Author, Speaker, Guide
Tracy Balzer
Tracy Balzer is the author of Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey Into Celtic Christianity (Leafwood); A Listening Life (Pinyon); and Permission to Ponder: Contemplative Wisdom for the Spiritually Distracted (Leafwood). Her newest book is A Journey of Sea and Stone: How Holy Places Guide and Renew Us (Broadleaf).
Her passion for Celtic and contemplative spirituality is shared in her writing, speaking, and her annual leadership of pilgrimages to the Isle of Iona, Scotland — a beloved, remote and holy place she has visited more than a dozen times. Tracy has a deep love in her heart for all things British, from the Cotswolds in England, to St. Patrick’s country in Northern Ireland, to the dramatic Highlands of Scotland.
Tracy’s ministry has been characterized by her calling to listen to God and listen to people. She worked in campus ministry and Christian higher education for almost 27 years, and is currently pursuing ordination as a deacon in her Anglican church. She is married to Cary, a theology professor, and together they have two married daughters and three granddaughters.
A Journey of Sea and Stone:
How Holy Places Guide and Renew Us
Over the last twenty years spiritual director, teacher, and pilgrim Tracy Balzer has made more than a dozen transatlantic visits to Scotland’s Isle of Iona, welcoming the hallowed spaces of the island to sculpt, bend, and sustain her spiritually. “It might be said that Iona has been my spiritual director,” says Balzer, for with each visit she is freshly confronted by key questions of faith: Who is God? Who am I? What can I offer the world?
Set against the backdrop of Iona’s deep Christian history and exquisite natural beauty, A Journey of Sea and Stone explores these questions, prompting each of us to reach for meaning in our daily lives and to consider the myriad ways God might be inviting us into something new. Tapping our innate desire to seek and find, to encounter God in creation and in the history of faithful people, Balzer guides us in our own journeys to cultivate and find sustenance and connection in sacred spaces.
Deep passages of reflection are complemented by rich illustrations reflecting the island’s stunning terrain and Celtic heritage, providing spiritual seekers and armchair travelers a fresh entrée into the world of the sacred, wherever they may be.
A visionary, Tracy Balzer draws us in to a vivid sense of what holiness looks like, feels like. She demonstrates how anyone who experiences this transformative power can never again be the same—it is that radical.
In this glowing Testament, Balzer composes a love letter to the Scottish island of Iona. Each chapter reflects on a lesson illustrated by life on the island, [and] ends with questions readers might consider to enrich their own spiritual lives. Christian naturalists will relish this.
In lucid, rhythmic prose, Balzer develops a spiritual travelogue of solace and gratitude, of openness to wonder and reason, and of a longing for what Beston called ‘the dear earth itself underfoot.’
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Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey Into Celtic Christianity (Leafwood)
Twenty years ago I found myself on an unexpected journey to the British Isles. In preparation, I read everything I could about the history of Christianity there, and found myself completely smitten with the lively faith expression of the early Celtic Christians in Ireland and Scotland.
The faith of ancient saints like Patrick and Columba spoke deeply to me and I was convinced that others in my modern faith tradition would feel the same. I’m certainly not the first to write about Celtic Christianity, but I found little that specifically helped Protestant evangelicals like myself cross the bridge from skepticism to clarity about it. I wanted to try to build that bridge.
A decade later, the term “evangelical” has sadly acquired a pejorative tone, very distant from it’s original biblical meaning of “good news.” Regardless of the branch of faith or no-faith my readers come from, I think this book has been helpful for anyone who is curious about the Celtic expression of Christianity and how it might breathe new life into our own today.
If you have a bit of Irish or Scottish blood, if you have fond memories of your travels in the UK (or long to make the journey), but especially if you long for a deeper awareness of the presence of God in your life, this may be the book for you.
Balzer writes in a wonderfully readable style. Thin Places calls me back again and again – I'm in my third reading now. The author makes wonderful connections between the worldview and practices of the early Celtic Christians and our world today. This book is a fine dose of peace, calm and potential in our often rocky, unsettling and seemingly floundering world.
–Jon, reader
Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey Into Celtic Christianity (Leafwood)
Twenty years ago I found myself on an unexpected journey to the British Isles. In preparation, I read everything I could about the history of Christianity there, and found myself completely smitten with the lively faith expression of the early Celtic Christians in Ireland and Scotland.
The faith of ancient saints like Patrick and Columba spoke deeply to me and I was convinced that others in my modern faith tradition would feel the same. I’m certainly not the first to write about Celtic Christianity, but I found little that specifically helped Protestant evangelicals like myself cross the bridge from skepticism to clarity about it. I wanted to try to build that bridge.
A decade later, the term “evangelical” has sadly acquired a pejorative tone, very distant from it’s original biblical meaning of “good news.” Regardless of the branch of faith or no-faith my readers come from, I think this book has been helpful for anyone who is curious about the Celtic expression of Christianity and how it might breathe new life into our own today.
If you have a bit of Irish or Scottish blood, if you have fond memories of your travels in the UK (or long to make the journey), but especially if you long for a deeper awareness of the presence of God in your life, this may be the book for you.
Balzer writes in a wonderfully readable style. Thin Places calls me back again and again – I'm in my third reading now. The author makes wonderful connections between the worldview and practices of the early Celtic Christians and our world today. This book is a fine dose of peace, calm and potential in our often rocky, unsettling and seemingly floundering world.
