- Episode AI notes
- Active and passive spirituality is a key idea in spiritual growth that has been lost in the march upward mobility of the Western church.
- Active spirituality includes practices like reading scriptures, praying, attending church, and dealing with past issues, while passive spirituality is more initiated and carried out by God.
- The central message of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount is that radical acceptance and trust in God leads to a life free from anxiety.
- Reordering desires to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness is achievable in the Christian tradition and can lead to a happy, healthy, and loving life without being in slavery to our own attachments and desires.
- It’s important to embrace imperfection, love others as they are, and focus on the goodness of God in order to find gratitude, joy, and true happiness.
- As we age, it becomes increasingly important to find a balance between being active and resting and to accept what we cannot control.
In order to mature and grow, we must accept the invitations of life that call us deeper into the heart of life itself and move towards the pain, making space for Jesus’ invitations in the here and now.
Passive and Active Spirituality Active and passive spirituality, an ancient idea in spiritual formation, has been lost due to the Western church’s focus on upward mobility. It involves saying yes to what God is doing in us through our pain, rather than just doing practices to mature in God. Passive has negative connotations in modern English, but the ancients meant it differently. This key idea is important for spiritual growth.
Speaker 1
Put another way it feels less about doing practices to grow and mature in God and more about saying yes to what God is doing in us in particular through our pain, which for Peter would be His death, and for you or for I could be any number of things. Now what we talk about when we talk about active and passive, in church history is called exactly that active and passive spirituality. If that language is new to you, don’t feel out of touch or bad at all. It’s ancient language, not modern language. In fact, passive has negative connotations in modern English. I hear passive and I think of passive aggressive, like Gerald, it’s so great that you’re always on time, or whatever he’s actually quite punctual. You would not imagine that with his personality. He’s actually quite punctual, but I’m actually quite passive aggressive. True story, so I’m good at it. But I think of passive aggressive, or I think of a passive personality as in somebody with no spine or backbone, but the ancients don’t mean it in a negative light at all. And sadly, it’s an idea that has been lost to the dust of time, kind of covered over by the Western church’s march upward mobility, which is tragic because it is a key idea in spiritual Formation.The Importance of Spiritual Marriage in the Western Church Bridgtown Church believes that spirituality and psychology should be merged like they were prior to the Enlightenment. Back then, the priest or vicar was responsible for the care of souls. Now, pastors have taken on multiple roles like CEO or life coach. Science has taken over psychology, but applying scientific methods to the soul can cause problems since science is value-free.
Speaker 1
One of the deep passions of Bridgtown Church is that in the Western church, there is a need to remarry spirituality and psychology prior just if that sounds suspicious to you. Prior to the enlightenment, there was little to no division between the two. That’s all late modern stuff. Both were the domain of the priest or if you’re in England, the vicar, who was called the cure of souls from the Latin cure, which can be translated care of or cure of. So the spiritual leader in a community was expected to be an expert in the life and the healing and the growth of the soul. Nowadays, we think of a pastor more as an evangelist or a CEO or a community organizer or a life coach or whatever, which is fine. But the pastor’s role used to be much more of a spiritual director. He’s basically there to preach a sermon and help you pray. But in the enlightenment, as the West began to secularize, spirituality became the domain of faith and was left in the hands of the church, whereas psychology became a separate thing, Was put into the hands of science and the university. Again, not all bad, but when you apply the scientific method to the soul, you run in all sorts of problems. For one, science is supposed to be, at least in theory, value-free.Active Spirituality Active spirituality involves self-effort empowered by grace in our journey with Jesus. It includes practices like reading scriptures, praying, and attending church, as well as the hard work of therapy and dealing with our past. It also involves mortification, which my Calvinist friends refer to as killing off sinful habits.
