# Letters from the Abbey > a contemplative journey for slowing down and finding a sabbath life Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### Welcome. We're glad you're here. URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/about/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T03:53:46.000Z Letters from the Abbey is an extension of [The Sabbath Life](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). Our work is offering hospitality through the Abbey of the Heights, a retreat house in downtown Tulsa, OK. We offer hope in the midst of a noisy world. We exist to help helpers. We find inspiration in the long legacy of the contemplative Christian tradition—from the ancient Jewish prophets, to Jesus and the early church, to the desert mothers and fathers, to the monastics. We trust in the slow work of the Triune God. ## Life with God is a journey. We think every memorable journey needs good snacks and good companions. We hope you find that here—sustaining nourishment for your soul and the encouragement that you’re not alone. ## We think this space is for everyone. Everyone, that is, with the patience to slow down and pay attention to the work of God in us and around us. Those with the courage to unbusy their souls. Those who have journeyed with God for decades and are still hungry for more. Those who have a complicated relationship with Church. Those who are spiritually curious, who don’t yet have words to put to it. Those with an abundant curiosity for Life. Like our Benedictine forbears, we believe that every person should be welcomed as if they were Christ himself. The Abbey of the Heights is a place of rest and renewal for the tired and worn-out. Most of all, it’s a place of prayer and a place of experiencing God’s love for you. We hope you can visit soon. The Sabbath Life is an ecumenical Christian non-profit that exists to help leaders and caregivers break from the cultural story of anxious busyness so they can know that a life of service is a full life of deep meaning and joy. Your subscription helps sustain this work. ## Thanks for being here. ### About Father Peter White URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/about-father-peter-white/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T04:19:36.000Z Father Peter White is the abbot of the Sabbath Life. For over 15 years, his ministry contexts have included the local church, campus ministry, the non-profit sector, and the corporate world. He knows firsthand the joys, demands, stresses, and weirdness when you rely on a paycheck from a church. He believes in the power of story in community as the place where we find healing, freedom, and meaning—especially in the story of God revealed in Jesus. He believes that serving in ministry should make us more human, not less. He created the Sabbath Life out of a need to slow down, find sustainable rhythms, and experience freedom from the constant pressure of being busy all the time. --- - Anglican priest, [the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others](https://c4so.org/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). - Trained spiritual director, [Sustainable Faith](https://www.sustainablefaith.com/school-spiritualdirection?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), member of [ESDA](https://www.graftedlife.org/csda/home/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). - D.Min. in contextual theology from Northern Seminary - M.Div. from Asbury Theological Seminary - Husband to Jackie, dad to Coen and Nora. ## Posts ### Sing unto the Lord : Psalm 149 URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/sing-unto-the-lord-psalm-149/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T19:39:29.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### How to talk about your spiritual direction practice URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/how-to-talk-about-your-spiritual-direction-practice/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T16:32:07.000Z Last week I was invited to share with a group of spiritual directors what I’ve learned about having a spiritual direction practice from [*Book Yourself Solid*](https://bookyourselfsolid.com/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) by Michael Port. There are precious few resources available for spiritual directors that provide guidance about how you find directees and that cover the administrative details of making a living without sounding like a hustle. I often find myself in conversations with spiritual directors who would really like to find more directees but aren't quite sure how. Port’s book is a resource for coaches and consultants, and so it needs a little bit of translation for an audience of spiritual directors. It’s a book packed with a lot of great information for thinking about business and marketing, skills that aren’t covered in many spiritual direction programs. They certainly weren’t in mine when I got a certificate back nearly 15 years ago. Because there’s so much helpful stuff in this book, we may break this up into a series of posts for spiritual directors who want to make a practice of either part-time or full-time work that can pay the bills. There are a number of versions of this book available. What I have on my shelf next to my desk is the [illustrated version](https://www.amazon.com/Book-Yourself-Solid-Illustrated-Marketing/dp/111849542X?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) published in 2013\. It looks like a [new updated and revised edition](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781394432561?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) comes out later this year. We’re going to assume that we’ve already had two conversations. First, we’ve already talked about spiritual direction as a vocation and calling. Your work is soaked in prayer and attunement with the Holy Spirit. You know your why-statement. You are actively doing the things, becoming the kind of person that a spiritual director is. That’s settled. Second, we’ve already talked about what money means to you and the role it plays in your practice of spiritual direction. Both of these conversations are big and important ones before we jump into the nitty-gritty details. Hopefully, these are conversations that were covered in your spiritual direction training. In what follows, take what works for you. Let the rest float by. Every spiritual director has to make choices about what is for them and what is not. It's important that you live out your calling from a place of authenticity, wisdom, and integrity. Chapter 4 in Book Yourself Solid is entitled “How to Talk About What You Do.” I think this is especially practical for spiritual directors. I live in an area where spiritual direction isn’t really known, and so I’m frequently having a coffee or lunch where I have to do some explaining. Port says we need to get rid of our elevator speech, and I completely agree. An elevator speech can feel canned, rehearsed, or robotic. Too often, it can come off as self-serving, which isn’t what we want to do when we want to make a genuine connection with someone. Instead, Port says we need to be prepared to have a meaningful conversation, which includes curious questions (perfect for the spiritual director) and five particular talking points that you should be ready to share at a moment’s notice. The five parts are: 1. **Your ideal directee** 2. **Their compelling needs and desires** 3. **How you help** 4. **The biggest benefit** 5. **Deeper core benefits they experience** Let’s explore them one at a time and then imagine what they might look like in a conversation. ## Your ideal directee Consider the people you most like to work with. When you’re new, it’s tempting to say yes to anybody who might possibly want to work with you. But that’s not always helpful for you or for them. Spiritual direction requires a sacred trust, and not everyone is a good fit. You can’t help everybody, so take some time to think about who you most enjoy helping. If you find this exercise challenging, you might start with thinking about the kinds of people who might benefit from spiritual direction. This can be pastors or ministry leaders, youth pastors, music leaders, or other church staff. It can be missionaries, church planters, parachurch ministry leaders, non-profit workers, Christian business leaders, people desiring to transition out of ministry. It can be people married to people who do work like this. Maybe seminary students, young people deconstructing, LGBTQIA, recent retirees, or other caregivers, like counselors, health care workers, or first responders. Perhaps it's people who speak a language other than English. Next, think about your own personal story includes these kids of people. Of all of these kinds of people, who do you most relate with? Who connects with you? Who do you like to help? **Know how you would complete the statement: “I help...”** ## Their compelling needs or desires When people meet with you for spiritual direction, what are they looking for? What big questions are they holding? Think about why someone (your ideal directee) would want to meet with you for spiritual direction. What are they looking for? This is their own personal answer to the same question [Jesus asks Bartimaeus](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2010%3A46-52&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com): *“What do you want me to do for you?”* If they work in ministry, maybe they’re looking for relief from burnout, exhaustion, or stress. Maybe they need a listening ear, a sense of direction through a transition, or clarity around a big life decision or their sense of vocation. Maybe they feel like their spiritual life has hit a wall. Or the spiritual disciplines that used to work don’t work anymore. Our needs and desires often come to us as the big questions that we carry. *Where do I find safe community? How do I do ministry in a way that’s good for my soul? How do I know God’s presence?* **Once you know your ideal directee, think of at least three big questions they might be carrying that spiritual direction with you addresses.** ## How I help Keep connecting dots. How is it that you help these people? How does your practice of spiritual direction address their needs and desires? What do you do that makes a difference? This might include the way you ask curious, open-ended questions about their experience of God and their expectations of God. It might be listening to God together in silence or inviting them to experiment with particular spiritual practices. Paint the picture of what you do in a session, and what it feels like. Build their imagination with them. **You want to complete the sentence: “So I help them (my ideal directees) with those things (their needs and desires) by...”** Perhaps you listen with them as they listen for God. Or you pay attention together to the work of God in their life. ## The biggest benefit When people meet with you for spiritual direction, what do you hope they get out of it? What positive experience do they leave with? Why might they continue to work with you? What’s the single most important thing you want them to experience when they meet with you? If you don’t know, ask a few people who have worked with you or know you well. Think about the gifts and graces you have received from your spiritual director. This could be a peaceful presence, clarity in their discernment, a knowledge that they are not alone, or a prayerful support on their journey. **You want to finish the sentence: “I’d say the #1 thing people (my ideal directee) experience when they meet with me is...”** ## The deeper core benefits they experience Beyond the most important thing that you’ve just articulated, what else do people get from meeting with you? Perhaps this is a deeper growth in their mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Maybe it’s a new understanding of their God image. What good things do people experience in meeting with you for spiritual direction? **You want to finish the sentence: “What’s more, they (my ideal directees) experience some deeper core benefits like...”** ## Putting it all together Let’s take these five pieces and imagine what a short version of a conversation might be. Start with filling in the blanks: *I help \_\_\_\_\_\_ (my ideal directee) \_\_\_\_ (biggest benefit).* > Sarah: Nice to meet you, Peter. What do you do? > Peter: I’m a spiritual director. I help ministry leaders pay attention to God’s work in their lives. > Sarah: Oh, that’s very interesting. My brother-in-law works at a church. Can you help him? > Peter: Tell me a bit about what he does and what kind of support you think he might need. Rather than being a one-sided pitch, this has the potential to open up a dialogue that pairs your skills with the questions that are being carried. You're meeting a real need rather than promoting yourself. Or imagine a medium-sized version of a similar conversation. Think about filling in these blanks: *I help \_\_\_\[IDEAL DIRECTEE\] \_\_\_\[BIG RESULT\]. You know how \_\_\_\[IDEAL DIRECTEE\] \_\_\_\[NEEDS & DESIRES\]? Well, what I do is \_\_\_\[HOW I HELP\] and at the same time, they \_\_\_\[DEEPER BENEFITS\].* > Rob: Nice to meet you, Peter. What do you do for a living? > Peter: I’m a spiritual director. I help ministry leaders pay attention to how God is at work in their lives. > Rob: That sounds really interesting. > Peter: It really is. The ministry leaders I know love helping other people in their spiritual lives, but many don’t have their own healthy systems of support for their own soul care. > Rob: That sounds like a familiar story. Can I be honest with you? I’ve been doing ministry for 10 years, and I’m really worn out trying to pastor myself. I don’t think anyone has ever used the words “soul care” with me. > Peter: It doesn’t have to be like that. I work with people just like you, helping them slow down and notice that what God is doing for all these people, He wants to do for you, too, and at the same time, experience ministry from a place of peace, delight, and joy instead of burnout, stress, and exhaustion. > Rob: That sounds great. Tell me more. Give yourself some time to think through these five talking points. Find language that works for you. Let it come from your voice. What will feel most invitational to others is when it feels like it comes from your heart, when it comes from the confidence of your vocation and sense of who you are. These five pieces are such helpful tools whether you find yourself in serendipitous conversations or you’re setting up coffee meetings to share what you do. In some future pieces, we’ll explore some more ideas and takeaways for spiritual directors from *Book Yourself Solid*. ### 6 Books for Getting Started with Eugene Peterson URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/6-books-for-getting-started-with-euguene-peterson/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T12:49:42.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Hear what is right, O Lord : Psalm 17 URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/hear-what-is-right-o-lord-psalm-17/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T16:50:28.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Finding a Rhythm of Prayer in the Daily Office URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/finding-a-rhythm-of-prayer-in-the-daily-office/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T22:23:59.000Z I found myself in a season of life when prayer was really hard. In fact, I didn’t know how to do it at all. It wasn’t so much that my spiritual life had hit a wall. It was shipwrecked. Broken. It hadn’t always been this way. I’d grown up in a household where we prayed before every meal, even when we ate out in restaurants. We were part of a church community that prayed. You were supposed to feel close to God when you prayed. Good stuff happened when you prayed. In college, I found myself in a community where praying in tongues was a big deal. You could be a “prayer warrior.” Feeling the right feelings was really important when you prayed. It all worked for me. Until it stopped working. In a season, then, of shouting all the raw emotions at God, and sensing nothing in return, a friend shared with me a [prayer book with a red leather cover](https://www.christianbook.com/shorter-christian-prayer-imitation-leather-maroon/9780899424088/pd/424080?