Dave Schmelzer's new favorite book on forgiveness (and maybe one of his favorite books period) is by Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho Tutu van Furth. Mpho joins Dave from Amsterdam to talk about what she's taken from the book in years since, her reflections on it being forged out of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and much more.Mentioned on this podcast:The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World, by Desmond and Mpho Tutu.

You'd think that apart from affirming that, of course, forgiving people who've hurt us is crucial to our happiness, there wouldn't be much more to say. But Desmond and Mpho Tutu wrote what seems like the final word on the subject in their wonderful The Book of Forgiving, which includes many stories from Desmond's leading of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was central to preventing bloody civil war after apartheid fell. Dave Schmelzer talks with Grace Schmelzer about how the Tutus's insights have impacted their experience of forgiving.Mentioned on this podcast:The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World, by Desmond and Mpho Tutu.

In Part 1, we looked at how churches seem to be in the midst of a transition to something new. Here, Vince Brackett and Dave Schmelzer will take a deep dive into the thoughts of the big kahuna on this subject, Charles Taylor, and of his brilliant student, Hartmut Rosa. What if our world is set up to tell us that if we only had more resources we could have the life we want? And that our lack of resources is our fault--leading us to push and push and burn out. Taylor and Rosa think that's massively relevant to each of our lives and that churches fall under the same pressures, which, if unaddressed, will push them away from relevance. Dave and Vince discuss the profound hope that's at the heart of this.Mentioned on this podcast:Charles Taylor and his book A Secular AgeHartmut Rosa, of whom a relevant book would be Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World

While churches are rapidly declining in numbers, new things are popping up. Dave Schmelzer will explore what's happening and the hope for what might be next with rich perspectives from thinkers like Phyllis Tickle, Charles Taylor, Hartmut Rosa and others... alongside some anecdotes from his friends that might ring a bell for you.Mentioned on this podcast:Charles Taylor's A Secular AgeHartmut Rosa's Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the WorldPhyllis Tickle's The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why

Christian contemplative spirituality got forgotten for about three hundred years, after Brother Lawrence's famous teachings in the 1600s. The person who brought it back and set the stage for a whole new era of Christian spirituality--and people like Richard Rohr and Thomas Merton--was an unlikely candidate, an upper-middle-class British woman named Evelyn Underhill. Dave Schmelzer starts with a brief overview of this remarkable woman and then interviews Underhill's most accomplished biographer, Dana Greene.Mentioned on this podcast:Evelyn Underhill: Artist of the Infinite Life, by Dana GreeneThe Spiritual Life, by Evelyn UnderhillDana Greene's website: danagreene.orgTo receive the Evelyn Underhill newsletter, go to evelynunderhill.org

Last episode had Gary Neal Hansen telling Dave that among the ten ancient Christian prayer practices he teaches and write about, the two that have most popped for people are the Jesus Prayer (the subject of a recent podcast) and what's called Praying the Office (first popularized by St. Benedict), which is how a large swath of Christians have prayed for centuries. Dave hasn't been drawn to Praying the Office, but his wife Grace absolutely has. Dave gives an overview of Hansen's remarks about Praying the Office and then turns things over to Grace to hear more and to walk us through what exactly happens as we give it a try. Mentioned on this podcast:Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers, by Gary Neal HansenPrayers for Summertime: A Manual for Prayer (The Divine Hours), by Phyllis TickleThe Divine Hours (Volume Two): Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime: A Manual for Prayer, by Phyllis Tickle The Divine Hours (Volume Three): Prayers for Springtime: A Manual for Prayer, by Phyllis TickleThe Divine Hours, Pocket Edition, by Phyllis TickleIf you or someone you know is interested in exploring spiritual direction with Grace Schmelzer, please email her at graceschmelzer1@gmail.com

Gary Neal Hansen has taught ten ways to pray from very different Christians traditions to lots of people. Gary (who wrote Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers) talks with Dave Schmelzer about what he's learned both from the practices themselves and from how people have found them helpful or not. He and Dave also spend some time on what prayer itself is actually supposed to do for us. Mentioned on this podcast:Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers, by Gary Neal HansenGary's website: garynealhansen.com A free, downloadable book from Gary: Love Your Bible: Finding Your Way to the Presence of God with a 12th Century Monk

