Spiritual Steps: Pray | Listen | Grow

Erin Brogdon and Steven Hovater walk through a prayer practice to be used in preparation for a time of service.

A Lectio Exercise from Luke 19:1-10

33:5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.   46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.   23:1 The LORD is my shepherd,  I shall not want.   75:1 We give thanks;  your name is near.   70:1 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O LORD, make haste to help me!   103:1 Bless the LORD,  O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.   107:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.  

A guided meditation revolving around the theme of Sabbath by Erin Brogdon. Part of a series of meditations Erin and I created for the Harding Lectureship in 2023.

My friend Erin Brogdon offers an Examen Meditation.   Prepared for the Harding Lectureship in 2023. Music licensed through Soundstripe.  

In this episode I'm joined by my friend Elizabeth Smith (@tweetinginLA) for a conversation about "The News". One of the challenges of our age is engaging the news in a healthy way, and Elizabeth offers wisdom for how reading and engaging the news can be a part of a healthy spiritual life.   You can reach me on twitter at @stevenhovater, and find additional resources for prayer and spirituality at https://Sparks.cards

This is a guided meditation to use with Prayer Sparks, available at https://sparks.cards

Created in partnership with NCYM, this meditation revolves around  ocean motifs. Designed for anybody ready to relax and meditate on the beach (or making an imaginative journey!).

Created in partnership with NCYM, this meditation calls our attention to the Presence of the Holy Spirit within us. 

Dwell | Wait | Abide | Remain | Stay | Linger | Live This guided meditation centers around the reality that we dwell in God's presence.  Take a few moments (the meditation is 12 minutes), and center yourself in the fact of God's abiding presence.  Find more resources for prayer at https://sparks.cards

This is the first in a series of guided meditations.   More resources for prayer are available at https://sparks.cards. You can also join in the community at https://facebook.com/prayersparks for daily prayers and more, and I would love it if you reach out to me at https://twitter.com/stevenhovater.    

Prayer needn't be inaccessible to beginners. The Lord is with us, whether we feel proficient or not! And yet, we find it helpful to have "rails" to get us on our way. This episode has a couple of nudges to get us on our way, and may be helpful whether you're beginning, or beginning again (as we all do!) 

How is prayer related to our capacity for attention?

Curiosity is an underrated spiritual practice!

I need a lot of practices in my life for learning to listen well—I bet I'm not the only one!

A year? Please. Give me a resolution for a week. 

A simple meditative exercise for developing gratitude.

Let it be enough.

Working on the relationship between prayer, which connects us to God, and wisdom, which is about living well in light of the future. 

How do you start a prayer? Where to begin?

This episode explores the idea of "bearing fruit" in the parable of the sower...which might not mean what we think it does!

What does it mean to follow a Christ who is often shrouded in mystery? 

The spiritual life of Jesus’s people follows the rhythm of being gathered and sent. Jesus gathered us together, and sends us out. He calls us into the world of mission, and then sends us home again. Mission and Prayer are so closely intertwined that a person fully engaged in the spiritual life can scarcely tell where one ends and one begins.    

An episode that I'm totally uncomfortable with. 

The journey with Jesus begins with his invitation. 

This episode is all about praying for your community by learning to pay attention to what's happening in your community.  host: Steven Hovater  

This may not be what you normally expect from an episode of Spiritual Steps, but I think it's important to have a conversation about what it means to experience intimacy with God during prayer, and how we manage our expectations of such experiences. 

This episode offers a way of praying that helps us develop our perspective. Sometimes you need to see the forest, and some times you need to see the trees. 

The context in which you read a text can be just as important as the context in which it was written. This episode, we'll learn to use that. Three exercises for opening up the reading of scripture by shifting your reading context.      Host: Steven Hovater

Try reading the gospels, one at a time, in single sittings. It takes a little longer than the normal way we encounter them, but it can enrich your understanding of Jesus and what it means to follow him.    Host: Steven Hovater    

Learn the practice of intentionally using your language—one of your most powerful tools—to bless other people.

Much of what we search for is wrapped in mystery—and yet, God’s spirit is still leading and guiding us. Here is an exercise in which, we practice listening. The spiritual exercise outlined in this episode is a sort of examen-like practice for discerning the leading of the holy spirit in our lives. I hope it's useful to you!  Please reach out on twitter (@stevenhovater), and subscribe in your podcast app of choice!

Praying for our enemies is a difficult—but highly transformative spiritual practice rooted in the teachings of Jesus.  In this episode, we talk about why that's important, and share some tips on how you can move towards that practice.   Host: stevenhovater (twitter: @stevenhovater web: stevenhovater.com facebook: @stevenhovaterpage)

Take advantage of the practice of short "snacks" of prayer in the middle of your day!     

This episode is about bouncing back when your prayer life takes a dive, and collapses. Don't be afraid to begin again! 

