Help please finding blogs,podcasts & fora on specific Christian discipline

May 25, 2009 9:36 AM

I am trying to find practical, contemporary advice on living in moment by moment dependence on Jesus Christ. I mean things like forums, podcasts, blogs, as opposed to books or PDFs. More specifics within.

This is a request to my fellow askmefites to help me find the needles in the haystack. There is, of course, much on the Web about Christianity, and there are many blogs, fora and podcasts. But when I narrow my searching down to living in moment by moment dependence on Jesus Christ, the flood turns to a trickle. So much out there is denomination specific, or Scripture study, or attempts to convert people to Christianity (which I already am).

If you are not familiar with the "moment by moment dependence on Jesus Christ" idea, I think Dallas Willard or C. S. Lewis would be the two authors who would most emphasize the practical aspects of living in the moment (which is not a solely Christian concept) combined with discipleship and trust in Jesus Christ (contrast this with salvation after you die or social activism).

I am most interested in fora, podcasts or blogs because I feel they provide a continuously fresh perspective on others who are struggling with the same goals as I am. Such resources have helped me in other areas of life.

Of course, if you know of books or PDFs feel free to mention them, but my greatest hope is for fora, podcasts or blogs.

I have read most of C. S. Lewis' works and Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy" which have whet my appetite. However I have very limited time to read entire books.

Of course if there are tons of such resources out there then the fault must be in my research skills and you have my apologies.

posted by forthright to religion & philosophy (8 comments total)

You might trying looking for stuff on/about Brother Lawrence. He's pretty famous for this sort of thing and Practice of the Presence of God is a collection of his teachings. I'm guessing there's a fair amount of modern reflections on his teaching, some perhaps in blog or podcast form.
posted by nangua at 10:15 AM on May 25

You're probably going to be quite interested in the works of John Piper. Desiring God is a good place to start, as it's one of his earliest works and kind of a gateway into his corpus. Relatedly, you might take a look at his sermon Don't waste your cancer. Though a lot of what he says there will be better understood if you've read Desiring God first, that's pretty short and can give you a pretty good idea of whether or not you want to devote more time there.

That last link is connected to Piper's ministry website, which has a bunch of resources and information you may find helpful.

But something to consider: this isn't the kind of thing that you can do "on the cheap," as it were. There are no shortcuts here. If you don't have "time to read entire books," well, maybe you need to re-order your priorities? Because whether or not it involves books, serious time with God takes, well, time. If you don't have at least half an hour or so a day to spend in reading/prayer/etc., this is going to be really tough going. Just a suggestion.

A word about Brother Lawrence: certainly an interesting character, and part of the canon of Christian devotional literature, but the man is a mystic. As in the "levitation" and "angelic glowing" kind of mystic. Again, interesting, but not the sort of thing most Christians find immediately useful, you know?
posted by valkyryn at 10:30 AM on May 25 [2 favorites]

Thanks nangua, I will investigate Brother Lawrence's teachings.

And thanks to you valkyryn for pointing me to John Piper.

And valkyryn brings up a good point about my post. I did not mean to give the impression that I had no time for God, but rather that I have in the past spent too much time reading books about Jesus Christ and Christianity, and not enough time on actually living out my supposed discipleship.

I want to spend at least as much time going forward but want to make it count more, and so I was hoping for read about or interact with others who were trying to do the same. In other words I want to move away from the passive and more toward the active, and am willing to believe that others may be trying to do the same thing and have important insights.
posted by forthright at 10:39 AM on May 25

can you pray outside, like on the bus? Go pray there if you haven't. Living a life of adoration of god is knowing that just because chaos is around you, you can always find peace. I call it noisy contemplation. There is book by that name that is a good Christian primer in this written by a priest.
posted by parmanparman at 10:48 AM on May 25

Richard Rohr
Thomas Keating
Cynthia Bourgeault
Anthony De Mello
Wayne Teasdale
Bede Griffiths
Teilhard de Chardin
Thomas Merton
posted by Roach at 11:10 AM on May 25 [1 favorite]

I read this book recently, and it led me to this community. I'm not sure it's exactly what you mean, but these guys struck me as trying to live out their discipleship.
posted by BundleOfHers at 11:51 AM on May 25 [1 favorite]

So basically, you're looking for a church. You'll never be able to substitute the community to be found in a particular congregation with the internet. It doesn't work that way. There's something irreducible and irreplaceable about worshiping with a particular body of believers and building relationships with them based on that common spiritual activity. Blogs and fora will never be able to do for you what a healthy congregation can.

Say what you want about the drawbacks of organized religion, there are certain things which it does with nothing else can, and it sounds to me like some of what you're looking for can only be found there. At least that's what my experience tells me.
posted by valkyryn at 6:32 PM on May 25

Thanks again valkyryn for your advice. But I think the crux of the issue is your term "healthy congregation". Indeed, in "The Divine Conspiracy" Dallas Willard bemoans the fact that so many congregations today practice consumer Christianity as opposed to disciple formation.

But I know I must avoid chat filter. I have begun to peruse all of the above suggestions and I have faith that Jesus will use some/all of them to grow my relationship with Him.

Thanks one and all!
posted by forthright at 7:54 PM on May 25