Speaker 1
What they meant by active spirituality is the aspects of our apprenticeship to Jesus, where it feels like we do something. It feels like self-effort empowered by grace. Gerald May explains it this way, the active dimension of the spiritual life consists of what feels like one’s initiative, choice, or effort, the passive dimension seems to be more Initiated and carried out by God. Now notice this is emotional language, not theological. So they’re not calling it a question, the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. They’re just naming the felt experience of life with Jesus. So active spirituality is things like number one, the practices or spiritual disciplines. You wake up early in the morning or whatever time is your style, and you read through the scriptures, or you pray, or you turn to the ear to God, or you practice Sabbath, or you come to church, This right here is active spirituality, what we’re doing right now, where you join a community and break bread and open a glass of wine around the body and the blood of Jesus on Tuesday Night. Or two, it’s the hard work of say therapy, or dealing with your past, or a father wound, or your family of origin, or the shadow side to your personality. Or three, it’s what my Calvinist friends call mortification. I almost want to become a Calvinist just so I can use that language with authenticity because it’s so wicked awesome.Passive Spirituality Active spirituality is about taking charge of our spiritual formation, while passive spirituality is more about God’s work in us. Active spirituality involves goal-setting and a linear journey, while passive spirituality is more initiated and carried out by God.
Speaker 1
It’s what most of what we have been teaching on for the last two and a half years with practicing the way. And with active spirituality, it feels like we’re in charge. It feels like if we don’t do it, it won’t happen. If I don’t wake up tomorrow morning and read Roman chapter, whatever I’m in, I think I’m a little bit behind. No, Corinthians, whatever I’m in, it’s amazing by the way. Then it won’t happen. And it’s goal-based. We often have a sense of success or failure. You’re either practicing Sabbath or not. You’re either at church or not, or whatever it is. And it feels like more of a linear journey. I almost feel like I could sit down with a 20-year-old and walk them through active spirituality over 10 years. Let me teach you the seven core spiritual disciplines. Let me teach you emotionally healthy spirituality. Let’s do the past work, inner healing. Let’s do some deliverance. Let’s do your Enneagram number. There goes four years. And then whatever. I almost feel like I could take somebody on a linear journey up to a point. You could say that active spirituality is our responsibility. It’s the role that we play in our spiritual formation. Passive spirituality, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. It’s the aspects of our apprenticeship to Jesus where it feels more like God is the one doing something in us. Again, May, the passive dimension seems to be more initiated and carried out by God.The Radical Acceptance of God Jesus isn’t saying everything will work out fine, but as his apprentice, you can live worry-free. The key is radical acceptance and trust in God; seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and nothing can take that from you. This is the central message of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount, including the Beatitudes.
Speaker 1
But if he’s saying something else, which he is, notice the line that we all skip about the grass of the field we love that, oh, it’s so cute, the grass, which is here today and tomorrow is Thrown into the fire. You ever like skip over that? You’re like, oh, that doesn’t feel good. That must not mean what I think it means. Let’s not mean what it says. I don’t want that. How is that good news? Wait a minute. Jesus is, unless if I’m missing this, and I’m not alone here, Jesus is not saying, hey, guys, don’t worry. Everything will work out fine. He’s saying, don’t worry. As an apprentice of me, you can live, not me, John Mark, me. Don’t speak for Jesus. He’s saying, as an apprentice of him, you can live a life free from anxiety. You don’t need to worry about all the stuff that everybody worries about, that it’s human and normal to worry about. And the key is not to delude yourself into thinking nothing bad will happen to you. The key is to come to a place of such radical acceptance and trusting God that no matter what happens to you, if you die tomorrow worse, if you’re thrown into the fire, you’re okay. Because the primary desire of your heart is to seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and nothing can take that from you. Someone argue that’s the central message of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes, which again, I think people misread as a list of virtues.The Kingdom of God is Within You Jesus’s central message is that anyone can have access to the Father through him, regardless of their circumstances. This is the most radical idea in the Sermon on the Mount, which promotes a life free from anxiety by being centered on the Kingdom and its righteousness.
Speaker 1
I don’t think it’s a list of virtues at all. I think it’s a list of the kind of people that everybody else in his day said are cursed. And he’s saying, actually, you can live a life that is blessed because you can have access to the Father through me. Someone would say the central message of Jesus is anyone can have access to the Father through me. That’s it. That’s good news. You don’t have to be poor. You don’t have to have a dream life. You don’t have to have perfect health. You don’t have to, whatever it is, you fill in the blank. Anyone can have access to the Father, and no one can take access to the Father away from you. As Paul writes later to the Romans, not death, not life, not principalities, not powers, not height, not death, nor any other created thing, nothing can separate you from the love of The Father. What Jesus is getting at here is, I think, the most radical idea in this Sermon on the Mount. A life? Can you imagine a life free from all anxiety because you are so centered on the Kingdom and its righteousness as the ultimate aim of your heart that everything else, you still have desires For it, but you no longer need anything else to live a happy, healthy, and loving life. That is radical. Paul. Now the ancients, yes.Radical Christianity: Living for the Kingdom What if you were so centered on the Kingdom and its righteousness that everything else became secondary? This concept, known as active or passive spirituality, detachment, or indifference, doesn’t mean eliminating all desires, but rather reordering them to seek first the Kingdom and his righteousness. Reaching this level of detachment allows for a happy, healthy and loving life without being in slavery to your own attachments and desires. It’s radical, but achievable in the Christian tradition.
