Search results for: advent
Advent: Training in Waiting
“Waiting is the hidden preparation through which God puts his ministers. We neglect it to our own peril.” –Richard Foster The seasons of the church year are meant to teach us something about the spiritual life that we need to learn. Beyond mere information about the spiritual life, they offer us the opportunity to “live…
Read MoreAdvent 4: Saying Yes to God
“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb… And blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her…
Read MoreAdvent 3: A Community of Waiting and Expectation
“As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, ‘One who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals…’” Third Sunday of Advent Luke 3:7-18…
Read MoreAdvent 2: Preparing the Way
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee…during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah in the wilderness…He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of…
Read MoreAdvent: Light of Our Darkness
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among the nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the wave. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then we will…
Read MoreVisio Divina Guided Practice | Assumptions
We were so lucky to have Scott Erickson on the podcast this season! Not only did he share his wisdom and thoughtfulness, but he also shared his art and his spiritual director expertise! Over on Patreon each week we chose one of the pieces of art discussed in the episode and Scott walked us through…
Read MoreSeason Twenty-One
Season 21 Honest Advent Don’t miss new episodes of Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast with Ruth Haley Barton — subscribe on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher. Advent is upon us again. This season, we’ve invited artist, author, and speaker Scott Erickson to join us. Transforming Center team member Charity McClure is also on…
Read MoreSeason 20: Episode 7 | This is Fun, Y’all: The Joy and Hope of Transforming Worship
Ruth sits down with producer Colleen to wrap up season 20 of the podcast. They share their learnings and highlights from these conversations and Ruth answers a listener’s question about how to bring transformative worship to your congregation if you are not a part of the planning process. To close Ruth gives us a few…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 11 | Sabbath Journey: Do Something Before You Do Everything
We’re wrapping up our sabbath season with a solo episode. Ruth is on the mic to help us discern the something we can do to start our sabbath journey. What are your invitations and resistances? What are the obstacles you face as you attempt to “return to rest?” At the end of the episode producer…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 10 | Fruit and Frustration: Creating a Culture Where Everyone Can Rest
As we’ve camped out around this idea of a “sabbath community” the last few weeks, we’ve explored the possibility and very real struggles of what that kind of commitment to sabbath looks like for pastors. This week we’re speaking with a pastor whose community is living out that practice in a variety of ways. In…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 9 | Getting Honest About the Challenges of Sabbath Community
Today’s conversation is an honest and vulnerable one about the challenges of leading communities in the ways of the sabbath. Ruth sits down with Christine Lee who leads a busy church in New York City. Christine shares her own journey of practicing sabbath herself and the struggles she sees to “lead a sabbath community.” She…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 8 | Sabbath Leaders Cultivating Sabbath Communities
Over the next few episodes we are turning our attention from a leader’s personal sabbath practice towards how they can form and shape their communities around sabbath. We’ll be talking to a number of pastors and leaders about their efforts and challenges in leading others in the practice. Today Ruth sits down with Jeanne and…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 7 | Sabbath Rhythms During Seasons of Singleness and Care-giving
In this episode we continue discussing how each season or stage of life presents its own challenges and opportunities with regard to sabbath keeping. Today we’re joined by two guests, Phaedra Blocker and Vicki Degner. In the first half Phaedra and Ruth talk about sabbath keeping in seasons of singleness. Phaedra shares the ways in…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 6 | Sharing Sabbath Presence Within Our Families
As we continue to discuss the idea of a sabbath practice and the very practical ways one can incorporate it into one’s life, we want to acknowledge that each season or stage of life presents its own challenges and opportunities with regard to sabbath keeping. In the next two episodes we’re going to speak with…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 5 | The Power of Unplugging
We’re here this week to talk about the elephant in the sabbath room… technology. Ruth and guest, Tiffany Shlain, talk all about how our technology impacts our ability to truly rest, why a “tech Shabbat” has been a lifeline for Tiffany, and the nitty gritty details of how Tiffany goes completely screen-free (and we mean…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 4 | Shabbat: Conversation with a Jewish Rabbi
Our guest this week is Rabbi Evan Moffic, a rabbi leading a congregation in the Chicago suburbs who also teaches and writes about the Jewishness of Jesus. He and Ruth discuss the importance of the sabbath and its roots in the Jewish faith, the communal aspect of the practice, and how the activities we engage…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 3 | Sabbath as Resistance
We had so much goodness in our conversations around the idea of sabbath as resistance that we decided to release them as separate episodes. In this episode, Ruth and guest Cole Arthur Riley continue the discussion with a conversation around whether or not sabbath is just for the privileged few. Cole shares how she experiences…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 2 | The Poetry of Sabbath