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) that our small community used together. This was my introduction to the daily office. It was a blast of fresh air. ## What is the daily office? In its most basic form, the daily office utilizes the book of Psalms as conversation-starter with God. The daily office is sometimes also referred to as “fixed-hour prayer” (because communities pray it at fixed points of the day) or “liturgical prayer.” Christian traditions vary in the details, but the book of Psalms anchors any version of the daily office. Psalms was the prayer book that guided the worship of Israel. It was the prayer book of the early church. If you were to visit a monastery today, depending on the order and tradition, you would experience gatherings of prayer like this with the monks or nuns maybe twice a day, or as many as seven times a day. Imagine a river flowing that is the prayers of the saints through time and around the world. Stepping into that river is what the daily office is like. A mentor once said to a group I was in, “Pray the daily office twice a day every day for two years and see what kind of person you become.” Within the psalms we find a prayer for every day of our lives. There are prayers of praise and thanksgiving. There are prayers of lament and anger. The psalms are a school of prayer. They teach us how to talk to God and how to talk about God. As [Dallas Willard](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780060693329?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) writes, “If you bury yourself in Psalms, you emerge knowing God and understanding life.” ## The daily office in the Bible and in the Church's story We find the earliest hints of a daily rhythm of morning and evening prayer in the story of Israel, long before the psalms came to be. The book of Exodus, in the time of Moses and the tabernacle in the wilderness, [details offerings to be made](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ex%2029%3A38-46&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) each morning and evening. This is reiterated in [Numbers 28:3–8](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=num%2028%3A3-8&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). Imagine this daily ritual forming your imagination of time and God’s presence each morning and evening—the sight of the smoke, the smell of the cooking meat and bread. Generations later, a [psalmist writes](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ps%20119%3A164&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), “I will praise you seven times a day.” In time, a tradition makes this seven specific times during the day. We find [Daniel praying](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=dan%206%3A10&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) at fixed points of the day. When we read in Acts that [Peter and John](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%203%3A1&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) were at the temple for a time of prayer, it would likely have been one of these set times that the community prayed the psalms. Likewise, when Peter later sees the vision that leads him to Cornelius’ house, he is engaged in [noon-time prayers](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2010%3A9&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). Christian monastic communities then continued this tradition. The desert mothers and fathers followed cycles of prayer. The [Rule of Saint Benedict](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780852441688?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) in the sixth century follows a pattern of seven daily times for prayer. This is the foundation for the contemporary Roman Catholic resource, The [Liturgy of the Hours](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780899424095?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). (The red prayer book given to me was a layperson’s condensed 4-week version of this.) Benedict said, “To pray is to work, to work is to pray.” Our modern word “office” comes from this Latin word meaning "work." Essentially, prayer like this is our daily, first work. In the English Reformation of the 16th century, Thomas Cranmer compiled what would eventually become the Book of Common Prayer. It was a radical missional initiative as it brought Scripture and a common prayer resource to regular English-speaking people. Today, the Book of Common Prayer offers morning and evening prayer, with additional options of midday prayer and compline (a prayer before sleep). ## What Makes Up the Daily Office Today, I am a part of the Anglican tradition. To some degree, this is a result of my experience of the daily office and the way the Anglican tradition stewards it. When you open the Book of Common Prayer, you'll find Morning and Evening Prayer at the very front. These are the pieces that make up the daily office in this tradition. **An opening sentence.** Philippians 1:2, Psalm 122:1, and Psalm 19:14 are all provided as options you can choose from. During special seasons, like Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, other seasonally appropriate verses are offered. **Confession of sin.** We take a few moments to embrace humility before God. **Invitatory.** This is a call-and-response of a traditional prayer with roots in Benedict. It blends Psalm 70:1 and the Gloria Patri—a hymn from the 4th century that is repeated several times through the prayer liturgy. **Psalm 95 or 100.** One of these celebratory psalms opens our time of prayer each morning. **Psalm of the day.** The Book of Common Prayer offers cycles for praying the psalms in 30 days or in 60 days. **The first lesson.** This is typically a chapter from the Old Testament, and the lectionary covers almost all of the Old Testament in a year. **Te Deum Laudamus (We Praise You, O God).** Another 4th-century prayer. **The second lesson.** This is a chapter from the New Testament. The lectionary covers the New Testament twice in a year. **The song of Zechariah.** This is [Luke 1:68-79](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%201%3A68-79&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). **The Apostles’ Creed.** **The Lord’s Prayer.** **The collects.** The collects are brief 2-5 sentence prayers. One is assigned for each week of the year and prayed daily that week. Another collect is assigned to each day of the week. Additionally, three options are provided as a Prayer for Mission. The Book of Common Prayer also includes 125 more collects for a wide variety of life circumstances. Much like the psalms, this can be a rich resource for when we don’t know what to pray. **Intercessions, thanksgivings, and praise.** This is an opportunity for spontaneous prayers, anything else we may have on our heart and mind in the moment. **The General Thanksgiving.** This prayer was first composed for the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. **A Prayer of Saint John Chrysostom.** **Benediction.** Options offered include [2 Corinthians 13:14](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%2013%3A14&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), [Romans 15:13,](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2015%3A13%2C&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) and [Ephesians 3:20-21](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%203%3A20-21&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). Consider each of these pieces building blocks that you can use with the time that you have. When we pray morning prayer at the [Abbey of the Heights](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/community?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), we omit the first lesson and the prayer that follows it. We use the 60-day cycle of the psalms. We keep the collects to just three. This typically takes 15-20 minutes, and that gives ample space for intercessions, praise, and silence. Evening prayer follows a similar format: **An opening sentence.** [John 8:12](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%208%3A12&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), [Psalm 26:8](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ps%2026%3A8&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), or [Psalm 141:2](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20141%3A2&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). **Confession of sin.** **Phos hilaron (O gladsome light).** This is one of the oldest prayers of the early church, dating from the 2nd or 3rd century. **Psalm of the day.** **The song of Mary.** From [Luke 1:46-55](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%201%3A46-55&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). **The second lesson.** **The song of Simeon.** From [Luke 2:29-32](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202%3A29-32&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). **The Apostles’ Creed.** **The Lord’s Prayer.** **The collects.** **Intercessions, thanksgivings, and praise.** **The General Thanksgiving.** **A Prayer of Saint John Chrysostom.** **Benediction.** You can see the emphasis on weaving Scripture throughout our prayer in this Anglican structure. Other traditions vary, but what they all have in common is the psalms as the core. ## Why Pray the Daily Office The daily office can answer the question: How do you pray when you don’t know how to pray? The daily office provides a means to pray on days when it’s really hard to pray or on those days you just can’t seem to find the words. In some ways, it can be like training wheels for your prayer life. Parker Palmer, in [*A Hidden Wholeness*](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781394235070?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), talks about farmers in the Midwest who, in winter, prepare for big snowstorms by tying a rope from the back door of their house to the barn so they can safely go outside. The blizzards come quick, and in the thick of it, you can’t see, and many a farmer has frozen to death, lost right outside their own door. The rope secured the way. The daily office can be like this rope. It keeps us on track. It provides a way when distractions assault us. The daily office offers a way of entering into a new world. I have found a number of things especially helpful about the daily office. First, these words are trustworthy. Praying Scripture is praying true words about God. These words are good, rich, and mature theology. To pray these words is to pray like Jesus. Second, there is beauty in these words. The psalms are poetry, and they shape my imagination with incredible images of what God is like. They speak not just to my head, but also my heart. They shake me out of the same old words I can get stuck in. Third, there is a structure to the daily office. It provides a guide for my prayer. I’m not left wondering what to say or fumbling through whatever is on the top of my mind. Fourth, there is unity in these words. To pray the daily office is to pray in unity with other Christians, sometimes around the world, sometimes throughout time. Last, these words are enough. I don’t have to get up at 5 a.m. and pray for hours on end to be a good Christian. It’s not about how hard I try. All I have to do is show up. ## How Do You Start Praying the Daily Office? The daily office comes in numerous forms, depending on your tradition or community. For Roman Catholics, there is the Liturgy of the Hours. Anglicans and Episcopalians utilize the Book of Common Prayer. If you don’t come from a liturgical tradition, I recommend one of two resources to get started. Phyllis Tickle has a three-volume set, The Divine Hours ([*Prayers for Springtime*](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780385505574?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), [*Prayers for Summertime*](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780385504768?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), [*Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime*](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780385505406?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com)). Save [this link](http://www.explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/hours.php?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) to your phone’s home screen to easily access the prayer for the day. It offers four readings each, and they’re sequenced straight through for minimum page turning. It also includes daily prayers from the Book of Common Prayer. This is a simple place to start. For a single-volume resource, I recommend [*Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals*](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780310326199?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), compiled by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro. It includes morning, midday, and evening prayer. If you’ve used a daily devotional book before, the structure in this should look and feel familiar. It’s also available on a [website](https://commonprayer.net/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). Here at the Abbey of the Heights, we use the [2019 Book of Common Prayer](https://bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) published by the Anglican Church of North America. The online version, which also includes audio, is available at [dailyoffice2019.com](https://www.dailyoffice2019.com/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). The version you choose doesn’t matter as much as simply doing it. Find a resource and a rhythm that works for you and commit to it. Start small. If you’re new to this practice, don’t start trying to do this seven times a day. Commit to either morning or evening prayer. Set a reminder on your phone for the same time at least five days a week. Protect the time. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by all the pieces you find in a resource. Again, start small. Choose a brief opening prayer, read the psalm, and find a brief closing prayer. That can be enough. Remember that the goal is to grow in the love of God, to experience connection with God, and not to check all the boxes. There are no gold stars for reading every single word every single day. A slow and steady habit will change you slowly over time. Find community and do this with others as much as you are able. It’s not designed for personal devotion time. The daily office invites us to connect with the Body of Christ, past, present, and future. Remember, we are always beginners in prayer. ## Wrapping Up You don't have to be in any particular tradition to use the daily office. These aren’t magic words. Generations of Christians have found them to be really good words for shaping us to love like God loves. Most of the content is Scripture. Most of the supplemental liturgies and prayers come from the historic Church. The daily office is for every person who wants to follow Jesus. When we pray Scripture out loud, we listen to God speaking to us in these words. [Eugene Peterson](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781514011201?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) writes, > Scripture and prayer are not two separate entities. My pastoral work was to fuse them into a single act: scriptureprayer, or prayerscripture. It is this fusion of God speaking to us (Scripture) and our speaking to him (prayer) that the Holy Spirit uses to form the life of Christ in us. If you want to learn how to pray, if you want to deepen a sustainable prayer life, I don’t know of a better practice than the daily office. ### 7 Books for Beginning with Spiritual Direction URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/books-for-beginning-with-spiritual-direction/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T19:04:35.000Z Whether you are a person exploring the prospect of meeting with a director for the first time or you are discerning a call to be a spiritual director, here are seven books we have found helpful in the journey. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### On Finding a Spiritual Director URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/on-finding-a-spiriutal-director/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T21:48:24.000Z Soon after finishing seminary, I moved across the country to take my first real job at a church. I knew right away that I would need a spiritual director to help keep me grounded amidst the onslaught of tasks, activities, and competing demands that come with receiving a paycheck from a church. I’ve heard theologian Stanley Hauerwas say, “Being in ministry is like being nibbled to death by ducks.” Between you and me, I figured committing to the work of spiritual direction sounded a lot better than death by ducks. > *“Though good advice lies deep within the heart,* > *a person with understanding will draw it out” (Proverbs 20:5).