Peter lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Christina. Together, they seek to live contemplative life. Peter serves as an associate pastor at Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX. Peter received his M.Div. from Princeton Seminary and is currently writing his D.Min dissertation. Peter practices a daily form of meditation called Centering Prayer and seeks to articulate the forgotten contemplative dimension of Christianity to Christianity. He is nurtured by the presence, teachings and writings of Father Thomas Keating, Tim Cook, the writings of Maurice Nicoll, and the extraordinary Cistercian Studies Series on the Church Fathers published by Cistercian Publications. For renewal, Peter takes walks in the woods, naps at Barton Springs and listens to Romantic adagios.
In our union with Christ, we are given the Spirit, and the Spirit enables us to manifest the presence of God. This presence is what we offer when we do “ministry.” Christ’s ministry continues through you by the Spirit because, according to Jesus, the Spirit “abides with you, and he will be in you" (John 14.16-17). If the Spirit is the continuing manifestation of Christ, and if the Spirit is now here in you, then the Christian vocation is sharing the presence of God to ones who are in need of waking from the dream of forgetfulness. We aid others in coming to their senses, helping them remember who they truly are and can be.
As we consent to the Spirit, the presence of God will manifest in our life, especially in our capacity to love (1 John 1.4-6). By remaining in Christ, we remain vulnerable to the Spirit, and we are enabled to bring about even greater things than we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3.21).
The implication evoked from this spiritual reality is that through a life of vulnerability to the Spirit we live lives of imitation, and through lives of imitation we continue the incarnation and bear the presence of God to a world that desperately needs and longs for the "touch of God" in the midst of deep pain and doubt.
The progressive renewal of our minds (Romans 12.1), through the developmental process of “putting on the mind of Christ” (Philippians 2.5), is the means by which we can replicate Jesus’ ministry as the Christ. Our increased illumination and awakening into the light, life and love of God in and through us is intended to lead us to further humility, obedience and self-surrender. This is the spirituality of Jesus, and it is now the spirituality of Christ’s continuing presence through and in us by the Spirit.
The purpose of this blog is to continue the articulation and embodiment of contemplative Christianity in the third millennium of Christian faith. My prayer is that through these writings, resources and reflections, you, Dear Unknown Friend, will be drawn further into the heart of God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit's transforming presence and action in your thoughts, feelings and embodiment.
In an era of increasing confusion, the Church is invited to an ancient alternative. We are invited to return, receive and re-discover the contemplative dimension of prayer and worship.
In an era of increasing interconnectivity, I believe that the cultivation of a meditative prayer practice is an ethical imperative, and the leading edge of how the human community can love God, humanity and all of God's glorious creation - earth, sea, sky, life and cosmos.
I believe that personal, direct, relational experiences with Love, Meaning and Purpose are possible because of the Trinity. Beyond doctrine and creed, the experience of Love and Divine Presence is available in a universe that is alive and interconnected in Christ who is our All in All.
Every blessing in the depths of divine love, and every certitude of knowing beyond the senses in this Reality of Love,
