Finding God in Everyday Life: Contemplative Prayer & Spiritual Practice with Dr. Andrew Dreitcer
In this rich conversation, Dr. Habib Boerger speaks with Dr. Andrew Dreitcer—professor of spirituality and spiritual formation, spiritual director, Presbyterian pastor, author, and longtime practitioner and teacher of contemplative spirituality.
Andrew shares his remarkable spiritual journey from a childhood shaped by Christianity and social justice, through a period of agnosticism and existential questioning, to a profound encounter with contemplative spirituality. His journey led him to the Taizé monastic community in France, where prayer became the heart of his spiritual life.
Together, Habib and Andrew explore what it means to experience God not as a limited or overly familiar image, but as the ground of being—a mysterious, expansive, and deeply intimate Divine presence permeating our lives and the world around us.
Andrew offers practical wisdom for bringing contemplative prayer into everyday life, especially when traditional spiritual routines don't fit the realities of work, family, parenting, and a busy schedule. He shares how walking the dog, swimming, rocking his children, exercising, and simply paying attention to the world can become forms of contemplative practice.
The conversation also explores the Jesus Prayer, Centering Prayer, Ignatian contemplation, compassion practice, chanting, remembrance, and Andrew's practice of “gazing”—looking at people, nature, architecture, and ordinary moments with wonder and openness to the mystery of the Divine.
Habib and Andrew discover beautiful resonances between Christian contemplative spirituality and Sufi practice, including the Sufi understanding of creation as a revelation of the Divine Names and the shared movement of prayer as a way of returning to Divine presence.
If you've ever wondered how to deepen your spiritual practice, bring contemplation into ordinary life, or discover God beyond the images and beliefs you've inherited, this conversation offers a welcoming place to begin.
In this episode, we explore:
Andrew Dreitcer's journey from agnosticism to contemplative Christianity
The Divine as the “ground of being”
Moving from asking whether God exists to discerning Divine presence
Contemplative prayer and spiritual formation
The Jesus Prayer and Centering Prayer
Ignatian contemplation and imaginative prayer
Compassion practice
Finding God in parenting, exercise, walking, and everyday activities
The spiritual practice of gazing with wonder
Christian and Sufi approaches to Divine presence
Creation as a revelation of the Divine
Prayer, remembrance, chanting, and transformation of the heart
How contemplative spirituality can become part of everyday life