Singing Along the Journey

prayer

In my lilac dawn…

And for this #earthday I bring you lilacs. We don't have many in the neighborhood, and many, like ours, are bushes and have not yet bloomed. Sorry you can't smell them, they are wonderful. But if you want to experience the best lilac arbor in town, head to the National Arboretum for a walk. Wish that I had time today. I'll just have to enjoy this stand of trees at the end of Garfield Park for now. Oh, and the title comes from a poem written NOT by me: “And stay, my dearstay...forever, as my quiet song,in my lilac dawn.”― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Practice, practice, practice…

That's right.  Yes, I spend much of my day looking through what an academic theologian might call my subversiveness hermeneutic.  That word hermeneutic is just, as my mother would have said, a $10 word for perspective or viewpoint.  To me, however, there is a difference -- the idea of hermeneutic (which comes from a Greek word meaning to translate or interpret) carries with it a level of intentionality that the idea of perspective or viewpoint does not. Now that we have that sorted out, I'm really writing because I have a question that I have been asking myself lately, one that just will not be silent.  And that question is: what…
Read More

Christmas 9: Light a Candle

If I had to guess, I would say that, if you are a person reading my words right now, you have seen one of the memes floating around the Internet-world this Christmas that featured quotations from Howard Thurman's work.  And I'll be honest -- it was just such a quotation that led me to  Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas and that led me to reflect on that work. And because of my fascination with what some might call a theology of light, it was today's focus of reflection that captured my spirit the most: I will light Candles this Christmas; Candles of joy despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair…
Read More

Christmas 5: Let the Angels Sing

So far in our journey, we have pondered love, joy and wonder, beauty, and what it means to be the symbol of Christmas.  Today, we ponder the role of imagination in all of this.  We have good company in this pondering, because many before us have recognized the role of imagination in our faith life -- important guides from St. Ignatius to C. S. Lewis to the psychologist Carl Jung.  All have understood the role of imagination in lifting us from our human limitations to a place just a little closer to God.  As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "Reason is the natural organ of truth; imagination is the organ…
Read More

Me and contemplative prayer — a love-hate relationship

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…
Read More

Primary questions…

In these past years of living into my call as someone who walks alongside others on their spiritual journey, I’ll admit that I have struggled with the idea of where to begin.  Not where to begin with my training, which is fruitful and ongoing, but about where to begin when someone actually finds you and takes the trouble to come to you and sit in the chair across from you.  Yes, training courses teach you all about conducting an initial interview, creating a working covenant, outlining the ways in which you approach spiritual direction, and so forth, but there always comes that moment when your new friend's face looks at you…
Read More

The light is there, if you look for it…

Sometimes, like today, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in awe as the new sun makes itself known in some beautiful setting. I try to take that opportunity when given, because, even though I am by nature an early riser, I often find it difficult to see the sun rise amidst the buildings and the emotional static that comes from living in an urban setting.  Today was one of those days when I took the blessing offered. For me, there is something uniquely mystical about that moment when the light first appears.  This morning, I came out onto the balcony with my tea long before the…
Read More

Love as strong as death…an Ash Wednesday meditation

Yes, it is Ash Wednesday.  And, many of us will find a church somewhere -- our own community or one unfamiliar to us  or a subway station or a street corner -- and take upon ourselves the mark of this day, the simple smear of burned palm leaves and oils that for centuries before has shown the wearer to be a Christian, someone entering the time of fasting and reflection that by our tradition is called Lent. And today, again, depending on where you mark the beginning of this journey, you may hear the words of the prophet Joel, who decries the darkness all around and calls the people to…
Read More

Present…

I am writing to you from an undisclosed location on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  Okay, I'll confess -- I've just always wanted to say those words, "from an undisclosed location," because I have seen too many espionage movies and television shows. Truthfully, I am in the final hours of a twenty-four hour personal "retreat", an activity (or non-activity?) with which I have some discomfort.  I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of the contemplative life as portrayed in many of the wonderful books out there; most days I am so palpably aware of the presence of God in every fiber of my being that I can barely function according to…
Read More

In my lilac dawn…

And for this #earthday I bring you lilacs. We don't have many in the neighborhood, and many, like ours, are bushes and have not yet bloomed. Sorry you can't smell them, they are wonderful. But if you want to experience the best lilac arbor in town, head to the National Arboretum for a walk. Wish that I had time today. I'll just have to enjoy this stand of trees at the end of Garfield Park for now. Oh, and the title comes from a poem written NOT by me: “And stay, my dearstay...forever, as my quiet song,in my lilac dawn.”― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Practice, practice, practice…

That's right.  Yes, I spend much of my day looking through what an academic theologian might call my subversiveness hermeneutic.  That word hermeneutic is just, as my mother would have said, a $10 word for perspective or viewpoint.  To me, however, there is a difference -- the idea of hermeneutic (which comes from a Greek word meaning to translate or interpret) carries with it a level of intentionality that the idea of perspective or viewpoint does not. Now that we have that sorted out, I'm really writing because I have a question that I have been asking myself lately, one that just will not be silent.  And that question is: what…
Read More

