Ancient Spiritual Practices for a 21st Century Church

Imagine this scene. Teens silently form a line in a hallway, patiently waiting late into the night to enter a room in which they will experience an ancient spiritual discipline: contemplative prayer. When they emerge from the prayer room an hour later, many have tears in their eyes, smiles on their faces and peace in their hearts. They have just walked a prayer labyrinth, an interactive eleven-station experience in which the participants learn to practice the presence of Christ.  Scenes like this are happening again and again in churches, camps and conferences all over North America.

So begins an article I recently wrote for the Christian Leader, the monthly publication of the U.S. Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church. If you are interested in reading more about how ancient spiritual practices are being used in contemporary churches, you can find the article here. If you would like some resources for this topic, click here.

I also published a condensed version of this paper though Fresno Pacific University's Scholars Speak feature.

Comments

[Beth]

Nice piece, Tim. I had not heard about the Campolo book and will have to give it a look. (Will you think I am too much of a pedant if I mention that the Ignatian Examen is actually just one particular practice recommended as part of the Spiritual Exercises, rather than a shorthand way to refer to the Exercises themseves?) I've done the Prayer Path exercise once and it's certainly a totally different experience from walking an actual laybrinth (a parish I worked at had a labyrinth ministry) -- but a very meaningful and creative way to escort people through a transformative spiritual process. I was very moved by it.

[Tim]

Hi Beth, Thanks for keeping me honest! You're so right, the Examen is the most well-known of the Ignatian exercises. I hope to participate in an Ignatian retreat someday, but that might have to wait until my kids are out of the house. Have you ever been on one? Regarding the Prayer Path, I see it as a way to engage a new generation in contemplative practices. I hope they might also discover the less directive labyrinth. I find that college students are very ready for the mystery of the spiritual exercises, but the discipline itself is something that's difficult for them. They like the Jesus Prayer, but find it very hard to establish a habit of spending even ten minutes engaged in the practice of it. At least that's the busy, consumerist, evangelicals I'm working with. It's a fun challenge!

[Beth]

No, I've never done the actual Exercises. I'm very Benedictine and apophatic in temperament, and I have never found the Jesuit methods of interacting systematically with Scripture to work well for me. I do employ some Ignatian material on discerment with directees... and actually one of my Lenten disciplines this year, at which I've afraid I've failed more often than not, has been to do a nightly Examen. But in general the whole Ignatian thing is pretty much my direct opposite spiritually.

[Kurt]

Tim, I read the piece in Christian Leader recently! Excellent article!