Advancing in the spiritual life: the Jesus Prayer as partner

Continued from previous posts . . . As part of this current series of posts about the stages of spiritual growth, I wrote most recently about the experience called “The Wall.” At the Wall, you have to face what’s standing in the way between you and God—and that’s never easy. “It’s your spiritual practice,” I wrote, “especially interior prayer, meditation, and contemplation that will see you through to the new you that awaits you on the other side.”  In the next few posts, I’ll open up to you a simple way to practice interior prayer.

The method of prayer I’ll teach you is very, very old. Old as St. Paul who taught us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5.12). Old as Jesus who taught us that the “Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17.21), and that when we pray we’re not to go on babbling as so many religious people do, but are instead to enter the closet of our hearts and commune simply with God (Matthew 6.6). A form of this kind of praying is quite possibly as old as Elijah and the prophets of Israel who knew that God’s voice was best heard in “the sound of sheer silence” (1 Kings 19.12).

The Prayer of the Heart (the Jesus Prayer, contemplative prayer, etc) is the most universal spiritual “technology” for achieving what all people seek: union with God. That it’s relatively unknown today doesn’t mean it’s strange or esoteric. Nor is it only for monks and mystics. The monks and mystics all agree that it’s the most beneficial and easily practiced form of prayer available to the most active of people. For millennia housewives and blacksmiths, kings and farmers have practiced the Prayer of the Heart, nourishing a vital spiritual life, cultivating virtue, and living humble lives of love and grace, compassion and courage—bringing hope and wholeness to our often fragile and wounded, yet beautiful world.

In the posts that follow I'll offer you a little guide to this ancient and durable practice that’s making a come back in our day—and not a moment too soon, for the state of our world sorely needs the kind of women and men who are shaped by it.

To be continued . . .

The Third Stage of Spiritual Growth: "Service and Leadership"

Continued from previous posts: I call the third stage of spiritual growth "Service and Leadership." The first stage is "First Awakening," and the second, "Believing and Belonging." I've written about the first two in previous posts.

When you first awaken to God it's as if you've risen from a long night's sleep. Something has stirred you and you begin to seek God. If you move beyond this stage, you enter a community where you learn what it means to believe and belong.

You can get stuck in both stages--stuck and unable to move beyond awakening because your awareness of God can make you feel so terribly guilty and unworthy that you can't imagine God can love you. You can get stuck in the second stage if you become infatuated with doctrinal debates or worry that you can never know enough. But if you grow in a healthy way and move from awakening and into believing and belonging, you will eventually grow into a new season of service and leadership. During this season, you become highly involved in ministries of compassion or administration, evangelism or justice. You might serve on a committee, volunteer for the choir or as a Sunday School teacher, engage in a service or mission project, train as a minister, respond to a call for missionary service, or become an elder or deacon. You are, of course, still learning about the Christian faith, and may sense a real vibrancy to your growth.

To be continued . . .

How you grow beyond stage two, "Believing and Belonging"

Continued from previous posts: There are several ways you might get stuck in stage two and fail to move on. First, you might become zealous about doctrine. It's interesting and fun to learn about Christian theology. It can also give you a sense of power. If you understand, say, the Reformed Tradition better than others, or if you learn exegetical Bible study methods, or study New Testament Greek, you can feel like you've got the upper hand in doctrinal debates. Your knowledge can become a source of pride and a tool you can use to prove others wrong and give yourself a sense of superiority. Alternatively, you might feel you never can know enough; driven by perfectionism you may find yourself always learning and never doing much with what you know.

Second, you might come to the place where you love your small group or circle of friends so much that that warmth becomes not only a source of comfort, but a way to exclude others and keep yourself from growth. Most of us don't like change and so, once we know what we think we need to know and have Christian friends we enjoy, we simply stop growing. But Christian growth requires discomfort. In order to grow you need to do something with what you believe in order to let the Holy Spirit teach you more. In order to grow, you need to step out of your comfortable circle and serve among others and find the Holy Spirit growing you through challenging experiences and relationships.

If you do, you will move into stage three: "Service and Leadership," and this will open up to you a whole new experience in your spiritual journey into the fullness of Jesus Christ.

To be continued . . .

The Second Stage of Spiritual Growth: "Believing and Belonging"

Continued from previous posts: In the last few posts, I introduced the first of six stages of spiritual growth, what I call, "First Awakening." This is the point when you first become conscious of God. There's some need, some precipitating event, some intervention that unsettles you, inspires your search for God, or requires you to make sense of a spiritual experience you simply can't ignore any longer. It's as if you've awakened from a long night's sleep to sunlight streaming through your window and you wonder why you slept so late.

I'm writing about these stages to help you understand the way God generally works in our lives so you can better understand your own growth as well as the growth of others. Last month, I also urged you to be careful not to turn these stages into a program. The pattern of these stages is consistence throughout the history of Christian spirituality, but it's nevertheless an oversimplification. God is always free do blow our little maps apart in order to bring us to the fullness offered us in Christ.

First Awakening usually leads to the second stage, which I call "Believing and Belonging." At this stage in our journey we connect to a community where we learn the essential doctrines of Christianity. Here, we're formed by our association with others, our attendance in worship, and our involvement in experiences that teach us the faith. This then leads to the third stage, "Service and Leadership". It's quite possible that you might find yourself serving during the second stage, and so, the stages can overlap. But in the second stage, though you may participate in a service project, assist with VBS, or lead in worship, the focus is largely on learning and belonging. Service can be a great way to learn; joining others is a great way to belong and connect.

To be continued . . .

A journey of six stages

One way of looking at the spiritual journey is to view it as a journey of six stages. The first three are primarily external; the last three primarily internal--though of course, there are deep interior moves in the first three more external stages, and there are serious engagements with the outer world in the last three more internal stages.

This pattern appears consistence throughout the history of Christian spirituality. But remember, any such scheme is an oversimplification, even while it describes a time-tested path of spiritual growth. God is always free do blow our little maps apart in order to bring us to the fullness offered us in Christ.

God will not be boxed up or caged, nor the path to God turned into a formula.

So while it's not inappropriate to explore the path of spiritual growth, we must avoid turning that path into a journey we can engineer on our own, and we must take care not to turn these stages into tools to judge others or ourselves. What I say about these stages is meant only to help you recognize common sign posts along the way, while leaving the journey open to whatever God wishes to do in your life and in the lives of those around you.

To be continued . . .