Tag Archives: Invitation to Solitude and Silence

Daily Riches: Welcoming Simplicity (Thomas Moore, Richard Foster and Ruth Haley Barton) *

Posted on by under Detachment and Attachment, Simplicity

“You can’t force simplicity; but you can invite it in by finding as much richness as possible in the few things at hand. Simplicity doesn’t mean meagerness but rather a certain kind of richness, the fullness that appears when we stop stuffing the world with things.” Thomas Moore

“We really must understand that the lust for affluence in contemporary society is psychotic. It is psychotic because it has completely lost touch with reality. We crave things we neither need nor enjoy. …We are made to feel ashamed to wear clothes or drive cars until they are worn out. The mass media have convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick. Until we see how unbalanced our culture has become at this point, we will not be able to deal with the mammon spirit within ourselves….” Richard Foster

“I try to run into God’s arms and give myself to his embrace, but I am holding lots of stuff, and it gets in the way.”  Ruth Haley Barton

“Then [Jesus] said to them,
‘Watch out!
Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;
 life does not consist
in an abundance of possessions.’”
Luke 12:15

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Does “the lust for affluence in contemporary society” seem psychotic to you? Do you operate as if life consists “in an abundance of possessions?”
  • Have you experienced the “kind of richness” that comes when we “stop stuffing the world full of things?”
  • Does all your “stuff” get in the way when God wants to embrace you in his love?

Abba, help me find the riches that comes with unstuffing my life.

__________

For More: The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Our Need to Impress (James M. Campbell and Ruth Haley Barton) *

Posted on by under applause, approval addiction, Ego Issues, Humility, Obscurity and Secrecy

“For fourteen years he had kept silent about it.” James Campbell

“…  I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven [and] this man … heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. … I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations.”  2 Corinthians 12:1-7a

“We might commit ourselves to pondering the things that take place during solitude in our heart, as Mary did, at least for a time, rather than sharing them too quickly or using them immediately as tools for ministry. This a way of keeping some things precious and sacred… [like] we protect the privacy of our interactions with intimate friends.” Ruth Haley Barton

In a “supassingly great” manner, the apostle Paul was transported to heaven where he saw powerful “visions” and heard “inexpressible [secret] things.” In all his days of ministry, he never tried to use this to enhance his reputation, and he refuses to do so now. (:5) Even here, he refers to himself only indirectly as “a man in Christ.” This comes up now only because the Corinthian church was immaturely infatuated with the “superapostles” in their midst (:11). Paul’s experience put him in a special class. No one else had such credentials! Even so, “For fourteen years [Paul] had kept silent about it.”

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Could you keep silent about something so impressive for fourteen years? Paul did. What does this says about him?
  • Are you quick to share things that make you look good? a substantial prayer life, some “power encounter”, a long fast, an experiment with monastery life, years of keeping the Sabbath or centering prayer, etc.? How often do we hear about such exploits in a sermon, an article, in a blog, or through social media? What do you think this says about us?
  • When you share something “precious and sacred”, it changes it. What is gained instead, by keeping something sacred a secret?

Abba, deliver me from my need to impress or be thought well of. Let your approval suffice for me.

__________

For More: Paul the Mystic by James M. Campbell

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: The Achilles Heel Of Evangelicalism (Ruth Haley Barton)

Posted on by under Silence, Solitude, Stillness

“…I believe silence is the most challenging, the most needed and the least experienced spiritual discipline among evangelical Christians today. It is much easier to talk about it and read about it than to actually become quiet. We are a very busy, wordy and heady faith tradition. Yet we are desperate to find ways to open ourselves to our God who is, in the end, beyond all of our human constructs and human agendas. With all of our emphasis on theology and Word, cognition and service–and as important as these are–we are starved for mystery, to know this God as One who is totally Other and to experience reverence in his presence. We are starved for intimacy, to see and feel and know God in the very cells of our being. We are starved for rest, to know God beyond what we can do for him. We are starved for quiet, to hear the sound of sheer silence that is the presence of God himself.”  Ruth Haley Barton

“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord,
for the Lord is about to pass by.’
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord,
but the Lord was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake,
but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake came a fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire came [lit. “the sound of sheer silence”].
When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face
and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”
I Kings 19:11-13

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Do you feel the need for silence? Have you thought about how practicing silence could be a beneficial “spiritual discipline?”
  • Is your faith tradition “very busy, wordy and heady?” Is it characterized by “theology and Word, cognition and service?” Are you starved for something more: for rest, quiet, intimacy?
  • Will the speed level and noise level of your life allow you to hear God if he comes to you in “sheer silence?” Are you willing to make some changes? to carve out some silent places?

Abba, help me as I seek out silence, to attend to you there in love, and receive there your love for me.

________________________

 Thomas Merton expresses my heart for Daily Riches: “If I dare, in these few words, to ask you some direct and personal questions, it is because I address them as much to myself as to you. It is because I am still able to hope that a civil exchange of ideas can take place between two persons — that we have not yet reached the stage where we are all hermetically sealed, each one in the collective arrogance and despair of his own herd.” I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. (Psalm 90:14) . I appreciate your interest! – Bill

Daily Riches: Welcoming Simplicity (Thomas Moore, Richard Foster and Ruth Haley Barton)

Posted on by under Detachment and Attachment, Simplicity

“You can’t force simplicity; but you can invite it in by finding as much richness as possible in the few things at hand. Simplicity doesn’t mean meagerness but rather a certain kind of richness, the fullness that appears when we stop stuffing the world with things.” Thomas Moore

“We really must understand that the lust for affluence in contemporary society is psychotic. It is psychotic because it has completely lost touch with reality. We crave things we neither need nor enjoy. …We are made to feel ashamed to wear clothes or drive cars until they are worn out. The mass media have convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick. Until we see how unbalanced our culture has become at this point, we will not be able to deal with the mammon spirit within ourselves….” Richard Foster

“I try to run into God’s arms and give myself to his embrace, but I am holding lots of stuff, and it gets in the way.”  Ruth Haley Barton

“Then [Jesus] said to them,
‘Watch out!
Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;
 life does not consist
in an abundance of possessions.’”
Luke 12:15

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Does “the lust for affluence in contemporary society” seem psychotic to you? Do you operate as if life consists “in an abundance of possessions?”
  • Have you experienced the “kind of richness” that comes when we “stop stuffing the world full of things?”
  • Does all your “stuff” get in the way when God wants to embrace you in his love?

Abba, help me find the riches that comes with unstuffing my life.

__________

For More: The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

_________________________________________________

The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)