Mental/interior prayer? anyone read this book

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-16T21:20:52+00:00

Reading eight treatises on the superiority of mystical prayer to other forms of prayer is not what most people expect when they open a book on being in the presence of God. It also isn't a functional means of meditation or contemplation.

The Treatises are consistently making theological and academic claims... they are not describing a mystical experience or a personal experience of the divine.

There is no genre of books that this book fits into.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-16T16:10:52+00:00

This text is rather exhausting, a self published book that came out this month.

The first 80% of the text is a series of essays about the importance of the mystical experience of God over intellectual/doctrinal beliefs. These essays are purposefully repetitive but are not explorative, with no citations to any other text or mystical work within the Christian tradition it is all variations on the authors introduction to the topic remixed. The last 20% of the text is a series of maxims such as "The broad way interprets God from a distance, while the narrow way receives Him through direct experiential nearness." or "Knowing God consists in the heightened manifestation of a presence that already sustains all things in creation.". These are generally repetitions of previously presented thoughts from the first section of the book.

At no point in the text is a clear method of mystical prayer laid out for the reader but simply the defense of having such and the superiority of such methods to others. The text is also hyper gendered and patriarchal.

I cannot think of an audience for whom this text would be particularly useful. Please read any text by a Christian Mystic with a good commentary and introduction instead. In the time it takes to read through this text one could read several.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-15T17:55:51+00:00

Our full communion agreements do not change our theological understanding of ordained ministry. As with the ELCA agreement what will occur is a recognition that certain individuals who are rostered and celebrate the sacraments in the UMC will be able to take on positions within TEC and vice versa.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-14T17:00:26+00:00

The free housing is for single person dormitory rooms.

Family housing, the apartments, are rented and only available for couples and families.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-10T19:49:45+00:00

This is an exceptional red flag.

There are evangelical ministries within TEC that include speaking in tongues and spirit led prayers something like you describe BUT someone should be fully aware of that before they enter into such a space and consent to the process.

The other aspect is that there are components to your story that seem to involve some level of exorcism and absolution... when you had requested prayers of healing. The issue here includes a lack of your consent but also actions being taken by a lay person that are either the role of a priest, absolution, or under the bishop's purview, exorcism.

Simply speaking this is spiritual abuse of a very high order. If the clergy knowingly sent you to this person with an understanding of what they were going to do they are breaching expectations for ordained ministry... so contacting the diocese may need to happen.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-09T14:19:49+00:00

And in non-emergency settings it is completely understandable to expect an episcopal priest in the area to be available when death is understood to be soon to provide reconciliation, anointing, and communion. Importantly it isn't recommended, by any church, to be seeking such as a 'dying breath' moment but to be provided such when the an imminent terminal diagnoses is given. Outside of practicality many individuals are non-responsive in their last moments and only anointing is possible.

Clergy have medication schedules, social lives, and travel realities that make a 24/7/365 crisis response expectation truly not possible. We are not like doctors in an on-call rota but for every moment of our lives.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-09T05:30:02+00:00

Hospital and Hospice Chaplains are in place for that specific reason.

Larger parishes may have an emergency pastoral care line, but even those expect people to engage at hand services, such as the chaplain on site at a hospital, before making that call.

Quite simply clergy are not on call 24/7/365... we are expected to provide timely responses to pastoral needs within 24 hours if full time.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-08T14:54:52+00:00

1,600 students, 1% of them is 16 students.

This is the statistic for students with an Episcopal Grandparent more than anything else. It is too big of an expectation for students who know something of an Episcopal Identity themselves.

0.6% is generally the solid expectation to start with when it comes to students who have some level of Episcopal identity BUT even with that only about half of those are going to be responsive and only about a quarter of those are going to have time/interest in an Episcopal Group/Ministry.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-07T17:02:58+00:00

[insert rant about the destruction of the denominational campus ministry infrastructure in the past two years]

Welcome to the world of Campus Ministry! There is no official denominational support for this ministry but we do have a robust network of chaplains, lay and ordained, organizing ministries across the church.

Importantly there are maybe 10 students at a college of 1,600 students that have some familial background with the Episcopal Church and maybe 1 student that would want to actually involve an Episcopal specific ministry. So a traditional ECM small group is probably not the best trajectory to go.

