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Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without
I cannot imagine my life without a small group of Christian brothers/sisters who meet together to pray, study the Bible, and just to “do life” together! As a kid I was always in some kind of small group – a cub and boy scout troop, a sports team, or a Sunday School Class (taught amazingly by my mother in elementary school and my father in high school).
As an adult my small “accountability” groups have always grown out of the church. At LaSalle Street Church in Chicago we called them “cell groups” and we met at one another’s house regularly. At Christ Church of Oak Brook I was part of a five-man group which also met regularly for over 10 years. Currently, and for the past five years, I have been part of a group made up of five couples – we call ourselves “Parents Anonymous (PA).”
Last night our PA group met and as usual I was blessed beyond words by the connection, the honesty, and the encouragement which are always present every time we meet. One of our group, Mark, shared a 12-word poem/proverb which he called his “pioneer saying” that he learned in high school: Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without. The rest of our group sat quietly in awe as we focused on the meaning of this poem for our own lives, and I asked him to send it to each of us. And he did.
Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without. Our 30th president, Calvin Coolidge, is credited by many with creating this proverb to help people create in their lives frugality and resourcefulness, especially needed during the Great Depression. But others claim the proverb goes back to the 1700’s – we just don’t know and likely never will know who first said Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without!
I cannot get this poem/proverb out of my mind. Each of the four phrases has grabbed my mind, my heart, and my soul at a very deep level. Beyond the obvious meaning that Pres. Coolidge wanted Americans to heed, to me the poem/proverb can apply to our spiritual lives in a most profound way. One simple example: Jesus told us, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” [John 13:34].
Our response to Jesus’ “new command” takes us through Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without. “Loving others” is to be a hallmark of my life, I must show love at such a constant level that I may feel I am “using it up” and “wearing it out” – but the goal is always to “make it do” since “doing without” is NOT an option for Christ-followers. May my friend Mark’s “pioneer saying” and Pres. Coolidge’s “proverb to the nation” bring you deeper insights as you chew on God’s written word! Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without!
Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you.
You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/
[NOTE: If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please email me at TheMertonPrayer@gmail.com. I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]
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The Man On The Middle Cross Invited Me!
Imagine this: when the thief crucified with Jesus got to the pearly gates of Heaven and was asked, “How did you come to be here?” I wonder what he might have said. Did he have a clue about justification by faith? Baptism for the remission of his sins? Regular church attendance? Inspiration of holy scriptures? Prophecy confirmations from the Hebrew Scriptures? No, to all of those.
Here is the only thing he could have said: The Man on the Middle Cross Invited Me! And clearly that answer was all he had to say! Jesus had turned to him during the torture of crucifixion when both were near death in shear physical agony, and he said, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43 NLT).
But there is a little more to this story which bears looking at for our own edification as we Christ-followers hope for a similar invitation from Jesus. Did you remember that the other criminal dying on the other side of Jesus had taunted Jesus with these words, borne, I am sure, as much out of fear of impending death as a genuine hope of a miracle rescue: “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it” (Luke 23:39 NLT).
To me the most powerful of all conversion sermons comes next. The soon-to-be-pardoned thief said, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong” (Luke 23:40-41 NLT). Give the word “fear” its proper meaning of “respect” and the first point of this sermon is clear: This convicted criminal knew enough to respect his newly met neighbor, also condemned to death, as the incarnate presence of God.
His second sermon point is also powerful: His belief that both he and his fellow criminal “deserved to die” is always a precursor to salvation. His words constitute a true confession of sin.
In my opinion, the third point of this sermon is a true highpoint of all human encounters with Jesus recorded in scriptures: “But this man has not done anything wrong.” Whereas all we human beings have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Jesus of Nazereth, born of Mary, fully human and fully divine, is the only person ever to walk on the face of this earth without having sinned.
So, there you have it: a really convincing three-point sermon for the ages! How did you get here to heaven sir? The Man on the Middle Cross Invited Me! The coolest part of this sermon is that Jesus’ words to the believing thief on the cross are the same words He offers to us today! Do we actually believe that the same invitation is open to us, or do we water down His invitation to include all of the “works” which we need to do to earn entry into heaven? Lord, may it be so that we, with the thief on the cross, can shout with joy at heaven’s gates when asked how we got there: The Man on The Middle Cross Invited Me!
Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you.
You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/
[NOTE: If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please email me at TheMertonPrayer@gmail.com. I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]
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Imma-Nu-El
Today, as we celebrate the birth of Christ. Yesterday. 2,000+ years ago. Tomorrow. 5,000 years from now. Three little Hebrew words give us meaning and purpose to our existence. I am sure everyone reading this blog has long heard and used the word Immanuel with the understanding it refers to Jesus, the Son of God. But most of you have not studied Biblical Hebrew, so you may not know that Immanuel is NOT one word. It is three small Hebrew words which when put together create this amazing appellation for the Son of God.
Im is the Hebrew preposition which means “with.” It looks like this – עִם.
Nu is the Hebrew pronoun which means “us.” It looks like this – נוּ.
El is the Hebrew proper noun for the name of God, often meaning power, strength, mighty God. It looks like this – אֵל.
You put these three little words together – adding a double “m” is required before the pronoun “us” may be added to “with,” which also requires an extra vowel – hence, im plus nu becomes “immanu” instead of just “imnu”. Probably way too much information, but for any who were questioning – now you know how we got this amazing word Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14 [NIV] says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
The New Testament writer Matthew tells us this – “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’) Matthew 1:23 [NIV].
Chew on this for a few moments in the last hours of this Advent day known as December 25th – how often do I really, I mean really, feel that the almighty powerful God who created the universe is actually, really, “with me”? How often do I even consider that as I go through my daily activities, Imma-Nu-El is indeed with me.
This promise – made by God through the prophet Isaiah and then repeated centuries later by one of Jesus’ disciples the Gospel writer Matthew – is not just a Christmas Day nice thing to say and sing about.
This promise from God gives us purpose and meaning to our existence on this planet. May each of us think on this promise repeatedly every day of our lives. I hope to always connect this promise of Imma-Nu-El with the ending words of the Merton Prayer: “I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you.
You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/
[NOTE: If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please email me at TheMertonPrayer@gmail.com. I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]
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Nor Do I Really Know Myself!
Authenticity. Knowing myself. Lying to myself. One of the most powerful and shocking phrases in The Merton Prayer is this: Nor Do I Really Know Myself. When Merton published these incredibly vulnerable and authentic words in his 1958 book Thoughts in Solitude, bookstores did not have the shelves of “self-help” and “self-knowledge” books which they hold today!
“Knowing oneself” has become a very fertile cottage industry not at all limited to psychologists or mental health workers. How could Merton have foreseen such a widespread conundrum looming in our society? How exactly does a person “really know myself”? Every time I pray The Merton Prayer I pause and sometimes come to a full stop at this phrase. Nor Do I Really Know Myself! I truly want to know myself. But then again maybe I do NOT want to “really” know myself.
True self-knowledge always leads to an encounter with the God in whose image I am created; an encounter with the God who “knew me” in my mother’s womb per Jeremiah 1:5. But that omnipotent God did far more than that while I was in my mother’s womb—listen to what He told the prophet and what He wants each of us to hear: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart: I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” [Jeremiah 1:5 NIV]
Seriously God? Did you “appoint” me as a pastor for 10 years, a Bible College Instructor of Greek for 4 years, a hospital ombudsman for 6 years, and a plaintiff’s trial attorney for 38 years (and counting!)? I look backwards, and I honestly can say “Yes, thank you God for leading me each step of my life.” As with Jeremiah, I too have had seasons of fear – did I really try a three-week medical malpractice case with six expert witnesses, without a little fear?
Jeremiah cried out to God: “Alas, Sovereign Lord I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” And how did God reply? “Do not say, ‘I am too young’ – you must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.” There it is! Regular readers of this blog saw this coming! The Merton Prayer in Jeremiah’s words – “I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone!”
