The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
A Brief Selection

The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan is an allegory and a quite straight forward one at that. The scene below describes “Christian” at the strait gate seeking entrance:

In the process of time Christian reached the Gate, over which was written, “Knock and the door will be opened to you.” So he knocked several times saying:

May I now enter here? Will he within
Open to sorry me, though I have been
An undeserving Rebel? Then shall I
Not fail to sing his lasting Praise on high.

At last a serious looking person came to the Gate. His name was Goodwill, and he asked, “Who’s there, and where have you come from? What do you want?”

Christian replied, “I’m a poor burdened sinner. I’ve come from the City of Destruction, but I’m going to Mount Zion so I can be delivered from the wrath to come. Sir, since I’ve been informed the way there is through this Gate, I’d like to know if you’re willing to let me in.”

Goodwill then said, “I’m willing with all my heart.” And with that he opened the Gate.

As Christian was stepping in, Goodwill reached out and pulled him inside. Then Christian asked, “Why did you do that?”

Goodwill said, “A short distance from this Gate stands a strong castle of which Beelzebub is the ruler. From there, both he and those with him

shoot arrows at those who come up to this Gate, hoping they’ll die before they can enter in.”

“I rejoice and tremble,” said Christian. . . .

Goodwill then said, “In spite of everything people have done before they come here, we make no objections against anyone. No one will ever be driven away. Therefore, Christian, travel awhile with me, and I’ll teach you about the way you must go. Look in front of you. Do you see that Narrow Road? That is the way you must go. . . .”

“But,” asked Christian, “are there any turns or twists through which a stranger might lose his way?”

“Yes,” answered Goodwill, “there are many paths adjacent to this one, and they are crooked and wide; but you can distinguish the right one from the wrong one because only the right one is straight and narrow.”. . . .

Then Christian began to prepare himself to set out on his journey. So Goodwill told him that after he had gone some distance from the Gate he would come to the house of the Interpreter—at whose door he should knock—and he would show him excellent things. Then Christian bid his friend farewell, and Goodwill bid him God speed (Gainesville, FL: Bridge-Logos, 1998, pp. 29-33).

— Richard J. Foster

The Journal of John Woolman edited by Phillips P. Moulton
An Interview with Pastor Chuck Orwiler

Richard: What was your first impression of Woolman’s Journal?

Chuck: The thing that captivated me when I first read Woolman’s Journal over thirty years ago was the quality of the person writing the journal. His life testifies to the power of meekness.

R: Tell me more about the quality of person you see in Woolman.

C: Woolman has a couple of qualities that stand out to me. The first is his commitment to attend to the leading of Christ and then obediently following him. The second quality is a corollary of the first. He realized a commitment to attending and following Christ would require a particular lifestyle: one of simplicity and humility. I keep a quotation from the Journal before me in my office, “There was a care on my mind so to pass my time that nothing might hinder me from the most steady attention to the voice of the true Shepherd.”

R: How did Woolman attend to Christ?

C: He expected God to lead him and didn’t seem to rely on secondary sources to show him the way. That is, he didn’t seem to be turning to various authorities to learn how to live his life. He had a reverence for the Bible and a deep respect for the affirming discernment of his community of faith. In that context, he expected to hear the voice of the true Shepherd. And he did hear, and God led him to do things that would have been impossible if he was simply following the popularly-held viewpoint in Christian circles. Consequently, he led a prophetic lifestyle. I think Christians would benefit from thinking carefully about what a prophetic lifestyle might look like individually and corporately.

R: Prophetic lifestyle?

C: Woolman, like many over the centuries, realized that pride and possessions got in the way of attending to the voice of the true Shepherd. This led him to intentionally and voluntarily cultivate a lifestyle with few material “entanglements” (his word). That is, he chose a standard of living based on attending to Christ rather than on income. (Stop and think about that!) And he did so in the context of maintaining a family and earning a living. Who can teach us about such things today? Woolman also recognized pride came from attending to himself rather than Christ. Consequently, he was quite intentional about cultivating meekness in his life. He has the wonderful phrase, “the happiness of humility.” Woolman found humility to be an easy yoke because he preferred Christ’s voice to his own.

R: Any final word?

