Christianity – The Hermitage Within: Spiritual accompaniment

Book Review: Growing into God….Christian Maturity

September 24, 2026

When I saw this book on the Catholic University of America Press website, it took no time at all for me to pursue getting a copy – I very much wanted to read the insights offered in the book. I wanted to use the book to gauge if I am maturing (I would like to think so!) and find measuring sticks and tools for maturing further. In addition, I wanted the book to help me collect ideas on helping others move toward Christian maturity.

In the foreword of the book, Angela Franks states, “In an age of self-help books, Fr. Gavin has written a God-help book, and this is exactly what we need.” Amen.

On pages two and three of Growing into God: the Fathers of the Church on Christian Maturity, Fr. Gavin spoke to the traditional idea of “moving toward Christian perfection” (if one spends enough time in church and reads enough books on Christianity, one comes across this idea occasionally) and indicated that we should instead move toward Christian maturity. The idea of moving toward maturity rather than perfection seems more plausible.

Fr. Gavin also speaks briefly at the beginning of the book of some of the immaturities of our age (being childish instead of childlike) and of the need for more than scientific descriptions of stages of maturation – he indicates a need for instruction on how to overcome the roadblocks to maturity. He then moves into lessons from the early Christian fathers – “the pastors, preachers, teachers, catechists, and theologians “ from Christianity’s first seven centuries – about how to grow in Christian maturity. He tells the reader at the outset that the book will be written in several sections: “establish(ing) the three pillars of Christian maturity…., the opposition to maturation….., examin(ing) the means of maturity given to us in the life of the church…., [and a review of] four essential expressions of Christian adulthood…” (page five).

As I hoped, this book pushes the reader beyond “easy” (and, therefore, not very fruitful) efforts toward maturity to a willingness to do the harder work of truly maturing. I admire people who can move us toward a willingness to be better and achieve more. Fr. Gavin, in this book, writes of the two-fold factors necessary for Christian maturity – inspiring/pushing us to apply our own “hard work” effort toward maturity coupled with surrendering to that which God alone does in bringing about in our human development. Gavin writes of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River when he began his public ministry – locals at the time would have recognized the Jordan River as the river crossed by the Jews to leave slavery behind and enter the Promised Land. We likewise surrender our inadequate selves, allowing God to transform us into the people God means for us to become. [Why, I must ask, do so many of us seem to do that surrender in small units over a lifetime? A fuller transformation earlier in life would be so much better…… I mentally return to what James Fowler spoke of in his Stages of Faith book. He writes that not many people grow into the highest stages of faith development. He lists Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, and Ghandi as three people who reach the highest level of faith maturity….].

Interspersed with direct insights toward how to mature in Father Gavin’s book are a number of “pithy” insights. For example: “Biological growth, with all its complications and challenges, does not guarantee human maturation. Embodiment does indeed shape the psychological and even spiritual sies of the person, but the mystery of human freedom and interiority defy the parameters of corporal extension, girth, and hormones. The precocity of a youth, the vigor of an elder, and the childish behavior of some adults demonstrate that humans ripen or rot at any time of life. (page 6)”

This book, Growing into God: The Fathers of the Church on Christian Maturity, also makes great reading in that Fr. Gavin works in writings and insights from a cross section of Patristic Fathers – allowing us to sample writings in one place from multiple early Christian writers.

This book is a useful read for readers of any age who wants to grow up.

Kim Burkhardt blogs about faith at The Hermitage Within. Thank you for reading this faith blog and for sharing it with your friends. While you are here, please feel welcome to provide support to sustain this blog ($$).

Being vulnerable in prayer – reach toward “saint in training”

September 14, 2026

We humans are imperfect. In anyone questions our fallibility, just turn on the evening news and watch what humans are doing to each other. For those of us whose failings don’t make it on to the evening news (hopefully, most of us), we typically have friends and relatives who are familiar with our particular human failings.