Speaker 1
Can you imagine a life free from all anxiety because you are so centered on the Kingdom and its righteousness as the ultimate aim of your heart that everything else, you still have desires For it, but you no longer need anything else to live a happy, healthy, and loving life. That is radical. Paul. Now the ancients, yes. The ancients called that active, I’m sorry, passive spirituality. The Ignatians later called it, the Jesuit order, later called it indifference. And again, they don’t mean what me mean, me and I indifference. They mean where you no longer are in slavery to you or attachment. Some more recent teachers call it detachment, but in the Christian tradition, detachment is very different from the Buddhist tradition. The goal is not to detach from all desire. It’s rather to reorder your desire to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. So if you are single and you ache for a spouse, the goal from the Jesus tradition, as I understand it, is not so much to get rid of all desire for marriage. It’s to reorder your desire where the Kingdom and his righteousness, that is what you live for. That is your emotional source of happiness and life and joy. And it doesn’t mean you don’t want marriage or don’t want a spouse or don’t want a companion, but you don’t need it in order to live a happy and a flourishing life. Again, that’s radical.Active and Passive Spirituality The Jesus tradition teaches that the goal for unmarried people is not to rid themselves of the desire for marriage but to prioritize the Kingdom and righteousness of God as their source of joy and happiness. Detachment is defined as releasing oneself to God without conditions or reservations while actively turning one’s whole being to God to release His power into all situations. This is a key facet in the theory of change, according to Robert Mahalen, a teacher.
Speaker 1
So if you are single and you ache for a spouse, the goal from the Jesus tradition, as I understand it, is not so much to get rid of all desire for marriage. It’s to reorder your desire where the Kingdom and his righteousness, that is what you live for. That is your emotional source of happiness and life and joy. And it doesn’t mean you don’t want marriage or don’t want a spouse or don’t want a companion, but you don’t need it in order to live a happy and a flourishing life. Again, that’s radical. One teacher, Robert Mahalen, defines detachment this way, a deep inner posture of joyful release of our life and being to God in absolute trust without demands, without conditions, And without reservations. It is neither a passive resignation, more than that in a minute, nor a fatalistic acquiescence to whatever comes. It is rather a consistent posture of actively turning our whole being to God so that God’s presence, purpose, and power can be released through our lives into all situations. Now, even though this is my first time teaching on active and passive spirituality, it’s actually a key facet and has been for a while in our working theory of change.The Importance of Prayer It’s important to focus on the goodness of God before sleep and upon waking up, as these are key times for your brain’s generation of new thoughts and neural pathways. Watching TV before bed is one of the worst things you can do for your mind. Instead, take a few moments each morning to listen to God’s voice and ask how you can serve Him and others.
Speaker 1
The gospels or we just fall asleep with our mind on the goodness of God as it’s a key time at a neurological level I understand just enough about neuroplasticity to be dangerous so I really Should not say anything here but so it’s a key time when you wake and when you go to sleep or to the key times for your brain and the generation of new thoughts and new neural pathways through Your system so something so it’s one of the worst things you can do is stay up late watching stuff filling your mind with crap one of the worst things you could do for your mind but we slow Sleep we allow our minds to sit there we wake up in the morning whatever it looks like for you for me it’s before I ever turn on my phone there’s a psalm there’s a moment in the life of Jesus And there’s just a moment of waiting on God and the quiet sometimes just in my own groggy early morning way I’m not much a morning person so it’s not like revival I’m not like interceding In tongues naked on the roof or anything I’m just in my bathrobe trying to like focus my mind but having those moments and that’s just a couple days a week but you know just having those Moments of God my ear is open is there anything you want to say anything you want me to know what would it be pleasing to you today how can I serve you is there anybody else that you want me To have my eyes open for today anything you want me to do just an open ear to hear God’s voice over your lifeActive Spirituality: From C to I To truly grow in your spiritual journey, adopting active spirituality is necessary. This means working spiritual disciplines into your life and dealing with past issues to move forward. Simply going to church and occasionally reading your Bible may only take you from A to C or D, but active spirituality can take you to greater levels of growth and maturity in Christ.
