Carl McColman's Blog, page 4

I Believe Prayer Changes Things. Here’s a Few Thoughts Why.

I posted this on Facebook not long ago…

A couple of people posted comments to the effect of “Please say more about how prayer changes things.”

That’s a great question and so here are a few thoughts in response.

First, I don’t believe prayer is magic. I once heard Episcopal priest and writer John Westerhoff define magic like this: “Magic is anything you do to get God to do something that God would not otherwise do.” Now, I have Pagan and Wiccan friends who bristle at this definition, but that’s ...

You don’t have to become a monk to be a mystic

A reader wrote to me recently:

Hello, I am interested in becoming a Christian Mystic. However I am not sure if I can join a monastery due to being a Baptist Christian. If you know any monasteries that I could join while being Baptist, please let me know. Also, I would like to know other ways to become a Christian Mystic besides joining a monastery. Thank you much for your help.

Thank you so much for your message, and you’re asking a great question.

As you know, most monasteries in the Christian ...

Two Books that Shaped My Spiritual Path

Two of the most meaningful books I’ve ever read are Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness and Thich Nhat Hanh’s Living Buddha Living Christ. I discovered Mysticism the summer after I graduated from High School, when a friend gave me a copy after I had an unsettling, but deeply spiritual, dream (I recount this story in my book Unteachable Lessons).

Underhill initiated me into the mystical tradition within Christianity (although she also thr...

In Memory of Father Tom Francis Smith (1927-2024), Monk, Mystic and Friend

Friends, I am heartbroken to share with you that Father Thomas Francis Smith, OCSO, of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit passed away early this morning. He was 96 years old.

Fr. Tom Francis Smith, OCSO, in 2012.

I met Father Tom in 2005 when I attended a Centering Prayer introductory workshop at the Monastery. He wasn’t the first monk I had met at the monastery, but we struck up a conversation that day and before long we had become friends. I briefly met with Tom thinking I would love to see a mo...

Contemplating How the Sausage is Made

Twice in recent days I’ve had conversations with people in ministry about their spiritual life, and the idiomatic phrase “seeing how the sausage is made” got used. Here’s a (paraphrased) example;

After I became a minister and saw how the sausage is made, it changed my relationship to the church.

I love idioms, although as a vegan I suppose this one isn’t my natural favorite! But I love how evocative it is for “seeing the messy process that’s usually behind the scenes.”

Even as a longstanding veg...

Mystical Spirituality Can Change the Way You Think About Religion. And That’s Okay.

More than once on this blog I have quoted an amazing few words from the American mystic Howard Thurman, who had this to say in 1939:

Acts of worship must be tested by the degree to which they remain living channels for the direct release of God into the life of the worshipper. When they become institutionalized they are apt to become dead so the mystic seems always to be the foe of institutional religion. He is very sensitive to the crystallizing of acts of worship into dead forms. It is profoun...

If You Worship an Angry God, You’ll Be an Angry Person

A reader named Paul wrote to me with the following question:

Why is there more often than not such an intolerance, condemnation and even hatred between the different faiths and denominations ? Is it the Devil causing this?

Paul, thanks for your question. Before I get into it, I must say that I think “The devil made me do it” is the ultimate cop-out, so I believe we need to dig deeper to understand why Christians can be so unkind — not only to one another, but to anyone.

On his Redeeming God blog...

From “Orthodox” to “Open” — Some Personal Thoughts on How Faith Can Evolve Over Time

A reader of this blog sent me the following question:

Hi Carl, I’ve been reading quite a bit of your blog. It seems like back around 2016-2017, you were making an attempt to be more orthodox, while in the last few years, you seem to have become more open. For example, back in 2016, you answered someone’s question about the Church with what seemed like a very strongly held belief about the importance of being part of the Church (“Do Contemplatives Need the Church?”). But a similar question in 202...

Spiritual Practices, Traumatic Shame, and Holy Freedom

Recently I read Laura E. Anderson’s When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion. Anderson, a psychotherapist specializing in trauma and herself a survivor of high-control religion, offers an unflinching look at the many ways that religion can cause harm, even (and especially) under the guise of protecting its “flock” from sin or evil. I think this is an important book because while Anderson is clear about the problems that are caused by religion...

Coming in 2025! Official Announcement of My Forthcoming Book

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksQxn...

Hi friends, I’m so pleased to announce the title — and cover art — of my forthcoming book! It will be published in 2025 by Broadleaf Books and represents my third book with Broadleaf (they also have re-published several of my older books). Even though it’s not being published until next April, you can pre-order the book now through major online retailers; you can also get an autographed copy directly from me (visit the store page here on Anamchara.com)...