The Contemplative Writer

Featured Article: Steps Toward Experiencing God’s Presence

Posted on July 6, 2016June 25, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Pastor Ray Hollenbach writes frequently about the disconnect we experience between the promises of Christianity and the struggles that often become reality. How do we bridge the gap between the aspirations of our faith and the distance we feel from God.

Ray offers five first steps toward experiencing God’s presence, and I’ll highlight a few quotes from his post below:

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The first step in experiencing the presence of God is to take the Biblical witness seriously. We are told time and again that God is near—why does he feel so far? Worse still we’ve trained ourselves to dismiss the scripture as inspirational thoughts rather than a description of reality. To know his presence we must honestly evaluate whether our daily life matches God’s revelation of the way things really are.

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Second, we should order our lives in ways that allow us to experience his presence: we must train ourselves to recognize his presence. The spiritual practices of silence and solitude do not conjure up God’s presence; they help us awaken to God’s presence.

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Read the rest here…

Featured Book: Falling Upward

Posted on July 4, 2016July 2, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Week Three: Transforming Mercy

God sees our failures and desires to show mercy and to restore us. We see our failures, and we worry that we have finally gone too far. We categorize sins and define who is in and who is out based on the category of the sin.

God’s stated desire is that we abide in him and grow. When we are cut off from the vine, we will struggle and sin. While sin is serious, it’s also an avenue for mercy. Confessing our sin to a merciful God will send us on the path to restoration. When we feel most “cut off” from God, we especially need to reconnect with Christ, our vine who gives us life.

Here’s what Richard Rohr has to say in Falling Upward:

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As St. Gregory of Nyssa already said in the fourth century, “Sin happens whenever we refuse to keep growing.”

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We invariably prefer the universal synthesis, the answer that settles all the dust and resolves every question—even when it is not entirely true—over the mercy and grace of God.

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Every time God forgives us, God is saying that God’s own rules do not matter as much as the relationship that God wants to create with us.

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In the divine economy of grace, sin and failure become the base metal and raw material for the redemption experience itself. Much of organized religion, however, tends to be peopled by folks who have a mania for some ideal order, which is never true, so they are seldom happy or content.

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For Reflection

Meditate on the word “abide” for fine minutes.

Invite God into the “disorderly” parts of your life today.

Saturday Prayer

Posted on July 2, 2016June 27, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant that all of us may be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Source: The Divine Hours

Friday Favorites for Prayer and Writing

Posted on July 1, 2016June 23, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Each Friday I share some of my favorite finds related to praying or writing. If I think it could help you pray or write better, then I’ll include it below.

Do you have someone else’s article or post to share? Join the Contemplative Writers Facebook group, comment on today’s post on my Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter (@edcyzewski) to nominate your favorite articles, blog posts, and books by Thursday at noon each week.

I’m Tired of Being a Christian (If you can relate to this, then contemplative prayer may be perfect for you!)

Defining Christianity in a Single Word

When Less Is More on Social Media

Spirituality for Busy People

From my blog: My Most Difficult Shift Toward Healthy Religion

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Contemplative Profiles: 3 Unknown but Essential Mystics

Posted on June 30, 2016June 25, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Contemplative prayer isn’t an experience reserved for the “spiritually elite” or a few well-known masters. In fact, some of the best contemplative writers are still largely unknown, and contemplative prayer has been practiced for centuries by Christians who remain completely unknown.

Carl McColman offers a list with three mystics that everyone interested in contemplative prayer will want to know about. Here is a little sample of the larger post:

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[Walter] Hilton was born probably in the 1340s and died in 1396; little is known about his life, although it is likely he studied law at Cambridge before becoming an Augustinian priest. His writings, mostly in Middle English, were popular during his lifetime and the following century. Hilton reveals a keen understanding of the psychology of contemplative life, and (like The Cloud) reveals considerable talent as a spiritual directer in his work.

The Scale of Perfection concerns the ongoing process of inner transfiguration that marks perseverance in contemplation. Hilton follows the longstanding mystical tradition that understands the human soul as created in the image and likeness of God, and the contemplative life consisting of a gradual reformation of the soul, to restore the image that has been defaced by sin.

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John Ruusbroec was a prolific writer, usually composing his works in Flemish rather than Latin, in order to reach a wider audience. Today his best known work is The Spiritual Espousals, a luminous meditation on how Christ, the Bridegroom, unites human nature with his own, in a sacred marriage officiated by the Holy Spirit.

