by Doug Hammack | Jul 26, 2015 | Community Meeting, Message Audio
If you’re part of our community, you know that our denomination is deciding if they will ask us to leave. I (Doug) wrote a book that raised some red flags for them, so they’ll decide soon whether my credentials will be revoked. If that happens, our...
by Doug Hammack | Jul 19, 2015 | Individual Lesson, Message Audio
Organized religion has a bad name these days. And religious jargon has an even worse one. So when we hear religious words, we tend to glaze over and shut down. Unless we dig deeply enough to understand what they mean — and where the life and vitality was when...
by Doug Hammack | Jul 12, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
We conclude this rather lengthy lesson on the prayer of confession — the prayer of self-awareness and self-disclosure with this epilogue. If you’ve seen a movie where the the priest finishes confession with an assignment, “say ten...
by Doug Hammack | Jul 5, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
We can’t practice the prayer of self-awareness and self-disclosure we’ve been talking about these many weeks — without creating an environment that is safe for doing it. Today’s lesson is about the practical things we must have in place before...
by Doug Hammack | Jun 28, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
We’re nearing the end of this lesson on the ancient prayer of self-awareness and self-disclosure. But all the rich treasure we’ve learned about the practice is moot — if we don’t have access to the environment in which to practice it. Have a...
by Doug Hammack | Jun 21, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
The 12-step tradition has hard-won wisdom to offer. Turns out, the same dynamics that govern addiction to alcohol, drugs, or the other well-known addictions — govern all of us. The way our brains balance themselves makes over-use of any tool, almost automatic....
by Doug Hammack | Jun 14, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
To know ourselves deeply, the questions we ask are really important. Fortunately, our tradition has left us a legacy to help us ask good questions. They are wrapped up in the ancient practice of confession — or as we’ve framed it, the prayer of...
by Doug Hammack | Jun 7, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
There are three steps in the ancient prayer of self-awareness and self-disclosure (confession). Step 1: We pay attention to our negative emotions Step 2: We undertake a thorough self-examination Step 3: We engage forthright self-disclosure The second step is tough!...
by Doug Hammack | May 31, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
Einstein once said that we can’t solve our problems – with the same level of thinking that got us into them. This highlights the trouble we face when we come to the ancient prayer of self-examination – confession. The second step in this ancient...
by Doug Hammack | May 24, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
We work really hard to keep an internal equilibrium in the face of a deep internal sense of shame. Some of feel the shame, others feel the bravado of confidence we use to keep the shame at bay. Either way, like duck feet under the water, we’re paddling like...
by John Pavlovitz | May 17, 2015 | Guest Speaker, Message Audio
by John Pavlovitz https://media.blubrry.com/north_raleigh_community_church/s3.amazonaws.com/nrccaudio/2015/05-17-15_Sermon.mp3Podcast: Play in new window |...
by Doug Hammack | May 10, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
We’re looking at two bedrock prerequisites behind the prayer of confession — the prayer of self-awareness and self-disclosure. Last time, we looked at the first: our worth or preciousness are non-negotiable givens. So, we don’t have to observe...
by Doug Hammack | May 3, 2015 | Guest Speaker, Message Audio
by Payton from Help One Now Tenth Anniversary Homepage https://media.blubrry.com/north_raleigh_community_church/s3.amazonaws.com/nrccaudio/2015/05-03-15_Sermon.mp3Podcast: Play in new window |...
by Doug Hammack | Apr 26, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
But in my defense – I didn’t know I was. The story I was telling myself, is that I was being strong, and dependable, and sturdy. In the story I was telling myself, I was the good guy. My wife was the bad one. But I was wrong. And thank God, someone had...
by Doug Hammack | Apr 19, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer, Self Awareness Self Disclosure
If you grew up in church, there’s a good chance you have some negative feelings toward the ancient prayer of confession. It may be, for you as it is for many, tainted with the idea that God withholds grace and mercy until you knuckle under, acknowledge how truly...
by Doug Hammack | Apr 12, 2015 | Message Audio, Rethinking Prayer
North Raleigh Community Church sermon for April 12, 2015 by Doug Hammack https://media.blubrry.com/north_raleigh_community_church/s3.amazonaws.com/nrccaudio/2015/04-12-15_Sermon.mp3Podcast: Play in new window |...
by Doug Hammack | Apr 5, 2015 | Easter, Message Audio
Death. That’s an ugly topic for a happy day like Easter! But don’t judge too quickly. Turns out that keeping our death ever before us is part of the ancient wisdom – and is in fact, a pathway into a deepened experience of life. Have a listen, Doug...
by Doug Hammack | Mar 29, 2015 | Individual Lesson, Message Audio
Crushing disappointment. Who wants to celebrate that!? But if we reflect on what happens to us in the seasons of our lives when the inevitability of pain, suffering, and hopelessness washes over our lives. — we realize they often invite us into seasons of deep...
by Doug Hammack | Mar 22, 2015 | Message Audio, Prayer of Detachment
We’ve seen in this lesson, that the lives we live in the few years we get on this earth, are deeply affected by a simple pattern… Thoughts create desires. Desires create actions. Actions create habits. Habits create the very lives we live. We’ve seen...
by Doug Hammack | Mar 15, 2015 | Message Audio, Prayer of Detachment
People! Their voices are always in us. Their expectations. Their beliefs. Their values. And those voices run deep! We don’t usually recognize them for what they are. We usually just think they’re our own minds telling us “The Way Things Are.”...
