The Invitation

This is Part One of two episodes that document an extended conversation with author, spiritual director, teacher, and retreat leader Ruth Haley Barton. This episode also marks the beginning of a new collaboration between the Invitation and the Dominican Center, a ministry of the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, MI. On a snow and ice covered January 19, 2019 evening Josh and a group of church and nonprofit leaders met at the Dominican Center to be led by Ruth in prayer and to discuss spiritual transformation. Please visit www.dominicancenter.com for more information, and subscribe to the Invitation Podcast at www.invitationpodcast.org

Retreat leader, spiritual director, and author Sharon Garlough Brown helps us consider the spiritual disciplines that Jesus practiced by walking us through Mark 1:35-38 in prayer and meditation. Be sure to visit her site: www.sensibleshoesclub.com to learn more about what Sharon has to offer. Also, subscribe to the Invitation at www.invitationpodcast.org so that you can be updated when new materials are available and when new events are announced. This episode features music one song by Travis Kingma that will be included on the instrumental music compilation that will soon be available for you! Thanks for listening.

This is the introductory episode in a new collaboration with The Awakening, a week-long, summer worship and arts experience for high school students. In this episode Josh engages a group of the Awakening students to consider the unique gift of a teenager's spiritual journey. In the posture of spiritual direction, we don't bring Jesus to the high school student. Instead, we join the student to discover Jesus in and through vulnerability. More info about the Awakening: https://tinyurl.com/y9uk7q23 Also, a public spiritual conversation with Ruth Haley Barton at Dominican Center: https://tinyurl.com/yd44anud AND...the Invitation's 3rd Annual Contemplative Prayer Retreat Feb 11 & 12 here in Holland, MI: https://tinyurl.com/yam9gt47 Be sure to subscribe to the Invitation at www.invitationpodcast.org Peace Peace & Big Love!

Micah Matthews recently finished and MFA in fiction at Warren Wilson. This episode is his audio essay where he describes his visits to the prison with Josh. These visits cause Micah to reflect on the spiritual good of going outside of his comfort. Without permission to take microphones and cameras into the prison, this essay is the next best way for you to come inside to taste and see the movements of the Holy Spirit in a prison. The Invitation is in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to cover our capital budget. Please consider contributing financially so that we can create more creative spiritual formation content like this for you. https://tinyurl.com/y9gqmnha Subscribe to the Invitation Podcast at invitationpodcast.org Thanks for joining this journey with us!

In this update episode, a Hasidic tale from Heschel helps us understand the Spirit's invitation to find the treasure right here in front of ourselves, right at home. We are on the eve of #GivingTuesday. If you haven't had a chance to watch our Kickstarter video, please do. https://tinyurl.com/y9gqmnhaA We hope you can catch onto the larger vision of what the Invitation is up to as a nonprofit connecting the prison to the local church parish through spiritual direction and this podcast. If you have means, please support the Kickstarter campaign as it raises money to fund our capital budget, money that will help us efficiently and creatively offer you spiritual formation resources on a more consistent basis. Share the Invitation with your people, and pray for us on this crazy journey of trusting God. Peace & Love of Jesus to you! The picture of this episode is the home of what we are calling 'Cloudstreet' as it is under snowy construction. Cloudstreet will be the hub of our practice of spiritual direction, a retreat space, and a production space!!!

This conversation with Jonathan proves to be a "wild one" in the sense that Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove leads us into the wilderness of race politics in America. Josh offers a hearty introduction to this conversation encouraging you to enter into this wilderness desert for the sake of loving God with your strength for the sake of righteousness, which is justice." This episode is a challenging invitation for you to bring your politics under the Lordship of Jesus no matter your political leanings and affiliations. Can we trust the Spirit to lead us into the wilderness, to brave this political storm growing our faith to believe yes, everything is going to be alright?

In this episode Josh reads a short meditation written by Jordan Bruxvoort, director of the Naomi Project in Sioux Falls, SD. This episode is a continuation of the rhythms and questions of the Summer Retreat: what is the unique gift of the seasons in our spiritual formation? This meditation resonates well with prayer exercise #25 from the guide "40 Ways to Spend Five-Minutes with God" that can be found at https://www.invitationpodcast.org/downloads/ This meditation closes with the poem, "What is Written on the Leaves" by Michigan poet, Robert Fanning. Be sure to check out Jordan's good work helping faith communities engage worker's rights: http://projectofnaomi.org Subscribe to the Invitation Podcast by visiting http://invitationpodcast.org Thanks for listening! We appreciate your friendship and support!

In this episode Josh shares a spiritual conversation with Trevor Hudson, a Methodist minister and spiritual director based in South Africa. They especially discuss the difficult and often heartbreaking work of discerning God's will. Trevor's special area of study and teaching is the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Protestant philosopher and spiritual author, Dallas Willard. In this conversation Trevor offers special insight into the uniqueness of his Wesleyan tradition and how it integrates with the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius. If you have not yet subscribed, please visit www.invitationpodcast.org to join our mailing list that will keep you informed about what is available through the Invitation. Thanks for listening and joining us on this journey of faith. Peace of Christ!

This is the final movement of the Summer Retreat 2018, a retreat on loving God with all your strength. Sadly this episode does not include a conversation with our friends who have been in conversations throughout the summer. This episode uses a lectio divina format using the Message translation of Romans 12:1-2. The focus question is how does love for God in the heart, mind and soul become tangible and concrete through action. How can love become active in my daily life? With the end of this summer experiment and now that we are officially a not for profit, the Invitation is moving into a season of fundraising with a kickstarter campaign launched later in the Fall while also searching for long-term, sustaining supporters. If the Invitation has been of help to you and if you believe it will be of help to others, please subscribe to the podcast, help spread the word about the Invitation and about the crowd-funding with kickstarter, join us in spiritual friendship, and become a sustaining supporter! See invitationpodcast.org to subscribe and stay in the loop! Peace & Love of Jesus to you!

Josh meets again with a small group of young church leaders to discuss soul-spirituality in the fifth movement of the Summer Retreat 2018. These friends attempt to define the soul, describe spiritual practices that especially nourish the soul, and they consider the many layers of resistance that keep us from our souls. This intimate and candid conversation is intended to be a soul practice itself for you to join into in your own way prayerfully considering how to be open to Jesus in the deeper regions of your own self. Please feel free to write josh @ invitationpodcast.org to share your experience with the Summer Retreat 2018 or to ask any questions. The Prayer Guide “40-Ways to Spend Five Minutes With God” is available for further insight into the heart, mind, soul, and strength and is available at invitationpodcast.org/downloads.