#ruth haley barton

[garymillar]

Another reason we are so tired is that we are always working hard to figure things out rather than learning how to cease striving, how to be with what is true in God's presence and let God be God in the most intimate places of our life - which is, in the end, the only thing that will change anything. We're busy trying to make stuff happen rather than waiting on God to make stuff happen.

Ruth Haley Barton

Sacred Rhythms

[bobonbooks]

Review: Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest

Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest, Ruth Haley Barton, foreword by Ronald Rolheiser. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press/Formatio, 2022. Summary: Describes the journey to life-giving sabbath practices as well as planning for and taking sabbaticals. Ruth Haley Barton is a gifted speaker, writer, and Christian leader. And like many such people she pushed herself hard in a high-performance church…

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[bobonbooks]

Review: A Just Passion

A Just Passion: A Six Week Lenten Journey, Ruth Haley Barton, Sheila Wise Rowe, Tish Harrison Warren, Terry M. Wildman, and others. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022. Summary: A six week Lenten devotional consisting of brief excerpts from works by InterVarsity Press authors, scripture readings, and breath prayers, considering how, in the passion of Christ, we lament the injustices of the…

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[castyourline]

[digitaldion]

'Most of us are not very good at sitting with longing and desire—our own or someone else’s. It feels tender. It feels vulnerable. It feels out of control. It is a place where one human being cannot fix or fill another, nor can we fix or fill ourselves. It is a place where only God will do. The longing for solitude is the longing for God. It is the longing to experience union with God unmediated by the ways we typically try to relate to God. By “unmediated” I mean a direct experience of God with nothing in between: an encounter with God that is not mediated by words, by theological constructs, by religious activity, by my own or other’s manipulations of my relationship with God. It is the practice that spiritual seekers down through the ages have used to experience intimacy with God rather than just talking about it. Solitude is a place. It is a place in time that is set apart for God and God alone, a time when we unplug and withdraw from the noise of interpersonal interactions, from the noise, busyness and constant stimulation associated with life in the company of others.'

- Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms

[bobonbooks]

Review: Invitation to Retreat

Invitation to Retreat, Ruth Haley Barton. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press/Formatio, 2018.

Summary: A guide to retreat as a spiritual practice exploring why retreat, preparing for retreat, helpful practices on retreat, and concluding our retreat and returning from (and to) retreat.

Jesus gives a startling invitation to his disciples in Mark 6:30-31. He said, “Come away to a deserted place…and…

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[intlchristianherald]

Ruth Haley Barton on When Bible Study, Prayer and Corporate Worship Aren’t Helping

“There is a temptation to think that spiritual direction is the guidance of one’s spiritual activities, considered a small part or department of one’s life. This is completely false. Spiritual direction is concerned with the whole person not simply as an individual human being, but as a child of God, another Christ, seeking to recover the perfect likeness to God in Christ, and by the Spirit of Christ.” —Thomas Merton

When I entered into spiritual direction I had been working very hard at practicing the spiritual disciplines I had been taught in my Protestant upbringing—Bible study, wordy prayers, corporate worship and teaching, participating in a small group, serving with my gifts in the church, etc. I was sure I could make it all work if I just tried harder. And try harder I did—to the point that I was not only exhausted from ministry but exhausted from trying to become a better person with practices that could only take me so far. Part of my desperation was the fact that the practices and habits people had told me were supposed to work in bringing about my transformation were not working, no matter how faithful I was to their program. I was embarrassed and felt very defeated.

Fresh Practices for Leaders Who Are Trying Too Hard

Surprisingly, my spiritual director encouraged me to stop doing what wasn’t working (!) and to pay attention to what I was longing for. It was the strangest and most wonderful feeling to be freed from the Bible study and prayer methods I had practiced for so long in the hopes there might be something new for me! While I continued to lead in the arenas where I had responsibility, I had a private place for letting go of what wasn’t working and trying some new things. This was all very hopeful. Eventually my director helped me to understand that I was in a transitional place in the life of prayer and began to guide me into fresh disciplines that corresponded to my need and fostered fresh experiences with God that I was so thirsty for. Her concrete guidance, along with the confidence she conveyed, marked out a new path for me. One of the key moments in my early experience with spiritual direction was when I was able to be honest about how dry and lifeless Scripture had become for me. Even though there had been a time when Scripture was a place of life for me, years of serious study and then the responsibility of teaching others regularly had made them a tool of my profession rather than a place of intimate encounter. I was scared to death to admit this to anyone. But in the safety of spiritual direction, I was able to talk about the wall I had hit with Scripture, receive encouragement to let go for a while (such freedom and relief!), and then have God return the Scriptures to me as the gift he intended—through the practice of lectio divina. If I hadn’t had the courage to let go, I might never have received such a beautiful new gift!

When the Pastor Doesn’t Feel Like Praying

A natural pitfall of pastoral leadership, in particular, is that the boundary between one’s personal spiritual life and the demands of one’s profession can become very blurry. Pastoral leaders may come with a great sense of guilt that “I just don’t feel like praying” or “I study Scripture so much for my sermons, I am no longer able to engage Scripture without thinking about my next sermon!”

