Weekly Messages
Archive: Another Way to Pray: Straight-Up Honesty (Part 2)
Originally presented 02/10/2008 by Doug Hammack Coming to God in face of painful circumstances is a deep act of faith. Because these are heroic acts of spirituality… (and because we often need baby steps before heroic steps) To be successful in these new practices, we...
Archive: Another Way to Pray: Straight-Up Honesty (Part 1)
Originally presented 01/27/2008 by Doug Hammack When we began the spiritual journey, many of us picked up some assumptions about prayer. Many find that “God-do-something” prayer grows empty after a while. Many people are not inclined to take ugly stuff before God. But...
Two Views of God (part 1)
by Doug Hammack How we think about God profoundly affects how we think of the Christian journey. Today we examine the God of Requirements and Rewards, and the God of Love and Justice.
Easter 2009
by Doug Hammack In this lesson, Doug speculates what the resurrection of Jesus may have been like. Have a listen.
Relaxing Our Ego Desires (Part 2)
by Doug Hammack We’re spending these days looking at some ancient spiritual practice that challenge the tyranny of desire. This week we continue looking at how to effectively challenge the power of ego-desire, specifically by using the power of our imagination....
Relaxing Our Ego Desires (Part 1)
by Doug Hammack We’re spending these days looking at some ancient spiritual practice that challenge the tyranny of desire. This week we look at how to effectively challenge the power of ego-desire.
Relaxing Our Sense Desires
by Doug Hammack Last week we saw how the ancient spiritual practice of silence challenges the tyranny of desire. This week we look at how we can fare well when we challenge the powerful desires of our senses.
The Discipline of NOT Talking
by Doug Hammack Extended silence makes us uncomfortable for a lot of reasons, several of which we examine in this lesson. However, the ancients touted it as one of the classical spiritual disciplines, designed to awaken us to the Divine Life and Light inside each of...
Sabbath Consciousness: Our Descriptive Selves (part 4)
by Doug Hammack As we’ve seen these last two weeks, “the descriptive self” is a faulty and inadequate way of seeing ourselves. In this final lesson in the series we consider how our sense of self keeps us from remaining present to the moment, keeps us from peace,...
Sabbath Consciousness: Our Descriptive Selves (part 3)
by Doug Hammack Continuing our discussion of sabbath-consciousness...
Sabbath Consciousness: Our Descriptive Selves (part 2)
by Doug Hammack The third critical elements we’re looking at that carves out interior space and peace for our souls, is how we think about ourselves. In this message we consider “the descriptive self” and how it drives us into less and less inner tranquility....
Sabbath Consciousness: Peculiar People (part 1)
by Doug Hammack Before the holidays we looked at two elements that help us find a place of internal rest and leisure that the ancients tell us is our heritage on the spiritual journey. There was another I wanted to discuss, and now that we’re though the holidays and...
The "Why" Issue and What "Peace" Has to Do With That
by Jim Amundsen God promises us tribulation, trials and troubles in our life, but he also promises us peace. This is not peace as the world defines it but the "peace that passes understanding". However certain things get in the way of our obtaining that peace, such...
Check out some of the teachings you missed!
For those of you who are newcomers to NRCC or this website, you did not have a chance to hear many really great messages and series that Doug has delivered in 2008 like "Dancing with the Divine", Hard Times and Finding God", "Sin's Just Not that Big a Deal" and "The...
Community Meeting: Finding Those Assigned Us
by Michelle Carter At NRCC, we have a very healthy spiritual community. Also, given our community's resources, we have room to invite some other people to walk this spiritual journey with us. So, these days we're looking for them. Emerging from a season of inward...
Community Meeting: The Future of Caring for Our Children/Teens
Alea has been a wonderful pastor over children and youth for many years, but after April 1, she will no longer be with us. At this meeting, we discuss the future of our kids. If you’re a part of NRCC, have a listen. ...
Introducing Meditation (part 3)
by Doug Hammack In 2009, NRCC focused for a year on integrating the ancient Christian contemplative practices into our lives. We did three 11-week Wednesday evening sessions of learning, practicing, and supporting one another. These three Sunday messages were an...
Introducing Meditation (part 2)
by Doug Hammack In 2009, NRCC focused for a year on integrating the ancient Christian contemplative practices into our lives. We did three 11-week Wednesday evening sessions of learning, practicing, and supporting one another. These three Sunday messages were an...
Introducing Meditation (part 1)
by Doug Hammack In 2009, NRCC focused for a year on integrating the ancient Christian contemplative practices into our lives. We did three 11-week Wednesday evening sessions of learning, practicing, and supporting one another. These three Sunday messages were an...
Reaching Out To God In Our Innermost Self; Centering Prayer – Robin Camu
by Robin Camu Spiritual discipline is any activity I can do that will help me to do (or become) what I cannot do (or become). There are kataphatic vs. apophatic approaches to spirituality. This is also reflected in how God presents himself. Centering prayer is letting...
New Year: A Time to Examine Our Lives
by Doug Hammack The turning of the calendar invites us to look at our lives, our values, and the habits that accumulate over time. Are these habits serving us well? In this lesson we talk about how one goes about shifting from one way of being alive, to a new and...
Advent 2008: A Late and Hurried Advent Message (with apologies)
by Doug Hammack This year, we’ve been more inattentive to the meaningful season of Advent than usual. Here, this last week of Advent, in a hurried attempt to make up for lost time, we talk about why the season matters. It’s a very old practice, setting aside these...
Community-Wide Business Meeting
by Doug Hammack Once a year, our community takes a Sunday to deal with the business of church-family life. After a report on where we’ve been and where we are today, we’ll make some projections about where we’re going in 2009. It’s a delightful part of our community...
Rethinking Leisure: Sabbath Consciousness (Part 2)
by Doug Hammack The ancients proscribed a weekly Sabbath rest as a rule to follow that was good for the soul. Later, sages and seers expanded the idea of Sabbath rest to mean an internal peace that characterized the every-day life of the spiritual person. Even in busy...