Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Series

Dear Friends,

Personally, I think Emotionally Healthy Spirituality is a terrible name for a book, but I guess it at least has this going for it: it does exactly what it says on the tin.

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality is both the name of a book, and the corresponding church series that we are starting next week as our Wednesday night “Dinner and Discipleship” series.

I was reading the book yesterday, and it was describing ways we often try to go deeper in our spirituality — more Bible study, joining a small group, recommitting to prayer, deep worship, outreach and service — all of which are good. We often commit to these practices, especially in a season such as Lent, because we want to grow in our faith. In fact, we have many special Lenten ways to practice these spiritual disciplines you can read about below.

But it is also true that rarely are these as transformative as they could be in our lives, because we naturally resist letting anything, even God, get at what’s underneath our “church selves” where the true work of transformation happens.

What I’m excited about in our upcoming Emotionally Healthy Spirituality series is that it aims to get at this deeper stuff, stuff that has an unexamined, but often deadening, effect on our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Just to be clear, joining the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality group meeting on Wednesday nights in Lent will take something of a commitment. There are eight classes — so the series will extend after Easter. Each week there will be a book to read, material to work on in the group session, and a daily devotional book. There are perks too: we will gather over dinner, enjoy fellowship with one another, and (the big one) grow closer to God. Just know it will take some work.

If you want to come to the first session before committing though, that's just fine. We get started next Wednesday, February 21. Email me to let me know you're interested.

And if that’s not a commitment you can make right now; that’s ok. There are, as you’ll see, plenty of other opportunities to meet Christ, serve Christ, and worship Christ at St. Andrew’s this Lenten season. Whatever you do, may you have a holy Lent.

In Christ,
Fr. Andrew