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 10: Christmas Waits to be Born…Again

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that there are two different Christmases -- the cultural Christmas, with its presents and parties and television specials, and the religious Christmas, that which springs from the life of the Church.  My time with the words of Bruce Epperly and Howard Thurman have convinced me that there is a third, never-spoken-of Christmas, the one that knows no time or place, the one that waits to be born in you and me and in this world each and every day: Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their…
Read More

Christmas 8: Every Day is Christmas

I'll be honest -- it becomes more and more difficult to hold the Christmas thread as the days between December 25 and today grow in number. And even harder when the world around you is shouting "Happy New Year!" and preparing to go back to their routines of work and whatever tomorrow morning.  I suppose this is where the concept of the great both/and comes into play -- for today is indeed still Christmas and it is also the first day of a brand, spanking-new calendar year.  So, Happy New Year, and again, Merry Christmas. I am not surprised that Bruce Epperly captures this tension in his reflection today in The…
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

Christmas 4: The Symbol of Christmas

Today, on the fourth day of Christmas, I'm continuing my walk through the season with Bruce Epperly's reflections on the work of Howard Thurman, published in The Work of Christmas.   So far, I have been completely on board with the program and unconcerned by the lack of reference to the lectionary texts I expected, but today the disconnect seems to bother me. Why?  Because today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a time when we remember the children of Bethlehem who died in blind power's quest to stop this one particular child.  And today, as we sit with the knowledge that in our own world, innocent children are dying because…
Read More

Christmas 2: Joy and Wonder

Joy is one of my favorite topics, so I was very, well, joyful, when I saw the title for Bruce Epperly's second reflection on the days of Christmas.  I mean, I named my dog Joy -- does that give you a hint about how important the idea of joy is to me?  And I mean joy -- not happiness.  Really, they are two different things altogether. My definition of joy is this:  that feeling of peace that underlies all being (even when we are not aware of it).  I experience joy as a kind of contended hum--almost like the soft purring of a cat.  It is the sound of the…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Telling the sacred story, Part 1

This is the first of a series that began as an exercise -- a training exercise for those pursuing a call to spiritual companioning (or, as it is often called, spiritual direction).  Living into the charism of a listening ministry requires of all of us that we pursue, each and every day, the continued path of our own spiritual formation.  My telling of my own sacred story is a result of just that formation project and the kind of ongoing work that I do.  I heard wise words this morning, from the Rev. Michele H. Morgan at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  She was talking about the Gospel text of the…
Read More

Primary Questions: What Do You Mean by Freedom?

Every day this week and last, when I put on the funny looking bicycle helmet and tentatively climb aboard my bright red cruiser to head to the beach, I find that my mind is flooded with a single question:  why, my friend, do you drive all this way and go to all this trouble just to do this one thing? Yes, I am on vacation.  And I am on vacation in one of my favorite places.  I come here over and over again, whenever I can.  I don't golf, I don't play tennis, and really, I don't swim.  I come here for another reason.  I come here to do one…
Read More

Your brain is social…

As Paul Costello, President and Founder of the New Story Leadership project, looked out at the crowd last night in Baxter Hall, he said to all of us assembled there, “Stories can imprison, or stories can empower.” And for the next two hours, we sat and listened to the 2017 fellows of NLS, five 20-somethings from Palestine, 5 from Israel, as they told us their stories – what brought them there, their struggles, their triumphs, their memories, their hopes and dreams for the future.  They told us about a world and a life that we only read about; they were brave and confident and, dare I say, filled with just…
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 10: Christmas Waits to be Born…Again

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that there are two different Christmases -- the cultural Christmas, with its presents and parties and television specials, and the religious Christmas, that which springs from the life of the Church.  My time with the words of Bruce Epperly and Howard Thurman have convinced me that there is a third, never-spoken-of Christmas, the one that knows no time or place, the one that waits to be born in you and me and in this world each and every day: Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their…
Read More

Christmas 8: Every Day is Christmas

I'll be honest -- it becomes more and more difficult to hold the Christmas thread as the days between December 25 and today grow in number. And even harder when the world around you is shouting "Happy New Year!" and preparing to go back to their routines of work and whatever tomorrow morning.  I suppose this is where the concept of the great both/and comes into play -- for today is indeed still Christmas and it is also the first day of a brand, spanking-new calendar year.  So, Happy New Year, and again, Merry Christmas. I am not surprised that Bruce Epperly captures this tension in his reflection today in The…
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