C: Woolman’s prophetic lifestyle of simplicity and humility for the purpose of listening to and obeying the living Christ keeps speaking to me. I cherish Woolman’s gentle and persuasive voice.

— Chuck Orwiler, Pastor First Denver Friends Church Denver, Colorado

The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
The Difference It Has Made

My preacher-son called for advice the other day. His problem is common for pastors: spiritual dryness. Spiritual dryness makes ministry difficult. My son’s ministry was flourishing outwardly, but he was shriveling inwardly. Ministry was not exciting; it was exhausting. So he said, “Dad, could you recommend an author to stimulate me spiritually? I know you read Tozer . . .” I recommended The Pursuit of God.

The Pursuit of God never fails to nourish me. It is a book that can be read repeatedly because each new reading brings new revelations. The book is filled with hearty meat for starving saints and wells of water for the spiritually dry. Consequently, to embark on our own “pursuit of God” is to restore the joyful satisfaction of what Tozer calls the “proper Creator-creature relationship.”

It might be helpful to know that Tozer wrote this classic while on his knees. It is not a book written about God; it is a book written with God. It is a thought-provoking revelation of how God pursues us that we may pursue him. It is not a theological work; it is experiential. It is not

a pursuit of pet doctrines; it is a pursuit of God. Tozer is successful in the pursuit. He quite literally taps into God’s heart. To see God’s heart is to be silent before him, worshiping him.

I have been permanently affected by Tozer’s work. He carries me into the realm of awe and compels me to worship the Lord of Glory. Actually, it is more like a demand to worship; I am forced to worship. But it is not God forcing and demanding; it is me. I must bow the knee because I cannot hear his voice and do anything less. And if I happen to be spiritually dry when the demand arrives, I rediscover my inner shrine where none but him is worthy to dwell, where spiritual dryness cannot exist.

My son will read The Pursuit of God. Should he embark on his own pursuit, his spiritual thirst will be quenched and his ministry revived.

— John Hinshaw, Pastor Northwest Friends Church Arvada, Colorado

The Francis Trilogy by Thomas of Celano
A Review

Friendly in behavior, serene in nature, affable in speech, generous in encouragement, faithful in commitment, prudent in advice, efficient in endeavor, he was gracious in everything!” So wrote Thomas of Celano, a Franciscan brother, in the early thirteenth century, describing his mentor and father in the faith, Francis of Assisi. In the almost eight centuries since, Francis has inspired millions of others to walk faithfully and joyfully in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and has become one of the most beloved Christians ever to have lived.

If you have ever read anything about Francis, chances are good it was the fourteenth century classic The Little Flowers of Saint Francis. Although it is both fascinating and interesting, The Little Flowers is a fairly random collection of anecdotes put together over a century after Francis’s death. It tells some delightful tales but does little to show how they connect together in a life lived passionately before God.

The Francis Trilogy is in a different class. Written by the same Thomas of Celano mentioned above, it began rolling off the presses (well, the scribes’ copying desks anyway) within two years of the saint’s death. It paints a far more coherent and inspiring picture than the one found in Little Flowers—and, indeed, than the image of popular imagination: the starry-eyed dreamer surrounded by cute fluffy animals. Here, in the Trilogy, we find the Francis whose dramatic conversion before the cross led to a ministry among the lepers. This is the man who stripped naked in the town square of Assisi to renounce his family’s claims over him, then later danced with joy (though fully clothed!) before an astounded Pope in Rome. Here we discover the preacher who founded a missionary brotherhood, traveled round half of Europe sharing the gospel, and even crossed the front lines of the Crusades in an attempt to evangelize the Egyptian Sultan Malik el-Kamil.

Thomas’s three short biographies (collected in this one volume together with introductions, maps, and other study aids) are more than interesting historical tales. Together, they show what a life lived passionately for Christ can look like. Even today, countless people around the world find themselves drawn into the life of Christ through the example of the “little brother of Assisi.” I know, because I’m one of them. If you need a dose of love for God gone overboard—together with a side-serving of radical simplicity and joyful humility—this may be just the book to refresh your soul.