* I wanted help keeping the most important things the most important things—having eyes to see and ears to hear the fresh activity of God’s kingdom around me amidst the cacophony of busyness. I needed help staying close to the heart of Jesus. Where do you find help like this? ## Knowing what spiritual direction is (and isn’t) In [spiritual direction](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/what-is-spiritual-direction/), one person listens as another listens to God. Spiritual direction is an age-old practice of the church with roots all the way back to the desert mothers and fathers. In recent years, it has found a resurgence in some Protestant circles, but it is by no means new or a novel fad. It is an ancient work of sacred listening, of paying attention to the work of God’s love in our lives. This isn’t coaching, counseling, mentorship, or discipleship. These are all very useful to us in different parts of our life, but we don’t want to confuse them with spiritual direction. I’ve met people before who have assumed that spiritual direction is simply another place to have conversation about your life with God, or that a spiritual director tells you what to do. These just aren’t the case. A good spiritual director is like a midwife, a companion with us in whatever God is doing in us right now. So they refrain from simply giving advice. They are attentive companions. Silence, patience, discernment—these are the tools of the spiritual director. Each of us is responding to a particular image of God that we have. A good spiritual director lovingly invites us to explore where that image has come from or how it’s changing over time. Spiritual direction is a three-way conversation among God, the directee, and the director. Spiritual direction is a place for experimenting with spiritual practices. What does prayer look like for you? What does it feel like? What’s your relationship to the Scriptures? What’s your relationship with church? Where do the faith, hope, and love of God seem to fill your life? Where do they seem to be missing? Does your rule of life feel like checking boxes? Or is it bringing deeper levels of freedom in your life? These are appropriate questions for spiritual direction. ## What are you looking for in spiritual direction? I once heard a spiritual director say that they really didn’t know what to say other than to repeat Jesus’ question to [blind Bartimaeus](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2010%3A46-52&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com): “What do you want me to do for you?” ***What do you want Jesus to do for you?*** Strip away all the noise, all the busyness, and all the distractions, and this is the core question we find in spiritual direction. What do you want Jesus to do for you? What draws you to spiritual direction? What do you really want? What desires do you find surfacing inside you that lead you to seek out a relationship like this right now? What is God inviting you to in this season? What do you need in spiritual direction? Maybe you find yourself in a season of discernment. It’s a time of transition, and you want another pair of eyes and ears on your life and the decisions before you. Maybe you carry a sizable load of responsibilities—could be ministry, could be another vocation of service—and you need the ongoing presence of another person. These are helpful things to know as you look for a spiritual director. If you’re looking for quick answers or solutions, spiritual direction may not be what you’re looking for right now. I’ve explained to directees before that our sessions will rarely, if ever, end with a period or exclamation point. Life is not like a 30-minute sitcom with a clear problem and easy solution. We’re not fixing broken things or solving problems in spiritual direction. More often we end with a comma or ellipsis, to be continued next time. We're walking a journey. We hold the mystery of God’s work together. In the words of Teilhard de Chardin, we trust in the slow work of God. ## Where to look for a spiritual director So where do you find such a companion for your journey? A first good place is word of mouth. Who do you know? And who do they know? Do you know someone who meets with a director that they would recommend? Does someone in your church offer spiritual direction? Does your denomination recommend any resources? For instance, my ministry network provides a [directory of spiritual directors](https://c4so.org/spiritual-directors/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) connected to our churches. Look for retreat centers located in your area. Monasteries and seminaries can be great resources for connecting with spiritual directors. Some spiritual direction training programs provide a directory of graduates who are available to new directees. The Sabbath Life provides [such a directory](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/affiliates?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). Networks like [Christ-centered Spiritual Directors Association](https://www.graftedlife.org/csda/find-direction/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) and [Spiritual Directors International](https://www.sdicompanions.org/find-a-spiritual-director-companion/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) provide online member directories. Technology today has made spiritual directors more accessible than ever. You'll want to weigh the pros and cons of meeting with a spiritual director in-person or by video. Video opens up the options of who you can meet with and offers a level of convenience, cutting out travel time. Being in person allows you to enter into a space that is specially curated for this sacred work. It also allows all of your body language, and the director's, to participate in the process. ## What to look for in a spiritual director You want to find a spiritual director who is a good fit for you. Not every director is for every person. Things like personality, theology, life stage, and life experience all come into play. You may want someone who shares the language and experience of leaders in your particular denomination. Or you may want a completely objective perspective on your journey. You should be aware of the dynamics of dual relationships. This happens when a person has one role in one part of your life and a different role in another part. Our neighbor also happens to be a teacher at our kids' school. The kids are learning that how they interact with this person for whom they plant-sit is different when they see her at school. There is wisdom in boundaries, but when we're not aware of these dynamics, it can be messy. I've had some apprentices in spiritual direction choose to meet with people they already know through church, and because either they or the other person didn't know how to hold appropriate boundaries, it came to be messy and unhelpful. Should you meet with a spiritual director with whom you have a dual relationship? That's for the two of you to discern together. But do be aware of the complicated dynamics of dual relationships. You want to find a spiritual director who is a person of prayer. They should exhibit a mature faith, full of integrity and wisdom. Compassionate curiosity is an essential quality for a spiritual director. Non-anxious presence is another. Do they make you feel seen and safe? Do they honor and respect your story? Do they generously hold space for the whole you? A spiritual director doesn't come into the room with an agenda. They trust in the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit before, during, and after the time you share together. In today’s world, someone who uses the language “spiritual director” should have specialized training. A person shouldn’t call themselves a “spiritual director” just because they like to pray with people and give advice. A good spiritual director submits to accountability and community through things like training, supervision, and church community. In addition, member networks such as [CSDA](https://www.graftedlife.org/csda/join/membership-standards/code-of-ethics/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) and [SDI](https://www.sdicompanions.org/docs/guidelines/Flip/guidelines%5Fethical%5Fconduct.html?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) provide ethical standards for spiritual directors. It’s important that you share common expectations with the person you meet. ## A discernment process Once you reach out to a director, you’ll want to set up an initial consultation. You want to know that this is a good fit, that this director is a person you can trust. This might feel something like a job interview or even a first date. Ask lots of questions. Be as clear as you can about what you're looking for, what you might find most helpful, and what you know would be unhelpful. As a director, I have particular questions I have in mind during a first meeting, and I hope that the prospective directee has some intentionality in the meeting. I hope to leave that meeting with some confidence that this is a good fit or not. A good director can provide referrals if it’s needed. Spiritual directors are human beings, and sometimes things just don’t click. That's okay. Sometimes it’s personality, sometimes theology, sometimes schedule. Have an initial consultation with more than one spiritual director, so you have something to compare. The last time I was looking for a new director, I reached out to a friend who I knew was a director. At the time, he wasn’t meeting with new people, and he offered about five recommendations to me. Of those, I reached out to two. With one, we found we had a lot in common, including life stage. With the other, he had less formal experience as a director but was older. I wound up choosing him after some prayer and discernment as I realized I don’t have many older spiritual uncles speaking into my life right now. There’s nothing magical about a process like this. I know either would have been good. But it’s good to be able to compare. Like finding a counselor you trust, finding a spiritual director takes some trial and error, learning what works for you and what doesn’t. Invite a potential spiritual director to share their story—both their story as it relates to God, and their story as it relates to their vocation as a spiritual director. Throughout my life, I've had the experience of hearing someone else use the same language of "God," "Christian," and "church" and assuming we were talking about the exact same thing. And then things got messy when it turned out we weren't talking about the same thing. Stories provide some context for our language. As a director, I get curious about what a person talks about God and their spiritual life the way that they do. We live in a world today where many of us attach big emotions to particular social and political issues. Spiritual directors aren't exempt from having their central nervous systems activated by these things. Again, clarity in this can be really important in an initial consultation. Spiritual direction is a perfect place to explore why we get so excited or frustrated or stressed by the news and holding that before God. A spiritual director's work isn't to rebuke, correct, or judge that work but to enter into that with you with kindness, gentleness, and patience. You'll want to talk about the expectations of frequency. Most often, I meet with individuals monthly. But I've also had people who wanted to meet every other week, every other month, quarterly, or as needed—whether this was about their life situation or finances. One more thing you may discuss is how the relationship should end. This isn't a lifetime commitment. The important work is what the Holy Spirit is doing in you. The spiritual director is a witness of this work. We shouldn't put too much weight on them, as if this one person is the only one who can fill this role for us. Having a mutually agreed-upon way of ending the relationship and celebrating the journey together can be a really good thing. ## Practical and financial considerations Don’t forget to talk about money. As [Paul writes to Timothy](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20tim%205%3A18&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), “Those who work deserve their pay.” A spiritual director is a trained professional and should be treated as such. I’ve known directors who charge anywhere between $50 and $100 per session. I have known some who offer a sliding scale based on need. I’ve known some who offer their services for free out of their own sense of calling and conviction. If you’re seeking spiritual direction, and your financial situation doesn’t prohibit it, plan to financially compensate the person you meet with. It adds weight to how you value the time. ## Wrapping up I have found spiritual directors through church. I have found spiritual directors through referrals from friends. If you sense God inviting you into this practice of holy listening, there is a spiritual director for you, ready to hold your story and listen with you as you’re listening to God. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/17/1b/171b7894-f7e1-40ca-876c-fea2e33e4775/content/images/2026/07/Light-Brown-Footprints-in-Sand-Photo-Quote-Facebook-Cover---37.png)](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/affiliates?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) ### The Most Important Chapter in the Bible URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/the-most-important-chapter-in-the-bible/ Last updated: 2026-06-01T22:00:11.000Z The Bible—what we frequently call the sacred Christian Scriptures—is first and foremost story. Not dogma or doctrine. Not do's and don't's. Not propositional truths. Story with characters, setting, drama, tension, goals, stakes, emotional hooks. In all the best stories, beginnings and endings matter. The opening and closing images of a movie. The first and last sentences of a novel. Where we begin and where we end provide deep clues about what the story is all about. If indeed we take this seriously, then that makes Genesis 1 the most important chapter in the Bible. Storytelling, at least as we in Western culture understand it, follows a pattern of three movements. I’ve heard these described as 1) stick your hero in a tree, 2) throw rocks at your hero, and 3) get your hero out of the tree. In other words, as the writer, you introduce a problem, you complicate the problem, and you solve the problem. We can see this movement within the Bible. And when we do, we find the story of the Bible isn’t about us. It isn’t even about humanity in general. The story of the Bible is the story of God: 1) The relationship between God and humanity is fractured. 2) Despite God’s provision of the Law and the Prophets, Israel fails and fails again to be faithful to God and fulfill its vocation as a light to the nations. 