Christmas 9: Light a Candle

If I had to guess, I would say that, if you are a person reading my words right now, you have seen one of the memes floating around the Internet-world this Christmas that featured quotations from Howard Thurman's work.  And I'll be honest -- it was just such a quotation that led me to  Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas and that led me to reflect on that work. And because of my fascination with what some might call a theology of light, it was today's focus of reflection that captured my spirit the most: I will light Candles this Christmas; Candles of joy despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair…
Read More

Christmas 5: Let the Angels Sing

So far in our journey, we have pondered love, joy and wonder, beauty, and what it means to be the symbol of Christmas.  Today, we ponder the role of imagination in all of this.  We have good company in this pondering, because many before us have recognized the role of imagination in our faith life -- important guides from St. Ignatius to C. S. Lewis to the psychologist Carl Jung.  All have understood the role of imagination in lifting us from our human limitations to a place just a little closer to God.  As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "Reason is the natural organ of truth; imagination is the organ…
Read More

Me and contemplative prayer — a love-hate relationship

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…
Read More

Primary questions…

In these past years of living into my call as someone who walks alongside others on their spiritual journey, I’ll admit that I have struggled with the idea of where to begin.  Not where to begin with my training, which is fruitful and ongoing, but about where to begin when someone actually finds you and takes the trouble to come to you and sit in the chair across from you.  Yes, training courses teach you all about conducting an initial interview, creating a working covenant, outlining the ways in which you approach spiritual direction, and so forth, but there always comes that moment when your new friend's face looks at you…
Read More

The light is there, if you look for it…

Sometimes, like today, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in awe as the new sun makes itself known in some beautiful setting. I try to take that opportunity when given, because, even though I am by nature an early riser, I often find it difficult to see the sun rise amidst the buildings and the emotional static that comes from living in an urban setting.  Today was one of those days when I took the blessing offered. For me, there is something uniquely mystical about that moment when the light first appears.  This morning, I came out onto the balcony with my tea long before the…
Read More

Love as strong as death…an Ash Wednesday meditation

Yes, it is Ash Wednesday.  And, many of us will find a church somewhere -- our own community or one unfamiliar to us  or a subway station or a street corner -- and take upon ourselves the mark of this day, the simple smear of burned palm leaves and oils that for centuries before has shown the wearer to be a Christian, someone entering the time of fasting and reflection that by our tradition is called Lent. And today, again, depending on where you mark the beginning of this journey, you may hear the words of the prophet Joel, who decries the darkness all around and calls the people to…
Read More

Present…

I am writing to you from an undisclosed location on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  Okay, I'll confess -- I've just always wanted to say those words, "from an undisclosed location," because I have seen too many espionage movies and television shows. Truthfully, I am in the final hours of a twenty-four hour personal "retreat", an activity (or non-activity?) with which I have some discomfort.  I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of the contemplative life as portrayed in many of the wonderful books out there; most days I am so palpably aware of the presence of God in every fiber of my being that I can barely function according to…
Read More

In my lilac dawn…

And for this #earthday I bring you lilacs. We don't have many in the neighborhood, and many, like ours, are bushes and have not yet bloomed. Sorry you can't smell them, they are wonderful. But if you want to experience the best lilac arbor in town, head to the National Arboretum for a walk. Wish that I had time today. I'll just have to enjoy this stand of trees at the end of Garfield Park for now. Oh, and the title comes from a poem written NOT by me: “And stay, my dearstay...forever, as my quiet song,in my lilac dawn.”― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Practice, practice, practice…

That's right.  Yes, I spend much of my day looking through what an academic theologian might call my subversiveness hermeneutic.  That word hermeneutic is just, as my mother would have said, a $10 word for perspective or viewpoint.  To me, however, there is a difference -- the idea of hermeneutic (which comes from a Greek word meaning to translate or interpret) carries with it a level of intentionality that the idea of perspective or viewpoint does not. Now that we have that sorted out, I'm really writing because I have a question that I have been asking myself lately, one that just will not be silent.  And that question is: what…
Read More

Christmas 9: Light a Candle

If I had to guess, I would say that, if you are a person reading my words right now, you have seen one of the memes floating around the Internet-world this Christmas that featured quotations from Howard Thurman's work.  And I'll be honest -- it was just such a quotation that led me to  Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas and that led me to reflect on that work. And because of my fascination with what some might call a theology of light, it was today's focus of reflection that captured my spirit the most: I will light Candles this Christmas; Candles of joy despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair…
Read More

Christmas 5: Let the Angels Sing

So far in our journey, we have pondered love, joy and wonder, beauty, and what it means to be the symbol of Christmas.  Today, we ponder the role of imagination in all of this.  We have good company in this pondering, because many before us have recognized the role of imagination in our faith life -- important guides from St. Ignatius to C. S. Lewis to the psychologist Carl Jung.  All have understood the role of imagination in lifting us from our human limitations to a place just a little closer to God.  As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "Reason is the natural organ of truth; imagination is the organ…
Read More