—Chris Webb

The Pursuit of God never fails to nourish me. It is a book that can be read repeatedly because each new reading brings new revelations. The book is filled with hearty meat for starving saints and wells of water for the spiritually dry. Consequently, to embark on our own “pursuit of God” is to restore the joyful satisfaction of what Tozer calls the “proper Creator-creature relationship.”

It might be helpful to know that Tozer wrote this classic while on his knees. It is not a book written about God; it is a book written with God. It is a thought-provoking revelation of how God pursues us that we may pursue him. It is not a theological work; it is experiential. It is not

RENOVARÉ
Essentials Conference
Dates Available

Over the last twenty years individuals and churches across the US and beyond have found RENOVARÉ events to be inspiring and life-transforming. Are you interested in hosting a RENOVARÉ Essentials Conference in your area during 2008 or 2009? The RENOVARÉ Ministry Team will be available for events on the dates listed below. If you would like to explore the possibility of providing an event in your church or the churches in your community, we would very much like to hear from you.

2008
• September 6
• November 1

2009
• January 24
• February 21
• March 21
• May 2
• July 18

The event is sponsored by 1 or 2 churches. They are one-day events (usually Saturday), and are effective ways to generate interest in the process of spiritual formation and renewal within your church. Each event is led by Chris Web and another RENOVARÉ Team Member. To explore holding a RENOVARÉ Essentials Conference please call or email Joan Skulley at 303-792-0152 x 105,or .

Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ by Madame Jeanne Guyon
Praying the Scripture

“We have all been called to the depths of Christ just as surely as we have been called to salvation,” offers Jeanne Guyon early in Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ. From this clear and all-embracing point of departure, Madame Guyon places us on a path toward union with God, expounding along the way on forms of prayer and Bible reading and on topics like “abandonment,” “abundance,” and “distractions.”

In the beginning the book is written, quite simply, for beginners, with the intent that Experiencing the Depths will not be read from cover to cover but over a period of weeks or months. Read a little, put the teaching into practice, live with it for a while. Read, practice, live. Repeat.

Guyon’s first teaching on praying Scripture is clear and deep. May it serve you as a window into her way of being with the Lord:

“Praying the Scripture” is a unique way of dealing with Scripture; it involves both reading and prayer.

Here is how you should begin.

Turn to the Scripture; choose some passage that is simple and fairly practical. Next, come to the Lord. Come quietly and humbly. There, before him, read a small portion of the passage of Scripture that you have opened to.

Be careful as you read. Take in fully, gently and carefully what you are reading. Take it and digest it as you read.

In the past it may have been your habit, while reading, to move very quickly from one verse of Scripture to another until you have read the whole passage. Perhaps you were seeking to find the main point of the passage.

But in coming to the Lord by means of “praying the Scripture,” you do not read quickly; you read very slowly. You do not move from one passage to another, not until you have sensed the very heart of what you have read.

You may then want to take that portion of Scripture that has touched you and turn it into prayer.

After you have sensed something of the passage and after you know that the essence of that portion has been extracted and all the deeper sense of it is gone, then, very slowly, gently, and in a calm manner begin to read the next portion of the passage. You will be surprised to find that when your time with the Lord has ended, you will have read very little, probably no more than half a page.

“Praying the Scripture” is not judged by how much you read but by the way in which you read.

If you read quickly, it will benefit you little. You will be like a bee that merely skims the surface of a flower. Instead, in this new way of reading with prayer, you must become as the bee who penetrates into the depths of the flower. You plunge deeply within to remove its deepest nectar.

Of course, there is a kind of reading the Scripture for scholarship and for study—but not here. That studious kind of reading will not help you when it comes to matters that are divine! To receive any deep, inward profit from the Scripture, you must read as I have described. Plunge into the very depths of the words you read until revelation, like a sweet aroma, breaks out upon you (Auburn, ME: Seedsowers, 1970, pp. 7-8).

— Lyle SmithGraybeal

Since 1998 our RENOVARÉ Prayer Letter recipient list has grown from 435 to 850 +. Wow! What power the RENOVARÉ Staff and Team Members are covered with. Thank you for your faithful prayers. Please continue to pray as RENOVARÉ continues to experience new growth and changes. And if you would like to receive the quarterly prayer letter then please contact Marion Euler at 303-792-0152, x 104, or .