The Invitation

Josh has a conversation with Christopher Hall, president of Renovare and one of the three lead instructors of Josh's doctorate of ministry cohort in spiritual direction, a degree program through Fuller Seminary. Chris and Josh focus on the question of inner transformation, if it is possible and whether we believe in transformation. Chris draws especially from his expertise in desert spirituality to help us consider how to step into transformative "learning spaces," spaces where we acquire the character of Jesus.

This is prayer exercise #41 from the prayer guide, "40 Ways to Spend Five Minutes with God," available at invitationpodcast.org. Listen and discover why there are 41 prayer practices and not just 40. A brief reading is offered from G.K. Chesterton's book, Orthodoxy.

In this long format retreat Nathan Foster of Renovaré uses a reading from the 14th Century British mystic Julian of Norwich in a guided prayer. He uses several statements of how "God's wishes" us to pursue him. Visit renovare.org for more resources from Nathan and several other helpful teachers.

This is prayer exercise #26 from the prayer guide, "40 Ways to Spend Five Minutes with God," available at invitationpodcast.org. Listen to and join a prayer written by Teilhard de Chardin, a 20th century Jesuit paleontologist. Instrumental sounds by Josh Banner

In this conversation Josh and Nathan discuss spiritual disciplines, the six streams of spirituality celebrated by Renovaré, ecumenicism, mysticism, and parenting. How indeed do we help anyone, especially our own children grow spiritually? Josh introduces this conversation with a longer 'audio essay' on his own history with books by Nathan's father, Richard Foster and how Richard Foster and Dallas Willard continue to be sources of help and inspiration as he grows as a spiritual director. Feel free to skip ahead (approx 15 mins in) directly to the conversation with Nathan if you'd like. Also, you are invited to listen to Nathan's interview of Josh on the Renovaré site, www.renovare.org/podcast In that interview Josh talks about the development of the Invitation Podcast and his work in contemplative prayer outreach in a prison. Stay tuned for a long form retreat led by Nathan available later this summer!

This is prayer exercise #14 from the prayer guide, "40 Ways to Spend Five Minutes with God," available at invitationpodcast.org. If this short format leaves you wanting more guidance in prayer, please try out one of our first three episodes. A new long format retreat led by Nathan Foster of Renovare and an interview with Nathan will be available soon. The definitions of meditation, or 'haga' in Hebrew are from Eugene Peterson's book, Eat this Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading page 2. Thanks for listening. Please write a review of this podcast on iTunes, subscribe, join our mailing list, and visit our website to find the prayer guide. Peace of Christ to you!

Josh managed to get an hour with recording artists Josh Garrels and John Mark McMillan in the afternoon before they performed a concert at Hope College. They discuss the charismatic, Evangelical, and Catholic church; aesthetic care of worship and worship spaces; reading the Bible for what it actually says; family disciplines and Sabbath keeping, creating more space for God with exercise, when to set aside our screens and be closer to each other. Of course there is discussion about their creative process in writing music and who they are reading: Dylan Thomas, Wendell Berry, AW Tozer, Eugene Peterson, Richard Rohr, Richard Foster, and Dallas Willard.

Closing song, "Ps 23" by Zach Winters used by permission. Visit www.zachwintersmusic.com and support his kickstarter campaign!

This episode is the first in our new five minute format. This is prayer exercise #4 from the prayer guide, "40 Ways to Spend Five Minutes with God," available at invitationpodcast.org. Be sure to get out something to write with for this guided prayer. If you have interest in writing and recording a five minute prayer exercise, please consult the prayer guide and then contact [email protected] The closing song, "Psalm 23:1-2" is used with permission from www.theversesproject.com and Zach Winters.

In this episode Josh offers two updates in a reflective meditation, a kind of short retreat. If you are interested in the Feb 7-8 church leader's contemplative retreat, send him an email (josh at harderwyk dot com). Josh also explains his decision to step down from his position at Harderwyk. Huge thanks to the leaders at that church and to all the people as well. Listen to find out more. A new, proper website will be online soon. Stay tuned for more conversations and retreats coming soon!

Josh sits down with spiritual director and author Sharon Garlough Brown (www.sensibleshoes.com) at the Dominican Center in Grand Rapids, MI. They discuss Sharon's journey into spiritual direction, the story behind her Sensible Shoes books, Ignatian Spirituality, the missional church, Henri Nouwen, Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, the disciplines of silence, lectio divina, journaling, Scripture meditation, and Sabbath keeping. Sharon also recites a section of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem "Aurora Leigh."