{"id":14174,"date":"2013-12-25T20:54:43","date_gmt":"2013-12-26T00:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=14174"},"modified":"2025-07-09T16:29:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T23:29:16","slug":"washington-post-recognizes-large-influence-contemplative-spirituality-has-on-american-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/washington-post-recognizes-large-influence-contemplative-spirituality-has-on-american-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Post Recognizes Large Influence Contemplative Spirituality Has On American Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"

LTRP Note:<\/strong> The following news story is posted here for informational and research purposes and not as an endorsement of the content. Interestingly, Washington Post<\/em> wrote a similar story in 2008 titled “Feeling Renewed By Ancient Traditions.” <\/a>In that story, they quoted briefly from one of the Lighthouse Trails editors (name spelled wrong) after a phone interview.<\/p>\n

By Michelle Boorstein<\/strong>
\n Washington Post<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Americans turning to ancient music, practices to experience their faith”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“[T]he rise in interest in early practices has become so common that at Wheaton College, the prominent evangelical school in Chicago, \u201cthe joke is, all these people are now liturgical.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
In our of-the-minute culture, Santa seems old-fashioned. But Christians are exploring far older ways of observing the holiday.In the living room this week along with the pile of presents, there\u2019s more likely to be a wreath or calendar marking Advent, the month leading up to Christmas that symbolizes the waiting period before Jesus\u2019s birth. Christmas services largely dominated by contemporary music are mixing in centuries-old chants and other a cappella sounds. Holiday sermons on topics such as prayer, meditation and finding a way to observe the Sabbath are becoming more common.<\/article>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

These early \u2014 some use the term \u201cancient\u201d \u2014 spiritual practices are an effort to bring what feels to some like greater authenticity to perhaps the most thoroughly commercialized of religious holidays, say pastors, religious music experts and other worship-watchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the recognition that Christianity didn\u2019t start when someone got an electric guitar,\u201d said Ed Stetzer, a pastor and church consultant who runs Lifeway Research, a Christian polling firm. \u201cI think particularly among younger Christians, they\u2019re drawn to smells and bells and history in a way that boomers weren\u2019t on the same level.\u201d Click here<\/a> to continue reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LTRP Note: The following news…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,214,114,332,29,315],"tags":[2113,26,30,2916,59,72,91,126,138,1064,2112],"class_list":["post-14174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-practices","category-contemplative-churches","category-churches-in-crisis","category-the-ancient-mystics","category-contemplative-spirituality","category-music","tag-lifeway-research","tag-emerging-church","tag-contemplative-prayer","tag-contemplative-spirituality","tag-america","tag-christian-colleges","tag-meditation","tag-brian-mclaren","tag-catholicism","tag-christmas","tag-ed-stetzer","wpcat-78-id","wpcat-214-id","wpcat-114-id","wpcat-332-id","wpcat-29-id","wpcat-315-id"],"yoast_head":"\nWashington Post Recognizes Large Influence Contemplative Spirituality Has On American Christians - 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