Me and contemplative prayer — a love-hate relationship

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…
Read More

Primary questions…

In these past years of living into my call as someone who walks alongside others on their spiritual journey, I’ll admit that I have struggled with the idea of where to begin.  Not where to begin with my training, which is fruitful and ongoing, but about where to begin when someone actually finds you and takes the trouble to come to you and sit in the chair across from you.  Yes, training courses teach you all about conducting an initial interview, creating a working covenant, outlining the ways in which you approach spiritual direction, and so forth, but there always comes that moment when your new friend's face looks at you…
Read More

The light is there, if you look for it…

Sometimes, like today, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in awe as the new sun makes itself known in some beautiful setting. I try to take that opportunity when given, because, even though I am by nature an early riser, I often find it difficult to see the sun rise amidst the buildings and the emotional static that comes from living in an urban setting.  Today was one of those days when I took the blessing offered. For me, there is something uniquely mystical about that moment when the light first appears.  This morning, I came out onto the balcony with my tea long before the…
Read More

Love as strong as death…an Ash Wednesday meditation

Yes, it is Ash Wednesday.  And, many of us will find a church somewhere -- our own community or one unfamiliar to us  or a subway station or a street corner -- and take upon ourselves the mark of this day, the simple smear of burned palm leaves and oils that for centuries before has shown the wearer to be a Christian, someone entering the time of fasting and reflection that by our tradition is called Lent. And today, again, depending on where you mark the beginning of this journey, you may hear the words of the prophet Joel, who decries the darkness all around and calls the people to…
Read More

Present…

I am writing to you from an undisclosed location on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  Okay, I'll confess -- I've just always wanted to say those words, "from an undisclosed location," because I have seen too many espionage movies and television shows. Truthfully, I am in the final hours of a twenty-four hour personal "retreat", an activity (or non-activity?) with which I have some discomfort.  I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of the contemplative life as portrayed in many of the wonderful books out there; most days I am so palpably aware of the presence of God in every fiber of my being that I can barely function according to…
Read More

In my lilac dawn…

And for this #earthday I bring you lilacs. We don't have many in the neighborhood, and many, like ours, are bushes and have not yet bloomed. Sorry you can't smell them, they are wonderful. But if you want to experience the best lilac arbor in town, head to the National Arboretum for a walk. Wish that I had time today. I'll just have to enjoy this stand of trees at the end of Garfield Park for now. Oh, and the title comes from a poem written NOT by me: “And stay, my dearstay...forever, as my quiet song,in my lilac dawn.”― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Practice, practice, practice…

That's right.  Yes, I spend much of my day looking through what an academic theologian might call my subversiveness hermeneutic.  That word hermeneutic is just, as my mother would have said, a $10 word for perspective or viewpoint.  To me, however, there is a difference -- the idea of hermeneutic (which comes from a Greek word meaning to translate or interpret) carries with it a level of intentionality that the idea of perspective or viewpoint does not. Now that we have that sorted out, I'm really writing because I have a question that I have been asking myself lately, one that just will not be silent.  And that question is: what…
Read More

Christmas 9: Light a Candle

If I had to guess, I would say that, if you are a person reading my words right now, you have seen one of the memes floating around the Internet-world this Christmas that featured quotations from Howard Thurman's work.  And I'll be honest -- it was just such a quotation that led me to  Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas and that led me to reflect on that work. And because of my fascination with what some might call a theology of light, it was today's focus of reflection that captured my spirit the most: I will light Candles this Christmas; Candles of joy despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair…
Read More

Christmas 5: Let the Angels Sing

So far in our journey, we have pondered love, joy and wonder, beauty, and what it means to be the symbol of Christmas.  Today, we ponder the role of imagination in all of this.  We have good company in this pondering, because many before us have recognized the role of imagination in our faith life -- important guides from St. Ignatius to C. S. Lewis to the psychologist Carl Jung.  All have understood the role of imagination in lifting us from our human limitations to a place just a little closer to God.  As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "Reason is the natural organ of truth; imagination is the organ…
Read More

Me and contemplative prayer — a love-hate relationship

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…
Read More

Primary questions…

In these past years of living into my call as someone who walks alongside others on their spiritual journey, I’ll admit that I have struggled with the idea of where to begin.  Not where to begin with my training, which is fruitful and ongoing, but about where to begin when someone actually finds you and takes the trouble to come to you and sit in the chair across from you.  Yes, training courses teach you all about conducting an initial interview, creating a working covenant, outlining the ways in which you approach spiritual direction, and so forth, but there always comes that moment when your new friend's face looks at you…
Read More

The light is there, if you look for it…

Sometimes, like today, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in awe as the new sun makes itself known in some beautiful setting. I try to take that opportunity when given, because, even though I am by nature an early riser, I often find it difficult to see the sun rise amidst the buildings and the emotional static that comes from living in an urban setting.  Today was one of those days when I took the blessing offered. For me, there is something uniquely mystical about that moment when the light first appears.  This morning, I came out onto the balcony with my tea long before the…
Read More

