Blog Archives

Learning from monks

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Alan Rudnick — No Comments ↓

Recently, I spent a few days at Mount Saviour Monastery and it was an incredible time of reflection, prayer, and spiritual enrichment. I also instituted a social media blackout. I must admit, I didn’t know what to expect. My friend and follow pastor David…

Tagged with: Alan Rudnick, prayer, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, worship
Posted in Spiritual Formation

There is no them, only us

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Brandon Hudson — No Comments ↓

As a pastor, even in the free-church, priesthood of believers, Baptist tradition, I feel a need to respond and minister in a profound way when tragedy strikes. If I’m being honest, part of that tug comes from my understanding of…

Tagged with: bombings, Boston, peace, prayer, Tragedy, violence, west
Posted in Grief, Ministry, Religion, Social Issues, Theology

Why is it called Maundy Thursday?

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Alan Rudnick — No Comments ↓

Today is Maundy Thursday — no, not Monday Thursday, which would be an interesting concept: society could work Monday through Thursday, with Fridays off! Some Christians misunderstand that this day is only a “Catholic” celebration. Christians both ancient and modern…

By way of ashes

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Julie Pennington-Russell — No Comments ↓

I was 24 and living in Mill Valley, Calif., when I first encountered Ash Wednesday. The Christian liturgical calendar had figured not much at all in my Southern Baptist experience to that point. But one February morning in 1983, spurred…

Prayer is our shared vocation

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Mike Smith — No Comments ↓

Make a list of some of the intractable problems facing us: natural disasters, deadly violence, international conflicts, human rights violations, mutating bacteria, political impasses, hunger and the like. That’s just my short list. You probably can add quite a few…

Tagged with: Body of Christ, Ceaseless Prayer, Constant Prayer, disasters, prayer, Vocation
Posted in Faithful Living

Praying behind his back

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Tommy Deal — No Comments ↓

Recently my family was honored to participate in my son’s ordination to the Gospel ministry. After heeding a call from God, enduring seven years of higher education and gaining quality experiences, his church in Topeka, Kansas felt it was time…

Your Kingdom Come…

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Mike Smith — No Comments ↓

I’ve been thinking about one phrase in The Lord’s Prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The longer I ponder the words, the more I become convinced of a few matters. The…

Tagged with: Jesus, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, Lord's Prayer, prayer
Posted in Faithful Living, Spiritual Formation, Theology

50 years of confusion about school prayer

Posted on September 20, 2012 by George Bullard — No Comments ↓

Fifty years after the Supreme Court case that excluded required prayers from public schools in the USA, confusion reigns around this issue. One of the easiest ways to rally some conservative Christians emotionally is to proclaim that prayer must be…

What’s your spiritual practice?

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Elizabeth Evans Hagan — 1 Comment ↓

Is our faith something we are or something we practice? Last week, one of the first questions I was asked at the Chaplaincy Institute for the Arts and Interfaith Ministries while attending a training in the art of spiritual direction was: “What…