Medieval monks and modern business school profs agree that our bone-deep addition to distracting ourselves is keeping us from happiness, meaning and productivity. Which perhaps will be no surprise to people listening to a podcast called The Pocket Contemplative! That said, Dave Schmelzer dives into the wisdom from those monks and professors and how it might both cheer you up and empower a fresh way forward.Mentioned on this podcast:The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction by Jamie KreinerHappier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most, by Cassie Holmes"The Time Jar" YouTube Video by Meir KayCharlie Kaufman on distraction, from Adaptation

A good chunk of any modern teaching on contemplation for Christians goes back to one mega-influential book called The Cloud of Unknowing from the dusty past of the 14th century. And yet generations of would-be contemplatives have found it is a fountain that doesn't run dry very quickly at least. Dave Schmelzer will give you a quick overview of why this book has been such a biggie, why--like many old books--it might initially feel off-putting in some ways, and why what it teaches has at the very least changed his life.Mentioned on this podcast:The Cloud of UnknowingKneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers by Gary Neal Hansen

The biggies in Christian history tell us a story of faith that's surprising to many of us, but which turns out to be exactly what we need to find ongoing joy. Dave Schmelzer chats about this with Jason M. Baxter, a scholar who wrote An Introduction to Christian Mysticism: Recovering the Wildness of Spiritual Life, which Dave podcasted about recently. Jason walks us into how this look at the "wild" teachings of people like Augustine and Hildegard of Bingen and Meister Eckhart and many more can open our worlds like nothing else can.Mentioned on this podcastAn Introduction to Christian Mysticism: Recovering the Wildness of Spiritual Life, by Jason M. Baxter

Russian Orthodox friends suggest that a fast track to spiritual progress might come through a ten-word prayer that gets repeated. Ten words! Is it too good to be true? Dave Schmelzer, with help from Gary Neal Hansen's book Kneeling with Giants, does a deep dive into this pathway to God and reports on how it's been going for him.Mentioned in this podcastKneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best Teachers, by Gary Neal HansenJourney to the Heart: Christian Contemplation through the Centuries, edited by Kim NatarajaThe Way of a Pilgrim (The Pilgrim's Tale)

Have the great Christian saints, over millennia, been in agreement about some central points and practices if we hope to continue our growth? One scholar says they have been indeed. Dave Schmelzer runs down some key points of interest, not least the happy surprise that, if we keep at this, our reward will be an overflowing playfulness in our lives. Mentioned on this podcast:Jason M. Baxter's book An Introduction to Christian Mysticism; Recovering the Wildness of Spiritual LifePete Holmes on not knowingSome mystics who come up: Hildegard of Bingen, Gregory of Nyssa, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Merton, Evagrius, Nicholas of Cusa, Pseudo-Dionysius, Augustine, Francis of Assisi, John Ruusbroec, Evelyn Underhill, C.S. Lewis

As we age, we face more and more life circumstances that can seem lose/lose. Take care of our aging parent and lose any margin in our lives. Start a needed side hustle that has a substantial chance of failing. The Bible encourages us to trust God enough to ask for all the things we want, but it then pivots to a different, contemplative approach that might grow our faith through these tough challenges. Dave Schmelzer looks at the ins and outs of that important flexibility while bringing in a vivid picture of what that might look like from another great world tradition.Mentioned on this podcast:Proverbs 16:9; Isaiah 26:3; Psalm 46:10 The MahabharataStephen Cope's The Great Work of Your LifeA quote from Thomas Merton to a young activist: “Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.”

Thoughtful happiness tips can be opportunities for mindfulness, for noticing ways to live that we'd previously been blind to or reactive against. Dave Schmelzer talks a bit about that and then details two dozen such tips from the mega-popular book The Happiness Experiment.Mentioned on this podcast:Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Anything we want to do that's important to us will face (sometimes severe) resistance. One Bible perspective calls resistance its own "god of this world"--and St. Paul himself makes the point profoundly: "The thing I most want to do I don't do." Dave Schmelzer does a dive into the insights of the most-read recent thinker on the subject, Steven Pressfiled in his seminal The War of Art. Learn from contemplatives and life coaches as well as Pressfield and see if you find help with your own resistance.Mentioned on this podcast:Steven Pressfield's The War of ArtBlog help by way of:Bodhipaksa at wildmind.orgLeo Babauta at zenhabits.netMichelle Rees at wholelifechallenge.com