Love as strong as death…an Ash Wednesday meditation

Yes, it is Ash Wednesday.  And, many of us will find a church somewhere -- our own community or one unfamiliar to us  or a subway station or a street corner -- and take upon ourselves the mark of this day, the simple smear of burned palm leaves and oils that for centuries before has shown the wearer to be a Christian, someone entering the time of fasting and reflection that by our tradition is called Lent. And today, again, depending on where you mark the beginning of this journey, you may hear the words of the prophet Joel, who decries the darkness all around and calls the people to…
Read More

Present…

I am writing to you from an undisclosed location on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  Okay, I'll confess -- I've just always wanted to say those words, "from an undisclosed location," because I have seen too many espionage movies and television shows. Truthfully, I am in the final hours of a twenty-four hour personal "retreat", an activity (or non-activity?) with which I have some discomfort.  I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of the contemplative life as portrayed in many of the wonderful books out there; most days I am so palpably aware of the presence of God in every fiber of my being that I can barely function according to…
Read More

In my lilac dawn…

And for this #earthday I bring you lilacs. We don't have many in the neighborhood, and many, like ours, are bushes and have not yet bloomed. Sorry you can't smell them, they are wonderful. But if you want to experience the best lilac arbor in town, head to the National Arboretum for a walk. Wish that I had time today. I'll just have to enjoy this stand of trees at the end of Garfield Park for now. Oh, and the title comes from a poem written NOT by me: “And stay, my dearstay...forever, as my quiet song,in my lilac dawn.”― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Practice, practice, practice…

That's right.  Yes, I spend much of my day looking through what an academic theologian might call my subversiveness hermeneutic.  That word hermeneutic is just, as my mother would have said, a $10 word for perspective or viewpoint.  To me, however, there is a difference -- the idea of hermeneutic (which comes from a Greek word meaning to translate or interpret) carries with it a level of intentionality that the idea of perspective or viewpoint does not. Now that we have that sorted out, I'm really writing because I have a question that I have been asking myself lately, one that just will not be silent.  And that question is: what…
Read More

Christmas 9: Light a Candle

If I had to guess, I would say that, if you are a person reading my words right now, you have seen one of the memes floating around the Internet-world this Christmas that featured quotations from Howard Thurman's work.  And I'll be honest -- it was just such a quotation that led me to  Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas and that led me to reflect on that work. And because of my fascination with what some might call a theology of light, it was today's focus of reflection that captured my spirit the most: I will light Candles this Christmas; Candles of joy despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair…
Read More

Christmas 5: Let the Angels Sing

So far in our journey, we have pondered love, joy and wonder, beauty, and what it means to be the symbol of Christmas.  Today, we ponder the role of imagination in all of this.  We have good company in this pondering, because many before us have recognized the role of imagination in our faith life -- important guides from St. Ignatius to C. S. Lewis to the psychologist Carl Jung.  All have understood the role of imagination in lifting us from our human limitations to a place just a little closer to God.  As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "Reason is the natural organ of truth; imagination is the organ…
Read More

Me and contemplative prayer — a love-hate relationship

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…
Read More

Primary questions…

In these past years of living into my call as someone who walks alongside others on their spiritual journey, I’ll admit that I have struggled with the idea of where to begin.  Not where to begin with my training, which is fruitful and ongoing, but about where to begin when someone actually finds you and takes the trouble to come to you and sit in the chair across from you.  Yes, training courses teach you all about conducting an initial interview, creating a working covenant, outlining the ways in which you approach spiritual direction, and so forth, but there always comes that moment when your new friend's face looks at you…
Read More

The light is there, if you look for it…

Sometimes, like today, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in awe as the new sun makes itself known in some beautiful setting. I try to take that opportunity when given, because, even though I am by nature an early riser, I often find it difficult to see the sun rise amidst the buildings and the emotional static that comes from living in an urban setting.  Today was one of those days when I took the blessing offered. For me, there is something uniquely mystical about that moment when the light first appears.  This morning, I came out onto the balcony with my tea long before the…
Read More

Love as strong as death…an Ash Wednesday meditation

Yes, it is Ash Wednesday.  And, many of us will find a church somewhere -- our own community or one unfamiliar to us  or a subway station or a street corner -- and take upon ourselves the mark of this day, the simple smear of burned palm leaves and oils that for centuries before has shown the wearer to be a Christian, someone entering the time of fasting and reflection that by our tradition is called Lent. And today, again, depending on where you mark the beginning of this journey, you may hear the words of the prophet Joel, who decries the darkness all around and calls the people to…
Read More

Present…

I am writing to you from an undisclosed location on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  Okay, I'll confess -- I've just always wanted to say those words, "from an undisclosed location," because I have seen too many espionage movies and television shows. Truthfully, I am in the final hours of a twenty-four hour personal "retreat", an activity (or non-activity?) with which I have some discomfort.  I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of the contemplative life as portrayed in many of the wonderful books out there; most days I am so palpably aware of the presence of God in every fiber of my being that I can barely function according to…
Read More