I have an active prayer life. In recent months, I have surrendered in prayer yet again, “God fix my particular combination of failings. Do something to improve this mess.” Not that my mess is news-worthy (local TV journalists haven’t been called to my door!), but there are aspects of my life that “I wouldn’t have chosen” (I learned that phrase several years ago from a friend named Linda). I didn’t intentionally create this stuff that “I wouldn’t have chosen,” but I am also seeing that solving some of this just might require that I inch closer to sainthood (i.e., try being a saint in training).

I was taught long ago that I when I surrender to letting God fix something in my life (i.e., improve me rather than expecting my circumstances to be improved), it’s my job to not interfere in God’s plans. In other words, let God “do his thing” and be emotionally responsive to whatever promptings God initiates (and, if necessary, talk with a fellow human about this process to be sure I’m not mis-reading cues). Sometimes, that level of surrender is terrifying. “What’s God going to do in changing me or my life?” News flash: God doesn’t do anything bad. Just because we can’t see yet what the results are going to be doesn’t mean that the results are going to be something we will be dissatisfied with. The results are always good.

I am currently in the midst of that surrender-in-prayer and some subsequent emotional change. I’ve learned over time that these time periods are fruitful. The process, though, can be “discombobulating.” That’s okay. I’ve got to a point that I’ve learned to muddle through the discombobulation (i.e., “roll with it”). One of the “fruitful lessons” at present seems to be that I need to be freer and more conversationally open with the people around me. Yikes. For someone as introverted as me, that’s a challenge. A few times recently, though, being more communicative has had positive results.

Being vulnerable in prayer to letting God improve us is always a good thing. Have you given that a try lately? God loves us and will show up when invited! God wants us to be the people he created us to be.

And then there was light…..

August 19, 2026

When you walk along the nave (body) of most Catholic churches, you’ll find rows of votive candles for parishioners to light as a prayer and reflection activity (often, these candles are lit to pray for someone or to pray about a pressing personal matter).

This year, I put together my own version of “church prayer candles” at home. As shown above, I display them where they receive afternoon sunlight. Sunlight resting upon the candles provides me with a moment of cheer.

Themes of light and darkness are a frequent form of symbolism in Christianity.

On the first day of Earth’s creation, we read in Genesis, “the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,” and there was light.’ And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.… (Genesis 1:2-4).”

When we talk about faith and our lives, we likewise make reference to light whenever we speak of that which is good while referring to darkness when talking about challenges.

Further along in the Genesis creation story, “God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry ground ‘land,’ and the gathered waters he called ‘seas.’ And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:9-10).” Historically within Judaism, water symbolically represented tumult and chaos. So, in separating water and land… God was establishing that he separates tumultuous chaos from calm. Likewise, Peter trusted Christ in walking toward him on the sea in the story told in Matthew Chapter 14. The disciples had ween Christ walking on water as he approached their boat. Peter demonstrated his utter trust in Christ by likewise walking toward him on the waiter, but then Peter lost his faith and began to sind when the wind began to blow and the water would have become choppy. This is a story about us losing our faith when the winds and waters of live become chaotic……Yet, God is always here for us in our brokenness.

In Trevor Thomson’s Christ in Me Arise song, we prayerfully sing at church “Christ in me arise and dispel all the darkness. Christ in me arise with all your strength and I will rise in you.”

I have been reflecting lately on the varying ways that our light shines when we surrender to allowing God transform our brokenness. The specifics of this look different from one person to the next. In one person, they give up being the outwardly difficult person who makes life hard for the people around them, becoming a person who finds daily ways to be helpful and useful to the people in them. Another person outgrows a childhood of economic and social challenges to become an adult who inspires the best in the people around them.

Allowing God to change us into the people we are truly meant to be is transformative. Who doesn’t want to become their best self? Yet, how easy it can be to remain stuck in fear and habit. Peter, when approaching Christ in utter faith, lost faith and began to sink when the water became tumultuous. Don’t we also want to hang on to our own desire to control our circumstances rather than trusting God to change our very most inner self? It really is an either/or situation: let God transform our very being or fail to become the person God intends for us to be. FYI, if you are struggling to give up control (by the way, how well is that working?)…..God has no negative plans for the transformative light that he intends for us.

When we surrender to God working within us, God truly will transform us into our best self.

