Spirituality — the life of the Spirit — has enjoyed a renaissance in our day. My parents, of the World War II generation, never talked about it — for them, church and religion existed to take care of spiritual needs. But it seems that in the so-called postmodern world, more and more people have begun to understand spirituality as something entirely distinct from religion. For many, this is a subtle form of judgment against religion. Religion is communal, organizational, institutional; spirituality is personal, private, individualistic. Since America is a society that insists the individual is more important than the community, no wonder so many people feel like spirituality is better than religion! But I think it’s actually more healthy to see spirituality and religion as complementary, rather than adversarial. Religion involves form and structure, while spirituality involves consciousness and relationship. In terms of cultivating a God-infused life, religion concerns the skeleton and the muscle, while spirituality concerns the heart and the mind. Here in the world of form, we need both. Taken together, religion and spirituality help us to incarnate the presence of God in our lives.

The religion of Christianity offers a distinctive and beautiful wisdom tradition about how we, as individuals and as a community, can grow spiritually in response to the love of God in our lives. Traditionally, the custodians of this wisdom tradition have been called mystics; therefore, the wisdom tradition of Christian spirituality is also known as Christian mysticism. Please note that this is different from the common mis-use of the word “mysticism” to suggest occult or paranormal knowledge and experience. Christian mysticism is grounded in the Bible, the sacraments, the liturgy, and involves growth in holiness and a dedication to a life of prayer, devotion, and service to others.

The pages that link off from this one explore this wisdom tradition and how it is available to us to day. The first page, What is Spiritual Formation? offers an introduction to this concept: of being formed, by the Holy Spirit, through Christ, in the image and likeness of God. Subsequent pages look at the many tools and resources availabel to those of us who wish to open our lives to the Spirit’s work. It is my prayer that as you read these words, you will be blessed by a sense of the unique and wonderful way in which God is calling you to a more intimate, loving life of participation in the Divine Nature.

N.B. This list includes topics related to spiritual formation. If an item on the list is not yet hyperlinked to its own page, this simply means I have not yet written about that particular topic. Creating a website, like spiritual formation itself, is a long and slow process!

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