3) God, through the work of Jesus, heals the ruptured relationship with humanity. But first, before the problem, we often see a glimpse of the hero. It establishes the baseline character of our hero—who they are and what they want. Think of the iconic scene in *Star Wars: A New Hope* of Luke Skywalker watching the twin suns set on Tatooine as the music swells. Now imagine that music playing as you read Genesis 1. One theory about this chapter is that it functions as a poetic prologue, not only of the book of Genesis or even the whole of the books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy), but the entire Bible. If this is the case, then how we understand the whole of the story hinges on what we make of this chapter. Genesis 1 tells us how to read the whole story. These are just a few of the characteristics of God in Genesis 1 that are crucial for understanding God’s character in the rest of the plot of Scripture. ## God is joyfully, creatively present in messy places. *“The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”* The creation story of Genesis 1 is not a story of creation-from-nothing. Rather, it is creation-from-*some*thing. Whatever the something is, it isn’t good. It isn’t right. It is *tohu* (formless) and *bohu* (empty). And darkness covered everything. And right there, that’s where God is. Right in the middle of the chaos, the mess, the very not good. The chaos isn’t a result of God’s absence. No, the chaos is the canvas upon which God will make his good, very good, holy creation. And this is the story. A tabernacle in the wilderness among a nation of ex-slaves. The boy prophet who will grow up to anoint kings. The returning exiles putting the temple back together. A carpenter-rabbi in a forgotten corner of the Roman Empire announcing the Kingdom of God. The Resurrection. Messy places aren’t godforsaken places. They are places pregnant with the possibility of new creation about to break out. ## God makes order in chaos. Herein lies the rhythm of the great story. God acts to put things together. Humans take it apart. Order. Chaos. Holy God making things. Broken humans breaking things. God makes a good world. Humans unmake it. God rescues Israel at the Red Sea and provides the Law. Israel builds a golden calf. The book of Joshua—Israel receives the Promised Land. The book of Judges—Israel abandons Yahweh. King David and the golden age of Israel as a political force. King Solomon and the decline that leads to the divided kingdom and later the exile. The ministry of Jesus and the announcement of God’s Kingdom. The cross and the death of God’s Son. But then God’s definitive act of creation, the Resurrection of Jesus. God’s work of Genesis 1 creation all over again. When we pay attention, we see the whole story is an ongoing series of “Creation stories” and “Fall stories.” God making order in chaos. Humans undoing God’s work and causing more chaos. ## God brings light in darkness. The first words any character utters in a story go a long way in revealing to the audience what kind of character they will be in this story. God’s first words in the Bible? “Let there be light.” Anything in all the world that the biblical writers could offer as God’s first words, and they choose, “Let there be light.” Imagine God toe-to-toe with the darkness, speaking into its depths—defiantly and authoritatively—into the *tohu* and *bohu*, “Let there be light!” And as John, the gospel writer goes on to say, *“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”* The great story is about a God who turns the lights on, who makes the unknown known, who makes the darkness shudder, shake, and evaporate. It’s the story of the Exodus. It’s the story of Advent. It’s all embedded right here in the story of Creation. ## God makes people to participate and flourish. The Bible is full of beautiful metaphors for God. But before we hear about God the shepherd, God the king, God the father, God the judge, we first see God the creative. The God who makes stuff. God the tinkerer. God the inventor. God the architect. God the designer. God the artist. This is the God of Genesis 1. It’s important to note the place of humanity in this creation account. Humans are not the first. They aren’t the last. They have an appropriate place in the context of God’s creation. The first three days of creation are devoted to separating specific spaces—light from darkness, sky from ocean, land from sea. Days four through six are then given to making things that will accordingly call those spaces home—celestial bodies, fish and birds, animals and humans. Finally, on day seven, God initiates the Sabbath, the great rest, where everything that was chaos is finally in its right place. But men and women—in this account, made in the image of Almighty God—have the place of tending to and caring for this creation and are invited to multiply and thrive. ## God puts everything in its right place because of love. The popular theory about how we get the Old Testament as we know it is that it was compiled during the exile in Babylon. Most likely, it was offered as a gift to the Persian King Cyrus’ library as an apologetic for the Jewish faith and way of life. The prevailing creation myth in that part of the world told the story of two deities locked in an epic, violent conflict. One tears the other in half, and out of that bloody mess, the world as we know it began. Struggle, violence, and domination are the values of this creation story. The Hebrew word used for "God" throughout this chapter is *elohim*, which describes a generic functionary role, like “dad” or “president” or “boss.” It's not a personal name. Literally, it means “the deity.” I had a professor suggest that if this is indeed an introductory prologue, then perhaps we should hear *elohim* here as something like “the deity who I’m going to tell you about in this whole story.” When we then get to the creation account in chapter 2, the name changes to “YHWH elohim” (“the LORD God” in most English translations), or better yet, “Yahweh, this God I’m telling you about.” Yahweh, the God who does things wholly different, backwards, and upside-down from the gods you’re familiar with. According to the creation story of the Jewish people, progress does not justify violence. Counter to the creation story of Babylon, the world is born out of God’s goodness and creativity and not out of antagonism and violent conflict. The world exists because God wanted it to. God spoke, and it was. Moreover, the Anglican Eucharist liturgy interprets this as the love of God at work: *"In Your infinite love, You made us for Yourself."* Genesis 1 is the most important chapter of the Bible because it shares with us everything we need to know about the kind of God whose story unfolds throughout the rest of the Bible. It reminds us that the story is not about us but about God. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/17/1b/171b7894-f7e1-40ca-876c-fea2e33e4775/content/images/2026/06/Book-now.png)](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/personal-retreats?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) ### What Ascension Day means for the story of God URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/what-ascension-day-means-for-the-story-of-god/ Last updated: 2026-05-12T22:48:52.000Z The days in the Christian calendar between Ascension Day and Pentecost are such a bizarre mystery to me. Perhaps I can assign some blame to my upbringing. I can't remember ever hearing about Ascension Day in the church I grew up in. I owe a lot of good things to that church experience, but the calendar wasn't something that shaped us. We didn’t really do the calendar. Oh, there was Christmas and Easter. Advent was a countdown to Christmas, and pretty much synonymous with “Christmas season” right after Thanksgiving. Our church had a Maundy Thursday drama. I don’t think I can tell you when I first heard about Ascension as a part of the calendar. Probably at the chapel when I was in seminary. Years later, I read [*Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church*](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780062089977?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) by N.T. Wright (that subtitle is doing a whole lot of work there), and I couldn’t believe it. As he told the story, it seemed that Ascension was the interpretative key that unlocked pretty much everything we do as Church. So what’s missing? ## Rooted in the Story of Scripture We are people of The Story. As human beings, we make meaning through stories. The Christian faith is one big story, and the calendar is one way we tell it. There are three major movements throughout the year—what God does in the Incarnation, what God does in the Resurrection, and then what we, the Church, do in response. We tell a story cycle of Incarnation, that God put on flesh and blood and entered time and space to rescue the world. The sorrow of the night turns to the joy of the morning. This is what we celebrate in the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Then there is the story cycle of Resurrection. Death is conquered by life. This is what we remember in the seasons of Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. These two cycles show us what the God of Divine Love has done on behalf of human beings. Then, in the second half of the year, we tell the story of the Church, what we now get to do in response to God’s love for us. This is called Ordinary Time. Now we live our lives to the very fullest. And so, the journey to Ascension begins first with a penitent descent. We start Lent with Ash Wednesday and we enter into the wilderness with Jesus—with echoes of Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness. We come to Holy Week. We wash one another’s feet as we hear Jesus’ new command, “Love one another.” We hear Jesus’ invitation to pray with him in the garden. And then we witness the horror of the cross, the angry, ugly, defiant echoes of every generation of humans saying “No!” to God. But then we find the empty tomb. We sit with the mysteriousness and disorientation of Easter morning. We join the disciples as Jesus surprises them and us one moment after another. And this brings us to Ascension. We find the story of Jesus' ascension in the final scene of Luke, and again in the opening scene of Acts. And now, 40 days after the Passover feast, Jesus has one more surprise for his disciples. Here’s how the [writer of Acts puts it](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%201%3A3-14&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). Put your imagination to work. Where do you find yourself in this story? Take a pause with each verse. If you were to imagine making a film of this scene, where are you setting the camera? What tokens or faces or gestures do you find yourself drawn to? What’s the focus of the frame? Take your time to linger in the scene and engage all your senses. As you are taking in this full scene, what emotions are you noticing? What feelings are rising in you? Are you inspired and impassioned by Jesus’ words about the Kingdom? Are you shocked when Jesus disappears? Are you angry at what the angels have to say? ## What Ascension Does For Us But the theological reality of Ascension is really captured in these words of Hebrews 4: > "So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." With the ascension, Jesus is installed as the Good King (which is what the words "messiah" and "Christ" mean), on a throne, over all of creation. Incarnate flesh-and-blood God is now in heaven. In charge. With authority. But that's not to say that Jesus has gone away to heaven and abandoned us here on earth. It would be absurd to think that Jesus “died and went to heaven.” I think as a younger Christian when I encountered this story, I imagined Jesus floating in the sky like a balloon that had slipped away. The world of Harry Potter has given me a different take. In the Harry Potter books and movies, the wizarding world exists side-by-side with the regular world. The "muggles" (normal people who don't know magic) don't know that it's there. They don't have eyes to see it. So when Harry goes to the train station for the very first time to go away to wizarding school, he walks up to platform 9 3/4 and steps through what appears to be a brick wall only to find himself amongst fellow classmates eager to board the Hogwarts Express. Could it be that's what happens in the Ascension? That Jesus takes a step behind the curtain? He's right there, but our eyes just aren't quite adjusted to see? Because in Hebrews 4, it's clear that Jesus the person is accessible and approachable here and now. He didn't beam away to the other side of the universe. Heaven isn’t far away, but right here, if we have eyes to see it. The disciples in Acts witness Jesus go, and then they wait. And then they wait. And wait. And wait. For 10 days. What a weird liminal space that must have felt like. It's all the tension between a promise-made and a promise-fulfilled. There's the emotional gap right in the middle. There’s a popular saying in theology about God’s kingdom, that it’s “already and not yet.” They may feel like opposite things, but they can both be true at the same time. The Spirit of Jesus is always with us. We’re still waiting for the Spirit of Jesus to make everything new. Both true at the same time. What difference does the outpouring of God's Spirit make in this world where the grief and trauma and loss pile on day after day after day? If we take the story seriously, it makes all the difference in the world. ## Where We Find Ascension in the Liturgy Imagine a big “V.” At the top of one point is Ash Wednesday. The season of Lent is the journey downward. Not quite to the bottom is Holy Week, and Easter Sunday is the turning point. The season of Eastertide is the rise to the next point, with Ascension close to the end and Pentecost the very top that launches us into the next season of the calendar. In Ordinary Time, we live empowered by the Holy Spirit, engaged in God’s mission healing the whole world. The Anglican liturgy for communion each week tells the story, beginning with the love of God creating the world and leading with this climax: *“As our great high priest, he ascended to your right hand in glory, that we might come with confidence before the throne of grace.”* This echoes the language of Hebrews 8\. There’s a whole lot that could be unpacked here. Hebrews 8 begins with the words, *“We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.”* It then goes on to recall words from Jeremiah 31 to talk about how Jesus continues to act on our behalf here and now. As a priest, Jesus works to bring heaven and earth together. In our liturgy, the Ascension has all the narrative release of tension that Sin and Death introduced to the story. Jesus has been given everything he needs to heal the world. Furthermore, the Book of Common Prayer includes a collect especially for Ascension Day: > Almighty God, whose only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven: May our hearts and minds also there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. It highlights the intimate bond among the Trinity, while reminding us of the risen and ascended Jesus’ place in it. It also reminds us how we get to participate with Jesus. As Jesus has come alongside us in suffering and death in this world, he now invites us to come alongside him with boldness and confidence. Jesus is with us, and we are with him. Always. ## How Does the Ascension Form Us? The Ascension is every bit as important to the story as Creation, the Incarnation, and the Resurrection. This is a big deal. Because Jesus has defeated death and evil, he sits enthroned as King over all of creation. And this touches everything. After Jesus disappears from their midst, the disciples wait for 10 days. What do you imagine they discussed together? What might their prayers have sounded like? What were they feeling? Was it taking longer than they thought? What were they desiring for themselves and from God? There’s something special about anticipation. It could be a special day—like Christmas, a vacation, or a wedding. It could be a reunion with a separated friend or family member. Anticipation is also really hard because we want something we don’t have, and there can be a sense of not being in control. There can be an ache in that. Tension. And release. This rhythm runs so counter to our culture of instant gratification. We’re so bad at waiting that we turn to AI for our questions and demand same-day shipping for our shopping. For the 10 days between Ascension and Pentecost, we, too, find ourselves in a liminal space—an awkward in-between space, wanting something we don’t yet have—waiting for the Holy Spirit to do what only the Holy Spirit can do. We sit in the tension, yet not as those without hope. God’s promise is coming. Jesus is King, and we can be filled with confidence. - What is something you are waiting on God to do? - What mix of grief and hope (perhaps something else) is there in your waiting? - If Jesus is indeed King, what difference does that make in your world? - What are you really desiring from God in this season? - What might God be shaping inside you in the liminal space? - Where is God growing confidence in you? ## Some last words The liminal space between Ascension and Pentecost doesn’t have to be strange. Ascension invites us to pray. To pray and to wait and to imagine a whole new way of being in the world. > “The ascension demands that we think differently about how the whole cosmos is, so to speak, put together and that we also think differently about the church and about salvation.” —N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope Psalms [47](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ps%2047&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) and [93](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ps%2093&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) are especially good places for study or contemplation on Ascension Day and the week leading to Pentecost. Alongside Jesus’ words in John 14–16, they remind us that we are people of The Story. There is bold trust and confident joy that we can tap into. Despite all the evidence that tries to persuade us otherwise, Jesus has everything he needs to run the world with wisdom, grace, justice, and equity. Heaven is with us, if we have eyes to see it, and it is healing the whole world. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/17/1b/171b7894-f7e1-40ca-876c-fea2e33e4775/content/images/2026/05/Book-at-the-Abbey-1.png)](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/personal-retreats?