Have fun with “Church candles at home.” Contact
The Hermitage Within blog about creating “church
candles at home” with candle holders that match the
colors of your favorite sports team or your favorite
school!

Book Review: Eastern Catholic Theology in Action

August 18, 2026

This book, Eastern Catholic Theology in Action – Essays in Liturgy, Ecclesiology, and Ecumenism, is part of a useful collection of resources being developed by The Catholic University of America Press.

I came upon this book recently while writing a paper exploring ecumenism within/among Roman Catholicism, Catholicism’s Eastern rites, and Eastern Orthodox traditions. While I had already read several books about Eastern rites and Orthodox traditions and have worked as a liturgist in the Roman Catholic rite, I spent far more time than I expected pulling together and synthesizing accurate and reflective information for my paper. I was initially self-critical (“Why did it take so much time to write this paper? I’ve already read several books about Eastern rites and traditions. Aren’t I more academically competent than this?”). Then, after I submitted my own academic paper for grading, I started reading in full the book Eastern Catholic Theology in Action (2024). The editors and publishers explain at the book’s beginning that too little academic and theological attention has been given to Eastern Catholic rites; The Catholic University of America Press has committed to changing this with a series of books – include this book. Reading this provided me with a sense of relief. I realized that the books I had already read (I reviewed some of them for this blog) were catechetically insightful for understanding the spirituality and liturgical perspectives of Eastern rites and traditions, but did not lay enough academic groundwork needed for the Master’s in Theology paper I wrote. Of note: the inside cover of this book (Eastern Catholic Theology in Action – Essays in Liturgy, Ecclesiology, and Ecumenism) states that scholars of Eastern Christianity often have little to offer when asked for an intro to Eastern Christian theology. Therefore, I appreciate The Catholic University of America Press’s commitment to ongoing scholarly attention to Eastern Catholic rites. My recent dismay at how hard I worked to write my own paper has produced enthusiasm for absorbing The Catholic University of America Press academic content on this subject. I bookmarked their website to keep track of additional pending publications about Eastern Catholic rites. This book is contributing to my academic development from reading books catechetically to thinking academically about ecclesial theology.

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action – Essays in Liturgy, Ecclesiology, and Ecumenism has been published to scholastically explore “the unique patrimony of the Eastern Catholic Churches, divided according to the categories of Liturgy, Theology, Spirituality, Discipline, and Culture.” The book provides a deep dive into the concepts I sought to discuss in my own brief paper. This book is a must-read for those seeking a deepened understanding of Eastern Catholic rites. Count The Catholic University of America Press as a go-to resource for Westerners wanting to learn about Eastern rites.

Book Review: Fathers of the Church (A Comprehensive Intro)

July 29, 2026

I have been looking for three of four years for a good history of early Christianity and for insightful information about the early centuries of “Early Christian Literature” (i.e., Christian writings written after the canonical New Testament with differentiations between and explanations about church-accepted mainstream Christian writers vs. heretical literature). I have found both in Hubertus R. Drobner’s book, The Fathers of the Church – A Comprehensive Introduction.

This book provides 579 pages of academic content detailing Christianity’s first seven hundred years followed by a supplementary bibliography at the end of the book. The Fathers of the Church outlines church history as it topically introduces the Patristic Fathers (i.e., the early church leaders who were foundational in building the church) and the Christian literature that was written following the canonical New Testament. Topical entries are provided covering Western Christianity, the Eastern Church, and supplementary topics outside the direct scope of Christianity itself. Each entry is covered chronologically and by topic, providing a broadly insightful timeline of Christian history.

In addition to the supplementary bibliography at the end of the book, extensive endnote citations are provided throughout the book for each topical entry. By the time I read through the first ~70 pages, I knew that I will be keeping this book. This book provides great information in its’ own right and provides such extensive bibliographic reference data as to be a useful reference tool.

The Fathers of the Church is proving to be a useful supplement to my studies for a Master’s in Theology. I am more educated as a result of reading this book. I recommend the book for anyone who wants a knowledgeable overview of Christian history and a one-stop source of bibliographic reference covering Christianity’s first seven centuries.