This episode is about the practice of praying with your body.  Host: Steven Hovater (twitter: @stevenhovater)

This episode is about developing your capacity for silence.  host: Steven Hovater (twitter: @stevenhovater)

Here are my top ten tips for building community...these are the best steps I know of for developing relationships with people.  host: Steven Hovater (twitter: @stevenhovater)

The practice of spiritual community is one of the most fruitful tools in Christian spirituality.  In this episode, we begin with an understanding of the foundations of spiritual community: Community is built on what we hold in common, what we share.    Host: stevenhovater (twitter: @stevenhovater web: stevenhovater.com)

Part of becoming a person of prayer is learning to explore andunderstand its limits, or perhaps it is more accurate to say theplaces where pure prayer intersects with the rest of ourlives.  I'd love to connect with you on twitter! Catch mehere: @stevenhovater!

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." This old prayer, which comes to us through the orthodox church, in which it has been used since at least 600 AD, is one of many short prayers that can be used repetitively as a way of moving our hearts towards stillness and quiet contemplation. This episode of spiritual steps explores how such a tool can be used to help us learn to be praying people.  Host: Steven Hovater (Twitter: @stevenhovater Web: stevenhovater.com) Please think about sharing the podcast in your social feeds, or leaving a review of the show on iTunes! You might also be interested in my podcast The Craft of Ministry, which is about developing key capacities for ministry.

An important step in cultivating a life of prayer is crafting a prayer routine that works for you. Here are some reflections on what that's looked like for me, and some pointers on what crafting your own routine.   If you need a little bit of structure in your prayer routine but don't know where to start, here are a few helpful books that can provide a good starting place. A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk with God Upper Room's Disciplines for 2016 Common Prayer The Divine Hours

  Prayer wrestles with the same struggle as many of the church's practices in our day: an over reliance on emotional intensity. This episode is about allowing our prayer lives to take on other dimensions.  Host: Steven Hovater (Twitter: @stevenhovater Web: stevenhovater.com) Please think about sharing the podcast in your social feeds, or leaving a review of the show on iTunes! You might also be interested in my podcast The Craft of Ministry, which is about developing key capacities for ministry.

Praying for the fruitfulness of God's work in the world, among our friends, neighbors, and churches, and in ourselves. This episode explores the prayer of Paul in Colossians: “we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:9–10 NRSV) It's an incredibly rich few lines of prayer that echo the Lord's Prayer. Yay for episode 10!     Host: Steven Hovater (Twitter: @stevenhovater Web: stevenhovater.com) Please think about sharing the podcast in your social feeds, or leaving a review of the show on iTunes! You might also be interested in my podcast The Craft of Ministry, which is about developing key capacities for ministry.

Praying towards the fulfillment of God's work in the world, via the Lord's Prayer.   Host: Steven Hovater (Twitter: @stevenhovater Web: stevenhovater.com) Please think about leaving a review of the show on iTunes! You might also be interested in my podcast The Craft of Ministry, which is about developing key capacities for ministry.

Cultivate the virtues, one by one.    Host: Steven Hovater (Twitter: @stevenhovater Web: stevenhovater.com) Please think about leaving a review of the show on iTunes! You might also be interested in my podcast The Craft of Ministry, which is about developing key capacities for ministry.

Learn to pray on behalf of those who are suffering injustice!   Host: Steven Hovater (Twitter: @stevenhovater Web: stevenhovater.com) Please think about leaving a review of the show on iTunes! You might also be interested in my podcast The Craft of Ministry, which is about developing key capacities for ministry.

This episode is about incorporating the Psalms, with their range of emotional tones, into your prayer life.  Host: Steven Hovater (Twitter: @stevenhovater Web: stevenhovater.com) Please think about leaving a review of the show on iTunes! You might also be interested in my podcast The Craft of Ministry, which is about developing key capacities for ministry.

In a culture built on consumption, one of the best small spiritual steps you can take is one of small denial. This episode encourages you to incorporate mini-fasting into your spiritual life.  Host: Steven Hovater (Twitter: @stevenhovater Web: stevenhovater.com Please think about leaving a review of the show on iTunes! You might also be interested in my podcast The Craft of Ministry, which is about developing key capacities for ministry.

Letting Go is hard, whether that's letting go of fear, guilt, hurt, grief, or any of the other weights that we carry around. This episode is about the prayer of letting go, a physical way of praying and releasing our grip on some of those things.  Host: Steven Hovater (Twitter: @stevenhovater Web: stevenhovater.com You might also be interested in my podcast The Craft of Ministry, which is about developing key capacities for ministry.

If you feel lost in the Bible, or get overwhelmed in its breadth, this episode points the way forward by providing a small step to help you engage in the scriptures.    Host: Steven Hovater (Twitter: @stevenhovater Web: stevenhovater.com   You might also be interested in my podcast The Craft of Ministry, which is about developing key capacities for ministry.