Blog – Page 11 – Joel Bidderman

Stillness

"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10 “Let us be silent, that we may hear the whisper of God.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson A rhythm of grace (a life-giving spiritual practice) for me has been the practice of stillness: being still; stopping; resting. It's interesting how counter-intuitive it seems to our culture right now, doesn't it? Being someone who grew up in a generation that spanned a progression from analog to digital, I remember when life moved 25-45 mph, telephones were attached to the wall, photos were shared by waiting for the film developer to call you letting you [...]

2019-05-16T05:24:33+00:00By Joel|Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation|

Breath Prayer: a powerful little practice

A practice that I was introduced to years ago, that I have been revisiting lately, has been a prayer practice called "Breath Prayer." It’s pretty simple: a breath prayer is a short prayer that you pray throughout the day (usually inside yourself), and is short enough that you can pray it in the length of the cadence of your breath. The breath prayer is a way that many throughout history have put the following scriptures into practice: "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall always be in my mouth." - Psalm 34:1 "Pray without ceasing." - 1 Thessalonians 5:17 A traditional active prayer is what has been called the Jesus prayer: "Lord [...]

2021-07-28T21:56:28+00:00By Joel|Prayers and Blessings, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation|

Following the Relaxed Rabbi: simplifying the heart

Bill Gaultiere, founder of Soul Shepherding, Inc. and mentee of Dallas Willard, shared a story on his website of an interaction that he had with Dallas. In Dallas' office at USC, Dallas asked him the question, "If you had one word to describe Jesus, what would it be?" There of course are so many words that come to mind to describe Jesus, and after a good length of silence in which Bill was able to contemplate, he asked Dallas what his one word would be. Dallas' answer: "relaxed." Relaxed. It has been a powerful paradigm shift for me as I've been grasping the picture of Jesus as the most relaxed person you'll ever meet. Time and time [...]

2019-05-16T05:10:16+00:00By Joel|Missional Living, Simplicity, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation|

Too Good (Live)

This song, as part of my Morning and Night songs, and it's a fun one. I wrote it on my cigar box guitar that was made for me. As I wrote it, I just kind of heard a bluesy, almost primitive, slide driven melody. So, I wrote this song, and when it came time to perform it, I was thinking "I have no idea how to arrange accompaniment for this song," but the guys in the band did an awesome job at bringing out textures for this song. Lyrically, this song is based around one of my favorite Buechner books, and excerpts. In his book Telling the Truth: the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale. He [...]

2018-01-23T04:03:01+00:00By Joel|In The Margin, Morning and Night, Music|