A PERSONAL CHRISTIAN JOURNEY

William Hine

Description

Peace and joy are goals of all of us who are on a spiritual journey. This workbook focuses on using the SHOW (Surrender/Suffering, Humility, Obedience, Wonder/Awe/Reverence) principles along with a dedicated prayer life to obtain peace and joy. God is always knocking, and we must learn how to listen and see. There are exercises for personal input and focus as well as original poems. Different forms of prayer are also discussed.

Sujets

• Inspirational
• Philosophie et théologie
• Religion
• Christian

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 27 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669865285
• Langue: English

Extrait

A PERSONAL CHRISTIAN JOURNEY
 
4 GUIDELINES FOR A JOURNEY TO PEACE AND JOY THROUGH PRAYER
 
 
 
 
 
WILLIAM HINE
 
 
COPYRIGHT © 2023 BY WILLIAM HINE.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER:

2023901864
 
ISBN:
HARDCOVER
978-1-6698-6530-8
 
 
SOFTCOVER
978-1-6698-6529-2
 
 
EBOOK
978-1-6698-6528-5
 
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Rev. date: 06/26/2023
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
836021
CONTENTS
Chapter 1     A Personal Christian Journey to Peace and Joy Through Prayer
Chapter 2     Surrender/Suffering
Chapter 3     Humility
Chapter 4     Obedience
Chapter 5     Wonder/Awe/Reverence
Chapter 6     Discipline and Prayer
Chapter 7     Practice of Contemplative Prayer
Chapter 8     Practice of Divine Readings
Chapter 9     Practice of Other Forms of Prayer
Chapter 10   Reflections/Activities
Bibliography
 
