Practicing the Way with John Mark Comer

The start of a new year prompts the reflection that if we are not intentionally modeling our life after Jesus, we are likely being formed by something or someone else. Adrift in the cultural current, we're likely to be carried to places we never consciously chose and wonder how we got there.

In Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer explores what it means in our times to be a disciple of Jesus -- to be with him, to become like him, and to do as he did:

“ It seems to me that the telos of the spiritual journey in the Christian way is becoming a person of love through deepening union with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…It's the two greatest commandments: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, that Jesus put at the center of apprenticeship to him.” - John Mark Comer

We hope this conversation encourages you to move slowly as you abide with Jesus this year, and by his grace are transformed into a person of deeper love, joy, and peace.

This podcast is an edited version of a conversation recorded in 2024. Learn more about John Mark Comer.

Episode outline

00:00 Introduction to Practicing the Way
01:00 Formation is Inevitable
02:26 John Mark Comer's Background and Influences
05:21 Evangelical Discipleship and the Influence of Dallas Willard
08:05 From Burnout to the Inner Journey
11:26 Being Christian and Being an Apprentice of Jesus
21:04 The Destructive Power of Hurry, and the Pace of Love
26:13 The Practice of Contemplation and Abiding
33:17 Final Thoughts and Prayer

Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, Live No Lies, God Has a Name, Garden City, Practicing the Way, all by John Mark Comer

Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard

Jacques Philippe

St. Therese

N.T. Wright

Gary Haugen

Robert Bellah

Mother Teresa

Dorothy Day

Francis Chan

John Stott

Three Mile an Hour God, Kosuki Koyama

Mary Oliver

 Marjorie Thompson

Kurt Thompson

Brennan Manning

Related Trinity Forum Readings:

Augustine's Confessions, with an introduction by James K. A. Smith

Bright Evening Star, by Madeleine L’Engle

A Practical View of Real Christianity, by William Wilberforce

Wrestling with God, by Simone Weil

Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard

Why God Became Man, by St. Anselm

Related Conversations:
Making as a Spiritual Practice with Mako Fujimura

Writing as a Spiritual Practice with Jonathan Rogers, Tish Harrison Warren, and Doug McKelvey

Walking as a Spiritual Practice with Mark Buchanan

To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society

Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.