\n
The phrases \u201cspiritual discipline\u201d and \u201cspiritual practice\u201d are widely misunderstood. \u00a0For far too many of us, what we hear is \u201cwork\u201d or \u201ceffort\u201d and that immediately subverts our ability to connect with their purpose.\u00a0 Even sports metaphors (which the Apostle Paul used) can skew our understanding of prayer, fasting, contemplation, and worship.<\/p>\n
These are not adventures in spiritual bodybuilding and the spiritual life is not the exercise of an unseen muscle.\u00a0 Spiritual disciplines are about opening a space in our lives in which intimacy with God is possible.<\/p>\n
Contrary to what many Christians fear and some skeptics claim, it is not difficult to find God.\u00a0 It is difficult for God to find us.\u00a0 We are mesmerized by our surroundings, preoccupied with our fears, and diverted by the busy-ness of our lives.<\/p>\n
Spiritual disciplines are perhaps better understood as those things we can do to make an inner conversation with God possible.\u00a0 They create a space in which we can stop, listen, and find some measure of God-given control over appetites and fears that threaten to dominate and shape our lives.<\/p>\n
That may be a demanding, taxing experience at times.\u00a0 But it isn\u2019t work with work as its own goal or discipline with discipline as its goal.\u00a0 It\u2019s a process of liberation and the beginning of shalom \u2014 a life lived out of and in communion with God.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The phrases \u201cspiritual discipline\u201d and \u201cspiritual practice\u201d are widely misunderstood. \u00a0For far too many of us, what we hear is \u201cwork\u201d or \u201ceffort\u201d and that immediately subverts our ability to connect with their purpose.\u00a0 Even sports metaphors (which the Apostle Paul used) can skew our understanding of prayer, fasting, contemplation, and worship. These are not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-perspectives"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. 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