Speaker 1
Now is that if let’s say the spiritual journey is like kind of a to z like let’s map it that way it’s not that linear but let’s just pretend it is and let’s say if all you do is the standard American Formula for Christianity basically you come to church once in a while the average I think American church goers 1.4 times a month you occasionally read your bible and pray whatever It looks like and you just try to be a good person and try to have a few Christian friends that’s kind of how you follow Jesus and again no judgment we’re just wherever you’re at with that We’re so happy you’re here some of you aren’t even following Jesus yeah we’re so happy you’re here but if that’s your approach then let’s say you might make it from A to C or D you will grow A little bit but there will be not much difference between you and pretty much anybody else on the streets of our city if you want to really grow and mature into Christ’s likeness you need To adopt active spirituality you begin to work the spiritual disciplines into your body come up with a rule of life that works for you your personality gender stage of life all of that Sure but you need to adopt one in order to get very far you need to do some of the emotionally healthy stuff deal with some of your past for your personality move forward get healing get Freedom from sin or addiction whatever it is in order to move forward now that kind of active spirituality might take you from C D to I don’t know MLNOP even if you’re lucky right youThe Cost of Slavery to Our Relationship Being fixated on an idealized version of marriage or spouse is a type of slavery that prevents us from loving them as they actually are. Rather than enjoying our spouse’s good and bad qualities, we become critical and manipulate them.
Speaker 1
A lot of you in this room have a spouse as long as you or I are in slavery to our attachment to an ego ideal meaning an idealized vision of what your marriage should be or even could be what Your spouse could be or should be or you wish he or she was as long as you think that you need that kind of marriage that kind of spouse that kind of relationship that kind of you feel in the Blank to live happy you’re actually in slavery and you’re worst of all not free to love your marriage and your spouse as they actually are you are a slave to a fantasy rather than the beneficiary Of reality and because you’re not free to enjoy your spouse as they actually are with all the good in them and all the less than awesome in them right as they actually you’re not actually Free to enjoy them as they are and so what most of us do is we manipulate we judge we criticize we suggest we elbow we could Joel we wound each other what should be the place of ourParenting in Slavery: The Ego Ideal vs. the Child’s Best Interests As a parent, it’s easy to become a slave to our own ego and expectations for our children. We attach our self-worth to their achievements and become critical when they don’t meet our expectations. This robs us of our ability to love them unconditionally and appreciate them for who they are.
Speaker 1
We wound each other what should be the place of our greatest safety becomes the place of our greatest critique because we’re in slavery parenting a lot of parents in the room tonight As long let me just talk as a dad very honestly as long as I am in slavery to my attachment to my ego ideal for my children and trust me do I ever have one all right my children will get a 4.0 that Was one of the things I just assumed all three of my children of course they will get a 4.0 all the time from kindergarten on so that’s not going so hot they will go to a prestigious college That they get a scholarship for climate pastor so but therefore point out we’re all good right at least one of them will get a PhD and do all sorts of things to prop up my fragile ego to make Me feel like I’m a parent of an elite not just a grown-up homeschooler who’s still quite insecure as long as I need that to be happy I need my children to perform to fit this ego ideal that I have in my mind as long as I’m in slavery to that I’m actually not free to love my children as they are my first one sounds amazing he has more personality than I will ever have over a decade Right he’sI’m Not Free to Love Them as They Actually Are Beautiful and Wonderful with All of the Good and Bad in Each One of Them Just Like in Me and in You Stop trying to control and manipulate people. Embrace their imperfections and love them for who they are. Don’t be a slave to society’s expectations of body image and career goals. Love yourself as you are and use your body to bless others.