Christmas 4: The Symbol of Christmas

Today, on the fourth day of Christmas, I'm continuing my walk through the season with Bruce Epperly's reflections on the work of Howard Thurman, published in The Work of Christmas.   So far, I have been completely on board with the program and unconcerned by the lack of reference to the lectionary texts I expected, but today the disconnect seems to bother me. Why?  Because today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a time when we remember the children of Bethlehem who died in blind power's quest to stop this one particular child.  And today, as we sit with the knowledge that in our own world, innocent children are dying because…
Read More

Christmas 2: Joy and Wonder

Joy is one of my favorite topics, so I was very, well, joyful, when I saw the title for Bruce Epperly's second reflection on the days of Christmas.  I mean, I named my dog Joy -- does that give you a hint about how important the idea of joy is to me?  And I mean joy -- not happiness.  Really, they are two different things altogether. My definition of joy is this:  that feeling of peace that underlies all being (even when we are not aware of it).  I experience joy as a kind of contended hum--almost like the soft purring of a cat.  It is the sound of the…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Telling the sacred story, Part 1

This is the first of a series that began as an exercise -- a training exercise for those pursuing a call to spiritual companioning (or, as it is often called, spiritual direction).  Living into the charism of a listening ministry requires of all of us that we pursue, each and every day, the continued path of our own spiritual formation.  My telling of my own sacred story is a result of just that formation project and the kind of ongoing work that I do.  I heard wise words this morning, from the Rev. Michele H. Morgan at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  She was talking about the Gospel text of the…
Read More

Primary Questions: What Do You Mean by Freedom?

Every day this week and last, when I put on the funny looking bicycle helmet and tentatively climb aboard my bright red cruiser to head to the beach, I find that my mind is flooded with a single question:  why, my friend, do you drive all this way and go to all this trouble just to do this one thing? Yes, I am on vacation.  And I am on vacation in one of my favorite places.  I come here over and over again, whenever I can.  I don't golf, I don't play tennis, and really, I don't swim.  I come here for another reason.  I come here to do one…
Read More

Your brain is social…

As Paul Costello, President and Founder of the New Story Leadership project, looked out at the crowd last night in Baxter Hall, he said to all of us assembled there, “Stories can imprison, or stories can empower.” And for the next two hours, we sat and listened to the 2017 fellows of NLS, five 20-somethings from Palestine, 5 from Israel, as they told us their stories – what brought them there, their struggles, their triumphs, their memories, their hopes and dreams for the future.  They told us about a world and a life that we only read about; they were brave and confident and, dare I say, filled with just…
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 10: Christmas Waits to be Born…Again

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that there are two different Christmases -- the cultural Christmas, with its presents and parties and television specials, and the religious Christmas, that which springs from the life of the Church.  My time with the words of Bruce Epperly and Howard Thurman have convinced me that there is a third, never-spoken-of Christmas, the one that knows no time or place, the one that waits to be born in you and me and in this world each and every day: Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their…
Read More

Christmas 8: Every Day is Christmas

I'll be honest -- it becomes more and more difficult to hold the Christmas thread as the days between December 25 and today grow in number. And even harder when the world around you is shouting "Happy New Year!" and preparing to go back to their routines of work and whatever tomorrow morning.  I suppose this is where the concept of the great both/and comes into play -- for today is indeed still Christmas and it is also the first day of a brand, spanking-new calendar year.  So, Happy New Year, and again, Merry Christmas. I am not surprised that Bruce Epperly captures this tension in his reflection today in The…
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

Christmas 4: The Symbol of Christmas

Today, on the fourth day of Christmas, I'm continuing my walk through the season with Bruce Epperly's reflections on the work of Howard Thurman, published in The Work of Christmas.   So far, I have been completely on board with the program and unconcerned by the lack of reference to the lectionary texts I expected, but today the disconnect seems to bother me. Why?  Because today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a time when we remember the children of Bethlehem who died in blind power's quest to stop this one particular child.  And today, as we sit with the knowledge that in our own world, innocent children are dying because…
Read More

Christmas 2: Joy and Wonder

Joy is one of my favorite topics, so I was very, well, joyful, when I saw the title for Bruce Epperly's second reflection on the days of Christmas.  I mean, I named my dog Joy -- does that give you a hint about how important the idea of joy is to me?  And I mean joy -- not happiness.  Really, they are two different things altogether. My definition of joy is this:  that feeling of peace that underlies all being (even when we are not aware of it).  I experience joy as a kind of contended hum--almost like the soft purring of a cat.  It is the sound of the…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Telling the sacred story, Part 1

This is the first of a series that began as an exercise -- a training exercise for those pursuing a call to spiritual companioning (or, as it is often called, spiritual direction).  Living into the charism of a listening ministry requires of all of us that we pursue, each and every day, the continued path of our own spiritual formation.  My telling of my own sacred story is a result of just that formation project and the kind of ongoing work that I do.  I heard wise words this morning, from the Rev. Michele H. Morgan at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  She was talking about the Gospel text of the…
Read More

Primary Questions: What Do You Mean by Freedom?

Every day this week and last, when I put on the funny looking bicycle helmet and tentatively climb aboard my bright red cruiser to head to the beach, I find that my mind is flooded with a single question:  why, my friend, do you drive all this way and go to all this trouble just to do this one thing? Yes, I am on vacation.  And I am on vacation in one of my favorite places.  I come here over and over again, whenever I can.  I don't golf, I don't play tennis, and really, I don't swim.  I come here for another reason.  I come here to do one…
Read More

Your brain is social…

As Paul Costello, President and Founder of the New Story Leadership project, looked out at the crowd last night in Baxter Hall, he said to all of us assembled there, “Stories can imprison, or stories can empower.” And for the next two hours, we sat and listened to the 2017 fellows of NLS, five 20-somethings from Palestine, 5 from Israel, as they told us their stories – what brought them there, their struggles, their triumphs, their memories, their hopes and dreams for the future.  They told us about a world and a life that we only read about; they were brave and confident and, dare I say, filled with just…
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 10: Christmas Waits to be Born…Again

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that there are two different Christmases -- the cultural Christmas, with its presents and parties and television specials, and the religious Christmas, that which springs from the life of the Church.  My time with the words of Bruce Epperly and Howard Thurman have convinced me that there is a third, never-spoken-of Christmas, the one that knows no time or place, the one that waits to be born in you and me and in this world each and every day: Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their…
Read More

Christmas 8: Every Day is Christmas

I'll be honest -- it becomes more and more difficult to hold the Christmas thread as the days between December 25 and today grow in number. And even harder when the world around you is shouting "Happy New Year!" and preparing to go back to their routines of work and whatever tomorrow morning.  I suppose this is where the concept of the great both/and comes into play -- for today is indeed still Christmas and it is also the first day of a brand, spanking-new calendar year.  So, Happy New Year, and again, Merry Christmas. I am not surprised that Bruce Epperly captures this tension in his reflection today in The…
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

Christmas 4: The Symbol of Christmas

Today, on the fourth day of Christmas, I'm continuing my walk through the season with Bruce Epperly's reflections on the work of Howard Thurman, published in The Work of Christmas.   So far, I have been completely on board with the program and unconcerned by the lack of reference to the lectionary texts I expected, but today the disconnect seems to bother me. Why?  Because today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a time when we remember the children of Bethlehem who died in blind power's quest to stop this one particular child.  And today, as we sit with the knowledge that in our own world, innocent children are dying because…
Read More

Christmas 2: Joy and Wonder

Joy is one of my favorite topics, so I was very, well, joyful, when I saw the title for Bruce Epperly's second reflection on the days of Christmas.  I mean, I named my dog Joy -- does that give you a hint about how important the idea of joy is to me?  And I mean joy -- not happiness.  Really, they are two different things altogether. My definition of joy is this:  that feeling of peace that underlies all being (even when we are not aware of it).  I experience joy as a kind of contended hum--almost like the soft purring of a cat.  It is the sound of the…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Telling the sacred story, Part 1

This is the first of a series that began as an exercise -- a training exercise for those pursuing a call to spiritual companioning (or, as it is often called, spiritual direction).  Living into the charism of a listening ministry requires of all of us that we pursue, each and every day, the continued path of our own spiritual formation.  My telling of my own sacred story is a result of just that formation project and the kind of ongoing work that I do.  I heard wise words this morning, from the Rev. Michele H. Morgan at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  She was talking about the Gospel text of the…
Read More

Primary Questions: What Do You Mean by Freedom?

