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Originally written for the Centre for Christian Formation and Discipleship. “When prayer becomes an encounter with the living God, it becomes unpredictable.” – Robert Marsh
No matter how my mildly autistic son might try, he can’t quite put himself into another person’s shoes. He’s very good at telling you how you should feel, and very bad at accepting that you might have a different perspective or feelings. The psychological term for this is mind-blindness. Apparently, we are all mind-blind until about age four, but for those on the autistic spectrum, it is a forever battle. My son has accepted the fact that another’s brain is filled with differing content, reactions and emotions, but his living into that reality is an ongoing challenge. We are not so different from my son when we approach God in prayer... Originally written for the Centre for Christian Formation and Discipleship. “Prayer is not so much an activity so much as it is a way of life.” - Margaret Blackie
The Examen is not meant to be merely a prayer practice; it’s a way of being in the world and with God. Engage it with understanding and you might find it one of the greatest gifts your soul has ever received. And, I don’t write that lightly. Eight years ago, I received the directive to practice this method of prayer like an allergy attack... Jose y Maria - illustration by Everett Patterson (used with permission) Celebrating Epiphany: This Ain't Your Mother's Nativity Scene... (Originally written for the Centre for Christian Formation and Discipleship.) Perhaps no part of the Christian story has been “Disney-fied” more than the Twelve Days of Christmas, ending in Epiphany. (January 6th) Epiphany is a Christian feast day which commemorates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child.* As a little girl living near New Orleans, all I knew of Epiphany was that it came with cake. King Cake! New Orleans is famous for Mardi Gras, a carnival season with elaborate floats, music, and parties. Mardi Gras means ‘Fat Tuesday’, which refers to the last day of eating rich food before the fasting season of Lent. At my school, the week before Mardi Gras meant the launch of a sugar-fest! The teacher brought in the first King Cake. We each munched our sugary piece with care until one child declared, “I found it!” A tiny, plastic baby Jesus was hoisted in the air for all to see. That lucky child brought in the next cake…the next day! This went on all week! Looking back, I don’t remember how my teacher managed a class full of Southern children on a week-long sugar-rush. Perhaps we were told the cake symbolized the wiseman’s search for baby Jesus; I cannot recall. But I can promise you, there was no mention of the next part of the story… where Joseph flees in the night with his young family after the angel warns of King Herod’s plot to kill Jesus. There was no mention that Jesus became a political refugee in Egypt for five (estimated) years. There most certainly is no mention of the slaughter of innocent babies in Bethlehem that followed. It would have ruined our appetite for cake. “Epiphany shows us that Jesus has always been someone controversial, longed for, unagreed upon, feared, argued about, sought out and sought after.” – Fr. Rohr |
Tonya...also has a teaching, writing, and speaking ministry. Her heart is to raise, deepen, and challenge disciples of Jesus. She's part of the Center for Christian Formation and Discipleship and lectures at both a Masters and Undergraduate level for YWAM's University of the Nations. She's also training to be a spiritual director and is an enneagram coach. We thought you might enjoy some of her blogs... Archives
June 2021
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