Table Of ContentSPIRITUAL
DISCIPLINES
HANDBOOK
Practices That Transform Us
REVISED AND EXPANDED
Adele Ahlberg Calhoun
For fellow pilgrims at
Christ Church of Oak Brook,
Park Street Church, Boston, and
IVCF/IFES.
Your desires for God have graced my journey.
Contents
Preface to the Revised Edition
The Spiritual Disciplines and Desires
Introduction: Discovering Your Desire
Part 1: Worship
Celebration
Gratitude
Holy Communion
Rule for Life
Sabbath
Visio Divina
Worship
Part 2: Open Myself to God
Contemplation
Examen
Iconography
Journaling
Pilgrimage
Practicing the Presence
Rest
Retreat
Self-Care
Simplicity
Slowing
Teachability
Unplugging
Part 3: Relinquish the False Self
Confession and Self-Examination
Detachment
Discernment
Mindfulness/Attentiveness
Secrecy
Silence
Sobriety
Solitude
Spiritual Direction
Submission
Waiting
Part 4: Share My Life with Others
Accountability Partner
Chastity
Community
Covenant Group
Discipling
Face-to-Face Connection
Hospitality
Mentoring
Service
Small Group
Spiritual Friendship
Unity
Witness
Part 5: Hear God’s Word
Bible Study
Lectio Divina/Devotional Reading
Meditation
Memorization
Part 6: Incarnate the Love of Christ
Blessing Others/Encouragement
Care of the Earth
Compassion
Control of the Tongue
Forgiveness
Humility
Justice
Solidarity in Jesus’ Sufferings
Stewardship
Truth Telling
Part 7: Pray
Breath Prayer
Centering Prayer
Contemplative Prayer
Conversational Prayer
Fasting
Fixed-Hour Prayer
Inner-Healing Prayer
Intercessory Prayer
Labyrinth Prayer
Listening Prayer
Liturgical Prayer
Prayer of Lament
Prayer Partners
Praying Scripture
Prayer of Recollection
Prayer Walking
Welcoming Prayer
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1: Spiritual Growth Planner
Appendix 2: A Series on Spiritual Disciplines for the Congregation
Appendix 3: Suggestions for Spiritual Mentors
Appendix 4: Using the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook with Small Groups
Appendix 5: Names for Worshiping God
Appendix 6: One Anothers
Appendix 7: Postures for Prayer
Appendix 8: Spending Time with God
Appendix 9: Suggestions for Fasting Prayer for the Church
Appendix 10: Seasons, Stages and Ages of Transformation
Glossary
Bibliography
Index of Spiritual Disciplines
Transforming Center
About the Author
Formatio
More Titles from InterVarsity Press
Copyright
Preface to the Revised Edition
In November 2010 I spent eight days “writing” icons on Enders Island—a
fantastically small dollop of beauty off the coast of Mystic, Connecticut.
Corralled by the Atlantic, my world shrank down to a monastic cell, the art
studio, daily Mass and meals with strangers.
Icon writing is an exercise in prayer, theology and painting. I am an amateur
(to put a finer point on it—a novice) in all three fields. But the word amateur
expresses my love of these three disciplines. It seemed risky to honor all three
loves at once; I might end up slighting God, theology or the saint I was to paint.
Or perhaps I would fall in love with them all over again.
The process of icon writing began with Mass and a “blessing of the hands”
of each would-be iconographer. Anticipating the rigors and challenges ahead of
us, the priest anointed our hands with oil. Making the sign of the cross, he
prayed, “I anoint your hands for every good work and for the honor and glory of
God.” The blessing poured calm over my anxiety and clarified the call and task
at hand. I was here to apprentice myself to a master iconographer. Still, I
remained clueless of the humbling ahead of me. There would be messes,
mistakes, weakness, immaturity, ignorance, fear, inexperience, comparison and
the unflagging desire for more.
My fellow students included experienced iconographers (one a member of
the British Association of Iconographers) and neophytes like myself. My
teacher, Dmitri Andreyev, guided the class with his artistic know-how,
theological heft and Russian accent. Lessons began with prayer and without
introductions. Dmitri handed each of us a wood panel and launched into the
architecture of the universe as revealed in our 12” x 8” x 1” boards. An icon’s
genesis begins with listening to the wood.
The Tree of Life
No tree is just a tree. Trees carry theology in their veins. With branches stretched
to the heavens in praise, trees are God’s one creation that join heaven and earth.
A tree (like an icon) is a visual shorthand and a symbol of God’s redemption
story. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of life, the tree for the
healing of the nations, the tree of the cross—all bear witness to God’s story.
Each tree reminds us of God’s presence and action in our world. In Orthodoxy
G. K. Chesterton said the chief aim of Christianity “was to give room for good
things to run wild.” Trees reflect those riotous, wondrous truths.
Icons are written on the vertical grain of boards—thus maintaining the
branches’ upward reach to God. Each icon acts as a bridge between heaven and
earth—holding forth the word of life. The tree of life in Eden and the tree of life
in the New Jerusalem both communicate God’s intention to bless, sustain, heal
and abide with us forever. The board points to this divine purpose. It also
reminds us that the Son of God, with arms nailed wide open to a tree, gave his
life for the life of the world. Holding the board in my hand I trace the veins with
my fingers. I lift my heart up, and the promise of the new creation opens before
me.
God’s Universe on a Panel Board
Icons are “written” rather than painted, because they communicate. Created with
prayer and theology—also communication—icons are meant to be “read.” My
reading lessons began before I ever held a paintbrush. They began with listening
to the wood’s story.
When we understood the visual shorthand of the wood, Dmitri turned to the
gesso-covered side of the board and continued the reading lessons. Gesso is a
mixture of organic compounds: animal glues, plaster, chalk and white pigment.
The whiteness represents the uncreated light of the Creator. The light that God
shares to give life to the world. Refract light through a prism and a spectrum of
colors appears. The white surface will ultimately be enfleshed with color,
reminding us that every shade, hue, tint and tone finds its origin in the uncreated
light of God.
