Sunday, June 29, 2008

Our Blog as Spiritual Practice

To have a spiritual life of substance and genuineness, we need to have some well-considered core spiritual practices. We need some definite awareness of what we do spiritually and why. There should be some intentionality and consistency. This is true for us as individuals, and it’s true for our community.

It seems to me that to be a non-geographical community, we will need to view and engage our blog as part of our spiritual practices. Our community commitment says that we will visit our community blog at least once a week. I am wondering if we should commit to more than that in regard to the blog, perhaps to posting an entry at least every two weeks, as one possibility. Please share any response you have to this possibility.

In any case, I do think we need to see the blog as part of our community’s commitment to practice spiritual dialogue, and we need to invest in it. We have agreed that our community is tentative, fragile, and experimental. Do we think it should stay at this level? As usual I have no interest in unilaterally projecting onto others or of unilaterally causing something to happen. But I am wondering about these things and looking for reflective dialogue.

--RC

10 comments:

Daniel said...

Great suggestion! How about a minimum goal of one entry per month?

living stones said...

Thanks Dr. Cotton for raising this topic. I like what Daniel said. How about a twist: two entries per month on average over the long term, with a minimum goal of one per month in any given month. --Paul

living stones said...

Daniel and Paul, thanks so much for dialoguing on this. I think posting once a month might be a good first commitment. I like the idea of starting small. I do think we should have some level of commitment/discipline to this practice if we commit to being members of the community. Thank you again for investing in dialoguing!
--RC

Unknown said...

I like a small commitment too. Is anyone else using the RSS technology for when new things go online?

living stones said...

Mark, I don't remember how to use the RSS technology. I need a review of the things we can do with our site and the supports you have set up. And anyway I'd like to talk voice-to-voice soon--
--RC

Sarah said...

Well, it seems I'm rather late in replying to this post, but I will say what I'm thinking anyway.

I do agree that investing in a spiritual practice requires a level of commitment that should involve the amount of time one intends to invest in said practice. When we practice centering or Lectio, we set aside specific and regular times to do them because they are an important part of how we connect to God and to each other.

This blog is also a important part of how we connect to God and to each other, so I believe a commitment to be regularly involved is vital. So, posting at least once a month seems reasonable for anyone! We just need to be intentional about setting aside that time to do it.

Sarah said...

Mark, it might be helpful if you explained again how to use the RSS technology. I'm quite in ignorance about it!

Rehoboth said...

What Sarah said! I'd appreciate the RSS feed info.

I try to read what is on here a couple of times a week. Time constraints due to many responsibilities often keep me from sharing the fruits of my contemplation. I'll do my best to try to post at least once a month.

living stones said...

Thank you for the reflections and dialogue you've shared above. It sounds like God is helping us and using our blog and community to enrich and support us in our journey deeper into God. I'm grateful for you and looking forward to what God does in and through us.
--RC

John Orzechowski said...

Erica and I have been busy with visitors over the past couple of weeks so I didn't get a chance to respond. One entry per month sounds like a reasonable place to begin and a good practice to add to our Rule. I appreciate this community. I also wanted to mention that we have our skype headset now, so the next time anyone wants try skype for lectio (or otherwise), we will be able to do so.

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