This is a book that can be read either straight through or as a reference book that one picks up occasionally. Readers who thumb through it as a source of occasional reference would benefit from giving it an initial “glance through” to get a broad overview of church history.

The author of The Fathers of the Church, Hubertus R. Drobner, has written multiple books about early Christianity. Goodreads provides a listing of his publications here.

FYI, I have also found the online edition of Britannica to be a credible and useful resource for learning about specific topics of church history (Academia concurs. University access to professional databases includes – at least at some schools – access to the pay-to-read sections of Britannica).

Insights along the journey of faith come sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly

July 11, 2026

Ten years ago, I had a re-conversion experience that has born much fruit, bringing about something of an inward emotional re-arrangement (some elements of that story are told here). In the period following that re-conversion experience, I had an extended sense of God loving me. Directly and personally.

How, though, do we explain such experiences? I recently wrote in a paper for my Master’s in Theology that “In recent years, I have been challenged in effort to foster meaningful dialogue about how we each experience our personal faith journeys. Insufficient dialogue on these topics has been a point of frustration and emotional isolation.”

Periodically, I have found “bits and pieces” of how to articulate such experiences. At one point, I heard a parish priest speak of having an “encounter with God” outdoors one afternoon in the American Southwest when he was in his twenties. “Oh, okay,” I recognized – “I can tell people that I had an encounter with God” to partially tell of my experience. Other tidbits of how to talk of my experience come along occasionally. Also, I occasionally find people “in the pews of churches” who are undergoing some kind of an inward emotional re-arrangement that is being wrought by God. I have met two such people in the last five years. All I knew to do was to be present with them. They and I would try to “talk around” what they were experiencing as neither they now I knew how to fully articulate it (thought they were very clearly hungry for conversation and community around what they were experiencing). When Teresa of Avila was told in the 1500’s to write her story – of mystical experiences, etc. – she likewise had to invent a way of describing her inner experiences (she did a great job!).

I discovered a couple of months ago that Augustine wrote about “interiority.” “Ah ha,” I thought! Perhaps, I hoped, the writings of this early church father and theologian might help me to learn to better foster dialogue about how we experience the “interiority” of how we experience our inner faith journeys. I explored this in a paper for school. The paper proved to meander somewhat. In working on that paper, I was better able to articulate the parameters my own questions and came across a few gems of insight about communicating what I mean by spiritual interiority. For example, the Cambridge Companion to Augustine’s Confession tells us:

“Augustine directs his readers’ attention to the soul as an inner world, an interior space of the self that is not literally a place, but rather a dimension of being in which truths may be found, including God as the eternal truth that has always been present both within and above the soul as its creator. Yet, the self comes late to God within itself, because as sinners we keep turning our attention outward, trying to find happiness in external things.”

In order to go inward, the Cambridge Companion to Augustine’s Confessions (above) also communicates about turning away from external distractions toward your own consciousness. Then, springboarding into transcending oneself becomes possible by connecting with the God who lives within us.

I have experienced these statements; now the written statements above as reference to more fully articulate what it is I want to discuss within faith communities. Great. It took ten years to find these statements.

Our own interiority, I think, is individual and hard to communicate. Other folks have corroborated in their own ways that such interiority can be hard to communicate. But the likes of Teresa of Avila and Augustine manage to communicate their experience!

I would like for “everyday people in church pews” to be able to talk about our interior faith experiences. Building community around sharing our encounters with God – and simple every day faith maturation – should be the privilege of everyone who is on a faith journey. I think, perhaps, that some people come to sharing such easier than I do…..