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) ### Be joyful in God! : Psalm 66 URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/be-joyful-in-god-psalm-66/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T21:19:39.000Z I don’t always feel joyful. Last week, I was doing some journaling. I found myself naming a litany of griefs, things that tug on my heart that just aren’t right. The world is a lot right now. Right in the midst of that exercise, a friend texted me. “Did you see this?” _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Exploring the practice of retreat in a deeper way URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/exploring-retreat-in-a-deeper-way/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T00:02:19.000Z I was at a denominational event. I had recently transitioned out of a church staff role. The host, a colleague, thought I might appreciate a personal introduction to the guest speaker, who was something of a celebrity in these circles. This person asked what I did, so I started talking about spiritual direction and that I had recently led a retreat. "Retreat? We don't retreat in the Kingdom. We advance!" was his reply. It reminded me of how a number of years earlier I was a new seminary student. It also happened to be a season of putting together the pieces of a faith I had shipwrecked. A friend took me to the [Abbey of Gethsemani](https://monks.org/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), a Trappist monastery in the hills of Kentucky. That opened a whole new world to me. I'd go back and visit each semester to walk the grounds in the quiet, journal, pray, simply sit still for a minute. I was in a difficult, in-between season and in the midst of re-learning how to pray and connect with God. The physical place of the monastery and all that I found and experienced there helped me tremendously. There are times when we've been running at such a pace that we simply cannot advance, as the celebrity speaker tried to suggest to me. Sometimes we find ourselves in a season of transition while God gives birth to something in us and through us, and we simply need a place to be still and breathe. The [Gospels show us](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%206%3A31&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) Jesus having a rhythm of withdrawing and re-engaging: "Then Jesus said, ‘Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.’ He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.” And isn't that the reality of ministry—that we get so wrapped up in helping people that we neglect our own physical and emotional needs and those of our family? Again, we're told this was an ongoing [practice Jesus had](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%205%3A16&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com): "Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer." For those of us in vocations where we pour ourselves out serving others, we have to be intentional about what fills us up. Going on retreat is one of a number of healthy rhythms for taking care of our body, our mind, and our spirit. It is a really good way to un-busy our souls. Silence, stillness, and solitude are age-old, time-tested practices that Christians for centuries have done that go a long way in helping us "digest" the heavy feelings we feel, like stress, exhaustion, sadness, and grief. If you are new to the practice of retreat, and wondering how in the world you start, here are 6 simple tips for starting this new rhythm. ## Clearly define your retreat. There are different kinds of retreats that you can do for different lengths of time. Start with WHY. What's the point? What do you want to get out of this? Is this for focused work? Is it for undistracted study? Is it for silence and intimacy with God? Is it for discernment for an upcoming change? Is it for strategic planning? Do you need a few hours? Do you need a week? If you’re new to the practice, you might set aside 4 uninterrupted hours in the morning or afternoon. You might set aside a full 8-hour workday once a month. Or you might need 24 hours, or 3 nights, or a full week. You might have a writing project that just needs to get done, and you need an environment free of interruptions. If you work at a church, you may simply need time out of the office to get mentally unstuck. We’ve hosted a group of pastors who are long-time friends. They stayed for 3 nights. In the mornings, they worked alone on their sermon planning for the upcoming season. In the afternoon, they collaboratively shared what they’d been working on. And in the evening, they went out to dinner together and explored downtown. A silent retreat can be an opportunity to turn down all the relentless noise that may be coming at you. You can't try to cram all of these things into one retreat experience. So name one and have realistic expectations for yourself. ## Listen to your body. I recently caught up with a person who has stayed multiple times at the Abbey. He reflected on how, when he had arrived the first time, he didn’t know what to do. He described himself as a “do-er” and he was at a loss. As he remembered, I suggested to him that he take a nap, and he thought to himself, “I can do that?” He was amazed. And pleasantly surprised by how he felt afterwards. Sometimes, sleep is the most spiritual thing we can do. In [1 Kings 19](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20kings%2019&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), we're told the story of Elijah. After his face-off with the prophets of Baal, and Jezebel puts a price on his head, Elijah runs for his life to the desert. He goes to sleep, and when he wakes up, an angel tells him to eat. This happens twice before he later encounters the God who whispers and who gives him a renewed mission. Don't underestimate the power of a nap and snack to restore your soul. We live in a sleep-deprived society. Life in ministry can easily fall into the same traps. I often will tell guests it usually takes about 3 days for the brain and body to catch up on rest. We get so ingrained in celebrating hustle culture. We push our bodies beyond their limits so much that we don't know how to listen to them. So take a retreat to go to sleep when your body says so. Wake up when your body says so. Take a nap in the middle of the day. Go for walks. ## Unplug from technology. As much as you can, disconnect from your phone. Put it on “airplane mode.” If you're not doing a work retreat where you may need internet access, put limits on screen time. In intermittent fasting, you eat only during certain hours of the day and fast the rest of the time. We can do something similar with our phones, giving ourselves firm boundaries. When I worked with college students and took them on cross-cultural mission trips, the students would always bring their phones, even when I warned them. The moment they pulled it out, they were immediately sucked into a wormhole away from the reality right in front of them. When we give ourselves to the algorithms of social media, we’re being shaped by consumeristic forces that make us less human. The love of God wants to make us more human. Naming our distractions so we can more effectively fight their temptation is one of the oldest monastic practices. It's okay to take a break for a couple of days from the email, from the headlines, from the memes, from the onslaught of updates. A retreat is a perfect opportunity to rediscover being bored and the places your mind can serendipitously go in those times. If you need to be available for loved ones, coordinate with a retreat director on an alternative method for getting in touch with you in an emergency. If you want to stretch your inner muscle to be present to yourself and present to God, then put your phone and your laptop down for an extended period. ## Keep it simple. Options are obstacles. So are decisions. Eliminate as much of the decision-making process and as many options as you can. Where do you go? When do you do it? What do you do when you get there? What do you do for meals? Each of these questions easily becomes an excuse for procrastinating until you actually never go on retreat. Plan ahead. Give yourself a simple schedule. The fewer decisions you have to make when you're there, the more mental bandwidth you have for being present to God and present to yourself. Share your expectations with God before you go. See if God has another agenda for you. I’ve spoken with guests who came with really big questions for God that they urgently felt needed to be answered. By the end of their time, they had found that God was interested in a completely different work in them. A helpful prayer may be: God, how do you want to be with me here? What do you want to talk about and explore together? Don't take your entire stack of "to-read" books. Don't bring all your work. Don’t attempt to do too much. Make sure you measure your expectations against the WHY you articulated at the beginning. Look for a place you want to return to again and again. Once you find a location that seems to fit you, make it a routine. Make a plan for your food if it's not available on-site. Bring some snacks and bottled water. ## Make it a rhythm. A friend recently visited the [Abbey of the Heights](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/personal-retreats?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) and talked about their dentist. Every time he visits his dentist, the assistant doesn't let him leave until he's scheduled his next visit. But unlike the dentist, when you’re on retreat, you know you want to do this again. Once you go on a retreat, put the next one on the calendar, whether that's next month or next quarter. We have a chaplain who visits the Abbey for a day retreat on the third Friday of every month. This is part of the simplicity. You can make the planning automatic. When you plan ahead, you don't have to figure out how to make retreat fit into your schedule. What gets scheduled gets done. Planning your schedule is one big way of getting free from the tyranny of the urgent. One of the biggest obstacles I hear from ministry leaders when I share about a spiritual practice of retreat is something like this: I’m already exhausted, and it stresses me out that you’re asking me to do yet one more thing. But retreat isn’t one more thing to do. It's a grace we receive from God. Retreat is the invitation to rest from the [God who says](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2011%3A28-32&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” ## Treat yourself. You might sense an invitation to fast. You may also sense an invitation to indulge in feasting all your senses. Those of us in ministry and other service-oriented work have spent so much of our time serving others that we’ve forgotten to really let ourselves enjoy what we enjoy. We’ve made a habit of depriving ourselves. A recent guest came to retreat from out of state because he also wanted to see the [Bob Dylan museum](https://bobdylancenter.com/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) in our city. Hobbies and the seemingly frivolous things that really give us life have a way of getting squeezed out by the busyness of life and serving others. [Jesus says](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2010%3A10&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” A retreat should never be somber. Like a Sabbath day, a retreat can be a time to treat yourself to an extended "Opposite Day" where you can say no to all the things you usually say yes to and yes to all the things you usually say no to. What is it that really makes you feel alive? Eat a good meal at a fancy restaurant, like you only usually see on TV. Go to a movie by yourself—the kind of movie that no one else in your family seems to appreciate but you. Take in a ballgame or a music show. Visit a museum. Walk in the woods. Pay attention to nature. Be creative. Linger in beauty. Enjoy life. Just for fun. --- In her book about [retreat](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780830846467?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), Ruth Haley Barton writes: > "Strategic withdrawal captures the more positive connotations of the word retreat, namely that there are times when the better part of wisdom in combat is to withdraw for good reasons—which can apply to us as well. There are times when we too need to pull back from the battle line in our own lives rather than continuing to fight the same battles in the same old ways. We need to pull back from our busyness, from life in our culture, from other people's expectations and our own compulsions, from whatever is not working in our lives." We created the [Abbey of the Heights](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/personal-retreats?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) to be a place like this, where you can pull back from the hustle and grind, the busy and hurry, the exhaustion and stress of life. It's a place designed for you to encounter God and find rest for your soul. So pull out your calendar and make a decision about when you will take your next retreat. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/17/1b/171b7894-f7e1-40ca-876c-fea2e33e4775/content/images/2026/05/Book-at-the-Abbey.png)](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/personal-retreats?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) ### 6 books about spiritual formation (pre-1600s edition) URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/6-books-about-spiriritual-formation-pre-1600s-edition-for-fri-5-1/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T18:53:12.000Z Writings about spiritual formation, the ways we can shape our lives around the way of Jesus, are as old as Paul's letter to the Galatian churches in 49 A.D. Here are six works that can encourage you to rest in the love of God. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### In you have I put my trust : Psalm 31 URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/in-you-have-i-put-my-trust-psalm-31/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T18:50:12.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Exploring a Christian Sabbath practice in a deeper way URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/exploring-a-christian-sabbath-practice-in-a-deeper-way/ Last updated: 2026-04-27T20:47:26.000Z I have a pastor friend who once shared with his supervisory board that he struggled with keeping Sabbath. “Oh, that’s no big deal,” he was told. “None of us do that.” Figuring this was one of the Ten Commandments, he assumed he might get a different reaction. After all, if he confessed to struggling with keeping the one about murder, he was sure he’d be arrested. Our world doesn't know what to do with Sabbath. We live in a workaholic culture, a culture of grind and hustle, of productivity and life-hacks. At the same time, we live in a culture of loneliness, exhaustion, anxiety, and burnout. Those things are probably related. Sabbath has something to say about this. Sabbath isn’t about having a day off or a crash day. Sabbath is about engaging life in all of its fullness. This is bigger than a day to do nothing. It’s a day to do the very best somethings. Practicing Sabbath together forms us into a people on this mission. We do this in community together for the sake of the healing of the whole world. ## The story of Sabbath from Scripture Near the end of Matthew 11, Jesus declares, *“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”* And then he says, *“You will find rest for your souls.”