Faithfully Creative

In this episode of the Spirituality for Ordinary Podcast your host, Matt Brough, begins with J. Dana Trent, author of One Breath At A Time: A Skeptic’s Guide to Meditation. The second half of their conversation will feature in the next episode.

Most of this conversation goes over whether the Examen is helpful when you have days that are high stress or anxiety producing.

For an overview of the Examen, you may want to go back to Episode 1 of Season 2 - The Examen in a Nutshell

Visit J. Dana Trent’s Website for more about her.

 

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

 

In this episode of the Spirituality for Ordinary Podcast your host, Matt Brough, has a conversation with Jen Ostash-Gooch about their individual experiences of the Examen.

 

They open up a conversation about a number of topics:

 

• how the Examen allows awareness of what God might be doing in life.


• how the Examen helps us to not simply drift through life.


• how the Examen helps us to stay in the moment and focus on what you are doing.


• How our experience of community being changed because of the practice of the Examen?

 

For an overview of the Examen, you may want to go back to Episode 1 of Season 2 - The Examen in a Nutshell

 

  

 

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

In this episode of the Spirituality for Ordinary Podcast your host, Matt Brough, goes over the five steps in practice of the Examen and shares about his own ups and downs in trying to stay focused for a 10 to 20 minute time of prayer.

For an overview of the Examen, you may want to go back to Episode 1 of Season 2 - The Examen in a Nutshell

Episode 2 covers...

The temptation to just not do it or not try it. We can sometimes believe that any prayer practice (in this case The Examen) won't actually make any difference and so we rationalize not doing it. We are also "busy," and so cannot "find the time." How can we resist these tendencies and actually stop for 10 to 20 minutes for prayer that may actually have life-giving or life-transforming possibilities?

Musch of this episode is about the difficulty with focus. Matt shares about how he is always racing ahead to the future in his prayer time and how the Examen is reminding him to stay in the day. Matt is someone who likes to make plans and set goals, and so there is a particular challenge in reviewing the day to not get sidetracked with looking too far into the future.

Part of the Examen is about looking at the day ahead as well as the day just lived. "I’m finding it interesting that the Day ahead for me tends to be about getting things done, or my own interaction in a meeting or in leading something within the church, while the review of my day tends to be almost entirely about the blessing of interacting with people. Looking ahead is very focussed on me and what I’m going to do. Looking back is very focussed on others and how I was blessed by God through them."

Some other quotes or thoughts from the Episode:

"Something sacred is going on in this 10-20 minutes. This has a spill-over into the way we see our day. The time of prayer colours how we look at our day. The day is sacred as well as the prayer time. Both are a gift."

"My particular challenge, and where I’m finding the Examen particularly helpful, is this reminder to come back to the day."

" Something that hasn’t shown up on my highlight reel after doing the Examen 4 times this week: Watching TV, except for the times when I have been with family watching something that we are all enjoying. And anything that came from social media.  In fact, my computer and my phone, the two things that I spend the most time with throughout my day, don’t feature at all in my daily reviews. I think this is because of the initial prayer - asking to see as God sees."

"Because my work varies from day to day, the praying for the day ahead part of the Examen helps me identify the priorities for that day. What is most important? I’m finding that I am better doing the Examen in the morning, and after I am done I can immediately write down 3 or 4 things that are the top things that must get done that day."

If you have questions about the Examen, or want to share your experience with this practice, feel free to be in touch by email matt at mattbrough.com or connect through Instagram...

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com

This is the first episode of Season 2 of the Spirituality for Ordinary People Podcast and we are about to shift the focus in a big way.

For this season, we are focusing completely on a single spiritual practice - The Examen.

Below is a modified version of the Examen, a prayer practice developed by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556). This way of going through the Examen is outlined in the book A Simple Life-Changing Prayer: Discovering the Power of St. Ignatius Loyola's Examen by Jim Manney. The text below is from chapter 1 “the examen in a nutshell”

The examen is a method of reviewing your day in the presence of God. It's actually an attitude more than a method, a time set aside for thankful reflection on where God is in your everyday life. It has five steps, which most people take more or less in order, and it usually takes 15 to 20 minutes per day. Here it is in a nutshell:

1. Ask God for light. I want to look at my day with God's eyes, not merely my own.


2. Give thanks. The day I have just lived is a gift from God. Be grateful for it.


3. Review the day. I carefully look back on the day just completed, being guided by the Holy Spirit.


4. Face your shortcomings. I face up to what is wrong in my life and in me.


5. Look toward the day to come. I ask where I need God in the day to come

If you have questions about the Examen, or want to share your exprience with this practice, feel free to be in touch by email matt at mattbrough.com or connect through Instagram...