If looking authentically at your true self causes fear and a little anxiety, well, maybe that is exactly what can lead to honest self-knowledge! I close with this quote from the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung –“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your heart. Who looks outside – dreams. Who looks inside – awakens.” [Robin Sharma, The Monk who Sold his Ferari, HarperOne, 1998, p.40]. May the God of Jeremiah awaken each of us this week to true and authentic self-knowledge so that we no longer hiccup when we get to this phrase of The Merton Prayer – Nor Do I Really Know Myself!
Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you.
You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/
[NOTE: If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please email me at TheMertonPrayer@gmail.com. I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]
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The Clergy are Cowards!
I watched a church historian interviewed recently who was asked, “Why is the American church not flourishing?” His answer was this: “The clergy are the problem.” Today we get to the third of Alistair Begg’s threefold meme – “The Clergy are Cowards.” Seriously? Some of you may be saying right now, “Steven, that’s not nice to say about ministers, pastors, and priests!” As you likely know already, I am not nearly as concerned with being nice, as I am with being honest!
Have you ever thought of your clergy as a coward? The dictionary definition of coward is this: “One who shows disgraceful fear or timidity” [Webster’s Dictionary]. The same dictionary gives “chicken” as the first synonym of coward. Interesting, isn’t it, that the word “disgraceful” is used? Another quote from Alexis de Tocqueville fits here: “Everybody feels the evil, but no one has courage or energy enough to seek the cure.” (Democracy in America) The Clergy are Cowards! is indeed “disgraceful” and needs to be eradicated!
Here’s some examples of The Clergy are Cowards! which I have encountered over my years in the church. A pastor told his congregation “the issues of evil facing our country all have to stay outside this church building! In here we only preach Christ!” He was a chicken clergy worried ONLY about members leaving if he preached biblical orthodoxy which would mean lower offerings, which could put his salary and pension in jeopardy!
Or this: when a mainline denomination voted to affirm a woman’s right to “unrestricted abortion” one of their pastors never even informed their own leaders that their denomination had so voted! Fear leads a chicken clergy to keep their mouth shut!
How about this: A church group was on a field trip visiting sacred sites in Europe when a stranger approached the pastor who was leading the group with this question which was heard by the entire group, “Do I have to be baptized to join your group?” The pastor immediately turned the group in a different direction without responding to the questioner. Why not speak to this person with biblical truths? Fear! I could likely muster 1,000 other examples – The Clergy are Cowards!
Three biblical verses show “cowardly clergy” are not at all in step with the Lord:
- “Fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10)
- “In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 56:11)
- “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7)
The Greek word for “fear” is phobos from which we get phobia. Have our American clergy developed phobias which keep them from preaching the truth, teaching God’s and not man’s word, and upholding biblical orthodoxy every chance they get?
I ask again “why is the American church not flourishing?” We now have all three of Alistair Beggs answers, The Culture is Collapsing, The Church is Confused, and The Clergy are Cowards! Please Lord let each reading these words look for ways to be the antidote to these problems the Body of Christ is facing in America!
Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you.
You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/
[NOTE: If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please email me at TheMertonPrayer@gmail.com. I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]
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The Church is Confused!
Not only is the culture collapsing around us, the second point of Alistair Begg’s threefold meme of why modern Christianity is failing is this– The Church is Confused! Do I really need to document this assertion? Just one point will suffice: A major denomination voted at their annual conference two years ago that abortion is fine and that any local, state, or federal restrictions on abortion for women and “pregnant persons” were not to be tolerated. To me, this leaves no room for doubt – The Church is Confused!
When Jesus told the Apostle Peter that he had just handed him the “keys to the kingdom” and “upon this rock [petros, Greek for rock and Peter] I will build my church,” I hardly think he had in mind a future church deciding to allow babies to be killed in the womb! When Yahweh told the prophet Jeremiah that he had been known by God even when Jeremiah was in his mother’s womb, surely God was not envisioning abortion of healthy children created in his image (Jeremiah 1:5).
Has the Church always been confused? If not, when and how did the Church become confused? The first century church at Jerusalem had some serious conflicts which were overseen by James the brother of Jesus. (See Acts 15:14-21). The fourth century Church saw the Roman Emperor Constantine forcing his soldiers to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ, a fact which might have upset local church boards a tad!