* All of this “rest” talk is Sabbath language, calling back to an old story. In that last phrase, Jesus is riffing on the prophet [Jeremiah](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jer%206%3A16&version=NLT&ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). This is something like a thesis statement for the writer of Matthew, because what follows immediately in the next chapter are two Sabbath stories that provoke the conflict and crisis in Matthew's gospel. First, Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees because the disciples are picking grain on the Sabbath. Apparently, whoever was on snack duty for the disciples that day dropped the ball. Jesus then challenges the Torah teachers on their knowledge of the Scriptures, referencing a story of David, the work of the priests in the tabernacle, before he quotes the prophet Hosea and drops the mic by saying that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Whoa. It’s important for us to remember that Sabbath is the climax of the creation story in Genesis 1 and 2\. Sabbath is rooted in a story. Sabbath in the creation story anchors everything in Time. It gives us an orientation and a rhythm. Six days plus one day. Nearly all the created things are called “good.” Human beings are called “very good.” Only Sabbath is called “holy.” With Sabbath, all things hold together. Humans are made to be friends with Time. But as Sin and Death enter the world, human beings are wrenched out of sync with this relationship to Time. Back to Jesus in Matthew 12\. He then enters a synagogue where again he’s challenged by the Pharisees about healing. There’s a man with a withered hand who has now been dehumanized as a theological argument. Jesus sees through the ruse. He answers the question, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath,” with a you’re-missing-the-point answer, “The law permits you to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he heals the man. And then he heals all of the sick in the community. In these stories, Sabbath restores the dignity of humans and makes them whole. Sabbath makes humans human again. And, as Matthew tells the story, because of this, the Pharisees determine that Jesus needs to die. Sabbath has really big stakes. ## Sabbath is a key way we imitate God It’s not just Time. Sabbath, as it’s included in the Ten Commandments, invites us to be like God in having a healed relationship with work. The Ten Commandments invite us to learn the character of God and then imitate it. Sabbath is right in the center of the list. It’s given more words than any other command. It’s the only one given a lengthy explanation. We Sabbath because God did at Creation. > “That divine rest on the seventh day of creation has made clear (a) that YHWH is not a workaholic, (b) that YHWH is not anxious about the full functioning of creation, and (c) that the well-being of creation does not depend on endless work.” Walter Brueggemann, [Sabbath as Resistance](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780664263294?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) As Brueggemann reminds us, the Torah and the Ten Commandments are like a film negative, an opposite contrast way of being in the world from what Pharaoh and Egypt represented. The machine of Pharaoh made people, Image Bearers of the Almighty, into commodities, things whose only value was how many bricks they could make in a day. Work is not intended to rob humans of their dignity. When we Sabbath, we are declaring our allegiance to a God who made human beings for work and not the other way around. Sabbath heals our relationship with work. There’s nothing personal or individual in the Sinai command. There is no “my Sabbath” in Scripture. Sabbath is something for the whole community, young and old, rich and poor, those in ministry and those with normal jobs, those with kids and those who live alone, all together. ## Why Sabbath matters today The machine of Pharaoh still exists. It exists in the ways we feel stress about getting the bills paid. It exists in the ways we feel anxious about never getting enough done. It exists in our games of comparison. It exists in the little plastic box of algorithms we keep in our pocket that we call a phone. > “Most of the time, your phone holds you hostage to corporations, assorted acquaintances and large social networks. They’ve hired it to put you to work for them. You’re not the customer, you’re the product. Your attention and your anxiety is getting sold, cheap. When your phone grabs your attention, when it makes you feel inadequate, when it pushes you to catch up, to consume and to fret... it’s not really working for you, is it?” Seth Godin, “[When Your Phone Uses You](https://seths.blog/2016/12/when-your-phone-uses-you/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com)” The machine of Pharaoh exists in the unpleasant emotions we experience when we feel like we can’t put work down. > “All of culture is working in collaboration for us not to rest, and when we do listen to our bodies and take rest, we may feel extreme guilt and shame. Embrace knowing that you have been manipulated and scammed by a violent system as powerful evidence.” Tricia Hersey, [Rest Is Resistance](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780316365215?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) It’s in this world, right now, that Sabbath is a wrench in the machine of hustle and grind. Sabbath sabotages the machine. It undermines the tyranny of the urgent. It holds us safe from the flood of busyness. ## Giving imagination for a Christian Sabbath practice That the Sabbath is “holy” means that it is different. We do things differently on the Sabbath. So we don’t work, as we do on the weekdays, but it’s more than a day off. We cease from work so that we can engage the world around us in a different way. In [her book on Sabbath](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780802804570?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), Marva Dawn reminds us that there is ceasing and resting on Sabbath. There is also embracing and feasting. One thing I’ve come to find helpful to reframe Sabbath to myself is “Opposite Day.” It’s a 24-hour period to say “yes” to all the things I’ve said “no” to throughout the week. If during the week I said no to playing with the kids because another email needed to be written, then on Sabbath, I said yes to the kids and no to the work. If there were life-giving creative projects that constantly got squeezed out of the week, I said yes to those on Sabbath. We want to say no to anything related to our professional job. So no checking or writing emails. No trying to “get ahead” on the coming week. We also want to say no to things around the house that feel like work. For some of us, cleaning, organizing, and yard work are life-giving, in part, because they get squeezed out by the busyness of the rest of the week. Our feelings about work like this are subjective. For some of us, work like this can be drudgery. If the laundry, dishes, and meal-planning drain you, plan ahead so that those tasks can be wrapped up in such a way that you can lay them down for 24 hours and think about them as little as possible. We can also say no to spending money. The commandment in Exodus 20 also includes refraining from causing others to work. At the very least, we can be more intentional and mindful about money on Sabbath. We can say no to the ways we engage technology. I’ve known people who make it a no-screens day. As a family, you might negotiate together what phone usage looks like. You might activate settings that temporarily shut down apps that you give yourself to the most during the week. We want to say yes to things that fill us up and make us feel alive—connecting with friends and family, being in nature, and creative pursuits like art and writing. [Wendell Berry](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781619024366?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) would write a single poem as a Sabbath practice. Curiously, the Bible never details what we should do on Sabbath. I think this is, in part, because what feels like work is different for each one of us. The point is not in the mastery, but rather in living life to the fullest. ## The practical invitation Practicing a Sabbath rhythm heals our relationship with Time and our relationship with work. > “Because you slowly but surely improve your life on your Sabbath break, observing the Sabbath leads to better behavior throughout the rest of the week. The positive changes in your life build cumulatively over time.” Aaron Edelheit, [The Hard Break](https://www.thehardbreak.com/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) I once heard a ministry leader tell a crowd of people we should spend ourselves and spend ourselves because we had all of heaven to relax. I’m beginning to think that’s a rather unhealthy way of living, much less practicing ministry. The rhythm of six-plus-one teaches us that each week has its own finish line. What’s done in six days is enough, and it’s worth having a party about. Anticipation breeds excitement and hope, and this is what practicing Sabbath each week can bring. If all of this is sounding overwhelming, there is always grace. The world around us is neither kind nor convenient to Sabbath-keeping. God knows this, and God knows the details and rhythms of your life and what you have to offer. We don’t want to fall into the trap of making Sabbath a legalistic rule or a lazy routine. We want to remember that Sabbath plays a vital role in the story of how God is bringing healing to us and to the whole world. ## Some final words... Our practice of Sabbath has to be more than checking a box on a rule of life. It’s not simply one among many spiritual disciplines to try out now and again. Sabbath is essential because it is defiant allegiance to another set of rules, another kingdom. It’s a way of welcoming heaven into our here and now. > “Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath while still in this world, unless one is initiated in the appreciation of eternal life, one will be unable to enjoy the taste of entity in the world to come.” Abraham Heschel, [The Sabbath](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780374529758?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) We should resist the temptation to make it just a rejuvenation day. If it feels backwards, that’s because it is. For the people in the Bible, taking one day in every seven to set aside work was counter-cultural and revolutionary. It was weird. It still is. But it invites us to take on the very character of God. And in our current times, where the idols include productivity, hustle, and efficiency, and where workaholics are made heroes, observing the Sabbath, even simply, can turn the world upside-down. It’s one more practice that reminds us that there’s a center to the universe, and it’s not us. ### 7 Books for Getting Started with Henri Nouwen URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/7-books-for-getting-started-with-henri-nouwen/ Last updated: 2026-04-25T13:50:55.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### The Lord is my shepherd : Psalm 23 URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/the-lord-is-my-shepherd-psalm-23/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T20:31:35.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### What is spiritual direction? URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/what-is-spiritual-direction/ Last updated: 2026-04-20T19:18:35.000Z There was a season of life when I was a much younger person, and I wanted to get in shape. I lived near a church with a pretty stellar fitness center and super affordable rates. My problem was I could walk into the gym, but I had no idea what I was doing once I got there. Thankfully, I had a buddy who had a side hustle as a personal trainer. And he put together a plan for me. “On Monday, use these machines, and this is how you use them. On Wednesday, those ones over there. Friday, do these here.” I simply needed somebody to make some space for me, pay attention to me, and help me with what was right in front of me. It was like I had a bunch of jigsaw puzzle pieces, and my buddy provided the picture I was supposed to be making. And it clicked. There is something similar to the work of spiritual direction that I experienced in that relationship. ## Where spiritual direction comes from There is nothing new or novel in the ministry of spiritual direction. The art and craft of spiritual direction traces its roots to the desert mothers and fathers of the 3rd and 4th centuries. We can see various aspects of spiritual direction in several Bible stories, like Eli and Samuel, Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and Jesus and the Samaritan woman. One illustration of this is when Jesus encounters blind Bartimaeus at the end of Mark 10\. Jesus asks him, "What do you want me to do for you?" There is an aspect to spiritual direction that simply holds the question before us: What do you want Jesus to do for you? Many of us have an idealized vision of what the Christian life should be and spend much of our lives chasing it: pray and read your Bible everyday, go to church every Sunday, tithe to the church, host a small group, volunteer at the homeless shelter as often as you can, tell your co-workers about your faith, go on a mission trip. And we beat ourselves up when we don’t get it all done. But it’s not real. It’s a false vision of faith. The life of Jesus isn’t a hamster-wheel chase. There’s something much richer and fuller and robust going on. This isn’t a new experience for people. Generations of Christians have wrestled with these questions about what it means to live an authentic life as a human being before God. Teresa of Avila, Anthony, Ignatius of Loyola, Thomas Merton, Bernard of Clairvaux—all of these saints provided wisdom for people in their own day, and we continue to learn from them and many like them even today. Spiritual direction is a wisdom tradition that stretches through the ages. ## What spiritual direction is and is not Spiritual direction is holy listening. It holds sacred space to attend to the work of the Holy Spirit. A spiritual director listens with a directee as they’re listening to God. A spiritual director isn’t a mediator or advice-giver. They are a companion, a guide with knowledge of the inner movements of the spiritual life. In this way, spiritual direction looks very different from other one-on-one relationships like counseling, coaching, or even discipling or mentoring. > “We define Christian spiritual direction, then, as help given by one believer to another that enables the latter to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship.” William Barry and William Connolly, [The Practice of Spiritual Direction](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780061652639?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) There are five significant ideas to unpack from this definition that give spiritual direction its life and breath. First, spiritual direction involves a relationship between at least two people. It is discernment in community, listening to God with another person. Second, this relationship is for the purpose of paying attention to God’s involvement in this person’s life. We trust that God is already at work and that God wants to be known. Third, the directee has the agency to respond to the work of God. They are co-participants of God’s work, not passive recipients. They get to say “yes” or “no.” Fourth, the desire of the directee is to grow and deepen in one’s union with God. The goal is love, not more information. We don’t talk about God as if God isn’t in the room. This is about actual, lived experience. Finally, the growing communication and intimacy lead to ongoing response and living life in God’s love. ## Getting comfortable with the mystery The movements, rhythms, and shadows of the inner life have been documented for generations of Christians. The Dark Night of the Soul, consolation and desolation, the false and true self, The Wall, the passions of the Enneagram—these are all dynamics of the spiritual life experienced by Christians of the past that can guide us in our own journey. We are not alone in our experiences. > “Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God’s will and God’s love--outside of reality and outside of life. And such a self cannot help but be an illusion.” Thomas Merton, [New Seeds of Contemplation](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780811217248?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) > “Rigorous religious practices, devoted discipleship, sacrificial service, deeper devotional activities may do nothing more than turn a nominally religious false self into a fantastically religious false self.” Robert Mulholland, [The Deeper Journey](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780830846184?