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Want to Read What I’ve Been Writing?
Here is a sampling of links to what I’ve been writing in magazines and online:
Taylor Swift’s Highly Relatable, Hidden Longings (RabbitRoom.com)
https://www.rabbitroom.com/post/taylor-swift-s-highly-relatable-hidden-longings
Incandescence and Fermentation,” an interview with E. Lily Yu (Ecstatic/Ekstasis)
https://ekstasismagazine.substack.com/p/incandescence-and-fermentation
Emily Dickinson, Botanist (The Christian Century) current issue, digital link available September 5
Finding Faith and Mystery out Emily Dickinson’s Window (Fathom Magazine) https://www.fathommag.com/stories/finding-faith-and-mystery-out-emily-dickinsons-window
Fewer Words, Richer Prayer (Ekstasis)
https://www.ekstasismagazine.com/kingdom-meets-culture/2022/1/14/fewer-words-richer-prayer?rq=richer
A Vastness Come Near (The Fallow House)
https://thefallowhouse.com/blog/a-vastness-come-near
The Grace of Touch (Ekstasis)
https://www.ekstasismagazine.com/kingdom-meets-culture/2023/the-grace-of-touch?rq=Timothy%20Jones
Living Between the Bible’s First and Last Prayers (The Christian Century)
https://www.christiancentury.org/article/reflection/living-between-bible-s-first-and-last-prayers
I Hear No Voice A Children’s Book of Prayers and the apophatic tradition (The Christian Century)
https://www.christiancentury.org/article/features/i-hear-no-voice
Experiences along the way
The Mountain Road Ramblers
I like inviting people into deeper enjoyment of God by making difficult spiritual things more accessible through writing, speaking, leading.
As a pastor, I get excited seeing people's faith come alive, as hesitancy over prayer or big beliefs gives way to insight and hope. I’ve served churches small and large, including a vibrant downtown Cathedral as Dean. Until recently I happily served a smaller parish, delighting in the beauty of Virginia and the graciousness of parishioners. Now I’m serving an appointment as Visiting Scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary.
When I teach, I’ve done so in diverse settings: conducting workshops at the National Pastors' Convention in San Diego, for instance, or facilitating a retreat at a Presbyterian Church in Silicon Valley, or leading retreats at Laity Lodge in Texas. I’ve offered a quiet day for the editors of Upper Room books in Nashville and for Anglican and Episcopal students at Duke Divinity School in North Carolina. I've taught spirituality in a workshop at a diocesan gathering of Anglican priests in South Africa and, as an adjunct, to graduate students at the Alexandria School of Theology in Egypt.
And I write: My several books all seem to boil down to a simple theme: a growing, vital communion with God is possible. I’m even tackling a book on the ancient Christian belief in the Trinity, mining its invitation to a renewed relationship with God and others.
And I love music, especially playing clawhammer banjo or bodhran in genres from Appalachian folk, to bluegrass, to Celtic.
Passions and Callings
A kind of personal mission statement sums up what has mattered to me over seasons of ministry within the church and beyond:
To use my abilities and experiences as catalysts to awaken and deepen the joy-filled faith of others.
I spend my time seeking:
Creative approaches to make what seems complicated in the Christian life simpler and more possible
Engaging, inviting and grounded teaching and preaching
Retreats that help attenders cultivate deeper prayer and everyday spirituality
Literature and the arts as settings for witnesses to faith to speak to a wider culture
Books
Featured
Testimonials
“I cannot commend The Art of Prayer too highly. Here at last is a book on prayer that transcends traditions. … a book that is serious, yet with wonderful flashes of humor and insight. … a book for all of us.”
“Prayer, the expression of our deepest and most essential selves, also names our most pervasive inadequacy. ... Timothy Jones is a reassuring guide: He guides us into a life of prayer not by cramming us with knowledge and technique but by quietly returning us to simplicity of soul and the presence of God.”
“I was delighted to find [that] Tim Jones writes with humility, clarity, and practicality—exactly the qualities I want in a book on prayer.”
“A Place for God is a good map ... of the spiritual highway to a place of God’s peace and rest in our often hectic, chaotic, and even violent modern world.”