Every day this week and last, when I put on the funny looking bicycle helmet and tentatively climb aboard my bright red cruiser to head to the beach, I find that my mind is flooded with a single question:  why, my friend, do you drive all this way and go to all this trouble just to do this one thing? Yes, I am on vacation.  And I am on vacation in one of my favorite places.  I come here over and over again, whenever I can.  I don't golf, I don't play tennis, and really, I don't swim.  I come here for another reason.  I come here to do one…
Read More

Your brain is social…

As Paul Costello, President and Founder of the New Story Leadership project, looked out at the crowd last night in Baxter Hall, he said to all of us assembled there, “Stories can imprison, or stories can empower.” And for the next two hours, we sat and listened to the 2017 fellows of NLS, five 20-somethings from Palestine, 5 from Israel, as they told us their stories – what brought them there, their struggles, their triumphs, their memories, their hopes and dreams for the future.  They told us about a world and a life that we only read about; they were brave and confident and, dare I say, filled with just…
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 10: Christmas Waits to be Born…Again

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that there are two different Christmases -- the cultural Christmas, with its presents and parties and television specials, and the religious Christmas, that which springs from the life of the Church.  My time with the words of Bruce Epperly and Howard Thurman have convinced me that there is a third, never-spoken-of Christmas, the one that knows no time or place, the one that waits to be born in you and me and in this world each and every day: Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their…
Read More

Christmas 8: Every Day is Christmas

I'll be honest -- it becomes more and more difficult to hold the Christmas thread as the days between December 25 and today grow in number. And even harder when the world around you is shouting "Happy New Year!" and preparing to go back to their routines of work and whatever tomorrow morning.  I suppose this is where the concept of the great both/and comes into play -- for today is indeed still Christmas and it is also the first day of a brand, spanking-new calendar year.  So, Happy New Year, and again, Merry Christmas. I am not surprised that Bruce Epperly captures this tension in his reflection today in The…
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

Christmas 4: The Symbol of Christmas

Today, on the fourth day of Christmas, I'm continuing my walk through the season with Bruce Epperly's reflections on the work of Howard Thurman, published in The Work of Christmas.   So far, I have been completely on board with the program and unconcerned by the lack of reference to the lectionary texts I expected, but today the disconnect seems to bother me. Why?  Because today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a time when we remember the children of Bethlehem who died in blind power's quest to stop this one particular child.  And today, as we sit with the knowledge that in our own world, innocent children are dying because…
Read More

Christmas 2: Joy and Wonder

Joy is one of my favorite topics, so I was very, well, joyful, when I saw the title for Bruce Epperly's second reflection on the days of Christmas.  I mean, I named my dog Joy -- does that give you a hint about how important the idea of joy is to me?  And I mean joy -- not happiness.  Really, they are two different things altogether. My definition of joy is this:  that feeling of peace that underlies all being (even when we are not aware of it).  I experience joy as a kind of contended hum--almost like the soft purring of a cat.  It is the sound of the…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Telling the sacred story, Part 1

This is the first of a series that began as an exercise -- a training exercise for those pursuing a call to spiritual companioning (or, as it is often called, spiritual direction).  Living into the charism of a listening ministry requires of all of us that we pursue, each and every day, the continued path of our own spiritual formation.  My telling of my own sacred story is a result of just that formation project and the kind of ongoing work that I do.  I heard wise words this morning, from the Rev. Michele H. Morgan at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  She was talking about the Gospel text of the…
Read More

Primary Questions: What Do You Mean by Freedom?

