Flee, Be Silent, Pray Quotes

“Contemplative prayer removes us from the driver's seat.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“Closed systems that thrive on control that is managed with sticks and carrots can't help but fail the people they claim to protect.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“One evangelical generation after another earnestly studies the scriptures in search of Jesus, trying to get past the fact that Jesus said studying the scriptures is not the same thing as pursuing him.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“Ironically, some anxious evangelicals get even more anxious at the mention of contemplative prayer. Isn't that too Catholic or Eastern Orthodox? Isn't that Buddhist? Isn't that a slippery slope into NEW AGE RELIGION? Evangelicals are terrified of slippery slopes that start out innocent enough. One minute you're doing a downward dog stretch in a yoga studio and then the "eastern religion" slippery slope takes hold. Next thing you know, you're offering a fruit bowl to a pleasant little false idol statue somewhere in Asia. We've all heard that this happened once to a friend of a friend of someone we knew once at a church somewhere.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“Once I am aware of what has been on my mind and have established ways to respond in faith with a particular prayer, sacred word, or silence before God, my anxious thoughts lose a great deal of their power.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“Silence doesn’t have to be a major pilgrimage into the wilderness in order to find a solitary space. Everyday tasks such as driving around town, folding laundry, preparing food, washing dishes, or taking walks can all provide a measure of solitude each day when approached with the right mindset and a commitment to shut off televisions, computers, tablets, smartphones, radios, and anything else that could interrupt silence.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“The mystics believe we go through spiritual darkness as a part of our transformation, not as the end of our faith and ministry.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians

“If I am not in touch with my own belovedness, then I cannot touch the sacredness of others.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians

“I can't learn or will myself into God's holiness, but my own willpower and planning can make all of the difference in whether I am present for God and his transformation.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“the possibility of contemplative renewal in the evangelical movement, especially in America, could make this a particularly exciting time to be an evangelical. I can only hope that the American evangelical movement's cultural compromises to corporate leadership styles and power politics have been exposed for their crass moral bankruptcy and antipathy toward the Kingdom values of love and mercy. We are ripe for a change of course, and even if the majority stick to their culture wars and power hungry political crusades, a sizable minority can embody a hopeful, loving, and Spirit-directed path forward that will serve those in search of God and even evangelicals who inevitably burn out from the anxious defensiveness of their movement. In fact, if evangelicals have any hope as advocates for those suffering from poverty, injustice, racism, or xenophobia, we will especially need the inner transformation of contemplative prayer so that our activism is compassionate and merciful.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“All desires but one can fail. The only desire that is infallibly fulfilled is the desire to be loved by God. We cannot desire this efficaciously without at the same time desiring to love Him, and the desire to love Him is a desire that cannot fail. Merely by desiring to love Him, we are beginning to do that which we desire. Freedom is perfect when no other love can impede our desire to love God. But if we love God for something less than Himself, we cherish a desire that can fail us. We run the risk of hating Him if we do not get what we hope for. It is lawful to love all things and to seek them, once they become means to the love of God. There is nothing we cannot ask of Him if we desire it in order that He may be more loved by ourselves or by other men" (No Man Is an Island, 17-18).  Whether or not we realize”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“We don't like facing either when there are so many other entertaining or enjoyable distractions at our disposal in an affluent culture. Evangelicals have tended to focus on vision retreats, growth, and mission, which can be fine in their proper places. However, a regular, sustained reflection on suffering and death simply isn't on the radar for many evangelicals who are concerned with preserving their own spiritual growth and the growth of a movement that remains anxious about its effectiveness. Why would we face the darkness of death and the uncertainty of suffering when we can easily justify our affluence as God's blessing or busy ourselves with God's work?”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer