Recently in spirituality Category

Last Friday, I completed the first draft of a book on the Didache for Paraclete Press.  It'll come out sometime this fall, but in the meantime, here's a top ten list of my favorite lines from that wonderful little manual on the Christian faith (these come from our new, contemporary translation, which I hope to make available online via a Creative Commons license):

10. Give to every one who asks you, and don't ask for it back. The Father wants his blessings shared.

9. Welcome anyone coming in the name of the Lord. Receive everyone who comes in the name of the Lord, but then, test them and use your discretion.

If he who comes is a transient, assist him as far as you are able; but he should not remain with you more than two or three days, if need be.
If he wants to stay with you, and is a craftsman, let him work for his living.
But if he has no trade, use your judgment in providing for him; for a Christian should not live idle in your midst.

8. On the Lord's day, gather yourselves together and break bread, give thanks, but first confess your sins so that your sacrifice may be pure.

7. Come together often, seeking the things that are good for your souls. A life of faith will not profit you if you are not made perfect at the end of time.

6. The way of life is this:

First, you shall love God who made you.
And second, love your neighbor as yourself, and do not do to another what you would not want done to you.

Paul's pivotal life experience is referred to as the Calling of Paul or the Damascus Road Experience--the day Jesus confronted Paul. Luke recorded the original incident in Acts 9:

The next prayer we'll investigate is straightforward enough, but the action the apostles took seems curious to us. Shortly after Jesus "was taken up and disappeared in a cloud" (Acts 1:9, technically called the Ascension), and some time before Pentecost, Peter persuaded the other disciples to replace Judas Iscariot, to return their number to twelve.

Peter quoted Psalm 109:8: "Give him a short life, and give his job to somebody else." He went on to explain that the replacement needed to have been a part of the Jesus Movement from the beginning at Jesus' baptism, through the years of Jesus' ministry, to Jesus' resurrection from the dead and his ascension. The criteria seemed to have narrowed the choices down to two: Joseph Barsabbas, also called Justus, and Matthias. The disciples all apparently agree with Peter on the criteria, because they prayed,

You, O God, know every one of us inside and out. Make plain which of these two men you choose to take the place in this ministry and leadership that Judas threw away in order to go his own way. (Acts 1:24-25)

I can hardly imagine a person praying during his torture and execution. I find it even more difficult to imagine that person praying for his executors. But Jesus was no ordinary person.

He loved people to the end, and he prayed that his Father would forgive the people who killed him.

What an extraordinary accomplishment!

Near the beginning of Solomon's reign, he does what we hope any ruler would do. In 1 Kings 3, he asks God for wisdom. After Solomon marries his queen, he travels to Gibeon to worship at the shrine (before the...

Some years after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and after Joshua took them into the land that God had promised Abram, Israel was led by a series of judges. Moses picked the first judges, people who...

Last week, I ran some excerpts of a book I've written on the ancient practice of lectio divina. This week, I'll be posting excerpts from another book called Ask Seek Knock, in which I wrote about how we can use...

Praying the Bible Intro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplating Writing about contemplation is strange. It's weird because the fourth step of lectio divina is so unlike our everyday activities. The first three steps of...

Praying the Bible Intro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplating In the movie The Apostle, Robert Duvall plays Sonny, a preacher-evangelist who has made a few mistakes in his life, one of them a big...

Praying the BibleIntro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplatingDepending on what version of the Bible you use, the word meditate appears about fifteen times in the Old Testament. (It's not used at all in the...

Praying the Bible Intro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplating One of the best meals I've ever had was in an upscale restaurant, Daniel's Bistro, in New York City. My entrée was called the DB...

Praying the Bible Intro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplating Though dates differ, Guigo II lived from about 1115 to 1198. His official title was the Ninth Prior of the Grand Chartreuse of Carthusians. That's...

Praying the Bible Intro - lectio divina - reading - meditating - praying - contemplating For the last couple weeks, I've written some ecclesial and theological provocations. For the next couple weeks I'm going to focus on spirituality -- namely,...

A couple weeks ago, I hypothesized that Rod's disdain for SSM has something to do with his conversion to Orthodoxy -- actually, to the kind of personality that would convert to Orthodoxy. In response to that post, I was contacted...

It just turns out that he won't debate it with me.Last fall, Rod and I agreed, at the behest of our then-editor, Patton Dodd, to hold a friendly "blogalogue" on same sex marriage.  It was in the aftermath of California's...

Christianity21 is an event that JoPa Productions is producing next October 9-11.  And it's the first event of its kind -- historic, you might say.You see, we have invited 21 of the most compelling voices we can find to...

Here's the next in my occasional series with Mark Patrick, my spiritual director.Tony: Mark, one of the things that you've said to me that caused me a great deal of introspection came in the late summer.  I was describing to...

Here's the next installment of an on-going conversation with Mark Patrick, my spiritual director.Tony: Mark, I wonder if you're willing to tell us a bit about the last ten years of your life.  It seems like it's been quite a...

In my Monday post, I mused that the "secret knowledge" vibe expounded by some conservative Christians opens them to the charge of gnosticism.  Some commenters mentioned that the other primary characteristic of gnosticism is a strict, platonic dualism.  This, too,...

Mark Patrick is my spiritual director, though we don't act like a traditional director-directee pair.  I've had other spiritual directors, and Mark is different. For one thing, we usually meet at a cigar shop. He's been a pastor, therapist, and...