Every day this week and last, when I put on the funny looking bicycle helmet and tentatively climb aboard my bright red cruiser to head to the beach, I find that my mind is flooded with a single question:  why, my friend, do you drive all this way and go to all this trouble just to do this one thing? Yes, I am on vacation.  And I am on vacation in one of my favorite places.  I come here over and over again, whenever I can.  I don't golf, I don't play tennis, and really, I don't swim.  I come here for another reason.  I come here to do one…
Read More

Your brain is social…

As Paul Costello, President and Founder of the New Story Leadership project, looked out at the crowd last night in Baxter Hall, he said to all of us assembled there, “Stories can imprison, or stories can empower.” And for the next two hours, we sat and listened to the 2017 fellows of NLS, five 20-somethings from Palestine, 5 from Israel, as they told us their stories – what brought them there, their struggles, their triumphs, their memories, their hopes and dreams for the future.  They told us about a world and a life that we only read about; they were brave and confident and, dare I say, filled with just…
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 10: Christmas Waits to be Born…Again

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that there are two different Christmases -- the cultural Christmas, with its presents and parties and television specials, and the religious Christmas, that which springs from the life of the Church.  My time with the words of Bruce Epperly and Howard Thurman have convinced me that there is a third, never-spoken-of Christmas, the one that knows no time or place, the one that waits to be born in you and me and in this world each and every day: Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their…
Read More

Christmas 8: Every Day is Christmas

I'll be honest -- it becomes more and more difficult to hold the Christmas thread as the days between December 25 and today grow in number. And even harder when the world around you is shouting "Happy New Year!" and preparing to go back to their routines of work and whatever tomorrow morning.  I suppose this is where the concept of the great both/and comes into play -- for today is indeed still Christmas and it is also the first day of a brand, spanking-new calendar year.  So, Happy New Year, and again, Merry Christmas. I am not surprised that Bruce Epperly captures this tension in his reflection today in The…
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

Christmas 4: The Symbol of Christmas

Today, on the fourth day of Christmas, I'm continuing my walk through the season with Bruce Epperly's reflections on the work of Howard Thurman, published in The Work of Christmas.   So far, I have been completely on board with the program and unconcerned by the lack of reference to the lectionary texts I expected, but today the disconnect seems to bother me. Why?  Because today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a time when we remember the children of Bethlehem who died in blind power's quest to stop this one particular child.  And today, as we sit with the knowledge that in our own world, innocent children are dying because…
Read More

Christmas 2: Joy and Wonder

Joy is one of my favorite topics, so I was very, well, joyful, when I saw the title for Bruce Epperly's second reflection on the days of Christmas.  I mean, I named my dog Joy -- does that give you a hint about how important the idea of joy is to me?  And I mean joy -- not happiness.  Really, they are two different things altogether. My definition of joy is this:  that feeling of peace that underlies all being (even when we are not aware of it).  I experience joy as a kind of contended hum--almost like the soft purring of a cat.  It is the sound of the…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Telling the sacred story, Part 1

This is the first of a series that began as an exercise -- a training exercise for those pursuing a call to spiritual companioning (or, as it is often called, spiritual direction).  Living into the charism of a listening ministry requires of all of us that we pursue, each and every day, the continued path of our own spiritual formation.  My telling of my own sacred story is a result of just that formation project and the kind of ongoing work that I do.  I heard wise words this morning, from the Rev. Michele H. Morgan at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  She was talking about the Gospel text of the…
Read More

Primary Questions: What Do You Mean by Freedom?

Every day this week and last, when I put on the funny looking bicycle helmet and tentatively climb aboard my bright red cruiser to head to the beach, I find that my mind is flooded with a single question:  why, my friend, do you drive all this way and go to all this trouble just to do this one thing? Yes, I am on vacation.  And I am on vacation in one of my favorite places.  I come here over and over again, whenever I can.  I don't golf, I don't play tennis, and really, I don't swim.  I come here for another reason.  I come here to do one…
Read More

Your brain is social…

As Paul Costello, President and Founder of the New Story Leadership project, looked out at the crowd last night in Baxter Hall, he said to all of us assembled there, “Stories can imprison, or stories can empower.” And for the next two hours, we sat and listened to the 2017 fellows of NLS, five 20-somethings from Palestine, 5 from Israel, as they told us their stories – what brought them there, their struggles, their triumphs, their memories, their hopes and dreams for the future.  They told us about a world and a life that we only read about; they were brave and confident and, dare I say, filled with just…
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 10: Christmas Waits to be Born…Again

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that there are two different Christmases -- the cultural Christmas, with its presents and parties and television specials, and the religious Christmas, that which springs from the life of the Church.  My time with the words of Bruce Epperly and Howard Thurman have convinced me that there is a third, never-spoken-of Christmas, the one that knows no time or place, the one that waits to be born in you and me and in this world each and every day: Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their…
Read More