We continue to celebrate the launch of Ruth’s newest book, Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again. This week, Ruth sits down with pastor and poet Drew Jackson to discuss the idea of sabbath as resistance. Ruth and Drew discuss how the practice of sabbath itself can be a…
Read MoreSeason 17: Episode 1 | Awakening to God’s Gift of Sabbath
We’re back! This season we are celebrating the launch of Ruth’s newest book, Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again. Ruth has invited a number of friends to come on the show to discuss the themes found in her book. These episodes are for pastors and leaders who are…
Read MoreSeason Fourteen
Season 14 Advent Reflections: Come, Lord Jesus, Come Don’t miss new episodes of Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast with Ruth Haley Barton — subscribe on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher. This season we invite you to walk through Advent by engaging with the lectionary Scripture readings and listening for what God might want…
Read MoreEpiphany: A Season of Revelation
Lectionary Readings for Epiphany: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! Isaiah 60:1 Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. – Mary Oliver Today, in the rhythm of the church year, we celebrate the feast of the…
Read MoreSeason 11: Episode 5 | Christmastide: How Silently, How Silently, the Wondrous Gift is Given
Join Ruth Haley Barton and Steve Weins for spiritual encouragement based on this year’s Advent Reflections (Cycle B) with an episode for each week of Advent. This podcast season is designed to help leaders (and everyone) carve out time to make Advent a season of transformation. If you would like to make listening to the scriptures each day…
Read MoreSeason Eleven
Season 11 Advent Reflections (Cycle B) Don’t miss new episodes of Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast with Ruth Haley Barton — subscribe on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher. Happy New Year! Advent marks the beginning of the church year. Join Ruth Haley Barton and Steve Weins for spiritual encouragement based on this year’s Advent…
Read MoreSeason 8: Week 5 | From Waiting to Wonder
Join us for this series of Advent and Christmastide reflections. The seasons of the church year are meant to teach us something about the spiritual life we need to learn. In fact, by entering into these seasons we experience the deeper dynamics and rhythms of the spiritual life by walking closely with Jesus and learning…
Read MoreSeason 8: Week 4 | Joseph and the Walk of Faith
Join us for this series of Advent and Christmastide reflections. The seasons of the church year are meant to teach us something about the spiritual life we need to learn. In fact, by entering into these seasons we experience the deeper dynamics and rhythms of the spiritual life by walking closely with Jesus and learning…
Read MoreSeason 8: Week 3 | Gifts in the Wilderness
Join us for this series of Advent and Christmastide reflections. The seasons of the church year are meant to teach us something about the spiritual life we need to learn. In fact, by entering into these seasons we experience the deeper dynamics and rhythms of the spiritual life by walking closely with Jesus and learning…
Read MoreSeason 8: Week 2 | Joyful Preparations
Join us for this series of Advent and Christmastide reflections. The seasons of the church year are meant to teach us something about the spiritual life we need to learn. In fact, by entering into these seasons we experience the deeper dynamics and rhythms of the spiritual life by walking closely with Jesus and learning…
Read MoreSeason 8: Week 1 | The Importance of Waking Up
Join us for this series of Advent and Christmastide reflections. The seasons of the church year are meant to teach us something about the spiritual life we need to learn. In fact, by entering into these seasons we experience the deeper dynamics and rhythms of the spiritual life by walking closely with Jesus and learning…
Read MoreSeason Eight
Season 8 Advent and Christmastide Reflections (Cycle A) Don’t miss new episodes of Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast with Ruth Haley Barton — subscribe on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher. Join us for this series of Advent and Christmastide reflections. The seasons of the church year are meant to teach us something about…
Read MoreSpiritual Directors
Spiritual Directors Be Listed as a Spiritual Director The Transforming Center is pleased to offer a listing of spiritual directors* who have completed one or more of our two-year Transforming Community® experiences and have also completed a recognized training program in spiritual direction. Each listing indicates if the spiritual director offers in-person and/or remote (online…
Read MorePodcast
Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership A Podcast with Ruth Haley Barton Welcome to the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast with Ruth Haley Barton. In each 30-minute episode, you will discover how forging and maintaining your own life-giving connection with God is the best thing you bring to leadership. Apple Podcasts Stitcher Spotify…
Read MoreLectionary Calendar
Lectionary Calendar Revised Common Lectionary Year B (2023 – 2024) Current Season Advent (December 3 – 24, 2023) Dates First reading Psalm Second reading Gospel First Sunday of Advent (December 3, 2023)Isaiah 64:1-9Psalm 80:1-7, 17-191 Corinthians 1:3-9Mark 13:24-37Second Sunday of Advent (December 10, 2023)Isaiah 40:1-11Psalm 85:1-2, 8-132 Peter 3:8-15aMark 1:1-8Third Sunday of Advent (December 17,…
Read MoreChampioning a new reality for the body of Christ and its leaders
Your gift creates “ripples of transformation” in our communities and beyond. When people allow God to work in and through their lives ‘from the center out’ they are leading from the strength and wisdom of a transforming soul. One way to reflect on the impact of Jesus’ birth during the season of Advent is to…
Read MorePatron
Become a Patron of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast Support the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast with a monthly gift. You will be eligible to receive special bonus content and offers, while helping us reach a new audience with the message that the best thing you bring to leadership is…