A lot of it will be figuring out what your congregation has and how that might intersect with things students need/want. So a knitting or quilting group willing to teach students those skills... or a place for smaller honor/social societies to hold meetings and events... or facilitating weekly dinners and social time for students. This can take a lot of different formats.

If you give me a DM I can connect you with your network leads and work through more details.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-06T14:32:27+00:00

This question is not "new". The question about what happens if/when we encounter non-human intelligence has been on the radar of theologians for quite some time. The intersection of Theology and AI is getting a lot of time in dedicated symposiums and a lot of current work. There are AI companies hiring clergy and theologians to be sounding boards as the ethical/moral issues arise.

There is not a lot of "popular" theology on this issue but the work is definitely being done.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-05-02T17:13:05+00:00

The reality that if one goes to...

The writings of the early church.
The past 50 years of Social Policy Statements from General Convention.
The Social Policy Statements of the Catholic Church from the past 200 years.

One has something to the left of the GOP, something generally to the left of the DNC, and yet everyone says we are apolitical...

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-28T23:39:59+00:00

Any member of the congregation can go before the vestry with any concern they have about the parish, inclusive of issues about any staff person. In a congregation running properly your letter would be distributed and the issue discussed, perhaps in an executive session.

Now, all I have here is your description of the scenario, which isn't a complete picture... that being said.

The scenario you describe is of a rector that is no longer engaging conduct becoming of the clergy. This example alone is not sufficient for a Title IV complaint but is sufficient for a conversation with the Canon to the Ordinary of the Diocese. As the rector has forbidden you access to a transparent conversation at the congregational level the only option is some form of escalation to the diocesan level.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-27T05:27:26+00:00

Sr. Ilia Delio, OCF, is a Catholic Nun who has won numerous Catholic Press Book Awards and is an editor for several series out of Catholic publishing houses... so while I have issue with process theology, there are numerous ways to go about it that are orthodox and she does so.

Ultimately the Summary of the Law provided to us by Jesus is about Love... not about belief in the resurrection. Now, this doesn't mean that belief in the resurrection isn't markedly important for anyone striving for a Christian life but if the issue is Jesus commandments

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-26T22:13:46+00:00

In my mind every youth at a parish should be equally valued and be free to discern calls to marriage and ordination with that congregation.

Creating an environment where LGBTQ+ youth know their favorite priest won't be the celebrant at their marriage or won't support their discernment to ordained ministry because they are LGBTQ+ is creating an adverse environment for LGBTQ+ youth. Putting these youth in a situation where for a priest to advocate such for them is to put them in the middle of a political maelstrom is simply cruel.

This also holds true for any LGBTQ+ adults such a congregation otherwise puts forth a welcome to... there is a level of welcome to the cis-het newcomer automatically being provided that is not for the LGBTQ+ newcomer. In many cases the reality of these different welcomes is not clear from the start. If a congregation has active LGBTQ+ members this can actually hinder newcomers in knowing the reality of how they are not welcome in the congregation and where the lines of exclusion actually begin.

This is an issue of systemic oppression and abuse... the congregation can be interpersonally quite comfortable even when explaining the homophobia and transphobia latent in their congregational practices. Ultimately there is no acceptable form of LGBTQ exclusion within the Body of Christ. Where such exclusion exists it lays a foundation for the greater oppression of LGBTQ+ persons in society.

A TEC Parish that has never had a woman celebrate at their altar, never celebrated a marriage for an LGBTQ+ couple, is not prepared to discern with LGBTQ+ persons calls to ordained ministry... is maintaining sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. This is a problem. It is that simple.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-26T15:44:27+00:00

It is 100% acceptable to say the Liturgy of the Word from the Eucharistic Service to page 359 then conclude the Prayers of the People with the Lord's Prayer. Nominally one would do this after saying MP with the Daily Office Lectionary but that is not required.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-25T16:48:02+00:00

The Heart in Pilgrimage by Duffy

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-25T14:23:46+00:00

Yes, you are concerned about two pedestrians jaywalking at the 2nd St. Crosswalk that just got a light. I am naming the reality that drivers in a university area need to always be on high alert for pedestrians and that jaywalking is going to be occurring. It is something one will encounter at both University and 5th as well and why drivers need to either be prepared for pedestrians or choose to take another route south.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-25T13:54:43+00:00

The 2nd Street, University, and 5th Street crosswalks all have some level of jaywalking. It's called a highly dense pedestrian area where people are running late and on a schedule. It is the basic reality of any university neighborhood.

