# Letters from the Abbey
> a contemplative journey for slowing down and finding a sabbath life
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## Pages
- [About Father Peter White](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/about-father-peter-white.md) - 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…
- [Welcome. We're glad you're here.](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/about.md) - Letters from the Abbey is an extension of The Sabbath Life. 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 Ch…

## Posts
- [Sing unto the Lord : Psalm 149](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/sing-unto-the-lord-psalm-149.md)
- [How to talk about your spiritual direction practice](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/how-to-talk-about-your-spiritual-direction-practice.md) - 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 by Michael Port. There are precious few resources available for spiritual directors that provide guidance about how you find directees and that…
- [6 Books for Getting Started with Eugene Peterson](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/6-books-for-getting-started-with-euguene-peterson.md)
- [Hear what is right, O Lord : Psalm 17](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/hear-what-is-right-o-lord-psalm-17.md)
- [Finding a Rhythm of Prayer in the Daily Office](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/finding-a-rhythm-of-prayer-in-the-daily-office.md) - 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 w…
- [7 Books for Beginning with Spiritual Direction](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/books-for-beginning-with-spiritual-direction.md) - 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.
- [On Finding a Spiritual Director](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/on-finding-a-spiriutal-director.md) - 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…
- [The Most Important Chapter in the Bible](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/the-most-important-chapter-in-the-bible.md) - 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 matte…
- [What Ascension Day means for the story of God](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/what-ascension-day-means-for-the-story-of-god.md) - 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. The Ascension is a big part of the story.
- [Be joyful in God! : Psalm 66](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/be-joyful-in-god-psalm-66.md) - 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?”
- [Exploring the practice of retreat in a deeper way](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/exploring-retreat-in-a-deeper-way.md) - 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 spirit…
- [6 books about spiritual formation (pre-1600s edition)](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/6-books-about-spiriritual-formation-pre-1600s-edition-for-fri-5-1.md) - 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.
- [In you have I put my trust : Psalm 31](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/in-you-have-i-put-my-trust-psalm-31.md)
- [Exploring a Christian Sabbath practice in a deeper way](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/exploring-a-christian-sabbath-practice-in-a-deeper-way.md) - 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 strugglin…
- [7 Books for Getting Started with Henri Nouwen](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/7-books-for-getting-started-with-henri-nouwen.md)
- [The Lord is my shepherd : Psalm 23](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/the-lord-is-my-shepherd-psalm-23.md)
- [What is spiritual direction?](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/what-is-spiritual-direction.md) - 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…
- [11 Books that Make the Culture of The Sabbath Life](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/11-books-that-make-the-culture-of-the-sabbath-life.md)
- [Preserve me, O God : Psalm 16](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/preserve-me-o-god-psalm-16.md)
- [The Enneagram in spiritual direction](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/the-enneagram-in-spiritual-direction.md) - 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…
- [6 Books for the Words and World of Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/6-books-for-the-words-and-world-of-dietrich-bonhoeffer.md)
- [Out of the deep (Psalm 130)](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/out-of-the-deep-psalm-130.md)
- [25 books that mattered to me in 2025](https://www.lettersfromtheabbey.com/25-books-that-mattered-to-me-in-2025.md) - 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 then. Heavy marble covered the steps and walls. Even the sligh…

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