Corporate leaders might have created a false dichotomy between their spiritual life and their leadership, having no idea how to engage spiritual disciplines that will help them forge a connection between their soul and their leadership. One of the most significant contributions a spiritual director can make in the life of a leader is to create space for reflecting on the spiritual practices that open us to true transformation. In this space, we are helped to quiet feelings of “ought” and “should” so that we can pay attention to what’s really going on, spiritually speaking. We can be honest in reflecting on practices that are no longer fruitful for us or may have become layered with all sorts of professional expectations. This can open the way for letting go of what isn’t working and claiming fresh disciplines for ourselves. The role of a spiritual director is to provide guidance for entering into spiritual disciplines that will help us forge a stronger connection between our soul and our leadership. The practice of mindfulness, paying attention to one’s breathing, building time into each work day for silence, prayer, contemplative Bible reading, staying attuned to inner dynamics of consolation and desolation, allowing such awareness to shape decision-making…are all practices that strengthen the soul of one’s leadership. A seasoned spiritual director will have training and experience with a wide variety of spiritual disciplines that correspond to our desire and our need. They can open up a treasure trove of spiritual possibilities for leaders who have done all they know to do and are desperate for fresh ways of connecting with God. This offers a world of hope to leaders who have lost hope in their ability to connect with God in the context of their leadership. Click here to read more. Source: Church Leaders

[intlchristianherald]

Ruth Haley Barton on When Bible Study, Prayer and Corporate Worship Aren’t Helping

“There is a temptation to think that spiritual direction is the guidance of one’s spiritual activities, considered a small part or department of one’s life. This is completely false. Spiritual direction is concerned with the whole person not simply as an individual human being, but as a child of God, another Christ, seeking to recover the perfect likeness to God in Christ, and by the Spirit of Christ.” —Thomas Merton

When I entered into spiritual direction I had been working very hard at practicing the spiritual disciplines I had been taught in my Protestant upbringing—Bible study, wordy prayers, corporate worship and teaching, participating in a small group, serving with my gifts in the church, etc. I was sure I could make it all work if I just tried harder. And try harder I did—to the point that I was not only exhausted from ministry but exhausted from trying to become a better person with practices that could only take me so far. Part of my desperation was the fact that the practices and habits people had told me were supposed to work in bringing about my transformation were not working, no matter how faithful I was to their program. I was embarrassed and felt very defeated.

Fresh Practices for Leaders Who Are Trying Too Hard

Surprisingly, my spiritual director encouraged me to stop doing what wasn’t working (!) and to pay attention to what I was longing for. It was the strangest and most wonderful feeling to be freed from the Bible study and prayer methods I had practiced for so long in the hopes there might be something new for me! While I continued to lead in the arenas where I had responsibility, I had a private place for letting go of what wasn’t working and trying some new things. This was all very hopeful. Eventually my director helped me to understand that I was in a transitional place in the life of prayer and began to guide me into fresh disciplines that corresponded to my need and fostered fresh experiences with God that I was so thirsty for. Her concrete guidance, along with the confidence she conveyed, marked out a new path for me. One of the key moments in my early experience with spiritual direction was when I was able to be honest about how dry and lifeless Scripture had become for me. Even though there had been a time when Scripture was a place of life for me, years of serious study and then the responsibility of teaching others regularly had made them a tool of my profession rather than a place of intimate encounter. I was scared to death to admit this to anyone. But in the safety of spiritual direction, I was able to talk about the wall I had hit with Scripture, receive encouragement to let go for a while (such freedom and relief!), and then have God return the Scriptures to me as the gift he intended—through the practice of lectio divina. If I hadn’t had the courage to let go, I might never have received such a beautiful new gift!

When the Pastor Doesn’t Feel Like Praying

A natural pitfall of pastoral leadership, in particular, is that the boundary between one’s personal spiritual life and the demands of one’s profession can become very blurry. Pastoral leaders may come with a great sense of guilt that “I just don’t feel like praying” or “I study Scripture so much for my sermons, I am no longer able to engage Scripture without thinking about my next sermon!”

Corporate leaders might have created a false dichotomy between their spiritual life and their leadership, having no idea how to engage spiritual disciplines that will help them forge a connection between their soul and their leadership. One of the most significant contributions a spiritual director can make in the life of a leader is to create space for reflecting on the spiritual practices that open us to true transformation. In this space, we are helped to quiet feelings of “ought” and “should” so that we can pay attention to what’s really going on, spiritually speaking. We can be honest in reflecting on practices that are no longer fruitful for us or may have become layered with all sorts of professional expectations. This can open the way for letting go of what isn’t working and claiming fresh disciplines for ourselves. The role of a spiritual director is to provide guidance for entering into spiritual disciplines that will help us forge a stronger connection between our soul and our leadership. The practice of mindfulness, paying attention to one’s breathing, building time into each work day for silence, prayer, contemplative Bible reading, staying attuned to inner dynamics of consolation and desolation, allowing such awareness to shape decision-making…are all practices that strengthen the soul of one’s leadership. A seasoned spiritual director will have training and experience with a wide variety of spiritual disciplines that correspond to our desire and our need. They can open up a treasure trove of spiritual possibilities for leaders who have done all they know to do and are desperate for fresh ways of connecting with God. This offers a world of hope to leaders who have lost hope in their ability to connect with God in the context of their leadership. Click here to read more. Source: Church Leaders