In my lilac dawn…

And for this #earthday I bring you lilacs. We don't have many in the neighborhood, and many, like ours, are bushes and have not yet bloomed. Sorry you can't smell them, they are wonderful. But if you want to experience the best lilac arbor in town, head to the National Arboretum for a walk. Wish that I had time today. I'll just have to enjoy this stand of trees at the end of Garfield Park for now. Oh, and the title comes from a poem written NOT by me: “And stay, my dearstay...forever, as my quiet song,in my lilac dawn.”― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Practice, practice, practice…

That's right.  Yes, I spend much of my day looking through what an academic theologian might call my subversiveness hermeneutic.  That word hermeneutic is just, as my mother would have said, a $10 word for perspective or viewpoint.  To me, however, there is a difference -- the idea of hermeneutic (which comes from a Greek word meaning to translate or interpret) carries with it a level of intentionality that the idea of perspective or viewpoint does not. Now that we have that sorted out, I'm really writing because I have a question that I have been asking myself lately, one that just will not be silent.  And that question is: what…
Read More

Christmas 9: Light a Candle

If I had to guess, I would say that, if you are a person reading my words right now, you have seen one of the memes floating around the Internet-world this Christmas that featured quotations from Howard Thurman's work.  And I'll be honest -- it was just such a quotation that led me to  Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas and that led me to reflect on that work. And because of my fascination with what some might call a theology of light, it was today's focus of reflection that captured my spirit the most: I will light Candles this Christmas; Candles of joy despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair…
Read More

Christmas 5: Let the Angels Sing

So far in our journey, we have pondered love, joy and wonder, beauty, and what it means to be the symbol of Christmas.  Today, we ponder the role of imagination in all of this.  We have good company in this pondering, because many before us have recognized the role of imagination in our faith life -- important guides from St. Ignatius to C. S. Lewis to the psychologist Carl Jung.  All have understood the role of imagination in lifting us from our human limitations to a place just a little closer to God.  As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "Reason is the natural organ of truth; imagination is the organ…
Read More

Me and contemplative prayer — a love-hate relationship

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…
Read More

Primary questions…

In these past years of living into my call as someone who walks alongside others on their spiritual journey, I’ll admit that I have struggled with the idea of where to begin.  Not where to begin with my training, which is fruitful and ongoing, but about where to begin when someone actually finds you and takes the trouble to come to you and sit in the chair across from you.  Yes, training courses teach you all about conducting an initial interview, creating a working covenant, outlining the ways in which you approach spiritual direction, and so forth, but there always comes that moment when your new friend's face looks at you…
Read More

The light is there, if you look for it…

Sometimes, like today, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in awe as the new sun makes itself known in some beautiful setting. I try to take that opportunity when given, because, even though I am by nature an early riser, I often find it difficult to see the sun rise amidst the buildings and the emotional static that comes from living in an urban setting.  Today was one of those days when I took the blessing offered. For me, there is something uniquely mystical about that moment when the light first appears.  This morning, I came out onto the balcony with my tea long before the…
Read More

Love as strong as death…an Ash Wednesday meditation

Yes, it is Ash Wednesday.  And, many of us will find a church somewhere -- our own community or one unfamiliar to us  or a subway station or a street corner -- and take upon ourselves the mark of this day, the simple smear of burned palm leaves and oils that for centuries before has shown the wearer to be a Christian, someone entering the time of fasting and reflection that by our tradition is called Lent. And today, again, depending on where you mark the beginning of this journey, you may hear the words of the prophet Joel, who decries the darkness all around and calls the people to…
Read More

Present…

I am writing to you from an undisclosed location on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  Okay, I'll confess -- I've just always wanted to say those words, "from an undisclosed location," because I have seen too many espionage movies and television shows. Truthfully, I am in the final hours of a twenty-four hour personal "retreat", an activity (or non-activity?) with which I have some discomfort.  I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of the contemplative life as portrayed in many of the wonderful books out there; most days I am so palpably aware of the presence of God in every fiber of my being that I can barely function according to…
Read More

In my lilac dawn…

And for this #earthday I bring you lilacs. We don't have many in the neighborhood, and many, like ours, are bushes and have not yet bloomed. Sorry you can't smell them, they are wonderful. But if you want to experience the best lilac arbor in town, head to the National Arboretum for a walk. Wish that I had time today. I'll just have to enjoy this stand of trees at the end of Garfield Park for now. Oh, and the title comes from a poem written NOT by me: “And stay, my dearstay...forever, as my quiet song,in my lilac dawn.”― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Practice, practice, practice…

That's right.  Yes, I spend much of my day looking through what an academic theologian might call my subversiveness hermeneutic.  That word hermeneutic is just, as my mother would have said, a $10 word for perspective or viewpoint.  To me, however, there is a difference -- the idea of hermeneutic (which comes from a Greek word meaning to translate or interpret) carries with it a level of intentionality that the idea of perspective or viewpoint does not. Now that we have that sorted out, I'm really writing because I have a question that I have been asking myself lately, one that just will not be silent.  And that question is: what…
Read More