Speaker 1
Perform in this way not only am I not free to love them as they actually are beautiful and wonderful with all of the good and bad in each one of them just like in me and in you I actually will Wound them I will manipulate them I will hurt them I will harp on them I will criticize them I will make them feel insecure and they will enter adulthood walking with the wound rather than Empowered to be who God made them to be single people I forgive the marriage and family examples it’s where I’m at I know it’s not where a lot of you are at but there are so many ways to apply This I just been thinking this is an odd one but all week long about body image like in our hyper even in our city where it’s a little bit better than most but still man the obsession over Body image and sexualization in our culture right now as long as we are in slavery to our attachment of the ego ideal of what we want our body to look like man we’re not free not only to love Our body as a gift from God and the place where we experience God’s love but to use our body as an agent of blessing to others where we don’t even think about ourselves we’re just there to Live in love as long as you’re and film whatever it is as long as we’re in slavery to our attachment to our dream career dream job whatever we’re not actually free toThe Reality of My Life We seek happiness because it leads to love. At some point we must face the reality of our lives and find gratitude and joy. Whether it’s our body, career, or partner, nothing is perfect. Embracing imperfection is the key to true happiness.
Speaker 1
And again this isn’t just about happiness this is about love happiness is a means to an end miserable people tend not to be the most loving people happy people tend to have an easier job Of loving wow so we want to be happy because more than anything we want to live in love my point is at some point whether it’s your body or your career or your boyfriend that you’re thinking About getting married to but he’s just not quite perfect uh-huh and he’s not trust me and it’s actually worst and you think um but whatever it is as long at some point we have to come i’m Just here to encourage you i’ve got a lot of criticism over the years never of being self-help not once um at some point my point is all of us whatever your stage of life status whatever We all at some point have to come to face the reality of our life not the fantasy of the could be the reality with the heart full of gratitude and joy this is my body okay this is my anti-appan Number okay this is my relationship status and my age okay this is mySpiritual Progress Getting older has made me love poetry, especially that of St. John, who some consider the best Spanish poet ever. He wrote about reaching satisfaction in having nothing and being everything, while Teresa urged people to rely on God alone and not be afraid of change. Active spirituality is important for progress, but love is the ultimate goal.
Speaker 1
Can only be said in poetry i guess i’m getting old because i love poetry lately but both st john and tereesa were poets i love this from st john some consider him to be the best spanish poet Of all time to reach satisfaction in all desire satisfaction in nothing to come to possess all desire the possession of nothing to arrive at being all desire to be nothing i love this Even more from tereesa let nothing disturb you let nothing make you afraid all things pass but god is unchanging patience is enough for everything you who have god lack nothing god alone Is sufficient all that to say active spirituality is great you know i am all for it we’ve been teaching on it for years but to progress to move forward to love we haveThe Cross of Life Embrace and submit to the designs of providence with faith and love, whether it is from God, Satan, or chaos theory. Practice simple duties, follow Jesus’ way and suffer lovingly. Accept the crosses of your life and submit to the designs of love in them. This is the formula for consistent sanctity and maturing in life.
Speaker 1
State of life is it has a cross or more than one with it to embrace with it and to submit with faith and love to the designs of providence capital p whether you interpret the events in your Life as from god or satan or chaos theory or your own stuff or your boss or whatever it comes from to embrace to submit with faith and love to god’s designs in it by the way it works the passive Part there’s our language of sanctity is still more easy since only consists in accepting that which we very often have no power to prevent and in suffering lovingly love that language Suffering lovingly that is to say with sweetness and consolation those things that too often cause weariness and disgust once more i repeat in this consistent sanctity that that’s His formula for how you grow mature in one paragraph you’re like you could have said the last two and a half years and just one paragraph but that’s it you just f of i love how simple it is To fill the simple duties practice the way of jesus and suffering lovingly what are the crosses of your state of life you submit to the designs of love in them third as a general rule the First half of life is moreThe Importance of Acceptance in Spiritual Formation As we age, we realize that God is in charge of our spiritual formation, and life becomes less about doing and more about being. This advice may not be suitable for younger people, who need to focus on taking action, but for those entering the second half of life, it’s more important than ever to prioritize rest and Sabbath.