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"Doubt is only a problem if certainty is the expectation."—Austin Fischer

 

Episode 70 of Spirituality for Ordinary People features an interview with Austin Fischer. Austin is the Teaching Pastor at Vista Community Church. His latest book is called Faith in the Shadows: Finding Christ in the Midst of Doubt

 

Key Learnings

 

Everyone has doubts.

 

"The problem of evil" is a cold, rational way to talk about our doubts around the pain and suffering in the world. When we face real suffering it brings a crisis, because we have trouble squaring a God of infinite goodness with the amount of evil in the world.

 

Moving away from faith often happens because we hear nothing from God for very long periods of time. This may be more a perceived "hearing nothing" than what God is really up to.

 

Modern Science can still pose problems for Christians. Augustine is a great source to go to for how we understand the relationship between faith and science. He noted that when science and scripture appear to be in conflict, then the best thing is to go back to scripture and ask whether a literal reading is required.

 

Fundamentalism or rigid biblical literalism may in fact approach scripture in a more "scientific" way. It began a few hundred years after the Reformation and its roots may lie in an attempt to apply the scientific method and a search for accuracy to interpreting Scripture.

 

"The gravest threat to modern Christianity is neither fundamentalism nor science, but stuff!"

 

Love is the ultimate remedy for doubt.

 

Things to Think About

 

What are your own doubts? What crisis is being caused for you? What might you need to re-examine?

 

Will you "just think about your crisis of faith" or will you give away more of your stuff, serve the poor and needy?

 

Spiritual Practices Discussed in this Episode

 

Giving

 

Fixed prayer times throughout the day

 

"Praying with your eyes open"

 

Sabbath

 

Links and Resources:

 

• Austin Fischer's Website


• Faith in the Shadows: Finding Christ in the Midst of Doubt


• Unbelievable - The Debate mentioned by Austin in the Interview

 

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"Meditation is intentional about holding the space for listening for God's still small voice."—J. Dana Trent

Episode 69 of Spirituality for Ordinary People features another interview with J. Dana Trent.  Dana was on episode 67 speaking about the practice of Sabbath, and this time she is back sharing about Christian Meditation. She is a graduate of Duke Divinity School and professor of World Religions and Critical Thinking at Wake Tech Community College. An ordained Baptist minister and former hospital chaplain, her work has appeared on Time.com, and in Religion News Service, Sojourners, Religion Dispatches, and The Christian Century.

Key Learnings

The word "meditation" is in scripture. It means "to ponder," "to reflect."

Prayer is about talking to God, Meditation is about listening. It is about holding space to listen for the still, small voice of God.

Meditation has physiological benefits, including the body's ability to calm itself.

Things to Think About

What can you do to create space to breathe and listen for God?

Spiritual Practices Discussed in this Episode

Breath Meditation

Loving Kindness Meditation

Links and Resources:

• J. Dana Trent's Website


• For Sabbath's Sake by J. Dana Trent


• One Breath At A Time: A Skeptic's Guide to Meditation by J. Dana Trent

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"I knew all this stuff about God but I was lacking in terms of how much I knew God in my personhood, in my lived experience..."—Phileena Heuertz

Episode 68 of Spirituality for Ordinary People features an interview with Phileena Heuertz.  Phileena has spent her life in social justice work among the world’s poor. A member of the New Friar movement, for nearly 20 years she and her husband Chris served with Word Made Flesh in more than 70 countries building community among victims of human trafficking, survivors of HIV and AIDS, abandoned children and child soldiers and war brides. Author, spiritual director, yoga instructor, public speaker and retreat guide, Phileena is passionate about spirituality and making the world a better place.

Key Learnings

There is a deep connection between Contemplative Spirituality and being socially engaged.

Sometimes you have to let your dog out, even when considering the deepest of issues.

As one becomes more and more connected to God it implies a greater connection to others. We have inherited an unhealthy expectation of a separation between contemplation and action.

We have intellectualized the faith so much and divorced our intellectual beliefs from what difference it makes in our life and in the world around us. Jesus truly lived his spirituality. It wasn't primarily about intellectual beliefs.

A lot of us approach happiness externally (e.g. "if I could just get..."). Joy comes when we develop a capacity to live into our best selves in the midst of the real circumstances of life.

Things to Think About

What can you do in your life to bring together your personal relationship with Jesus and your active engagement in the world? How might contemplative Spiritual practices provide you with tools to bring these together?

Do you think you would be willing to try engaging more in contemplative practices?

