HOPE PRACTICE
"When life mugs you, robs you of what you hold most dear, leaving you for dead, how can you keep your hope alive? You can use your loss to bless someone else whose wounds are fresher than yours."
— R. Wayne Willis in Hope Notes

HOSPITALITY PRACTICE
"Close your eyes for this imagery exercise. Breathe out three long, slow exhalations.

"Hearing a knock on the door of your house, see yourself going quickly to answer it and, without hesitating, opening the door and inviting whoever or whatever is there to come in. Who is your guest? What is your guest doing and saying? Sense and feel how you are welcoming your guest, even if her or she is not expected or acceptable to you.

"Breathe out three times. See yourself sitting at your dinner table with all the seats being filled by strangers — people and other beings. Eating your meal, know that you are entertaining angels. What happens and how do you feel?

"When you are ready, open your eyes.''
— Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat in Spiritual Rx

IMAGINATION PRACTICE
"How to be an artist: Stay loose. Learn to watch snails. Plant impossible gardens. Make little signs that say 'yes' and post them all over your house. Make friends with uncertainty."
— Henry Miller in Sacred Journeys in a Modern World by Roger Housden

To Practice This Thought: Permission granted: be an artist.

IN HIS IMAGE
"God is the major investor in Human Goodness, Inc. God invested a spark of His Divine Self in human beings in order to participate in this world. This is the meaning of the mystical tradition that teaches that God desires to be in this world. God lives and participates in this world through you and me — if we accept the mission. This is the real meaning of God creating humanity in his image."
— David Aaron in Inviting God In


AN INNER VOICE
"As a Christian, I am firmly convinced that the decisive moment of Jesus's public life was his baptism, when he heard the divine affirmation, 'You are my Beloved on whom my favor rests.' In this core experience, Jesus is reminded in a deep, deep way of who he really is.

"There is in each of us an inner voice of Love that says: 'You are the Beloved of God!' I want you to claim your Belovedness. You don't have to get caught in searches that lead nowhere. Neither do you have to become the victim of a manipulative world or get trapped in any kind of addiction. You can choose to reach out now for true inner freedom and find it ever more fully."
— Henri J. M. Nouwen in Spiritual Direction

INTEGRAL SPIRITUALITY
"Here is a path of spiritual unfolding created by Ken Wilbur that uses the consciousness raising techniques of Eastern enlightenment in tandem with the transformative techniques of the West via developmental and psychodynamic psychology. Ancient wisdom and modern science work together for human flourishing."
— Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

INTERSPIRITUALITY
"I believe that interspirituality is an essential step toward our species consciously becoming a global community. Globalization has already happened in world music and world economy; what we now perceive taking place in America, and also in other parts of the Western world, is a melding of spiritual styles. This fusion of spiritual paths is fortifying the roots of interspirituality.

"Interspirituality is often mistaken for a 'mix and match' approach to patching together a convenient and personal 'spiritual menu' for the week. This is far from the truth. The true interspiritual path is the authentic engagement of belonging to more than one tradition at the same time. Just as global culture, music, and economics were generated by Western incentive, evidence of the interspiritual movement now taking place in the West is indicative of the interspirtual age that is now open to us. It is the next wave in human consciousness."
— Russell Paul in Awakening the Spirit, Inspiring the Soul edited by Brother Wayne Teasdale and Martha Howard


JESUS
"Jesus was not divine because he was a human life into whom the external God had entered, as traditional Christology has claimed; he was and is divine because his humanity and his consciousness were so whole and so complete that the meaning of God could flow through him. He was thus able to open people to that transcendent dimension of life, love and being that we call God."
— John Shelby Spong in Jesus for the Non-Religious

JOY PRACTICE
"In order to rejoice at the happiness of others and share it with them, the Buddha suggested to practice the following phrases toward others: 'May your happiness not leave you, may your good fortune not diminish, may your joy continue.' When people practice with these phrases, over time it helps them to recognize and be grateful for their own happiness, good fortune, and joy; it also contributes to them rejoicing at the happiness of others."
— Martine Batchelor in Let Go

JUSTICE PRACTICE
"The idea that 'you are what you eat' is crucial on both the physical and political planes. If we are indifferent towards the source of our food, this may result in our being actively supportive of a life chain that goes against our own values and interests. For example, when we eat products resulting from the exploitation of workers or consumers, the quality inherent in the way the food came to our plates gets digested into our own system. From eating these foods we will tend to grow even more indifferent to other life forms and the planet itself."
— Nilton Bonder in The Kabbalah of Food

To Practice this thought: Make a practice of learning more about the sources of your food. Find ways you can be less indifferent to other life forms and the planet itself.

Go to Index for Alphabet of Progressive Christian Spirituality