–Jon, reader
Tracy Balzer explores her own experiences as a mother, traveler, mentor, and friend, listening for God in the quiet places therein. She channels past thinkers who have found that quietness leads to a deeper experience of God and spirituality. Balzer writes from an informed perspective and creates a short book of reflections one may easily read and re-read, mining for nuggets of wisdom. Here, God is not found in lofty pretensions, but in the small, everyday circumstances if we can but slow down enough and listen.
–Seth, reader
A Listening Life (Pinyon)
Amidst the many puzzles of life, I have been confident of one thing: God asks me to listen. I may be tempted to give my opinion, to provide answers, to appear intelligent; instead, he asks me to listen. I may enjoy speaking and teaching and conversing; in addition, he asks me to listen. I may be wordy and demanding and persistent in my praying; that’s fine, he says, but would you also please listen?
A slower life, a quieter life, a listening life is one that is better able to pay attention to what God has to say. And therefore be better able to speak his words of life to the world.
A Listening Life (Pinyon)
Amidst the many puzzles of life, I have been confident of one thing: God asks me to listen. I may be tempted to give my opinion, to provide answers, to appear intelligent; instead, he asks me to listen. I may enjoy speaking and teaching and conversing; in addition, he asks me to listen. I may be wordy and demanding and persistent in my praying; that’s fine, he says, but would you also please listen?
A slower life, a quieter life, a listening life is one that is better able to pay attention to what God has to say. And therefore be better able to speak his words of life to the world.
Tracy Balzer explores her own experiences as a mother, traveler, mentor, and friend, listening for God in the quiet places therein. She channels past thinkers who have found that quietness leads to a deeper experience of God and spirituality. Balzer writes from an informed perspective and creates a short book of reflections one may easily read and re-read, mining for nuggets of wisdom. Here, God is not found in lofty pretensions, but in the small, everyday circumstances if we can but slow down enough and listen.
–Seth, reader
Permission to Ponder: Contemplative Wisdom for the Spiritually Distracted (Leafwood)
Life itself often seems to be an obstacle to intimacy with God. We live at a frantic pace, we multi-task to the extreme, we find it impossible to slow down.
The life God means for us is one that is deeply aware of his presence, even in the midst of the demands of modern life. The “Marys” of scripture have a great deal to teach us in this regard, and when coupled with the ancient practice of lectio divina – sacred reading – we can begin to break free of distraction and know the life-giving ability to be attentive to God in ways that change our lives and the lives around us.
I loved the idea of how listening, pondering and treasuring ought to lead us to both a sense of reverence as well as cultivating an awareness of God's presence and love. The closing line, ``The world needs people who are deeply connected to the love of God,`` is in itself a good reason to consider the permission given to slow down and ponder our lives. In the words of Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of Matthew 6:33, to steep our lives in the reality of God's presence.
–Jeff, reader
Permission to Ponder: Contemplative Wisdom for the Spiritually Distracted (Leafwood)
Life itself often seems to be an obstacle to intimacy with God. We live at a frantic pace, we multi-task to the extreme, we find it impossible to slow down.
The life God means for us is one that is deeply aware of his presence, even in the midst of the demands of modern life. The “Marys” of scripture have a great deal to teach us in this regard, and when coupled with the ancient practice of lectio divina – sacred reading – we can begin to break free of distraction and know the life-giving ability to be attentive to God in ways that change our lives and the lives around us.
I loved the idea of how listening, pondering and treasuring ought to lead us to both a sense of reverence as well as cultivating an awareness of God's presence and love. The closing line, ``The world needs people who are deeply connected to the love of God,`` is in itself a good reason to consider the permission given to slow down and ponder our lives. In the words of Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of Matthew 6:33, to steep our lives in the reality of God's presence.
–Jeff, reader
Podcast
The KLRC Podcast Network
A Listening Life
We live in a noisy world. For followers of Jesus, it can be a challenge to hear his voice — the voice of the Shepherd that his sheep are supposed to be able to recognize. This podcast it is created to help us recognize the voice of God in the midst of life that is often chaotic and unsettling. In each short episode, Tracy leads listeners through the time-tested spiritual practice of lectio divina — a guided time of listening to the word of God slowly and prayerfully.
If you feel your life of faith has been characterized by too much doing and very little being, of too much noise and not enough quiet, then this is the podcast for you. The word of God is our bread for life. We only need to listen.
A Listening Life
We live in a noisy world. For followers of Jesus, it can be a challenge to hear his voice — the voice of the Shepherd that his sheep are supposed to be able to recognize. This podcast it is created to help us recognize the voice of God in the midst of life that is often chaotic and unsettling. In each short episode, Tracy leads listeners through the time-tested spiritual practice of lectio divina — a guided time of listening to the word of God slowly and prayerfully.
If you feel your life of faith has been characterized by too much doing and very little being, of too much noise and not enough quiet, then this is the podcast for you. The word of God is our bread for life. We only need to listen.
Spiritual Pilgrimage
Sea & Stone Journeys
The sacred Isle of Iona is rich in Christian history and natural beauty. Tracy leads spiritually nourishing trips there every summer, and would love for you to come along! Contact Tracy for more information about these memorable trips.
Contact Tracy
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