Tag Archives: Richard Foster

An Open Wound of Love

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I visit parishioners in care facilities, like this one on Sand Creek Highway.  I saw a man and a woman there today.  The woman was asleep so I simply sat at her bedside for a time.  I call these Quaker Visits since they involve sitting in contemplative silence, praying for the person.  The only personal item in her room, or rather in her part of the room, was a framed photo of her and her husband; in it she wore a purple dress.  He lives nearby in a retirement community, where I have seen him.  He loves her dearly and visits her every day.  As I sat in the wheelchair at her bed, I thought of a quote from Richard Foster: “The heart of God is an open wound of love.”  I wondered if when our hearts become tender, open, wounded with longing, then we make fresh contact with the very life of God.

Sanctuary of the Soul

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Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer, by Richard J. Foster.  Rather than a treatise on meditative prayer, this book is more a broader study on life lived with God.  Quaker Richard Foster looks at why we should seek to live life with God, and he offers practical instruction on how to live with God moment by moment, day by day.  His prescription will sound familiar if you have read other works of spiritual theology — nature, silence, scripture, common worship, music — but he adds freshness to things with personal anecdotes spread through the book.  His theme could be summarized in one sentence:  “We are a portable sanctuary, and by the power of God we sanctify all places.”  Discovering the inner sanctuary, and more importantly, finding God there is God’s design and desire for us.  I commend this book as an aid to the Christian spiritual life.  I liked especially his comment about trees:

It is the trees that capture my attention the most, and they lead me into complete silence.  It’s the patience of the trees–stately, quiet, laden with snow.  The trees give me a glimpse of the cosmic patience of God.  There among the trees, I behold the Lord, the creator of trees.