Speaker 1
Post church world and in my experience just and again anecdotal evidence is most of them stall out at that point in their spiritual formation but as we age we realize more and more that God is in charge of our spiritual formation not us um we realize that we’re the raw materials gods the architect and the builder of our house and so life becomes a little bit less about Doing which is good and important in the first half of life and it’s still good in the second half it’s just not nearly as important and it becomes more and more about being that’s why you Hear so many older people talk about being versus doing right that’s not good advice for an 18 year old don’t tell an 18 year old like when second half of life people give second half of Life advice to first half of life people it’s not good so don’t tell like an 18 year old it’s really just about being not doing like an 18 year old and this city does not need to hear that they Need to hear like get a job and move out of your parents basement and do something with your life right but when that same person is 38 or 48 the odds are they need to hear more than ever it’s About being it’s about Sabbath it’s about rest so it’s always both and but more and more as you age and enter the second half finally this does not mean that we roll over and play dead so Acceptance is not acquiescenceActive Acceptance: A Spiritual Path to Overcoming Problems As we age, it becomes increasingly important to find a balance between being active and resting. Acceptance doesn’t mean giving up, but instead actively accepting what we can’t control. Too often, we focus on external solutions instead of internal solutions to our problems. It’s time to shift our focus and work on ourselves.
Speaker 1
A job and move out of your parents basement and do something with your life right but when that same person is 38 or 48 the odds are they need to hear more than ever it’s about being it’s about Sabbath it’s about rest so it’s always both and but more and more as you age and enter the second half finally this does not mean that we roll over and play dead so acceptance is not acquiescence I would imagine it would be easy to hear this and misinterpret it to think well won’t this lead to just kind of a lazy fatalistic defeatism my answer to that is a resounding no it’s what One of my mentors calls active acceptance meaning we’re active we do everything we can to fix the problems in our life and then once we can’t control stuff which is turns out most of our Life at that point we shift to acceptance or detachment or indifference or passive spirituality whatever you want to call that we all face problems in life and since most of like life Is basically just a series of problems that’s one way to interpret it not the most positive way but it is accurate and we err in our spiritual journey if and when we focus more on external Solutions than internal solutions to our problems meaning we focus more on how to manipulate the people and circumstances of our life to make us happy then on how to become theThe Art of Acceptance Life is like a game of whack-a-mole where problems keep coming up. While problem-solving is great, some problems can only be accepted and embraced. Knowing when to shift from problem-solving to acceptance takes discernment. The Serenity Prayer by Richard Newbauer is a great guide for this. It asks for the grace to accept the unchangeable, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Speaker 1
That shift like with all of our life is about problem solving to live happy that’s our strategy life just becomes one endless game of whack-a-mole you know what i mean we’re like you fix One problem and another one comes up and you fix another problem you have like a split second of everything’s good and then another problem comes up and it just becomes this for a life And i’m all for problem solving it’s great but at some point we all realize that the deepest problems cannot be solved that some of the deepest problems can only be embraced forgiven Released and accepted as an act of trust and it takes discernment to know when to shift from problem solving to acceptance i think of the serenity prayer which was popularized by a it Actually was written by a 20th century well-known theologian Richard Newbauer it’s most people only quote the first line it’s so beautiful i literally have it in the back of my bible Because i pray this pretty much every single day as a part of where i am at in life but i love this god give me the grace to accept with serenity a piece the things that cannot be changed courage To change the things which should be changed and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other what a great prayer it goes on living one day at a timeThe invitation of Jesus in your stage of life Jesus meets people in their pain and works towards healing and salvation. We don’t heal by moving away from pain, but by facing it and accepting the invitations of Jesus in our current stage of life. To mature, we must accept the invitations of life that call us deeper into the heart of life itself. Move towards the pain, make space, and accept Jesus’ invitations in the here and now.
Speaker 1
Doubt and questions this is what jesus does he meets people in their pain and he doesn’t skip over it and say just ignore that and follow me he meets people there does the work of healing Or he would call it salvation and then says all right now come and follow me the great lie of the enemy is that we heal by moving away from our pain when in reality we heal by moving toward Our pain facing reality and facing the love of god in that space and finally accept the invitations of jesus in our stage in our season i love this from rong roheiser and sacred fire again It’s in our recommended reading he raises his one paragraph summary of how we grow we mature by meeting life just as god and nature designed it and accepting those are language accepting There the invitations that beckon us ever deeper into the heart of life itself this has been our language for weeks now what are the invitations of jesus in your stage and your season Your state of life your cross your joy what are jesus invitations to you in the here and now but that as far as i can tell is basically it makes space move toward the pain accept the invitations Of jesus right here right now on that note
