John Mark Ministries | Spirituality

Spirituality

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‘Let no one who is not eager for truth and peace enter here’ (Plato)

Articles on this site express varying points of view, to encourage mature thinking on serious issues. The assumption is that you will want to study a controversial topic from various angles before you arrive at a conclusion, rather than simply believe what someone told you when you were impressionable! (So some stuff here is ‘hot’. Proceed at your own risk!). See the Statement of Faith for John Mark Ministries' theological stance.

25 LISTS OF EVERYTHING INTERESTING/IMPORTANT

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ December 30, 2011 ⋅ One comment

Dear friends I’m making 25 lists of 25 important/memorable/helpful items/ideas. Anything missing? We’ll have to factor it in to one of these (watch this article): 25 LISTS OF 25 1 MOST INSPIRING PEOPLE WHO’VE EVER LIVED 2 MOST MEMORABLE PASSAGES IN THE BIBLE 3 GREATEST CHRISTIAN HYMNS/SONGS 4 GREATEST SERMONS EVER PREACHED 5 GREATEST […]

Braco’s Enchanting Gaze (what do you make of this?)

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ December 2, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Sightings 12/1/2011 Braco ¢â‚¬â„¢s Enchanting Gaze — Alan Levinovitz According to his official website, Braco (pronounced braht-zo) is a gentle Croatian man with a remarkable gift: a silent gaze that induces ¢â‚¬Å“transformative changes ¢â‚¬ and ¢â‚¬Å“profound experiences ¢â‚¬ in the hundreds of thousands who attend his ¢â‚¬Å“gazing sessions. ¢â‚¬ Braco is a purportedly non-denominational phenomenon. […]

God’s love (by Richard Rohr)

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ November 19, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

The great thing about God ¢â‚¬â„¢s love is that it ¢â‚¬â„¢s not determined by the object. God does not love us because we are good. God loves us because God is good. It takes our whole lives for that to sink in because that ¢â‚¬â„¢s not how human love operates. Human love is largely determined by […]

Heaven

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ November 16, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

“……keep your fork” Woman and a Fork There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things ‘in order,’ she contacted her Pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final […]

MYSTICISM (Richard Rohr)

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ November 14, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Mystical moments are experiences of enlargement and connectedness or union. Suddenly you ¢â‚¬â„¢re bigger. You don ¢â‚¬â„¢t feel a need to condemn, exclude, divide or separate. Unfortunately, most of us were sent on private paths of perfection which none of us could achieve. The path of union is different than the path of perfection. Perfection […]

God is with you (Richard Rohr)

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ November 4, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

To live [in cooperation with God] is to live inside of an unexplainable hope, because your life will now feel much larger than your own. In fact, it is not just your own life, and yet, paradoxically, you are more ¢â‚¬Å“you ¢â‚¬ than ever before! I hope you have experienced that, if just for a moment. […]

Richard Foster, Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey Into Meditative Prayer (IVP, 2011)

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ October 14, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Contemporary culture, writes our (Quaker) author, ¢â‚¬Ëœis good at training us in almost everything and anything ¢â‚¬ ¦ except prayer ¢â‚¬â„¢. His opening quote is from Elizabeth O ¢â‚¬â„¢Connor: ¢â‚¬ËœChurches have no courses on meditation, despite the fact that it is an art that must be learned from those who have mastered it, and despite the fact that the […]

CONTEMPLATION (Richard Rohr)

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ September 21, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

What happens in contemplation is that we move beyond doctrines and dogmas to calm inner experience of the same. When we move to the level of experience, we see that this self is only a ¢â‚¬Å“radio receiver ¢â‚¬ and is not to be taken too seriously, for it is always changing stations and is filled with […]

True vs False Self (Richard Rohr)

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ September 1, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

I think some kind of experience of God is necessary for mental and emotional health. You basically don’t belong in the universe until you are connected to its center, and one word for that center (and everything else by implication) is ¢â‚¬Å“God. ¢â‚¬ When you live in the false self you are ¢â‚¬Å“eccentric ¢â‚¬ or off center. […]

Review: Richard Rohr, Falling Upward, Jossey-Bass, 2011