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Featured Article: The Church Fathers on Mindfulness

Posted on June 29, 2016June 25, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Mindfulness has been a favorite of psychologists and behavioral researchers. In a purely secular sense, mindfulness simply means becoming aware of your thoughts or thinking about thinking. However, mindfulness has also been a part of the prayer practices of the historic church.

The early church and the desert fathers and mothers in particular routinely practiced a form of mindfulness that they used in conjunction with prayer. This practice has continued throughout the history of the church, although it has been called different things over time, such as the Ignatian Examen that I use each evening. Here is one analysis of this prayer practice and its Christian background:

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The early fathers of the Eastern Christian Church talked about the vigilance of the mind and heart [nepsis], which is similar to the cognitive-rational-emotive therapy technique employed by psychologists in helping patients to be ‘mindful’ and thus learn to control their thoughts and feelings. In response to this technique Beck (2011) writes that “. . . mindfulness techniques help patients nonjudgmentally observe and accept their internal experiences, without evaluating or trying to change them.”

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A vigilance and watchfulness of the mind and heart somewhat similar to the cognitive-rational-emotive therapy technique employed by psychologists in helping patients to be ‘mindful’ and thus learn control of thoughts and feelings is a frequent theme in the writings of the early Fathers of the Eastern Christian Church.

These early Christian spiritual teachers taught their disciples to develop nepsis, that is, to be wakeful and attentive (from the Greek verb nepho: to be vigilant, mindful)iii to that which was inside and around them. Thus, we also need to practice being completely “present” to our thoughts and surroundings.

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Featured Book: Falling Upward

Posted on June 27, 2016June 23, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Week Two: Moving Beyond Control

Contemplation creates a space in our lives for God to settle and perhaps speak without our intellects trying to control our religious experience. In Falling Upward, Richard Rohr writes that the first half of life is particularly hostile toward contemplation because we are struggling to define our identities and beliefs.

However, many find that the boundaries we’ve devoted our first half of life to constructing are never as solid as we thought. This is where the falling comes in. Most importantly, this is where we can find true spiritual growth.

The loss of control over our spirituality can open us to new movements of the Spirit of God. Here’s what Richard Rohr has to say in Falling Upward:

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The very unfortunate result of this preoccupation with order, control, safety, pleasure, and certitude is that a high percentage of people never get to the contents of their own lives! Human life is about more than building boundaries, protecting identities, creating tribes, and teaching impulse control.

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Very few Christians have been taught how to live both law and freedom at the same time. Our Western dualistic minds do not process paradoxes very well. Without a contemplative mind, we do not know how to hold creative tensions.

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God has to undo our illusions secretly, as it were, when we are not watching and not in perfect control, say the mystics. That is perhaps why the best word for God is actually Mystery. We move forward in ways that we do not even understand and through the quiet workings of time and grace.

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For Reflection

What are you trying to control today?

Take 5 minutes to surrender that part of your life to God today.

Saturday Prayer: Trusting God Who Never Fails

Posted on June 25, 2016June 20, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

This Saturday’s Prayer:

Lord, make me have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Source: The Divine Hours

Friday Favorites for Prayer and Writing

Posted on June 24, 2016June 23, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Each Friday I share some of my favorite finds related to praying or writing. If I think it could help you pray or write better, then I’ll include it below.

One Small Square [On justice and contemplation]

How to Create an Internal Mindset Conducive to Writing

Are You the Listener You Think You Are?

Why Does Running Appeal to Writers?

Experience God’s Presence: Five First Steps

From my blog: Creating a Contemplative-Friendly Smartphone

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Contemplative Profiles: Brother Lawrence

Posted on June 23, 2016June 21, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

We best know Brother Lawrence as an unassuming monk who worked hard in a monastery kitchen doing menial chores. It was hardly a step up from his previous occupation in the army, which he only joined because he had grown up in poverty. While serving as a soldier he had a spiritual experience that eventually sent him to a monastery.

Lawrence spent his days contemplating the love of God while washing pots and pan, running errands, and cleaning the kitchen. I have personally benefitted from his writings since I’m the person who washes the dishes in our home, but his example of inviting God to join him in the simplest of tasks is a powerful reminder of how to practice God’s presence today.

This profile in Christian History includes the following quotes from Brother Lawrence:

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Lawrence writes, “Men invent means and methods of coming at God’s love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God’s presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?”

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“We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king.”

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“As often as I could, I placed myself as a worshiper before him, fixing my mind upon his holy presence, recalling it when I found it wandering from him. This proved to be an exercise frequently painful, yet I persisted through all difficulties.”

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