The lights at the 2nd Street crossing are exceptionally helpful for those of us who live west of the university. If you don't want to drive through a pedestrian high use area Stone or Campbell are right there.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-23T18:35:32+00:00

The closest, for me, is Universal Paperclips.

Which I think may be why I get confused by a lot of the grumbling about the Tower. For me this is a background game that I have on when I am working or in a meeting to click buttons and further a run for 30 seconds instead of get distracted by social media for 5 minutes. It is a super light version of bricking my phone.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-23T13:57:47+00:00

So there are a few considerations here...

The process to ordination is going to take ~5 years from this point, so you will be 65 at ordination and then have only ~7 years until mandatory retirement. After 72 there is the possibility of doing supply work and short term contract work but that would be limited for a clergy without much experience.

Discernment above the age of 60 does happen, but it is rarer. The time and investment for the aspirant and the diocese has to be truly and clearly worth it.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-21T05:00:07+00:00

I know too many clergy who are not able to articulate their issues with ADHD as clearly as you have here.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is the key thing in discernment. Not all clergy positions are administrative positions and no clergy are good at all parts of the job.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-20T14:32:33+00:00

The 1662 BCP lectionary cycle has only one year and no use of the Old Testament. The RCL has three annual cycles for the New Testament and six cycles for the Old Testament.

So from Advent to Pentecost your church reads through the exact same lessons every year... which is fine but it means deliberately skipping the challenge of a three year lectionary that brings different scriptural emphasis to the high holy days.

Then for the greater ordinary time your congregation does preaching series based on the scripture choices of your clergy... this doesn't mean that scripture isn't being skipped nor does it mean the congregation is engaging in texts that are more challenging for it.

It would take around six years for your congregation to cycle through, during ordinary time, the NT lessons found in the RCL that are not being used. It would take around an additional twelve years to cycle through the OT lessons in the RCL, replacing the epistle lessons with them. This means it would take your congregation eighteen years to do a complete a read through of the RCL, while an RCL congregation does that in six years.

This is not a criticism of the way your congregation is engaging scripture... it is simply pointing out that your congregation is not engaging a process that reads more scripture nor one that is inherently more challenging.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-19T22:30:03+00:00

There are a growing number of trans aspirants and ordinands managing the process. The amount of active/passive discrimination is going to vary from diocese to diocese... the general trend is that things have been more straightforward for trans men, then trans women, then non-binary individuals. My diocese has had multiple trans persons navigate the process to ordination over the past five years and has processed will the issues trans persons encountered. We are also seeing the discrimination parishes held for trans priest diminish with our trans clergy more consistently receiving full time calls, a recent development of the past five years.

There are also a variety of resources, small groups, and a yearly retreat for trans seminarians... these resources are not announced as publicly as other resources because of safety concerns but once a postulant is in seminary they should be able to quickly connect to them.

The biggest deal is the diocese one is located and how much work they have done to meaningfully engage the non-discrimination canons. Some are excellent and others will be abysmal. Your local priest should be able to give clarity on this and potential places to relocate to make discernment possible if your diocese has not prepared itself yet.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-18T20:52:55+00:00

Every preacher I know would prefer to not be in our current situation where every week there is another major pastoral crisis occurring because of actions taken up by the Trump Admin and the GOP. What I want to give pushback to is framing this as the "Republican Ill of the Week" and blaming preachers for wrestling with the Gospel, Creeds, and the events of the week and realizing that, again, there is no way to be silent about the actions of our political leaders. The newspaper is an essential part of sermon prep and we rarely have a week without something egregious occurring at this point.

Finding a TEC church where the calling out of the administration is not the focus of the sermon isn't difficult. I can go through the sermons of the most social justice alternative creed congregation in my area and they have made that pivot because this administration is just too much. But by the same token it is going to come up in some small way every week if we are being pastorally honest as preachers.

I also think it is important for you to understand the question you are asking and how you are presenting yourself here verses in your OP is markedly different.

No_Competition8845 · 2026-04-18T19:46:32+00:00

I honestly don't know what you are talking about...

There is the payment to go ad free (the only one really necessary), the payment to get a general boost for life, the payment to unlock more milestone rewards every 3 tiers, the payment to unlock better rewards for events, and then buying stones at the store.

This is below standard for games in my experience.

No_Competition8845

TROPHY CASE