Spiritual Practices Discussed in this Episode

Lectio Divina, Breath Prayer, Centering Prayer, Labyrinth, Yoga

Links and Resources:

• Phileena Heuertz's website


• Mindful Silence: The Heart of Christian Contemplation by Phileena Heuertz


• Pilgrimage of a Soul: Contemplative Spirituality for the Active Life by Phileena Heuertz


• Gravity Center

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"It's that one day a week that shapes the remaining six..."—J. Dana Trent

Episode 67 of Spirituality for Ordinary People features an interview with J. Dana Trent.  J. Dana Trent is a graduate of Duke Divinity School and professor of World Religions and Critical Thinking at Wake Tech Community College. An ordained Baptist minister and former hospital chaplain, her work has appeared on Time.com, and in Religion News Service, Sojourners, Religion Dispatches, and The Christian Century.

Key Learnings

Sabbath is not ordinary time. Sabbath is about stepping out of paying the bills, doing errands, shopping, etc. and stepping into meaning-making, being closer to God, connecting to community.

Sabbath is a privilege. It is no longer a right in American/Canadian culture 

God takes time away from creating to be in awe of the creation. When we take time to be in awe of creation a few things happen: we rest, we become more worshipful, we connect with community.

There is a tradition of the visit of the Sabbath Queen visiting your house when you keep sabbath well. Could this be a powerful image of royalty visiting your house. What would that be like?

"The community that rests together is the community that resists together."—Barbara Brown Taylor

The three barriers in the way of Sabbath keeping are: the ego, not being humble, and not trusting.

Children are great at Sabbath keeping!

Sabbath has a way of revealing what your real life is.

Sabbath can be a time for taking stock, for introspection, for asking questions about your life.

Things to Think About

How can the Sabbath be the priority that you work towards? And how can you allow the Sabbath day to shape the other six days?

How can you better prepare for Sabbath or better keep the boundaries of Sabbath?

In what way can you start small to practice Sabbath? (e.g. an afternoon, an hour, a meal with friends, etc.)

If you are a clergy person how can you model Sabbath for your congregation?

Spiritual Practices Discussed in this Episode

Sabbath (Obviously!)

Links and Resources:

• J. Dana Trent's Website


• For Sabbath's Sake by J. Dana Trent


• One Breath at a Time: A Skeptics Guide to Christian Meditation by J. Dana Trent


• Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller (outline of a Sabbath Day in the back of the book)


• Kate Rademacher's website (author of Following the Red Bird)

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"Beauty is a form of truth that God uses to display His glory. Imagination allows us to tap into that again - to see God through beauty."—Manuel Luz

Episode 66 of Spirituality for Ordinary People features an interview with Manuel Luz. An aerospace engineer by day jazz/pop musician by night, Manuel Luz was called to be a worship pastor 18 years ago. He continues playing gigs, has combined engineering and music in surprising ways (inventing a new musical instrument), and serves at Oak Hills Church in Folsom, California.

Key Learnings

The importance of being yourself (being authentic) in the context of worship, and how this must be modeled by worship leadership.

Beauty is a form of truth that must not be discounted. Imagination (which is part of the intellect) is a primary way in to appreciate, understand, and recognize the truth of God.

Worshipping in the pronouns - pay attention to what are the operative pronouns in the songs being sung in worship. We need a balance of songs where we sing to God ("You"), about God ("He"), and about our response to God ("I"/"We").

We have a tendency to lean into the spiritual disciplines that we do really well and we don't venture out.

Things to Think About

What would it look like for you to be honestly yourself before God and in your Church?

What artistic or imaginative gift might you have that you could offer for the benefit of your worshipping community?

Spiritual Practices Discussed in this Episode

Journalling/Blogging

Reading

"Putting on Different Eyes" - entering into the moment wherever I am and imagining God in it. Paying attention to creation, paying close attention.

Playing music, practicing as a form of worship.

Links and Resources:

• Maneul Luz's Website


• Walkabout Drum


• 7 habits of the artist-friendly church


• 81 Things You Can Do to be a more Artist Friendly Church


• Astral mystery endures in Nova Scotia church

 

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Matt Brough explains why there won't be any new episodes of Spirituality for Ordinary People coming out in November. He needs a bit of a buffer time as he adjusts to his new role working as the Program Coordinator for the New Worshipping Communities Initiative (Cyclical PCC) for his denomination. The role is half-time, and he will be staying on as pastor of Prairie Presbyterian Church on a half-time basis as well. 

Listen in as he explains the approach to starting new Churches and how it is a deeply spiritual process focussed on discerning what the Holy Spirit is up to.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattbrough.substack.com