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) I recently had a conversation with a pastor who was asking me for advice. A member of his congregation had come to him saying that their spiritual director had affirmed their call to ministry, and therefore, what job was available for them at the church? To me, it sounded like there was a deep misunderstanding by this individual about what spiritual direction was for. It wasn’t to strong-arm the pastor into giving them a role just because a spiritual director affirmed a call to ministry. While clarity is something we hope for, certainty and control aren’t usually things a spiritual director brings. In fact, spiritual direction is often for leaning into the uncertainty and mystery that life with God brings. Spiritual direction rarely ends with the resolution of a big red bow like a sitcom episode. A session is more likely to end with a comma than a period. The time together holds up a mirror to us to expose the false self and to invite us into ever deeper growth. ## What spiritual direction looks and feels like Spiritual direction is about listening. Which means that it involves some silence. Sometimes awkward silence. But our lives are so, so noisy, we need a place to just stop and simply listen to our own hearts. Scripture is slathered with invitations to stop and pay attention. Some time you should go through Old and New Testaments, Prophets, Gospels, Psalms, and mark up every reference you see to listening, hearing, or using your ears: “Be quick to listen, slow to speak” “Hear, O Israel…” “He who has an ear, hear” And so, spiritual direction is about being mindful to stop and listen to the work that God is doing in your heart and life and world. It’s about intentionally and systematically paying attention to God in your life. In this way, spiritual direction can look like professional counseling. It is a safe, confidential, and often, one-on-one relationship. But where counseling may bring you from crisis to stability, spiritual direction leads you from a stable place to a deeper place of thriving. It is a place to bring the biggest questions of life. > "A block of marble cannot carve itself, it needs a sculptor. An athlete needs a personal trainer or coach. Likewise, a person of faith will certainly benefit from a spiritual director. We are all very susceptible to self-deception and are not always able to detect our own fearful games or blind spots.... It is too easy to make our heart's desires and our mind's speculations into the will of God." Henri Nouwen, [Spiritual Direction](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780060872748?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) Spiritual direction is much more than an organic, Christian mentoring relationship. Your story is sacred. And a relationship with a director is one of deep trust. A director is a trained professional who abides by a set of [ethical standards](https://www.graftedlife.org/csda/join/membership-standards/code-of-ethics/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) (which you should definitely ask about and confirm in an initial interview). You are welcome to talk about and share anything with a director, and a director holds it in the highest confidence. ## The need for a sacred companion Every Christian needs the work of spiritual direction. If you’re involved in professional ministry, then doubly so. There can be so many pitfalls related to missed expectations when you get a paycheck from a church. We need spiritual direction because we all need the loving gaze of a seasoned saint on our life before God. I’ve spent a long time around church and have witnessed this story time and again. A person walks into the church for the first time and falls in love with it. They start showing up every week. Then it becomes not quite enough, so they start showing up early and staying late to help out. They think, “If I could just get a job here. Then, everything would be perfect.” Then, they get that job working with students, or in the office, or with the worship band. But then that doesn’t quite scratch the itch either. They think, “Maybe I’m called to ministry and should go to seminary.” So they go to seminary, get a degree, start to pastor a church. And then they discover that they’re no closer to Jesus than that very first day. Our churches are full of people somewhere on this journey who simply need someone to lovingly ask, “What are you doing here? What are you getting out of this? What is it you want Jesus to do for you in this?” It’s a really hard day when you learn that you were probably hired in ministry for your false self. It is in those moments when we’ve done everything we thought we were supposed to do and it doesn’t work anymore that the presence of a spiritual director leads us into a deeper awareness of our own souls. ## Contemplative practices in spiritual direction Spiritual direction is about paying attention to your actual, lived, real experience with God. The mountaintops. The desert. All of it. Not whatever celebrity-Christian-of-the-week you maybe didn’t even know you were chasing. Spiritual direction is about becoming aware as God speaks in your own heart and life and world. It doesn’t do us any good to read the latest, most popular book about spiritual stuff if we can’t put it into practice to actually know the love of God. Life is hard. A vocation in ministry is hard. It can be so easy to get caught up in serving others that you forget to take care of yourself, to tend your own soul. There are a variety of disciplines and practices (periodic retreats, Sabbath, contemplative prayer, journaling, lectio divina are just a few) that transform our hearts and grow our capacity for love. In spiritual direction, we take the time in reflection to notice how these practices are actually producing the fruits of the Spirit in us. ## Some closing thoughts For much of my early life as a Christian, I understood that Jesus talked to me and I talked to Jesus. That worked great until it didn’t. It was such a gift to discover spiritual direction, and that it wasn’t all on me, that another person could listen with me. I wasn't alone. A spiritual director may be like a guide on a trail who can point out what’s coming ahead. They may also be someone who joins us in tending to our soul. Just like any car needs a regular oil change, tires rotated, engine tune-up, your soul needs frequent maintenance. Spiritual direction is about making a regular rhythm of noticing your soul. It is a safe place to say things out loud like you don’t hear God’s voice and maybe you’re starting to think this Christianity thing isn’t everything you thought it was, or that the Bible doesn’t make any sense at all to you, or that the job at the church maybe isn’t working out. Doubts, questions, frustrations—a spiritual director is a safe place for all of these. In our age of digital distraction, where our attention is fractured, and our emotions find themselves attached to the latest headlines, spiritual direction with another human being can be one practice that brings healing to our souls. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/17/1b/171b7894-f7e1-40ca-876c-fea2e33e4775/content/images/2026/04/Light-Brown-Footprints-in-Sand-Photo-Quote-Facebook-Cover---37-1.png)](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/affiliates?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) ### 11 Books that Make the Culture of The Sabbath Life URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/11-books-that-make-the-culture-of-the-sabbath-life/ Last updated: 2026-04-18T18:56:49.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Preserve me, O God : Psalm 16 URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/preserve-me-o-god-psalm-16/ Last updated: 2026-04-15T15:17:19.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### The Enneagram in spiritual direction URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/the-enneagram-in-spiritual-direction/ Last updated: 2026-04-13T14:03:10.000Z Cross Cave is a system of more than 20 underground lakes in Slovenia, where the Adriatic Sea meets the Alps in Central Europe. The fragile rock formations keep tourism limited, which makes it one of the best-preserved caves in the world. It was first documented in 1832, but it wasn’t until another 100 years that it was fully explored in 1926\. More than 45 different organisms call it home, many of them not discovered until after 2000, which makes it one of the largest cave ecosystems in the world in terms of biodiversity. Right in the midst of the European civilization and the Roman Empire, this treasure of nature remained hidden for thousands of years. Can you imagine? Countless generations lived and died and never knew it was right there. How many of us live our lives never knowing the deep beauty and treasure of what lies within us, the image of God just below the surface of every human we meet? What if there were a tool for plumbing those depths? For spelunking into our inner world and uncovering our gifts? This is what the Enneagram is for. It’s simply a tool. There’s nothing magical about it. Nothing sinister about it, either. It’s a tool that describes 9 interconnected patterns of human motivation. It gives us eyes to see those patterns. ## What is the Enneagram for? Evagrius Ponticus was a monk who lived in the 4th century. The desert mothers and fathers of this era used the word “passions” to describe those things that prevented an individual from experiencing the love of God. Evagrius was the first to systematize a list of the passions as well as strategies for combatting them—gluttony, avarice, impurity, depression/sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. It’s a kind of proto-psychology that Evagrius did 1,500 years before any formal social sciences. The “passions” would later be the basis for the “Seven Deadly Sins” of medieval times. I find the “passions” to be a helpful starting point for learning the Enneagram for a number of reasons. One is understanding that our ultimate goal is our connection to the love of God, and our work is to learn how to see our compulsions that self-sabotage that connection and disrupt them. Another is an idea taken from St. Augustine that all truth is God’s truth. The Enneagram is a melting pot of historic wisdom traditions from around the world. It continues to evolve and endure because it resonates with the human experience, and that includes the Christian experience, too. It’s elastic enough that we can fill it with as much Christian language or as little as works for us. It’s not unique to the Christian faith, but it resonates enough with the human experience to make it a useful tool in our pursuit of the love of God. Today, the Enneagram describes 9 patterns, where we can trace 9 vices and 9 virtues. ## What about spiritual direction? A spiritual director is a wise guide who can accompany us on our spiritual journey. They are a person who listens with us as we listen to God. Spiritual direction isn’t a new fad but rather something that the Christian tradition can trace back to the desert mothers and fathers of the early church, like Evagrius. Spiritual direction can be a regular spiritual practice of discerning God’s work in our lives in conversation with another person. We’re not designed to do the spiritual life alone, and a spiritual director is one relationship (among many) we can draw on for wisdom, clarity, and companionship as we learn to hear and trust the invitations of God. What the desert mothers and fathers had was an insatiable desire to know the love of God and an authentic lived experience with God. Today, a host of resources and opportunities for specialized training exist for those with the gifts and graces for this ministry of sacred listening. One shouldn’t take the label of “spiritual director” lightly. A trained spiritual director is able to add to their experience of God a wide array of tried-and-true tools for paying attention to our life and our walk with God. The Enneagram can be one of these tools. ## Why does the Enneagram need spiritual direction? I first learned the Enneagram as part of a spiritual direction training program. In the years since, it has exploded in the popular consciousness with books and podcasts and training programs. It’s all over social media. I’ve known people to introduce themselves in a group setting with an Enneagram number. I’ve heard of churches doing sermon series based on it. There’s certainly some fun and camaraderie to have in sharing a common language, but the Enneagram isn’t a toy or a game. (I do have a card game based on the Enneagram.) In [*Seeds of Contemplation*](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780811217248?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), Thomas Merton writes, *“Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God’s will and God’s love—outside of reality and outside of life. And such a self cannot help but be an illusion.”* This is deep stuff, and really hard stuff, too. I would go a step further than Merton and suggest we deal with more than one single false self. I have many to contend with. That’s heavy work, and if I want to use the Enneagram to tackle that work, I need the wisdom of a spiritual director with me. The stuff that lurks in my shadows would prefer not being messed with, so I'd better not do that work alone. This is why we want to do our Enneagram work with a spiritual director. While the Enneagram offers us language for seeing our vices—anger, pride, deceit, envy, avarice, anxiousness, gluttony, lust, and sloth—it also provides us ways to see good things, too. If these good gifts can be true of us, and we are made in the image of God, then this can also be a way of talking about what God is like. We can see a God whose character is revealed in goodness and rightness, love and care, hope and radiance, creativity and depth, wisdom and insight, faithfulness and courage, joy and abundance, power and protection, peace and oneness. ## Getting practical As a spiritual director, my work is not to become an expert in the Enneagram and teach my directee. No, my work is to be an expert in the love of God and in the human being sitting in front of me. If the directee wants to talk about the Enneagram and their type, I want to ask questions that invite a deeper curiosity that wrap in their experience of God in prayer, their daily life, and other spiritual practices. If their questions or situations they are describing seem to me to be revealing deeper questions around identity and gifts or why they feel stuck in a particular way, I might softly suggest an introductory book like [*Self to Lose, Self to Find*](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780593236826?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) or [*The Enneagram for Spiritual Formation*](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781587434723?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) as something we can talk about in the future. For someone who has gotten really into the Enneagram, I might ask gentle questions about how it squares with their life experience and experience of God. Is it more than interesting data to them? In other words, how is this inviting you into a deeper sense of freedom and healing and love for others and God? Another question I like to offer someone well-versed in the Enneagram is, how do you receive the qualities of your type from God? If you self-identify as a Two, how do you receive God’s Two-ness? If you’re a Seven, how do you experience God’s Seven-ness? I always find a lot to explore in this wondering. As a director, I also often find it fruitful to remind the directee of the gifts of the pattern they identify with, the ways this pattern reveals God’s character that they then participate in. When I’m a directee, knowing the patterns of my type can be something like a trailhead for beginning to explore why a relationship may be stuck, why prayer feels dry, or why I feel out of place with my church community. Having an awareness of how the patterns overlap and connect can give me clues to what invitations the Holy Spirit may be offering. If I relate to the pattern of a Five, Five in growth looks like Eight, and Eight in growth looks like Two. So the wisdom experienced by Five moves to the action of Eight in service to others, like Two. ## Know the limits of your tools Like any tool, the Enneagram is great for jobs it’s made for. It’s not great for jobs it’s not made for. It’s simply one tool among many in our toolbox for gauging our emotional health and spiritual self-awareness. It should take us deeper into the mystery of what makes humans human instead of lulling us into a false sense of certainty. We want to be wary of making it a label we put on ourselves or on others. Labels limit. It may also be helpful to think of the Enneagram as being more noun than adjective. It’s not a thing you are, but rather gives an ever-widening imagination for describing the you that you are. You are not a number. You are a human being made in God’s image. Attaching to an Enneagram type with certainty may also be yet one more trick that enables a false self to hide in plain sight. ## Last thoughts We have a lot of lakes in Oklahoma. It’s not unusual to see signs along the water that say “No wake zone.” A boat going too fast creates a wake on the water that can disrupt or damage other boats. Oftentimes, being a human is a lot like this. We leave wakes behind us in our interactions with people, whether strangers or people we care deeply about. Wouldn’t it be great to grow in awareness of the wake you leave behind so that you’re not doing harm that you’d rather not be doing? Exploring the patterns and movements in the Enneagram in conversation with a spiritual director is a wonderful way of doing that work of growth. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/17/1b/171b7894-f7e1-40ca-876c-fea2e33e4775/content/images/2026/04/Light-Brown-Footprints-in-Sand-Photo-Quote-Facebook-Cover---36.png)](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/school-of-spiritual-direction?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/17/1b/171b7894-f7e1-40ca-876c-fea2e33e4775/content/images/2026/04/Light-Brown-Footprints-in-Sand-Photo-Quote-Facebook-Cover---37.png)](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/affiliates?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) ### 6 Books for the Words and World of Dietrich Bonhoeffer URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/6-books-for-the-words-and-world-of-dietrich-bonhoeffer/ Last updated: 2026-04-10T15:07:02.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Out of the deep (Psalm 130) URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/out-of-the-deep-psalm-130/ Last updated: 2026-04-08T22:25:52.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 25 books that mattered to me in 2025 URL: https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/25-books-that-mattered-to-me-in-2025/ Last updated: 2026-04-08T00:31:04.000Z A memory just came to me. My brother Jason and I are probably early elementary age. It's summertime and one of Mom's weekly routines with us is a trip to the local library. Charles Page Library in Sand Springs already felt like a [museum](https://www.sandspringsok.gov/178/Sand-Springs-Museum?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) then. Heavy marble covered the steps and walls. Even the slightest whisper echoed and echoed. We'd each walk away with a huge stack of books that we'd bring back the next week, all finished. It was one of Mom's summer traditions. I think she'd like the library at the Abbey. Now, it's a frequent thing that a visitor to the [Abbey of the Heights](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/personal-retreats?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) makes their way through the front of the house to the library in the back, and their eyes just go wide, and with varied volumes of, "Oh!" That's a favorite thing. There can be such a wonder being in front of a full bookshelf and have no agenda and no pressing time limit. This is the sixth time I've compiled a list of my favorite books I read in the year. I've tried something a little different this year. I picked out three that were, to me, the most fun to read. I thought I would pull together those that had a common thread. I find that I often chase a thread through several books looking for what I can make of it. As I often tell the visitors in front of our bookshelves, there's likely something here with your name on it, that's especially for you. There's also likely something that's not for you, and you don't need to touch it. May you find the one that has your name on it. ## **My favorite book I read** [***Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781324074809?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Padraig O Tuama** This was a delightful surprise of a Christmas gift last year. I then took it on summer vacation and devoured pretty much all of it in the week. I was expecting 50 original poems. But it wasn’t that it all. He picked 50 of his favorite poems and then wrote an essay about what he found so meaningful in each one. It’s a masterclass in seeing with words and loving poetry. It’s a treasure. I also learned it's a [podcast series](https://onbeing.org/series/poetry-unbound/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). ## **My other favorite book I read** [***The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780375760563?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Robert Farrar Capon** My sister put this on my radar, and when I read the blurb, I thought, “How have I never heard of this?” A cookbook by a priest? I kept telling people it felt like Wendell Berry via Julia Child. And then I kept finding myself in conversation with people who were like, “Yeah, I’ve made every recipe in that book!” We did the “Contemplation of an Onion” for one of our cohorts, and it went over even better than I could have hoped. ## **My other, other favorite book I read** [***Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780593472682?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Joe Posnanski** Okay, one more. My first paying job came when I was in the 4th grade, delivering newspapers three days a week. I spent every penny on baseball cards and a Sporting News subscription, where I pored over the weekly statistics. Later, in the space between college and seminary, I wrote a baseball blog about the Seattle Mariners. One variation of it still exists out there in cyberspace. A good third of the stories in this book have happened during my fandom, and each one brought a smile to my face. Baseball is delightful. ## My favorite books for the contemplative journey [***The Lord Is My Courage: Stepping Through the Shadows of Fear Toward the Voice of Love***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780310124160?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by K.J. Ramsey** [***The Emmanuel Promise: Discovering the Security of a Life Held by God***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781540903662?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Summer Joy Gross** [***Embracing the Body: Finding God in Our Flesh and Bone***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780830835935?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Tara Owens** [***A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781394235070?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Parker Palmer** [***Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can*** ](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9798400505546?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com)[***Move You Into a Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9798400505546?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Cyd and Geoff Holsclaw** [***Boundaries for Your Soul: How to Turn Your Overwhelming Thoughts and Feelings Into Your Greatest Allies***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781400201617?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Alison Cook and Kimberly Miller** [***Try Softer: A Fresh Approach to Move Us Out of Anxiety, Stress, and Survival Mode—And Into a Life of Connection and Joy***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781496439659?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Aundi Kolber** If you spent any time with me this past year, chances are our conversation included the ideas from these that simmered like a tasty stew in my mind—how things like embodiment, attachment theory, internal family systems, and our emotional vocabulary all inform our experience with God. They give us eyes to see how we choose to love God and neighbor. Tara Owens' book is now in our School of Spiritual Direction curriculum. Summer Gross came and led an event with us here at the Abbey of the Heights. Palmer's image of the soul as a "shy animal" that needs silence and solitude to make itself known has become a favorite picture. If you experience any kind of small group through [The Sabbath Life](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), you'll become familiar with Palmer's [Circle of Trust Touchstones](https://couragerenewal.org/library/courage-renewal-touchstones/?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com). ## **My favorite books about healing** [***Healing What’s Within: Coming Home to Yourself—And to God—When You're Wounded, Weary, and Wandering***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781496483140?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Chuck DeGroat** [***Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781631466724?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com)**by Jay Stringer** [***Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781587436598?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Hillary McBride** These could have easily fit into the above category, but I realized they each had a slightly different angle in common. DeGroat's book is excellent for ministry leaders—and those who work closely with them—for being intentional about what's going on inside with one's heart. Stringer's book came recommended by a ministry colleague who told me he'd been slowly reading it with a church men's group and how transforming it was. McBride's book is the best I've found so far about naming spiritual trauma, spiritual abuse, and spiritual bypassing and finding healthy next steps. ## **My favorite books about what’s happening in the world and what we can do** [***How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780525511854?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Jason Stanley** [***On Freedom***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780593728741?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Timothy Snyder** [***Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy*** ](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781635578546?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com)**by Katherine Stewart** [***The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why the Love of Money Is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create a Way Forward***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781587436307?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Malcom Foley** There’s a chapter in Stanley’s book about the controlling of other people's bodies that I’m still thinking about. I read Timothy Snyder’s brief treatise [*On Tyranny*](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780804190114?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) in 2016\. While that feels like a series of short, punchy vignettes, *On Freedom* is more lengthy essays on five particular principles that form a robust vision of freedom—something more substantial than "don't tell me what I can't do." The chapter on "unpredictability" was what finally pushed me over the edge to delete my Facebook and Instagram accounts this year. I highly, highly recommend this book. Stewart has a previous book that was made into the documentary [*God & Country*](https://tubitv.com/movies/100024808/god-country?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com), featuring Kristen Kobes Du Mez and Jemar Tisby, all about Christian nationalism. That's worth watching. This book continues those themes, how religion is being exploited for big profit by one end of the political spectrum. My hometown of Tulsa appears half a dozen pages in, and that was a bummer to see. Riffing on a sermon of St. Basil, Foley has this fire quote: *"Basil calls us to think more creatively than neoliberal capitalism would like us to."* ## **My favorite fiction stories** [***Orbital***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780802163622?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Samantha Harvey** [***James***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780385550369?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Percival Everett** [***Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780593466490?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Gabrielle Zevin** [***Stone Yard Devotional***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9798217047352?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Charlotte Wood** [***The Handmaid’s Tale***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780385490818?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Margaret Atwood** Fiction is part of my before-bed routine. These are the ones I remember the most. *Orbital* is a beautiful reflection on the world, told from the perspective of various members of an international space station. If you can imagine the story of *Huckleberry Finn* from the perspective of Jim, that’s *James*. And it’s worthy of all the awards it’s won. *Stone Yard Devotional* is about a woman finding refuge in a rural Australian monastic community. *Tomorrow* is a story about friendship, entrepreneurship, and video games. I saw [Timothy Snyder](https://snyder.substack.com/p/casting-the-first-stone) call *The Handmaid’s Tale* a novel we need right now. It’s the totalitarian state story of *1984* told from a woman's perspective, and it feels prophetic in ways I really wish it didn’t. It makes a pretty chilling pairing with Katherine Stewart's book above. There’s a dissertation to be written (if it hasn’t already) about the use (and abuse) of the Bible in this story. ## **My favorite stories about people** [***King: A Life***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781250335647?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Jonathan Eig** [***John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781250869548?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Ian Leslie** The first of these is a comprehensive biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Eig doesn't shy away from the humanity of King (the marital infidelities, the frequent hospitalizations for exhaustion), but doesn't make it a gotcha expose, either. I've known the "big rocks" of King's story—Birmingham, Selma, the March on Washington, Memphis—but never the broad context for how they all fit together in the cohesive story of a life cut short at 39. The theme of this Beatles book is that the Lennon-McCartney catalogue came from their deep, intense friendship. In our world today, we have precious few stories of adult male friendship. ## **My favorite reread** [***Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780060925178?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Philip Hallie** I dare call this the most important book I read. I was first exposed to this in a seminary class about Christian hospitality. Bonhoeffer gets a lot of attention as a modern saint of Christian political resistance, but he’s far from the only story that comes out of the horrors of World War II. This book is the story of Le Chambon, a humble French village that served as something like an “Underground Railroad” for German-Jewish refugees. It’s a story of an entire community led by a parish church and its pastor and his wife. It’s a story of beauty, hope, goodness, and taking care of one’s neighbors in the face of extraordinary evil. Definitely, the most inspiring thing you can read right now. ## **BONUS** **Book series I read with kids** [***The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780062110428?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Maryrose Wood** [***The Mysterious Benedict Society***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9780316460965?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Trenton Lee Stewart** [***Percy Jackson and the Olympians***](https://bookshop.org/a/6923/9781368098045?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) **by Rick Riordan** Our kids turned 12 and 13 this year, and we still do bedtime stories. All together, we finished up the Incorrigible Children series and then moved on to the Benedict Society series, which has been pretty fun. Coen and I started reading together the Percy Jackson series, as he read the first one in his language arts class at school. Many of these books you can find on the shelves at the [Abbey of the Heights](https://www.thesabbathlife.com/personal-retreats?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) on your next visit. We hope to see you soon. Here's where you can see all these in a single, simple list, as well as previous lists: [Favorite Books I Read in 2025](https://bookshop.org/lists/favorite-books-we-read-in-2025?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) [Favorite Books I Read in 2024](https://bookshop.org/lists/favorite-books-we-read-in-2024?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) [Favorite Books I Read in 2023](https://bookshop.org/lists/favorite-books-we-read-in-2023?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) [Favorite Books I Read in 2022](https://bookshop.org/lists/favorite-books-we-read-in-2022?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) [Favorite Books I Read in 2021](https://bookshop.org/lists/favorite-books-we-read-in-2021?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) [Favorite Books I Read in 2020](https://bookshop.org/lists/favorite-books-we-read-in-2020?ref=lettersfromtheabbey.com) *All affiliate links go to Bookshop.org and support local independent bookstores.*