These letters began as words to Ray, a brother and friend. They explore what it means to live from Christ, who is already our life, and to express that shared life with one another.
Read the newest letters · Choose a letter by theme
Latest Three Letters
The Blessing of Remaining
Christ Himself is the treasure within the silence: the eternal fellowship of the Father and the Son, deeper than loss and beyond explanation.
The One Thing, Brother
A quiet reflection on the Son’s eternal communion with the Father becoming the inward reality of prayer, suffering, and abiding.
Dear Ray: The One Thing
A personal letter to Ray about remaining in Christ amid ordinary demands, distraction, and spiritual dryness.
Begin Here
Why I’m Writing These Letters — The opening letter on friendship, humility, and living from Christ Himself.
New here? Meet the writer or explore Words in These Letters for brief explanations of terms such as Zoe (divine life) and abiding.
Find a Letter for This Moment
You do not need to read everything in order. Begin with the question closest to your own experience, and follow the letters at your own pace. When an older title speaks of leaving, returning, or beginning again, I mean changes in attention and dependence within the union already ours in Christ.
When you wonder whether you will see what you have hoped for
What We May Never See considers Abraham, Joseph, David, Moses, and Daniel—and the possibility of carrying something precious without being given its completion within our lifetime.
When Christian life feels like another burden
Begin with When I Leave the Source, then read The Difficulty of Beginning Again. Finish with Must You Become Like Us to Belong?—on the freedom to belong without performing.
When you long for quieter prayer
Begin with The Quiet Turning of the Heart. Continue with One Thought, One Hope, One Calling, then What I Remember from Santa Barbara—a glimpse of life shared with others.
When you wonder what spiritual growth really means
Begin with The Vision That Never Cooks. Continue with We Know Because We Are Living It, then Remembering Forward—on hope within our unfinished lives.
When you need care or wonder where you belong
Begin with When We Are the Ones Who Need Care, on the same Christ living in the member who gives and the member who receives. Continue with When Our Care Is Rejected, on bringing our hurt to Christ and receiving His life where our care has left us wounded. Then read Must You Become Like Us to Belong? and What I Remember from Santa Barbara for a glimpse of Zoe flowing among the members.
When you feel spiritually dry
Begin with The Blessing of Remaining, on Christ’s communion with the Father continuing within suffering and silence. Read The One Thing, Brother for a reflection on that eternal fellowship as the reality of abiding. Continue with When You Feel Nothing, then If Zoe Is Never Allowed to Triumph.
When disagreement takes over
Begin with When Brothers Disagree and Nobody Wins. Continue with Who Corrects the Person Who Says, “The Spirit Led Me”?, then The Cross Reaches the Critic, Too. Let the question reach our own need to prevail.
When gifted people leave little room for others
Begin with The Quiet Member We Never Learned to Hear, then When No One Takes Charge. Continue with Religion Follows You Home, on the religious self we can carry into a new setting.
All Dear Ray Letters
Read the published letters below, beginning with the newest.
When Even Our Dearest Stand in the Place of God
A letter on Christ’s supremacy over marriage and family, the attachments that can occupy His place, and allowing Zoe the whole ground—with quotations from Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.
When “Our Ministry” Becomes the Other Tree
A letter on ministry ambition, the cross, and the danger of preserving a work at the expense of Christ’s life. Will we surrender what we hoped to become so that…
Allowing Zoe the Whole Ground
A letter on allowing Zoe, the uncreated life of God, the whole ground in us—from ordinary choices to cherished ministry—and yielding our plans to Christ as our living source.
When Our Care Is Rejected
A letter on hurt, unanswered questions, and allowing Christ’s life to supply our love without making another person’s response the measure of our worth.
When We Are the Ones Who Need Care
A letter on receiving care, growing older, and belonging in Christ’s body when our capacity changes. Our place rests in the life we share, not our usefulness.
Who Is Abiding? An Exchange with Ray
An exchange between Ray and Brent on abiding in Christ, the living church, and how religious structures can displace the life they were meant to express.
When the Words Come Easily
A quiet reflection on familiar words, learned habits, and making room for Christ’s life in our ordinary relationships.
The Branch Has No Fruit Goals
Fruit is the expression of Zoe working within us. A letter on abiding in Christ and the danger of turning the consequence of divine life into a religious assignment.
A Living Room Does Not Guarantee a Living Body
Leaving religious structures does not necessarily remove their patterns. A letter about talented members becoming indispensable—and the freedom of living together from Christ.
The Prayer I Cannot Find Room to Speak
A personal letter about remaining silent in prayer and table meetings, grieving within, and longing for room to pray within the communion already ours in Christ.
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