In two other books I am currently reading, I am finding more gems that offer insights into describing the experiences of religious interiority:

In his book Doors to the Sacred, Joseph Martos writes that what we experience in religious sacraments are doors that open for us the experience that which is sacred. Wow. What a way to help us articulate our experiences.
Stephen B. Bevans writes in his book Community of Missionary Disciples (a book we are reading for school) that contemplation is “God ‘gazing’ on us in love, as Pope Francis often says.” I just read this today. I needed that statement last week. I had sent my recent academic paper (above) to the priest I got matched up with to offer spiritual guidance as I do my Master’s program. He had asked me to explain verbally what I meant when I said that I had experienced God directly loving me. All I could say last week that it was like God was present as person within the space of my inward “personal space” loving me.
In Joseph Martos’ Doors to the Sacred book, I also came upon the phrase “mystical metaphysics.” I Googled that phrase. Reading the search results and tweaking my subsequent search queries led to the phrase “Catholic mystical metaphysics” and the word “ontology”(the branch of philosophy that investigates the nature of existence).

So, maybe what I am really interested in is ontology of Catholic mystical metaphysics. Hmmm….. Am I thinking to hard in trying to find a way for we “everyday people in the pews to talk to each other?” Do I just communicate less readily than other people? I have any number of books written by saints, nuns, etc. who have described their own prayer journeys and mysticism. Maybe I just need to communicate more freely. Perhaps. Yet, I also want to hear more dialogue from “every day people of faith” about how we experience our faith journeys. What’s it like when you turn to God in prayer? What’s it like when you feel God loving you? What does it feel like when you respond to those occasional “nudges” we all get occasionally that might be the Holy Spirit trying to get our attention? (and, I am still getting asked what I mean when I say “interiority,” even after writing the paper mentioned above).

We have writers such as Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, Edith Stein, and John of the Cross to read. Should we just satisfy ourselves with reading what they have to say about the spiritual life?

I still want to figure out how to talk more freely about the ontology of Catholic mystical metaphysics. Maybe I think too much. But, I want to build community around this topic. The U.S. Surgeon general says that we have an “epidemic of loneliness” and the subsequent health consequences of that “epidemic of loneliness.” I don’t think we are suppose to be lonely. Church buildings become places of community when we talk to each other. Even the mystic Teresa of Avila – now a Doctor of the Church – had to figure out how to articulate her experience. Surely, we “every day people” can figure out how to share with each other the experiences of our inner religious experiences to build community around the experience of our faith journeys.

I will continue working on this…..

Discussing the trajectories of our faith journeys….

June 14, 2026

I am reading a book about the domestic activities of women living in Colonial New England during the years 1650 – 1750 (Good Wives: Image and Reality….). The detective work that makes such books interests me. The book’s author combed through probate records and other such surviving documents from the time to identify aspects of people’s lives – the contents of people’s household possessions, etc. Probate records would identify things such as “this household had four rooms. “The family’s bed was kept in the parlour downstairs, while the spinning wheel was kept in one of the two upstairs rooms.” From that, deductions can be made about day-to-day domestic logistics…..

When I co-wrote my Irish great-great grandmother’s biography in 2016, we did the same sort of detective work. Much footwork to find public records combined with family interviews went into being able write the following “book cover” summary of the life of my great-great grandmother who died thirty-two years before I was born: “Harriet was born in Co. Sligo the day the U.S. Union Army reorganized during the U.S. Civil War – meaning she was born in Yeats Country two years ahead of William Butler Yeats. Ireland’s emerging railroad system allowed her family to move all over Ireland as her Schoolmaster father moved from job to job. She married in Dublin the year James Joyce was born in that city. Harriet spent the longest period of her life in Co. Wicklow. Stories survive of her reading turn-of-the-century news about the Boer War to an illiterate neighbour. Harriet spent forty years raising children with a blind spouse. She emigrated the year after the Titanic sank (three years before the 1916 uprising). She died the day the Soviets invaded Poland. Two grandsons participated in D-Day, while another participated in the invasion of Japan.”

I have three photos of Harriet. In one of those photos, she and my great-great grandfather were sitting on their front steps with two of their grandchildren (including my grandfather). Another photo taken nearly 100 years later shows me and three of my cousins sitting on those same stairs.

I was fortunate to visit the church in Co. Wicklow where Harriet’s father and her husband’s father served together on the parish vestry (i.e., parish council) in 1870.

In another strand of reading, my current graduate studies instructed us to choose an aspect of theology and/or church history to explore for a paper. I am reading the autobiography of one of the Church fathers, Doctor of the Church Augustine (Confessions).

