by Doug Hammack | Apr 15, 2010 | Don't Waste Your Time Going to Church, Message Audio
Notice, I did not title this lesson; “Don’t go to church. It’s a waste of time.” No, a better title would have been, “When you go to church, don’t waste your time.” (But it’s not nearly as catchy, is it?) The exercises...
by Doug Hammack | Apr 14, 2010 | Don't Waste Your Time Going to Church, Message Audio
Today, we begin looking at the exercises that in aggregate, constitute the Sunday morning Christian experience. Looking at the word “liturgy,” we realize that what we’re doing is closer to going to a gym-for-the-soul, than it is to many of our...
by Doug Hammack | Apr 13, 2010 | Don't Waste Your Time Going to Church, Message Audio
We’re looking at the exercises we’ve been doing together on Sundays for centuries and centuries. As anything we do for an extend period, they can become rote, and we can begin to practice them without understanding or without a vested interest. So...
by Doug Hammack | Apr 12, 2010 | Don't Waste Your Time Going to Church, Message Audio
We continue looking at the Sunday exercises, thinking about these ancient spiritual exercises. Today, we think about the exercise of invoking in one another, sensitivity to Spirit. Have a listen. Doug ...
by Doug Hammack | Apr 11, 2010 | Don't Waste Your Time Going to Church, Message Audio
Today, we conclude this lesson on the ancient exercises we do together on Sundays. We look at the exercise that includes stilling our hearts, becoming attentive, interpreting, and discerning. This may be one of the only times you’ll ever hear a minister tell you...
by Doug Hammack | Apr 4, 2010 | Easter, Message Audio
Any minister worth his or her salt, works very hard preparing the Easter message. But me?? I’m doing a version of last year’s Easter message. What kind of sloppy work is that? Here’s what happened… I was reading through a bunch of things...
by Doug Hammack | Mar 28, 2010 | Individual Lesson, Message Audio
Today, we conclude this short, 2-week lesson looking at how we think about God. Our “God-as-Person” metaphor, we see, limits our spirituality. We’re looking at a more expansive spirituality available to us when transcend our historical tendency to...
by Doug Hammack | Mar 21, 2010 | Individual Lesson, Message Audio
Today, we begin a short lesson together (only two weeks) in which we look at what comes to our minds when we use the word “God.” Usually, it’s a super-big-and-wonderful Person, a King, a Parent, a Bridegroom, a Righteous Judge. These are all...
by Doug Hammack | Mar 14, 2010 | Friends for the Fray, Message Audio
We conclude looking at the art of confession with this lesson on two themes… 1. what is penance, and what is it’s value to our souls? 2. how do we receive a confession well? Have a listen. Doug ...
by Doug Hammack | Mar 9, 2010 | Friends for the Fray, Message Audio
So, after a few weeks championing the benefits confession affords our souls, we come today, to the practical “how-to’s” of this ancient practice. We look at making a good confession in three parts, 1) self-awareness, 2) thoroughness, and 3) penance...
by Doug Hammack | Feb 28, 2010 | Friends for the Fray, Message Audio
After last week’s digression to reinforce the importance of making for ourselves a healthy spiritual community, today we resume looking at the practicality of this ancient spiritual spiritual practice, confession. The themes of this lesson are very personal for...
by Doug Hammack | Feb 21, 2010 | Friends for the Fray, Message Audio
In this lesson, we digress for a moment before addressing the practicalities of the ancient art of confession (next week). This digression will expand what I said last week, and I’ll spend the lion’s share of our time telling you a story from my own life....
by Doug Hammack | Feb 14, 2010 | Friends for the Fray, Message Audio
The ancient art of confession is lost to most Christians today. It is a loss that causes great peril to our souls. In this lesson, we talk about the importance of this ancient practice, and some of the reasons we tend to resist it. ...
by Doug Hammack | Feb 7, 2010 | Friends for the Fray, Message Audio
Solitary Spirituality and the Path to Anemia – Why You Shouldn’t Go It Alone “The Big Three,” pride, lust, and greed, are a part of the human condition. Though we Americans have been schooled in individualism, and independence, solitary spirituality...
by Doug Hammack | Jan 24, 2010 | Friends for the Fray, Message Audio
by Doug Hammack The “Big Three” temptations of life have a long and storied tradition. The ancients called them “the lust of the eyes,” “the lust of the flesh,” and “the pride of life.” We think of them as pride (an...
by Robin Camu | Jan 17, 2010 | Guest Speaker, Individual Lesson, Message Audio
by Robin Camu Scientists are finding out that our minds are more “plastic” than we ever dreamed. They are finding that neural pathways can be changed resulting in minds being changed. Likewise, when Jesus commanded us to repent (literally, to change one’s mind), He...
by Doug Hammack | Jan 10, 2010 | Message Audio, New Year
by Doug Hammack The New Year marks an annual invitation to personal renewal. Last week, we looked at how human beings best change. In this second lesson about personal renewal, we look at the unconscious resistance to renewal and change we often put up. We all have...
by Doug Hammack | Jan 7, 2010 | Christian Meditation, Message Audio
by Doug Hammack Centering Prayer is an updated form of the ancient meditative practice, lectio divina. Because many Christians are frightened by anything Eastern, in this lesson we put those fears to rest, talking about what meditation is, and then four practical...
by Doug Hammack | Jan 3, 2010 | Message Audio, New Year
by Doug Hammack As we come to another New Year, we look again at how human beings best change. We all have areas of growth before us in the coming year, areas originating in the heart of God. Today’s lesson talks about discerning the purposes of the Divine, and...
by Doug Hammack | Dec 27, 2009 | Good Power vs. Bad, Message Audio
by Doug Hammack Continuing our look at good and bad power, we turn to how one comes to be a user of the former. How do we become good-power people? Jesus had a lot to say about power, and critical to his teaching was an understanding that successful people, in-group...