Christmas 9: Light a Candle

If I had to guess, I would say that, if you are a person reading my words right now, you have seen one of the memes floating around the Internet-world this Christmas that featured quotations from Howard Thurman's work.  And I'll be honest -- it was just such a quotation that led me to  Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas and that led me to reflect on that work. And because of my fascination with what some might call a theology of light, it was today's focus of reflection that captured my spirit the most: I will light Candles this Christmas; Candles of joy despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair…
Read More

Christmas 5: Let the Angels Sing

So far in our journey, we have pondered love, joy and wonder, beauty, and what it means to be the symbol of Christmas.  Today, we ponder the role of imagination in all of this.  We have good company in this pondering, because many before us have recognized the role of imagination in our faith life -- important guides from St. Ignatius to C. S. Lewis to the psychologist Carl Jung.  All have understood the role of imagination in lifting us from our human limitations to a place just a little closer to God.  As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "Reason is the natural organ of truth; imagination is the organ…
Read More

Me and contemplative prayer — a love-hate relationship

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…
Read More

Primary questions…

In these past years of living into my call as someone who walks alongside others on their spiritual journey, I’ll admit that I have struggled with the idea of where to begin.  Not where to begin with my training, which is fruitful and ongoing, but about where to begin when someone actually finds you and takes the trouble to come to you and sit in the chair across from you.  Yes, training courses teach you all about conducting an initial interview, creating a working covenant, outlining the ways in which you approach spiritual direction, and so forth, but there always comes that moment when your new friend's face looks at you…
Read More

The light is there, if you look for it…

Sometimes, like today, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in awe as the new sun makes itself known in some beautiful setting. I try to take that opportunity when given, because, even though I am by nature an early riser, I often find it difficult to see the sun rise amidst the buildings and the emotional static that comes from living in an urban setting.  Today was one of those days when I took the blessing offered. For me, there is something uniquely mystical about that moment when the light first appears.  This morning, I came out onto the balcony with my tea long before the…
Read More

Love as strong as death…an Ash Wednesday meditation

Yes, it is Ash Wednesday.  And, many of us will find a church somewhere -- our own community or one unfamiliar to us  or a subway station or a street corner -- and take upon ourselves the mark of this day, the simple smear of burned palm leaves and oils that for centuries before has shown the wearer to be a Christian, someone entering the time of fasting and reflection that by our tradition is called Lent. And today, again, depending on where you mark the beginning of this journey, you may hear the words of the prophet Joel, who decries the darkness all around and calls the people to…
Read More

Present…

I am writing to you from an undisclosed location on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  Okay, I'll confess -- I've just always wanted to say those words, "from an undisclosed location," because I have seen too many espionage movies and television shows. Truthfully, I am in the final hours of a twenty-four hour personal "retreat", an activity (or non-activity?) with which I have some discomfort.  I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of the contemplative life as portrayed in many of the wonderful books out there; most days I am so palpably aware of the presence of God in every fiber of my being that I can barely function according to…
Read More

In my lilac dawn…

And for this #earthday I bring you lilacs. We don't have many in the neighborhood, and many, like ours, are bushes and have not yet bloomed. Sorry you can't smell them, they are wonderful. But if you want to experience the best lilac arbor in town, head to the National Arboretum for a walk. Wish that I had time today. I'll just have to enjoy this stand of trees at the end of Garfield Park for now. Oh, and the title comes from a poem written NOT by me: “And stay, my dearstay...forever, as my quiet song,in my lilac dawn.”― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Practice, practice, practice…

That's right.  Yes, I spend much of my day looking through what an academic theologian might call my subversiveness hermeneutic.  That word hermeneutic is just, as my mother would have said, a $10 word for perspective or viewpoint.  To me, however, there is a difference -- the idea of hermeneutic (which comes from a Greek word meaning to translate or interpret) carries with it a level of intentionality that the idea of perspective or viewpoint does not. Now that we have that sorted out, I'm really writing because I have a question that I have been asking myself lately, one that just will not be silent.  And that question is: what…
Read More

Christmas 9: Light a Candle

If I had to guess, I would say that, if you are a person reading my words right now, you have seen one of the memes floating around the Internet-world this Christmas that featured quotations from Howard Thurman's work.  And I'll be honest -- it was just such a quotation that led me to  Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas and that led me to reflect on that work. And because of my fascination with what some might call a theology of light, it was today's focus of reflection that captured my spirit the most: I will light Candles this Christmas; Candles of joy despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair…
Read More

Christmas 5: Let the Angels Sing

So far in our journey, we have pondered love, joy and wonder, beauty, and what it means to be the symbol of Christmas.  Today, we ponder the role of imagination in all of this.  We have good company in this pondering, because many before us have recognized the role of imagination in our faith life -- important guides from St. Ignatius to C. S. Lewis to the psychologist Carl Jung.  All have understood the role of imagination in lifting us from our human limitations to a place just a little closer to God.  As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "Reason is the natural organ of truth; imagination is the organ…
Read More