Dave Schmelzer loves life hacks, but has found that they often have a shorter shelf life than he'd hoped. Contemplatives have a surprising answer for why that might be. Life hacks, they tell us, come from a world view saturated in original sin: your problems come from your fundamental laziness that has to be overcome. But maybe we don't need to overcome anything. Maybe we already have a deep happiness that we can access as we quiet down a bit. Rami Shapiro and Anthony DeMello and Tara Brach help us here.Mentioned on this podcast:Rami Shapiro's book Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually IndependentAnthony DeMello's book Stop Fixing Yourself: Wake Up, All is WellTara Brach's book Radical Acceptance

Christians spiritually address anxiety in two ways: spiritual warfare and contemplation. Dave Schmelzer looks at some of the pros and cons of each of these approaches and then takes an extended look at perhaps the most famous warfare prayer in the last two thousand years, The Breastplate of St. Patrick, a prayer Dave loves and often prays. Mentioned on this podcast:The Breastplate of St. PatrickI bind to myself today/ The fullness of the Trinity: I believe the Father, Son and Spirit/ The Creator of the Universe. I bind to myself today/ Christ coming to earth:His baptism, crucifixion and burial,/ His resurrection and ascension, His coming on the Judgment Day. I bind to myself today/ The love of archangelsThe obedience of angels/ The prayers of Patriarchs, The vision of Prophets,/ The speech of Apostles, The faith of martyrs,/ The purity of Mary, The boldness of saints. I bind to myself today/ Heaven’s power-- Light like the sun,/ Brightness like the moon, Splendor like fire,/ Flashing like lightning, Speed like wind,/ Depth like sea, Stability like earth,/ Solidity like rocks. I bind to myself today/ God's Power to guide me, God's Might to strengthen me,/ God's Wisdom to teach me, God's Eye to watch over me,/ God's Ear to hear me, God's Word to speak through me,/ God's Hand to guide me, God's Way to lie before me,/ God's Shield to protect me, God's Army to empower me,/ Against the snares of demons, Against the seductions of vices,/ Against anyone who considers injuring me, Whether they’re far or near,/ Few or many. I invoke today all these virtues/ Against every hostile, merciless power Which may assail my body and soul--/ Against the lies of false prophets, Against the darkness of unbelief,/ Against the distractions of heresy, Against the temptations of idolatry,/ Against the spells of sorcerers-- Against everything that would bind my soul. Christ, protect me and mine today/ Against poison and burning, Against drowning and injury and death,/ That we might live full lives for you.Christ with me, Christ before me,/ Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,/ Christ at my right, Christ at my left, Christ in the home,/ Christ in the street, Christ in the store,/ Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me, Christ in every eye that sees me,/ Christ in every ear that hears me. I bind to myself today/ The fullness of the Trinity: I believe the Father, Son and Spirit/ The Creator of the Universe.

Lots of people--from popular bloggers to academics to contemplatives--are pitching that our drive for greatness might not be giving us what it promises. Might "good-enough" living offer us a kind of joy along with giving us a place in a whole world that's happier? Dave Schmelzer mentions four recent discussion of this before focusing on two, including the mega-popular self-help book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.Mentioned on this podcast:The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, by Mark MansonThe Good-Enough Life, by Avram AlpertMentioned in passing:The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary, by Ronald SiegelDonald Winnicott's thinking about "The Good-Enough Mother"

Feeling overwhelmed is basic to being human. Few great teachers have had more helpful things to say about this than Julian of Norwich, the contemplative who wrote during the bubonic plague years. Despite her own suffering, her legacy is of being colossally encouraging to the point that CS Lewis and Richard Rohr say she's their favorite mystic. Dave Schmelzer offers some introductory thoughts on how you can tap into her encouragement the next time you're overwhelmed.Mentioned on this podcast:All Shall Be Well: A Modern-Language Version of the Revelation of Julian Norwich, by Ellyn Sanna "A Pastor Ripped Apart by Our Divided Country," a "First Person" New York Times podcast from July 21, 2022

Even in good times, life can feel burdensome. We do our tasks, wind down over TV (maybe with a glass of wine), and then do it all again tomorrow. We feel judged and, let's face it, we judge others. A self-help bestseller, The Four Agreements, tries to offer a way into enjoying life that has parallels to the New Testament book of James and the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Dave Schmelzer walks you through its encouragement to, right now, start enjoying your life.Mentioned on this podcastThe Four Agreements, by Don Miguel RuizJames 3:5-9; Ecclesiastes 2:24