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.

In part four of the Summer Retreat 2018, Josh engages five friends who have served in local churches to explore a spirituality of the mind. This episode attempts to offer you a retreat experience wherever you are in the world. We begin with the standard three readings of a lectio divia practice praying Hosea 6. In the second half of the retreat, Josh offers 10 minutes of teaching on the mind. His friends reflect on their own knowledge of their minds, how their minds do or don't help them worship and pray. Stay tuned for the next movement of the summer retreat, prayers of the soul. Also, you can find free music downloads of some of the music used in the retreats here: invitationpodcast.org/music/. And you can find download resources on the prayer of examen and the prayer guide, "40-Ways to Spend Five Minutes with God" here at this link: www.invitationpodcast.org/downloads/

In this part three of the summer retreat 2018 Josh engages four friends who have served in local churches to explore prayers of the heart. This episode attempts to offer you a retreat experience wherever you are in the world. We begin with the standard three readings of a lectio divia practice praying Hosea 6. In the second half of the retreat, Josh offers 10 minutes of teaching on the heart, what it is, how it relates to our other internal faculties of the mind, the soul, spirit, and will. Stay tuned for the next movement of the summer retreat, prayers of the mind. Also, you can find free music downloads of some of the music used in the retreats here: invitationpodcast.org/music/. And you can find download resources on the prayer of examen and the prayer guide, "40-Ways to Spend Five Minutes with God" here at this link: https://www.invitationpodcast.org/downloads/

This episode, Part Two of the Introduction to the Summer Retreat 2018, is a conversation with Chuck DeGroat, Professor of Pastoral Care and Christian Spirituality at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI. The Summer Retreat is a journey through prayers of the heart, mind, soul, and strength. These two introductory episodes first consider questions around loving God with “all,” questions of Wholeheartedness, the title of Chuck’s book. Josh and Chuck discuss this book while also beginning to map out what a spirituality of summer might involve: being present and aware in counter-cultural ways that disrupt rhythms of busyness, rush and fragmentation. In the opening of this episode, Josh asks listeners to be patient with the necessary intimidations of going on retreat to approach God. On one hand the Invitation seeks to be an approachable path toward prayer, a safe and hopeful space. Yet on the other, prayer is interaction with the Living God whose love is enormous and by nature, intimidating. As Mr. Tumnus spoke to Lucy about Aslan in the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, “He’s not safe but he’s good.” The summer retreat intends two movements: 1. to help you learn more about your own unique spirituality type—your call to prayer. And 2. it also intends to help you stretch beyond yourself to gain a more vast knowledge of God as beautiful and holy, closer to us than we are to ourselves (St. Augustine) yet beyond our understanding. Stay tuned for the next episode, a spiritual conversation with a group of younger pastors to discuss prayers of the heart.

Welcome to the Summer Retreat 2018 Part One. In this episode Josh describes the extended prayer experience through praying with the heart, mind, soul, and strength. The two goals of this retreat are to identify your own personal spirituality and then to stretch beyond that prayer toward wholeness, to integrate into holiness. As we prepare for this summer experience Josh guides us through praying a section of C.S. Lewis' famous sermon, "The Weight of Glory." Indeed its not that our desires are too strong but that they are too weak. Stay tuned. The Introduction Part Two of the Summer Retreat 2018 is a spiritual conversation with Chuck DeGroat mostly about his book, Wholeheartedness: Busyness, Exhaustion, and Healing the Divided Self. A free song is available for download at invitationpodcast.org/music/

This is an update episode to invite you to go deeper with the Invitation Podcast by: 1. joining a summer-long, multi-episode retreat through the shema (Deut 6; Mark 12)of loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; and 2. to become a sustaining member of the Invitation as it seeks to become a non-profit. Here Josh shares the story of how he got into spiritual direction, started this podcast, became involved in the prison prayer practices...and how all these pieces fit together into a non-profit! Please subscribe to make sure you can download a free song, "Silence" that Josh and his wife, Susanna Childress (aka Ordinary Neighbors) recorded for the podcast.

Nathan Foster offers this guided prayer through Psalm 131 as part of Renovaré's month on meditation through March. This retreat is a co-release with our friends over at Renovaré. To participate in their other offerings especially this month visit www.renovare.org/podcast. There you will find a tremendous amount of resources to help you in your spiritual journey. Also, be sure to subscribe to the Invitation Podcast by visiting www.invitationpodcast.org! Stay tuned for more information about the Invitation's summer retreat. Peace, peace, more peace & love.