Me and contemplative prayer — a love-hate relationship

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…
Read More

Primary questions…

In these past years of living into my call as someone who walks alongside others on their spiritual journey, I’ll admit that I have struggled with the idea of where to begin.  Not where to begin with my training, which is fruitful and ongoing, but about where to begin when someone actually finds you and takes the trouble to come to you and sit in the chair across from you.  Yes, training courses teach you all about conducting an initial interview, creating a working covenant, outlining the ways in which you approach spiritual direction, and so forth, but there always comes that moment when your new friend's face looks at you…
Read More

The light is there, if you look for it…

Sometimes, like today, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in awe as the new sun makes itself known in some beautiful setting. I try to take that opportunity when given, because, even though I am by nature an early riser, I often find it difficult to see the sun rise amidst the buildings and the emotional static that comes from living in an urban setting.  Today was one of those days when I took the blessing offered. For me, there is something uniquely mystical about that moment when the light first appears.  This morning, I came out onto the balcony with my tea long before the…
Read More

Love as strong as death…an Ash Wednesday meditation

Yes, it is Ash Wednesday.  And, many of us will find a church somewhere -- our own community or one unfamiliar to us  or a subway station or a street corner -- and take upon ourselves the mark of this day, the simple smear of burned palm leaves and oils that for centuries before has shown the wearer to be a Christian, someone entering the time of fasting and reflection that by our tradition is called Lent. And today, again, depending on where you mark the beginning of this journey, you may hear the words of the prophet Joel, who decries the darkness all around and calls the people to…
Read More

Present…

I am writing to you from an undisclosed location on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  Okay, I'll confess -- I've just always wanted to say those words, "from an undisclosed location," because I have seen too many espionage movies and television shows. Truthfully, I am in the final hours of a twenty-four hour personal "retreat", an activity (or non-activity?) with which I have some discomfort.  I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of the contemplative life as portrayed in many of the wonderful books out there; most days I am so palpably aware of the presence of God in every fiber of my being that I can barely function according to…
Read More

In my lilac dawn…

And for this #earthday I bring you lilacs. We don't have many in the neighborhood, and many, like ours, are bushes and have not yet bloomed. Sorry you can't smell them, they are wonderful. But if you want to experience the best lilac arbor in town, head to the National Arboretum for a walk. Wish that I had time today. I'll just have to enjoy this stand of trees at the end of Garfield Park for now. Oh, and the title comes from a poem written NOT by me: “And stay, my dearstay...forever, as my quiet song,in my lilac dawn.”― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Practice, practice, practice…

That's right.  Yes, I spend much of my day looking through what an academic theologian might call my subversiveness hermeneutic.  That word hermeneutic is just, as my mother would have said, a $10 word for perspective or viewpoint.  To me, however, there is a difference -- the idea of hermeneutic (which comes from a Greek word meaning to translate or interpret) carries with it a level of intentionality that the idea of perspective or viewpoint does not. Now that we have that sorted out, I'm really writing because I have a question that I have been asking myself lately, one that just will not be silent.  And that question is: what…
Read More

Christmas 9: Light a Candle

If I had to guess, I would say that, if you are a person reading my words right now, you have seen one of the memes floating around the Internet-world this Christmas that featured quotations from Howard Thurman's work.  And I'll be honest -- it was just such a quotation that led me to  Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas and that led me to reflect on that work. And because of my fascination with what some might call a theology of light, it was today's focus of reflection that captured my spirit the most: I will light Candles this Christmas; Candles of joy despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair…
Read More

Christmas 5: Let the Angels Sing

So far in our journey, we have pondered love, joy and wonder, beauty, and what it means to be the symbol of Christmas.  Today, we ponder the role of imagination in all of this.  We have good company in this pondering, because many before us have recognized the role of imagination in our faith life -- important guides from St. Ignatius to C. S. Lewis to the psychologist Carl Jung.  All have understood the role of imagination in lifting us from our human limitations to a place just a little closer to God.  As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "Reason is the natural organ of truth; imagination is the organ…
Read More

Me and contemplative prayer — a love-hate relationship

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…
Read More

Primary questions…

In these past years of living into my call as someone who walks alongside others on their spiritual journey, I’ll admit that I have struggled with the idea of where to begin.  Not where to begin with my training, which is fruitful and ongoing, but about where to begin when someone actually finds you and takes the trouble to come to you and sit in the chair across from you.  Yes, training courses teach you all about conducting an initial interview, creating a working covenant, outlining the ways in which you approach spiritual direction, and so forth, but there always comes that moment when your new friend's face looks at you…
Read More

The light is there, if you look for it…

Sometimes, like today, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in awe as the new sun makes itself known in some beautiful setting. I try to take that opportunity when given, because, even though I am by nature an early riser, I often find it difficult to see the sun rise amidst the buildings and the emotional static that comes from living in an urban setting.  Today was one of those days when I took the blessing offered. For me, there is something uniquely mystical about that moment when the light first appears.  This morning, I came out onto the balcony with my tea long before the…
Read More