Our 21st century church has – drumroll please – are you ready for this?? – over 45,000 different denominations and the United States alone has over 200! When Jesus handed the keys of the kingdom to Peter one wonders if even Jesus would be shocked to see that the Church today is not one undivided Church. To say The Church is Confused is hardly a stretch of imagination to a modern church-watcher.
We have churches who focus more on political issues than on issues from the Bible. We have churches who one year declare a “policy” only to change/reverse itself the very next year! One church says sins are forgiven when one prays asking God to forgive, another church says that sins are only forgiven when one experiences baptism. One church baptizes by sprinkling water on an infant who has no idea what is happening, another church only baptizes by immersion in water which completely covers the body.
Yes, The Church is Confused and I sincerely wonder at times what God thinks of how we have messed up his plan that the church would be “one”!
Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you.
You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/
[NOTE: If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please email me at TheMertonPrayer@gmail.com. I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]
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The Culture is Collapsing!
Why is the Church not flourishing in this crazy world of American extremes? Why do we see entire denominations taking very unChristian stands on controversial issues? Why do we have clergy afraid to speak boldly like Jesus spoke? I recently had the privilege of meeting the amazing pastor/author Alistair Begg – and I thanked him for his simple, yet powerful threefold mnemonic which answers the above questions: The Culture is Collapsing, The Church is Confused, and The Clergy are Cowards.
Today’s blog looks at the first of Begg’s three answers, The Culture is Collapsing, and future blogs will tackle the other two. One need only look at the last 25 years to see how incredibly different our culture is today! The changes seem flowing in warp-speed!
We have grade schoolers being taught that they can choose which gender they want to be, parents who support such life-altering decisions, and a medical profession quick to step up with procedures and medications to help the child change into their desired gender! Just today the national news dropped a bomb on us Americans with the announcement that a huge % of illegal migrants crossing our borders are criminals—true or false? We have two major political parties in our country which seem to literally hate the other, which leads to simply awful family gatherings around the Thanksgiving or Christmas tables!
Given the above it usually seems wisest, certainly easiest, just to ignore these topics. I look at how Jesus dealt with his first century culture and I come away with hope that all may not be lost. But clearly, as Bob Dylan sang, “The times they are a changing.” The French historian/politician Alexis de Tocqueville had great insights into American Christianity – listen to this from the 1850s:
In the United States … almost all Americans believe in or at least respect Christianity, with the result that ‘everything is certain and fixed in the moral world’.
I doubt he would say the same for 21st century America where nothing seems “certain and fixed in the moral world.” For over a decade I have belonged to, believed in, and ministered with, a conservative congregation which belongs to an uber-liberal denomination. I was shocked to learn of the denomination’s official actions.
Here is one thing that Jesus said which, if we Christ-followers can engage with, then maybe, just maybe, the Church might be the antidote to The Culture is Collapsing!
He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. [John 8:7] Jesus was teaching in the temple when some Jewish leaders of the day dragged a woman caught in the act of adultery before him, demanding that this sinful woman be stoned to death. When they heard the above words of Jesus, they all dropped their stones and walked away. And isn’t it interesting, and instructive, that John notes the older, more mature, Jewish leaders were the first to leave! Then we hear Jesus tell the woman, “Go and sin no more”! Simple, yet profound, and certainly a real antidote for The Culture is Collapsing!
Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you.
You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/
[NOTE: If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please email me at TheMertonPrayer@gmail.com. I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]
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His Blood Is On My Award!
Today I met a man on the street near my office who was wearing a “Navy Veteran” hat, and I said, “Thank you for your service to our country!” That led to a 20-minute conversation which I will never forget. He told me of his service in Viet Nam, being treated rudely upon his return to America, and one amazing story of his encounter with British Royalty.
When he was given a high honor by our President, according to him a much greater honor awaited him after the White House ceremony. He was introduced to Lord Louis Mountbatten, the British Naval War hero who had been appointed Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal British Navy and was also a member of the Royal Family. Lord Mountbatten asked my new friend if he could read the award he had just received. He took off his gloves to hold the certificate and as he reached for it he suffered a paper cut! To my friend’s horror, a drop of Lord Mountbatten’s blood from his cut finger spilled onto the award and he began profusely apologizing.