So, what do the daily domestic activities of women in Colonial New England and the life of an Irish housewife who had thirteen pregnancies (ten of her children survived to adulthood) have to do with St. Augustine in the 4th and 5th centuries in North Africa?

The common thread is exploring and sharing the trajectories of our lives. In the case of Augustine, I am interested in Augustine’s “interiority” (a phrase I just came across a few weeks ago). I’ve been trying to figure out for several years how to get church people today to talk to each other in more depth about how we each experience our faith. I am reading – and writing about – Augustine and his Confessions with a goal toward figuring out how to more actively get people talking. I’m thinking that using the word interiority might help in getting people to identify what it is I want people to discuss.

I am hoping that during the next while, I will better develop ideas about getting people to talk to each other about how we experience our faith journeys.

Cold rainy days and God

June 8, 2026

I am watching the rain fall on this cold June morning in my Seattle-area suburb.

The heat should have been turned off a month ago. A week or so ago, I put away my space heaters that I use when I want a bit of extra heat. At the same time, I optimistically got out my air conditioning device-on-wheels (optimistically? It’s June!). At church yesterday, a fair number of people were wearing jackets during the service – my pew neighbors and I complained to each other that we were colder with our jackets on than we had been a week earlier (the church’s heating system has reportedly broken again…..).

These long-pause-looking-out-the-window moments – such as my current one this morning – offer the ability to reflect.

Yes, it’s cold, wet, and dreary in June. Yes, I’ve got a challenging personal circumstance that needs to change.

Yet, the rain gives us flowers.

Yet, we have the ability to pause and reflect about the God who loves us.

Ten years ago, I attended a church service as a person who was away from church and had no intention of returning regularly to church. However, the homily touched me in a way that brought me back to church (that story is told here). In the time that followed, I was graced with an emotionally-tangible period of God directly loving me. That grace-filled experience of being loved by God reduced the rough contours of a punctuatedly difficult period.

We are given free will. Love, by its’ very nature, is freely given and can only be received freely. …..I used to struggle with the idea of God being a three-part trinity until I read in the Catholic Catechism that God’s nature – being love – must be trinitarian (multi-selved) because love cannot exist without being shared…..God needed someone to love (i.e., love shared among God’s multi-parted self) until God created us to love. God does not force God’s love upon us. There are times, though – such as in my return-to-church experience – when God seems to try to get our attention…..

We all occasionally feel emotional nudges that seem to be trying to pull us in a particular direction. Those nudges are sometimes the Holy Spirit making an effort to get our attention.

Even in our busy, fast-paced lives, it’s good to follow those emotional nudges. God wants what’s good for us.

We live in a time when we are encouraged to focus externally. Go here, do that, by busy, be extroverted. Yet, the interiority written about by Augustine and the mystics is among the contexts where we encounter God. Of course, we also encounter God in the “Whatsoever you do for the least of my fellows, you did for me.” When I used to volunteer in the prison system, my Tuesday night visits to a combined federal-and-provincial women’s penitentiary were a time to be giving. I found – for me – that it was also a weekly respite from the pressures of my daily life. Self-giving and the experience of interiority when we go inward to be with God (rather than to be self-absorbed) are two sides of the same coin.

Some days, even the gray days provide a rainbow.

More on “Prayer – wordless sighs of the heart”… and “hearing from you”

May 21, 2026

In a previous post, “Prayer: Wordless Sighs of the Heart,” I mentioned that the Benedictine monks of Saint Meinrad Monastery mention in their book The Tradition of Catholic Prayer that “wordless sighs of the heart” is a type of prayer available to us. I love this type of prayer. Human language simply falla short for having a meaningful interaction with God in prayer. Vocabulary simply isn’t needed when we pray – we can simply be present with God. Prayer, at its’ most intimate – and therefore meaningful, is about presenting ourselves fully to the fullness of God.

In my readings, I recently came upon Paul’s letter to the Roman’s – Romans 8:26. I came upon it three times within about two weeks! Romans 8:26 says “…we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit intercedes [for us] with groanings too deep for words.” Super! Paul was touching on this same important theme in the early decades of Christianity!