CHAPTER 1
A PERSONAL CHRISTIAN JOURNEY TO PEACE AND JOY THROUGH PRAYER
 
Everyone wants peace and joy in life, and we all continuously struggle to achieve this important goal. In today’s fast-paced, global, and materialistic world, we are constantly pushed to be human “doings” rather than human “beings.” Society constantly demands that we achieve at all times and pursue cultural ideals. Our western culture stresses an ethic that focuses on monetary rewards and material possessions, an ethic that focuses on doing, not being. Much of what we read and see supports this ethic, one that points, in the final analysis, only toward ourselves. The attitude of “I am in total control” (Greed is good!) and “I am self-made” permeates much of today’s western society. Unfiltered capitalism is the air we breathe. All of these goals are illusions and will not lead to peace, joy, growth, or the deepening of our lives as Christians.
The SHOW principles, based upon prayer, are the way our faith shows us how to move away from fear, worry, and anxiety. This book outlines a personal Christian journey and is a workbook. The journey of Christian faith is lifelong. Our Christian faith is based on our developing relationships with God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, ourselves, and others and is a mystical experience in part. God has granted us radical grace because all love comes from God, and God is love. We have heard all our lives about God’s grace and salvation. It is the peace and joy that is beyond understanding. In many ways, we cannot relate to the idea of radical grace or love because it is impossible, as humans, to provide totally unconditional love to others. We can never lose this unconditional love or grace; God’s grace is truly radical and liberating.
At our core, we truly are the reflection of God. Whether one calls that core a soul, spark of the infinite, or inner light, we are a part of God through Jesus Christ. Our true self or “big self” is our core essence. God, through Christ and by the Holy Spirit, SHOW s us the way to joy and peace and by living in relationship with Triune God. While the mind is critical in our faith development, it can take us only part of the way. Descartes and some others in western philosophy are wrong. Our Christian faith tells us it is not “I think, therefore I am,” but I am , therefore I think . Through study and personal experience, I know that the SHOW principles outlined in this workbook plus dedication to a strong prayer life are a way to developing a strong relationship to God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.
I want to thank Sister Marsha Spleth and Sister Margaret Kern, both from the Sisters of Providence, for their spiritual guidance and, finally, Father Eric Lies, Benedictine monk at Saint Meinrad’s monastery, for being a model of what a Christian is and can be. Finally, and most importantly, I thank my wife of over fifty five years. Her Christian faith is exemplary. There is nothing that can separate us from God’s unconditional love. Our faith path is always a journey to our “true self.”
This book is a workbook, and it is designed to have three major sections.
SECTION 1: A discussion of the SHOW principles (outlined in my previous book, published in 2012) and their centrality to our Christian and spiritual journey are provided.
S urrender/Suffering
H umility
O bedience
W onder/Awe/Reverence
SECTION 2: Based upon the SHOW principles, a varied/ongoing and disciplined prayer life is totally necessary to truly finding Christian peace and joy. Different prayer forms are discussed, but the focus is on contemplative prayer (prayer of quiet) and lectio divina of how to read the Scriptures.
SECTION 3: A series of reflections and exercises are provided for the reader based upon the SHOW principles and Section 2 prayer types to develop a Christian faith focused on God and Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. Finally, a list of resources is provided to the reader for further study.
Our journey to God and in receiving Christian joy and peace is never ending . I say this in different sections of the book to emphasize strongly this important point. While it may appear that progress and growth are slow, we all have setbacks. To us, we may see no spiritual growth, but we are ever growing in our Christian faith toward peace and joy. A caution is that as God draws straight with crooked lines, we take three steps forward and then two steps back in our faith development. This is not failure as we are only human. God is always knocking, and we need to use our free will to respond. Listen to and enjoy God and Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
I claim no great new insight in this workbook. Many of the ideas and perspectives presented here have been part of our Christian tradition for years and centuries. I hope the uniqueness of this book is in its organization, which reflects my ongoing Christian journey. Blessings to you. Amen.
This “me” approach to life will almost always lead to pressure, anxiety, fear, worry, stress, and negative impacts on our Christian faith’s promise of peace and joy. The “me” approach amounts to chasing one’s tail or being on a continuous “doing” treadmill. These persistent current life emotions and ethics are really based on fear , worry , and anxiety , which come from pride and self-centeredness. We see ourselves only as what we do, say, think, feel, and own and in what other people think of us. Worry, broken relationships, and negative feelings, over time, will almost always be the result of these human values and will never lead to the contentment God, through Christ and by the Holy Spirit, has promised us.
I strongly believe, and have experienced in my life, that our Christian faith does SHOW us a way out of our culture’s anxious, fear-based, self-centered, and prideful thinking. The principles discussed in this book will SHOW a way out of these dilemmas and into a life of peace and joy.
Central to the SHOW principles are prayer and study. God, the creator; Christ, His son; and the Holy Spirit are always within us, closer to us than we are to ourselves. God is always knocking; and His unconditional love and salvation cannot be earned and, most importantly, cannot be lost. God gives us free will to accept or decline His radical grace and love. To benefit from SHOW principles/situations, we must offer our most precious gift to Him, our time in prayer. Prayer in all of its forms helps us grow and deepen our faith. There is no other way.
It is truly radical grace. Our peace and joy are always pure gifts or radical grace. God’s love, grace, and salvation are all one. We must believe and truly own that we are unconditionally loved and accepted. Thomas Merton felt that, in one of his books, “Such utterly free and gratuitous love is the only love that validates, transforms, and changes us at the deepest levels of consciousness. It is what we all desire and what we were created for. Once you allow it for yourself, you will almost naturally become a conduit of the same for others. In fact, nothing else will attract you anymore or even make much sense.” Radical grace is the totally complete and absolute love of God in the Christian faith that we can never lose. We Christians are all our brother’s (and sister’s) keeper. The images of God and Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit are in all of us.
My SHOW principles are a direction to peace and joy. At the end of some sections, there are some brief poems I have written to guide you to understand the SHOW principles. I encourage you to read them, digest them, and then rewrite them in your own words. I’ve left spaces for you to write, take notes, and make some of the lists, words, and ideas your own. This is a workbook for Christians based upon my own journey. I claim nothing original, but I reflect many Christian writers and their precepts and perspectives. At seventy-eight, they reflect my own personal journey toward peace and joy. One important point is that the journey i