Last month I promised to start a series on the ancient spiritual discipline of Lectio Divina, or spiritual reading. And, well, here we go: some words on rationale, purpose, and sports equipment.

But, first, why bother with spiritual disciplines? And what are they anyway? Spiritual disciplines are practices we use to shape who we are. They are practices that you can pick up inside a couple of hours’ instruction, yet they take a lifetime to master. They are art, craft, and technology.

We are shaped by myriad forces beyond our own individuality, but how will we shape ourselves? For millennia, folks have been concerned with finding ways to be true to themselves in a world that places its own demands on them, demands that may be counter to their own best interests. Spiritual disciplines are the methods that folks have devised that will help you better direct your own formation.

You will, have no doubt, practice spiritual disciplines. We seem to ache for them as a species. Whether it’s telling stories around the campfire, sitting meditatively on a creek bed, or chanting for a football team, our need for formational ritual will find us. Better we choose disciplines ourselves than have them chosen for us–how many folks practice the spiritual discipline known as shopping without asking how it shapes them and toward whose end? Click to continue reading “Spiritual Reading: Introduction”

For too long our great nation has been visited by the scourge of those who inappropriately express their patriotism in the back seat of cars after the Christmas dance and in Bible College dorm rooms after visiting hours. Either consummate your love of America or kiss her goodnight and go home. America does not condone chafing. (Amendment sponsored by Sen. Rick Santorum.)

Go say hi to Chemical Brother, the newest blog on the block (blogck?) and my father-in-law.  He’ll be talking about chemical poisoning and alternative medicine.

An easily distracted seventeen-year-old I was tutoring said to me today, “Hey, Chutney, I’m going to start talking to you in a language I just made up.”

He then proceeded to speak in tongues—at least in the opinion of this experienced ex-charismatic. And by “speaking in tongues,” I mean he sounded exactly like the red blooded tongue talker at the Pentecostal Holiness nearest you. I didn’t much appreciate that.

We have a new rule now: No speaking in tongues while working on SAT long reading comprehension.

Friend and regular commenter CP has launched her new webzine creativebin—interview, advice, and more.

Moment one: When I quit reading it by the verse and started to read it by the chapter.

Moment two: When I quit reading it by the chapter and started to read it by the book.

Moment three: When I quit reading it by the book and started to let the books be in conversation with one another.

Moment four: When I quit forcing my own need for unanimity onto the the books’ conversations and sat back and learned to appreciate the conversation itself.

Moment five: When I learned I would sometimes need to pick sides.