Anglican church. We weren’t Christians then, just pew warmers; but when I revisited that church recently, I realized what a profound influence it had had on my early spiritual formation.
Tag Archives: Contemplative Prayer
The Night Stair: Contemplative Prayer and the Spirituality of Sleep
One of the many books I hope to publish one day is The Night Stair: Reflections on Contemplative Prayer.
Be Still and Know: Contemplative Prayer
Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself” begins with the line, “I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.” This is not a bad way to begin the practice of contemplative prayer.
Solitary Prayer: Tell the People that I Miss Them
In 1998 Loretta Ross-Gotta began spending time alone in prayer at a hermitage. Before long she found herself immersed in a deep, extraordinary conversion of soul. I love the following passage from her wonderful book, Letters from the Holy Ground, which describes this early period of getting alone with God:
Feeling God, Part 4
This, the fourth and final installment of my series on Contemplative Prayer, contains a beautiful excerpt from George MacDonald’s fairy tale The Princess and the Goblin.
Feeling God, Part 3
While there are many books on meditation and contemplative prayer that outline various methods, I believe the essence of this prayer is not a method but simply resting in God’s presence: loving Him, and letting Him love you.
Feeling God, Part 1
This week I begin a four-part series on contemplative prayer. I call it “Feeling God” because it strikes me as odd when Christians talk of hearing God’s voice when what we really mean is feeling God’s voice or presence.