My friend smiled widely as he continued. “I told Lord Mountbatten, no apology needed sir! I am honored to have your blood marking my award! It makes it more special.” You know where this is going, right? His Blood Is On My Award is what he said, softly two or three times, with a wistful look on his face. Me: That’s amazing! Do you still have the award? He: “Of course, it is in a frame hanging on my living room wall.
When we Christians think about our potential “award,” it is the blood of Jesus from his sacrificial death on the cross which gives us hope for eternal life after death. I think of the cross Jesus died on and the blood spilled on that cross – His Blood Is On My Award!
Just as my new friend felt his award had been made much more special now with the blood of Lord Mountbatten on it, we look at that wooden cross which likely had been used to kill thousands of criminals in the past and more in the future, and we too can say His Blood Is On My Award! Two ordinary simple pieces of wood with nail holes in them – but unlike all other crucifixion wooden pieces, these two had drops of blood from the Son of God.
I think if Merton had heard the story I heard today about Lord Mountbatten’s blood, he likely would have also smiled a huge smile and said something like this, “What an honor for you, sir, to have Lord Mountbatten’s blood on your award!” And what an honor for us Christ-followers, to be able to say with joy in our hearts His Blood Is On My Award!
Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you.
You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/
[NOTE: If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please use the contact tab and let me know! I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]
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It’s All There!
In the 1990’s I was totally “pro-choice”. What happened to change my mind? (1) A conversation with a doctor; (2) Jeremiah 1:5. This is not a “political” attack on pro-choice folks; it is my story of how I changed directions on this issue.
I was in San Diego to present my OB/Gyn expert in a medical malpractice case – my client’s baby was permanently deformed and would never be able to use her left arm due to the negligence of the doctor. My expert was the head of his hospital’s OB/Gyn department with incredible credentials. He was also a strong Christian who was not shy about sharing his faith.
As we chatted at dinner after his deposition, he knocked my socks off by telling me, “I used to do abortions. At least one per week for over 20 years.” I did the math – he had done over 1,000 abortions. “Why did you stop?” said I. His response changed my life forever: “I realized that at conception It’s All There! Nothing is ever added except food/nutrition!”
My brain grabbed this and I could not let it go. Probably within a week I realized the absolute undeniable truth in It’s All There! From the moment of conception absolutely NOTHING is added to that zygote, nothing except nutrition, nothing except food! It’s All There!
And then there was that verse in Jeremiah where God talks directly to the famous prophet and preachers ever since have grabbed that sentence to preach powerful pro-life sermons. “Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you’” (Jeremiah 1:4-5. NASB1995). So, God knew me in the womb, and nothing but food was added after I was conceived!
I was hooked by my own brain into a total life-changing position. Nothing was added except food! And every other human being on this planet was also “known by God in the womb.” My wife Miran and I have stood in front of Chicago abortion clinics, praying that the women coming to have their babies sucked out of their wombs would change their minds!
The Lord and the Holy Spirit moved in the hearts of a few women who saw 30+ of us praying in front of the abortion clinic. They slowly turned around and walked back to their car. Our prayer was that they would never return to that or another clinic for an abortion.
“Reproductive health care” – can we really/logically say ripping a baby apart by a vacuum which got every piece of the baby’s body out of the woman’s womb is health care? Seems like “death care” to me! And modern science for decades has known that the DNA of the baby is NOT the same as the mother’s DNA, which makes the mantra “My body my choice” illogical non-sense. Mom’s left arm is her body and she can indeed cut that off with impunity. The baby inside her is NOT her body, it is the body of another human being who is already known by God!
It’s All There! and God’s message to Jeremiah – that’s how I made a 180 degree turn in my life and I have never looked back with regret. May the God of Jeremiah bless you today as you chew on these thoughts! And don’t forget –at conception It’s All There! Leave a comment please!
Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you.
You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/
[NOTE: If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please use the contact tab and let me know! I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]
Gut-wrenchingly honest prayer by Thomas Merton requires authenticity in our relationship with God.
The Merton Prayer 