This fall, we are learning four Practices For The Suburban Stronghold: Centering Prayer, Sabbath, Solitude, and Advent. Our little community is trying to follow Jesus’ invitation of “Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.”
God stirred us deeply through Centering Prayer in September, and continues to meet us in surprising ways. We’re learning that God is always speaking, the only thing that changes is whether we’re listening or not. We don’t do these practices to convince God to speak to us – as if we could somehow earn God’s attention – but we’re learning to slow down and get quiet enough to hear The Voice that is constantly with us. It’s all grace. Amen.
Many thanks to Phileena and Father Keating for guiding so wisely and humbly. But more than that, many thanks to all of you who were willing to jump into such a difficult and often terrifying practice. I’m so ridiculously grateful to get to be a part of this community.
In this spirit, let’s dive into October and see what God has for us through the practice of Sabbath.
I’m not sure what you think of when you hear the word “Sabbath”, but I’m guessing it has something to do with Jesus breaking the Sabbath, and/or the joy-crushing rules your grandma had about “not doing anything fun on Sundays”. Or maybe, like many of us, you’ve never given it much thought. But what if Sabbath is one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity? And not just to the ancient Israelites…but also to worn out, over-worked, and exhausted you and me?
Friends, let’s dive deeply into this. October 5th will offer a big invitation and vision, October 12th will teach the tangible steps and practices, and October 19th will be a group experience of Sabbath. And all along, we’ll continue to ask our Creator to teach us the best way to live. Life to the full. An eternal kind of life. Unforced rhythms of Grace…
Please join us!