Read MoreJustice and the Inner Life
In October of 2004, I gave each of my colleagues at International Justice Mission two gifts: a blank leather journal with the words “8:30 Stillness” embossed on the cover and Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton. As an organization, we were experiencing incredible growth on a global scale. We were bringing rescue to…
Read MoreFinding My Voice: Experiencing Transformation in Community
Continuing the story of Transforming Community: After Transforming Community #1 (TC 1) concluded, there was a sense that others might want to join the journey as well; an invitation was offered a little more widely to start Transforming Community #2 and 26 people accepted. In this group were several spouses from those in TC 1 – some of whom were a…
Read MoreEpiphany: In Celebration of the Journey
Guidance on using the lectionary. Lectionary readings for January 6, 2017: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72: 1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12 “A good journey begins with knowing where you are and being willing to go somewhere else.” Richard Rohr Today we celebrate epiphany—the “showing forth” or “the revelation” of Christ in the world. Epiphany takes its themes…
Read MoreMary, Did You Know? Entering into the Mystery
Christmas Eve marks the end of Advent and the beginning of the Christmas season. In candlelight services and intimate family gatherings around the world, we enter into a season of celebrating one of the great mysteries of our faith—a God who comes to us as a tiny, fragile human being, making it possible for him…
Read MoreLearning to wait with Jesus
Lectionary readings for December 13, 2015: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Isaiah 12:2-6; Phillipians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18 Click for complete Advent calendar (Cycle C) and guidance on using the lectionary. “If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” – Romans 8:25 No matter how disciplined, organized and prayerful you are, you never outgrow waiting. Tracts of humanity wait: for…
Read MoreA different kind of calendar
“When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.” – Eugene Peterson I can still remember the first time I heard the…
Read MoreCongratulations to 2015 Northern Seminary Graduates
Congratulations to eight Transforming Community alums who graduated from Northern Seminary on June 13, 2015 through our academic partnership with Northern Seminary. Wendy S. Cordova Doctor of Ministry Spiritual Transformation Emphasis BA, Gordon College, 1992 MDiv, Fuller Theological Seminary, 1999 Testimonial I am grateful for the growth that has taken place in my heart, life, and ministry since starting…
Read MoreReveal: Finding God in the Ordinary
Click for guidance on using the lectionary. Epiphany of the Lord: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12 “The incredible gift of the ordinary! Glory comes streaming from the table of daily life.” – Macrina Wiederkehr Today, in the rhythm of the church year, we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany—the manifestation of…
Read MoreHow Silently, How Silently, The Wondrous Gift is Given
Christmas Eve: Isaiah 9:2-7 Psalm 96 Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14 (15-20) Christmas Day: Isaiah 52:7-10 Psalm 98 Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12) John 1:1-14 Click for complete Advent calendar (Cycle B) and guidance on using the lectionary. “Christ is born to us today, in order that he might appear to the whole world through us.” -Thomas Merton…
Read More5 Christmas Gift Ideas for the people you love
Looking for something a bit unique for a special Christmas gift? Something you can’t buy anywhere else? This Christmas celebrate the coming of our Lord with some of these gift ideas from Transforming Resources. Most are exclusively available from the Transforming Center. Stocking stuffer – Christmastide: Music in Solitude CD. Our newest CD is a perfect companion…
Read MoreA Different Kind of Calendar
“When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.” – Eugene Peterson I can still remember the first time I heard…
Read MoreChristmastide: From Waiting to Wonder
Lectionary Readings for Christmas Eve: Isaiah 9:2-7, Psalm 96, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14 (15-20) for Christmas Day: Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 98, Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12), John 1:1-14 Advent Calendar (Cycle A) and guidance for using the lectionary “How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given.”—O Little Town of Bethlehem Christmas Eve marks the end of Advent…
Read MoreA Different Kind of Calendar
“When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.” – Eugene Peterson I can still remember the first time I heard…
Read MoreSabbath in Late Fall
For everything there is a season… Sometimes on the Sabbath all you can do is settle into the soft body of yourself and listen to what it says. Listen to the exhaustion that is deeper than tiredness the hunger that is for more than food the thirst that is for more than drink the longing…
Read MorePursuing God’s Will Together: Review from the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
Kent Carlson, Co-Senior Pastor of Oak Hills Church (Folsom, CA), reviews Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups, by Ruth Haley Barton (InterVarsity Press, 2012) Ruth Haley Barton, in her book, Pursuing God’s Will Together, has presented a vision of a spiritual leadership community that if taken seriously, would drastically and in severe…
Read MoreInvitation to Discernment in Community
Note: The following case study from the NEW Pursuing God’s Will Together is fictitious and yet it is all true. Everything that happens at “Grace Church” is based on the real life experiences of leadership groups from various churches and organizations, highlighting some of the questions and issues that invite us to embark on the journey…
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