Author: Rob Loane
Page: 11
Tony Campolo tells the story that for a kid growing up in Philadelphia as he did, Mischief Night, the night before Halloween, was a highlight of the year for his neighborhood. It was the night the kids generated all sorts of mayhem for the adult world. Cars were egged, homes were tee-peed, air was let […]
I have recently found myself pondering a good bit the psalmist words, “The Lord…my shepherd…makes me lie down in green pastures” (Psalm 23:1-2). My son Elliott is 7 ½ months old. Sarah and I have become well acquainted with the daily mystery of putting Elliott down for the night or for a nap. Over the past […]
Thomas Hart’s The Art of Christian Listening (Paulist Press, 1980) has consistently provided me fruitful perspectives for the work of walking alongside others on their spiritual journey. Hart’s thoughts point to fundamental realities of helping another person. As I reread the book I found myself translating some of his thoughts into self-examining questions. As you […]
I am reminded again this December through the person of Jesus Christ that life is fundamentally gift. The incarnation as theologians put it; or more simply said, “When God gives a gift, he wraps it in the form of a person” (William Lane). God’s grace comes to us freely and abundantly in a person, a […]
I found myself thinking and praying this afternoon for the many participants who are currently working through Stage 2 of The Emerging Journey. And along the way I remembered a story that I shared a few years back in an online meditation for The Joshua Foundation. So here’s the balloon story, a story told for […]
We live such busy, lonely, and anxious lives. But we long to know God more deeply. The psalmist writes, “As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2). St. Augustine famously writes in his Confessions – “You stir […]
Kathleen Norris writes a gem of a little book entitled The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and “Woman’s Work” (Paulist Press, 1998). By “quotidian” she means that which belongs to the everyday or the commonplace. She reminds us that it is amidst the ordinary stuff of our lives that we must be attentive to and expectant […]
Deep Mentoring: Guiding Others on Their Leadership Journey (InterVarsity Press, 2012) arrived in the mail last week. We wrote this book with the simple desire to help others come alongside others as a guide and friend, investing in their spiritual formation. For those familiar with the different VP3 processes many of the invitations in the book will […]
One saint from the early church, Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-211), defined prayer as “keeping company with God.” In this sense, Jesus invites his listeners to a prayer-ful life—life in the company of his divine community. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone […]
I just got a look at this short video yesterday. A group of Emerging Journey participants at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis gathered to share via film their experience. It is such a clear and encouraging reflection of what this eight-month spiritual formation process can invite in people’s lives. Take a look at their conversation. Wonderful! […]
As the Willow Creek Leadership Summit approaches in a week or so, I found myself thinking about last year’s Summit. One presenter’s thoughts about the practice of silence particularly stands out in my memory. “Mama Maggie” Gobran, a Coptic Christian from Cairo, Egypt, who is a 2012 Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her efforts in founding […]
The most significant book I have read in the past two years has to be Eugene Peterson’s The Pastor: A Memoir. It is the story of his formation and his vocation as pastor. If you are not acquainted with Peterson or only acquainted with his contemporary translation The Message, then The Pastor would be a great […]