Love as strong as death…an Ash Wednesday meditation

Yes, it is Ash Wednesday.  And, many of us will find a church somewhere -- our own community or one unfamiliar to us  or a subway station or a street corner -- and take upon ourselves the mark of this day, the simple smear of burned palm leaves and oils that for centuries before has shown the wearer to be a Christian, someone entering the time of fasting and reflection that by our tradition is called Lent. And today, again, depending on where you mark the beginning of this journey, you may hear the words of the prophet Joel, who decries the darkness all around and calls the people to…
Read More

Present…

I am writing to you from an undisclosed location on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  Okay, I'll confess -- I've just always wanted to say those words, "from an undisclosed location," because I have seen too many espionage movies and television shows. Truthfully, I am in the final hours of a twenty-four hour personal "retreat", an activity (or non-activity?) with which I have some discomfort.  I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of the contemplative life as portrayed in many of the wonderful books out there; most days I am so palpably aware of the presence of God in every fiber of my being that I can barely function according to…
Read More

In my lilac dawn…

And for this #earthday I bring you lilacs. We don't have many in the neighborhood, and many, like ours, are bushes and have not yet bloomed. Sorry you can't smell them, they are wonderful. But if you want to experience the best lilac arbor in town, head to the National Arboretum for a walk. Wish that I had time today. I'll just have to enjoy this stand of trees at the end of Garfield Park for now. Oh, and the title comes from a poem written NOT by me: “And stay, my dearstay...forever, as my quiet song,in my lilac dawn.”― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Practice, practice, practice…

That's right.  Yes, I spend much of my day looking through what an academic theologian might call my subversiveness hermeneutic.  That word hermeneutic is just, as my mother would have said, a $10 word for perspective or viewpoint.  To me, however, there is a difference -- the idea of hermeneutic (which comes from a Greek word meaning to translate or interpret) carries with it a level of intentionality that the idea of perspective or viewpoint does not. Now that we have that sorted out, I'm really writing because I have a question that I have been asking myself lately, one that just will not be silent.  And that question is: what…
Read More

Christmas 9: Light a Candle

If I had to guess, I would say that, if you are a person reading my words right now, you have seen one of the memes floating around the Internet-world this Christmas that featured quotations from Howard Thurman's work.  And I'll be honest -- it was just such a quotation that led me to  Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas and that led me to reflect on that work. And because of my fascination with what some might call a theology of light, it was today's focus of reflection that captured my spirit the most: I will light Candles this Christmas; Candles of joy despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair…
Read More

Christmas 5: Let the Angels Sing

So far in our journey, we have pondered love, joy and wonder, beauty, and what it means to be the symbol of Christmas.  Today, we ponder the role of imagination in all of this.  We have good company in this pondering, because many before us have recognized the role of imagination in our faith life -- important guides from St. Ignatius to C. S. Lewis to the psychologist Carl Jung.  All have understood the role of imagination in lifting us from our human limitations to a place just a little closer to God.  As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "Reason is the natural organ of truth; imagination is the organ…
Read More

Me and contemplative prayer — a love-hate relationship

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…
Read More

Primary questions…

In these past years of living into my call as someone who walks alongside others on their spiritual journey, I’ll admit that I have struggled with the idea of where to begin.  Not where to begin with my training, which is fruitful and ongoing, but about where to begin when someone actually finds you and takes the trouble to come to you and sit in the chair across from you.  Yes, training courses teach you all about conducting an initial interview, creating a working covenant, outlining the ways in which you approach spiritual direction, and so forth, but there always comes that moment when your new friend's face looks at you…
Read More

The light is there, if you look for it…

Sometimes, like today, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in awe as the new sun makes itself known in some beautiful setting. I try to take that opportunity when given, because, even though I am by nature an early riser, I often find it difficult to see the sun rise amidst the buildings and the emotional static that comes from living in an urban setting.  Today was one of those days when I took the blessing offered. For me, there is something uniquely mystical about that moment when the light first appears.  This morning, I came out onto the balcony with my tea long before the…
Read More

Love as strong as death…an Ash Wednesday meditation

Yes, it is Ash Wednesday.  And, many of us will find a church somewhere -- our own community or one unfamiliar to us  or a subway station or a street corner -- and take upon ourselves the mark of this day, the simple smear of burned palm leaves and oils that for centuries before has shown the wearer to be a Christian, someone entering the time of fasting and reflection that by our tradition is called Lent. And today, again, depending on where you mark the beginning of this journey, you may hear the words of the prophet Joel, who decries the darkness all around and calls the people to…
Read More

Present…

I am writing to you from an undisclosed location on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  Okay, I'll confess -- I've just always wanted to say those words, "from an undisclosed location," because I have seen too many espionage movies and television shows. Truthfully, I am in the final hours of a twenty-four hour personal "retreat", an activity (or non-activity?) with which I have some discomfort.  I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of the contemplative life as portrayed in many of the wonderful books out there; most days I am so palpably aware of the presence of God in every fiber of my being that I can barely function according to…
Read More