Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

adele ahlberg calhoun

Do you desire rest?

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us (InterVarsity Press, 2005; revised/updated 2016).

What kind of spiritual discipline is rest?

What exhausts you? introduced an exploration of the spiritual discipline of rest, one which I find particularly pertinent not only to my life, but also to the lives of those whom I interact with on campus — in campus ministry and as a seminary student. As you may remember, the inspiration for the first post was a discussion I facilitated for a mix graduate students and medical students who are part of the Christian Medical Society / CMDA at Penn State College of Medicine. In preparation for the gathering, I drew from Adele Ahlberg Calhoun‘s Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us (InterVarsity Press, 2005; revised/updated 2016). Let’s take a look at an excerpt from Calhoun’s Introduction, subtitled Discovering Your Desire, to learn how she approaches the spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual disciplines give the Holy Spirit space to brood over our souls. Just as the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep at the dawn of creation, so he hovers over us today, birthing the ever-fresh Christ-life within. The Christ-in-me identity is not bound to a generic one-size-fits-all program for union with God. The Holy Spirit knows the spiritual practices, relationships and experiences that best suit our unique communion with God. He knows how to help us move into the “unforced rhythms of grace” that Jesus offers to teach us (2005, 19). . . .

Disciplines are intentional ways we open space in our lives for the worship of God. They are not harsh but grace-filled ways of responding to the presence of Christ with our bodies. Worship happens in our bodies, not just our heads. Paul writes in Romans 12:1, “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this your spiritual act of worship.” [Read more…] about Do you desire rest?

What exhausts you?

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us (InterVarsity Press, 2005).

“People in a hurry never have time for recovery. Their minds have little time to meditate and pray so that problems can be put in perspective. In short, people in our age are showing signs of physiological disintegration because we are living at a pace that is too fast for our bodies.” — Archibald Hart in Adrenaline and Stress. Quoted by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun in Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us (InterVarsity Press, 2005), italics in Calhoun.

This summer a mix of graduate students and medical students part of the Christian Medical Society / CMDA at Penn State College of Medicine are digging into material from Adele Ahlberg Calhoun‘s Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us (InterVarsity Press, 2005) and Jerry Bridges’ Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate (NavPress, 2007). Last week I had the opportunity to lead a discussion on the spiritual discipline of rest (Calhoun, 63-65). [Read more…] about What exhausts you?

What Are You Thankful For? The Spiritual Discipline of Gratitude

Obama_ThanksGiving_Turkey_Pardon_2009
Can turkeys feel gratitude? This one might, as it receives a presidential pardon.

All this month, my Facebook feed has been filled with friends participating in 30 Days of Thanksgiving, posting each day about something for which they are thankful — their family, their friends, the goodness of God’s provision, etc. The regular practice of gratitude is an important guard against cynicism and self-righteousness and something that I endorse. Even so, it was hard for me not to laugh at the Facebook post of a friend, who recently left a PhD program in Second Temple Judaism and is currently struggling to find meaningful work:

Well I know I’m late and that I’m a novice at it, but here goes; Day 8:

“…God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.” For what are you grateful for today? [1]

Gratitude as a Spiritual Discipline

Gratitude is hard. When things are going well, it’s easy to believe that we have accomplished our success entirely through our own effort and that we owe nothing to anyone else, least of which God. In his book The Beauty of God’s Holiness, my InterVarsity colleague Tom Trevethan writes of people he has known whose careers have taken off quickly or who have given themselves entirely over to someone or something else, ignoring God and, like the praying Pharisee of my friend’s joke, becoming deluded in their quest for success apart from God. [Read more…] about What Are You Thankful For? The Spiritual Discipline of Gratitude