Regular readers may have noticed that I often blog about prayer. Why? While prayer is deeply personal (it is about each of us being intimately present with God) means it takes a particular type of creativity to describe prayer well, I want everyone to experience the richness of experiencing God’s presence in prayer. Because I want everyone to have a rich experience of prayer, I have started compiling a reference list of my blog posts on prayer to make it easy for readers to find a list of my blog post on prayer. You can find that list here (please check it out!). FYI, you will see that I am also compiling other topical lists of my blog posts on that same page……

Speaking of “what matters to each of us in our faith journeys,” I am expanding the “input” of this faith blog. In addition to you – readers – receiving blog posts on faith topics I choose to write about, this blog is being opened up to hearing from you. Is there a spirituality topic that you’ve been pondering for a time? Ask us about it. Is there a faith topic you have been pondering but you haven’t found an answer? Submit your question to this blog….. A Dear Hermitage Within” page has been added to this blog’s website so you can reach out with your question. Have a question about prayer? Ask. Want to know something about Christian liturgy? Ask. Curious about some aspect of religious history? Ask. Want to inquire about some aspect of theology? Ask. If you submit a question and we plan to write about it on this blog (you would remain anonymous, of course!), we will be sure to let you know by email. FYI – I will write some blog responses to submitted questions and may sometimes invite trusted faith writers to provide insights – pastors, theologians, etc….. Be sure to visit the “submit your question” page above when you would like to submit a faith question!

The Genesis creation stor(ies), Jesus’ parables, chaos, stability, change

May 2, 2026

During this first term in my master’s in theology program, we’ve been reading through the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (the Torah/Pentateuch), the four canonical gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation.

Our two courses – one on the Hebrew Bible and one for the New Testament – were chosen as our first two classes to lay a groundwork. Tear down “what we thought we new about the Bible” and learn to look at it in fresh ways through the insights provided through Biblical Studies.

The two combined classes and the class textbooks have – indeed – percolated an interesting combination of insights that has captured my imagination.

In Greek – the language through which the complete Bible first came to us – the word COSMOS (order) is opposite of the word CHAOS.

In the time of Old Testament at at the time of Jesus, water represented chaos.

When Genesis tells of God creating the world (there are actually two versions of the story), the water – chaos – was separated from land. In creating the world, God created order out of chaos. God can create order in the world and create a world in which we can inhabit.

In the New Testament stories when Jesus walked on water toward the disciples and calmed the tempestuous water storm(s), these weren’t just physically miraculous. Walking on water and calming storms on the sea likewise represented calming chaos. Jesus calms the chaos in our lives.

Yet, Jesus is also the disrupter.

While the Genesis creation story is told in the ways in which tell us of order being created in our world, Jesus spoke in parables.

I learned to consider parables in more depth this term from writer Bernard Brandon Scott in his book Hear then the Parable (a commentary on the Parables of Jesus). Parables, it turns out, developed as a distinct form of communicating lessons in the geographic area of Christ during the time of Jesus. Jesus was among the first people to use parables. In telling parables, Jesus brought about social disruption. He used parables to take us from “here is something with which you are familiar (A, B, C.)” to “I hereby compare A, B, or C to ‘a better way to live’ and/or ‘X is how to get to heaven.'” He disrupted our famliar ways of living to show us his path.

All of this still applies today. When we encounter storms in life, we can turn to our God who loves us and who shelters us amidst the chaos of storms. Yet, the God who loves us as we are – as the saying goes – “loves us too much to leave us the way we are.”

It is up to us to allow God to change us into the people we are meant to be. No easy undertaking. This is involves surrender. I am not the master of my destiny. Personally, I’m attracted to the person I come closer to being when I allow God to shift me toward becoming the person I am meant to be.

Our social order comes closer to the world God wants for us when more of us spend more time allowing God to transform us toward being the people we are meant to be.

The Hermitage Within: Spiritual accompaniment

Going inward to reflect, taking love into the world

Tag: Christianity