Passing the Peace
A Blog By PAX Center for Spiritual Formation
Who Are We?
PAX is a Christian spiritual formation center & non-profit that began in a small town by the marsh in Massachusetts. Now, we train people from all over the country in the art of contemplative listening.
Our vision is to equip you to integrate spiritual formation into your life & the life of your worshipping communities. We believe in moving from a head to a heart knowledge of the voice & love of God. Through our cohort programs, spiritual direction, & retreats, we seek to create room & equip people to hold spaces where we can hear & recognize the voice of God & know that we are beloved.
This blog is an extension of our ministry & a place to get to know each other as well as provide a space to share things we learn along the way. Below, you will find posts written by our PAX staff team as well as wonderful guest writers. We are looking forward to listening together.
Blogs To Explore At The Start Of A New Year
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A House in Progress
FROM SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR IN TRAINING, DOROTHY HARTLEY
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A Word for 2025.
FROM THE DESK OF IELA GALIANO-WILLIAMS
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Living In Transition
FROM THE DESK OF RAMA ZIEGENHALS
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Choosing A Listening Space
FROM THE DESK OF IELA GALIANO-WILLIAMS
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Walking...A Day At A Time
FROM THE DESK OF RAMA ZIEGENHALS
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Does God Really Laugh At Our Plans?
FROM THE DESK OF IELA GALIANO-WILLIAMS
Most Recent Blog Posts
Below you will find the rest of our blogs beginning with the most recently posted. We hope these provide a small slice of nourishment & a space to pause & listen in the midst of your day. If you have any questions please feel free to email us at contactpaxcenter@gmail.com & we will get back to you as soon as we can!
Living Lent
Well, that was different! - I don’t know about you, but as a kid, I grew up with a deep desire to understand & feel my faith….
Does God Really Laugh At Our Plans?
What parts of your life do you share with God? Are there some things that come up easily in prayer & other things that feel…
Advent Week 4: Love
Only a week to go until we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Each year we are swamped with siren calls to spend, lovely images that lure us to expectations of…
Advent Week 3: Joy
What Christmas music do you find yourself returning to each year? Like many years before, I’m still listening to Nat King Cole’s album, “The Christmas Song”…
Advent Week 2: Peace
When I was first asked to reflect on the theme of peace, linked with this text from Luke, I wasn’t too sure of the connection! Nowhere in the text can the word “peace” be found…
Advent Week 1: Hope
Advent means “coming” & this definition almost inadvertently accompanies a sense of waiting, whether that is joyful waiting, a difficult waiting, or perhaps it is a waiting with some combination…
Beauty for Ashes: Photography as a Spiritual Practice
Art had always been my favorite subject in school, & when I ran out of art classes to take in high school, I signed up for photography. With a heavy manual film camera in my hand, I ventured into…
Finding Recovery
In early 2022 I found myself sitting in a job interview for a pastoral role for an inner-city church campus. The team asked me, “What experience do you have working with…
From An Enneagram 8
A mentor once told me, “Others may argue with your theology, but they can’t argue with your experience.” This powerful statement often…
Daydreaming With God
I’ve always been kind-of a daydreamer. As a preteen, I would often disappear & wander, sometimes for hours, in the woods & fields near our New Jersey home with only a…
What Does Passing the Peace Mean to Me in Light of Who I Am?
When I was a child, one of my parents adoringly referred to me as the peacekeeper. That title became a much more rigorous position to uphold as factions within…
What is Spiritual Direction?
What is spiritual direction? This is a question I have been asked many times throughout my life, often after someone asked…
Walking in Freedom: Finding Our Relational Security in Christ
When I was a young girl, my family lived on a farm just outside of Annapolis, Maryland. I would often spend all day…
What Does Passing the Peace Mean to Me in Light of Who I Am?
My earliest memories of coming to America as an immigrant child are punctuated by complicated feelings of welcome &…
How We Named Our Blog
I grew up in a church where every week we would pause at one point in the service to “pass the peace.” Snuck in between the…