The Pocket Contemplative

You'd think that apart from affirming that, of course, forgiving people who've hurt us is crucial to our happiness, there wouldn't be much more to say. But Desmond and Mpho Tutu wrote what seems like the final word on the subject in their wonderful The Book of Forgiving, which includes many stories from Desmond's leading of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was central to preventing bloody civil war after apartheid fell. Dave Schmelzer talks with Grace Schmelzer about how the Tutus's insights have impacted their experience of forgiving.

Mentioned on this podcast:

The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World, by Desmond and Mpho Tutu.

In Part 1, we looked at how churches seem to be in the midst of a transition to something new. Here, Vince Brackett and Dave Schmelzer will take a deep dive into the thoughts of the big kahuna on this subject, Charles Taylor, and of his brilliant student, Hartmut Rosa. What if our world is set up to tell us that if we only had more resources we could have the life we want? And that our lack of resources is our fault--leading us to push and push and burn out. Taylor and Rosa think that's massively relevant to each of our lives and that churches fall under the same pressures, which, if unaddressed, will push them away from relevance. Dave and Vince discuss the profound hope that's at the heart of this.

Mentioned on this podcast:

Charles Taylor and his book A Secular Age

Hartmut Rosa, of whom a relevant book would be Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World

While churches are rapidly declining in numbers, new things are popping up. Dave Schmelzer will explore what's happening and the hope for what might be next with rich perspectives from thinkers like Phyllis Tickle, Charles Taylor, Hartmut Rosa and others... alongside some anecdotes from his friends that might ring a bell for you.

Mentioned on this podcast:

Charles Taylor's A Secular Age

Hartmut Rosa's Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World

Phyllis Tickle's The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why

Christian contemplative spirituality got forgotten for about three hundred years, after Brother Lawrence's famous teachings in the 1600s. The person who brought it back and set the stage for a whole new era of Christian spirituality--and people like Richard Rohr and Thomas Merton--was an unlikely candidate, an upper-middle-class British woman named Evelyn Underhill. Dave Schmelzer starts with a brief overview of this remarkable woman and then interviews Underhill's most accomplished biographer, Dana Greene.


Mentioned on this podcast:

Evelyn Underhill: Artist of the Infinite Life, by Dana Greene

The Spiritual Life, by Evelyn Underhill

Dana Greene's website: danagreene.org

To receive the Evelyn Underhill newsletter, go to evelynunderhill.org 

Last episode had Gary Neal Hansen telling Dave that among the ten ancient Christian prayer practices he teaches and write about, the two that have most popped for people are the Jesus Prayer (the subject of a recent podcast) and what's called Praying the Office (first popularized by St. Benedict), which is how a large swath of Christians have prayed for centuries. Dave hasn't been drawn to Praying the Office, but his wife Grace absolutely has. Dave gives an overview of Hansen's remarks about Praying the Office and then turns things over to Grace to hear more and to walk us through what exactly happens as we give it a try. 

Mentioned on this podcast:

Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers, by Gary Neal Hansen

Prayers for Summertime: A Manual for Prayer (The Divine Hours), by Phyllis Tickle

The Divine Hours (Volume Two): Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime: A Manual for Prayer, by Phyllis Tickle 

The Divine Hours (Volume Three): Prayers for Springtime: A Manual for Prayer, by Phyllis Tickle

The Divine Hours, Pocket Edition, by Phyllis Tickle

If you or someone you know is interested in exploring spiritual direction with Grace Schmelzer, please email her at [email protected]

Gary Neal Hansen has taught ten ways to pray from very different Christians traditions to lots of people. Gary (who wrote Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers) talks with Dave Schmelzer about what he's learned both from the practices themselves and from how people have found them helpful or not. He and Dave also spend some time on what prayer itself is actually supposed to do for us. 

Mentioned on this podcast:

Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers, by Gary Neal Hansen

Gary's website: garynealhansen.com 

A free, downloadable book from Gary: Love Your Bible: Finding Your Way to the Presence of God with a 12th Century Monk

Medieval monks and modern business school profs agree that our bone-deep addition to distracting ourselves is keeping us from happiness, meaning and productivity. Which perhaps will be no surprise to people listening to a podcast called The Pocket Contemplative! That said, Dave Schmelzer dives into the wisdom from those monks and professors and how it might both cheer you up and empower a fresh way forward.

Mentioned on this podcast:

The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction by Jamie Kreiner

Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most, by Cassie Holmes

"The Time Jar" YouTube Video by Meir Kay

Charlie Kaufman on distraction, from Adaptation

A good chunk of any modern teaching on contemplation for Christians goes back to one mega-influential book called The Cloud of Unknowing from the dusty past of the 14th century. And yet generations of would-be contemplatives have found it is a fountain that doesn't run dry very quickly at least. Dave Schmelzer will give you a quick overview of why this book has been such a biggie, why--like many old books--it might initially feel off-putting in some ways, and why what it teaches has at the very least changed his life.

Mentioned on this podcast:

The Cloud of Unknowing

Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers by Gary Neal Hansen

The biggies in Christian history tell us a story of faith that's surprising to many of us, but which turns out to be exactly what we need to find ongoing joy. Dave Schmelzer chats about this with Jason M. Baxter, a scholar who wrote An Introduction to Christian Mysticism: Recovering the Wildness of Spiritual Life, which Dave podcasted about recently. Jason walks us into how this look at the "wild" teachings of people like Augustine and Hildegard of Bingen and Meister Eckhart and many more can open our worlds like nothing else can.

Mentioned on this podcast

An Introduction to Christian Mysticism: Recovering the Wildness of Spiritual Life, by Jason M. Baxter

Russian Orthodox friends suggest that a fast track to spiritual progress might come through a ten-word prayer that gets repeated. Ten words! Is it too good to be true? Dave Schmelzer, with help from Gary Neal Hansen's book Kneeling with Giants, does a deep dive into this pathway to God and reports on how it's been going for him.

Mentioned in this podcast

Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers, by Gary Neal Hansen

Journey to the Heart: Christian Contemplation through the Centuries, edited by Kim Nataraja

The Way of a Pilgrim (The Pilgrim's Tale)