Spiritual Disciplines: Next Steps
The 2003 Fall Retreat focused on spiritual disciplines. John Rose was our speaker.
liturgy resources
One sort of spiritual discipline is regular corporate prayer and worship. At the previous week's Large Group, John Fawcett from Church of the Resurrection talked to us about liturgy and led us through a service of Evening Prayer. Here are some links on this topic:
- John Fawcett's talk about worship and liturgy.
- service of Evening Prayer, which we used at Large Group
- the Daily Office online: This very useful website combines the regular services of Morning and Evening Prayer from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer with the appointed readings for that day.
- the daily kalendar, listed at the bottom of the home page.
- Ancient-Future Worship, Robert Webber's site on blending liturgical, reformed, evangelical, and contemporary worship traditions. Check out the articles section.
- Frederica Mathewes-Green is an columnist and writer for several different magazines. I really enjoy her writing, even if I don't always agree with it.
further reading
While on the Fall Retreat, John Rose mentioned a number of books and readings that can be helpful. There are links to the online ones below.
Sermon
on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)
Commands to obey, and reasons to pray.
Book
of Proverbs
31 chapters of Proverbs mean you could read a chapter each day of the
month.
Book
of Psalms
This wasn't on Mr. Rose's list, but the Psalms have been used as devotional
reading for centuries. The link above is to the NASB, but you might
also find a Psalter (a more free and rhymthical translation of the Psalms,
designed for chanting/reading aloud) to be helpful. One of the best
is the 1662
psalter.
The Practice
of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence
Simple, lovely, examples of prayer.
The Imitation
of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis
Treasury of starting points for prayer and meditation. It's on the CCEL
List of Recommend Books: "This little devotional book is simply
written but intensely moving. Highly recommended."
On the Incarnation,
Athanasius [also in PDF]
Classic teaching in simple language. The starting point for the Fall
Retreat, Mr. Rose said: "It will repay your study." I especially
encourage you to read the preface by C.S. Lewis.
Life
of Antony, Athanasius
Loving biography, with powerful advice on spiritual warfare.
Homilies on Romans, John Chrysostom
Some more modern books that aren't online (due to copyright), but are worth reading. Do an Amazon search, or ask me for copies:
Christianity for Modern Pagans, Peter Kreeft (Ignatius Press,
1993)
Lively and relevant introduction to Pascal's Pensees.
Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster (Harper SanFrancisco,
new edition came out in 2003)
Simple introduction to ideals and practices of classic spiritual disciplines.
The Spirit of the Disciplines, by Dallas Willard (Harper SanFrancisco,
reissued 1999)
Manifesto explaining and urging discipleship for every Christian.
retreat materials
Pre-retreat questions on Athanasius
The retreat assignment was to read C.S. Lewis's preface and the first
3 chapters of Athanasius's On the Incarnation (see above for
link). We were provided with some questions to encourage our study.