Christmas 8: Every Day is Christmas

I'll be honest -- it becomes more and more difficult to hold the Christmas thread as the days between December 25 and today grow in number. And even harder when the world around you is shouting "Happy New Year!" and preparing to go back to their routines of work and whatever tomorrow morning.  I suppose this is where the concept of the great both/and comes into play -- for today is indeed still Christmas and it is also the first day of a brand, spanking-new calendar year.  So, Happy New Year, and again, Merry Christmas. I am not surprised that Bruce Epperly captures this tension in his reflection today in The…
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

Christmas 4: The Symbol of Christmas

Today, on the fourth day of Christmas, I'm continuing my walk through the season with Bruce Epperly's reflections on the work of Howard Thurman, published in The Work of Christmas.   So far, I have been completely on board with the program and unconcerned by the lack of reference to the lectionary texts I expected, but today the disconnect seems to bother me. Why?  Because today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a time when we remember the children of Bethlehem who died in blind power's quest to stop this one particular child.  And today, as we sit with the knowledge that in our own world, innocent children are dying because…
Read More

Christmas 2: Joy and Wonder

Joy is one of my favorite topics, so I was very, well, joyful, when I saw the title for Bruce Epperly's second reflection on the days of Christmas.  I mean, I named my dog Joy -- does that give you a hint about how important the idea of joy is to me?  And I mean joy -- not happiness.  Really, they are two different things altogether. My definition of joy is this:  that feeling of peace that underlies all being (even when we are not aware of it).  I experience joy as a kind of contended hum--almost like the soft purring of a cat.  It is the sound of the…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Telling the sacred story, Part 1

This is the first of a series that began as an exercise -- a training exercise for those pursuing a call to spiritual companioning (or, as it is often called, spiritual direction).  Living into the charism of a listening ministry requires of all of us that we pursue, each and every day, the continued path of our own spiritual formation.  My telling of my own sacred story is a result of just that formation project and the kind of ongoing work that I do.  I heard wise words this morning, from the Rev. Michele H. Morgan at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  She was talking about the Gospel text of the…
Read More

Primary Questions: What Do You Mean by Freedom?

Every day this week and last, when I put on the funny looking bicycle helmet and tentatively climb aboard my bright red cruiser to head to the beach, I find that my mind is flooded with a single question:  why, my friend, do you drive all this way and go to all this trouble just to do this one thing? Yes, I am on vacation.  And I am on vacation in one of my favorite places.  I come here over and over again, whenever I can.  I don't golf, I don't play tennis, and really, I don't swim.  I come here for another reason.  I come here to do one…
Read More

Your brain is social…

As Paul Costello, President and Founder of the New Story Leadership project, looked out at the crowd last night in Baxter Hall, he said to all of us assembled there, “Stories can imprison, or stories can empower.” And for the next two hours, we sat and listened to the 2017 fellows of NLS, five 20-somethings from Palestine, 5 from Israel, as they told us their stories – what brought them there, their struggles, their triumphs, their memories, their hopes and dreams for the future.  They told us about a world and a life that we only read about; they were brave and confident and, dare I say, filled with just…
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 10: Christmas Waits to be Born…Again

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that there are two different Christmases -- the cultural Christmas, with its presents and parties and television specials, and the religious Christmas, that which springs from the life of the Church.  My time with the words of Bruce Epperly and Howard Thurman have convinced me that there is a third, never-spoken-of Christmas, the one that knows no time or place, the one that waits to be born in you and me and in this world each and every day: Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their…
Read More

Christmas 8: Every Day is Christmas

I'll be honest -- it becomes more and more difficult to hold the Christmas thread as the days between December 25 and today grow in number. And even harder when the world around you is shouting "Happy New Year!" and preparing to go back to their routines of work and whatever tomorrow morning.  I suppose this is where the concept of the great both/and comes into play -- for today is indeed still Christmas and it is also the first day of a brand, spanking-new calendar year.  So, Happy New Year, and again, Merry Christmas. I am not surprised that Bruce Epperly captures this tension in his reflection today in The…
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

Christmas 4: The Symbol of Christmas

Today, on the fourth day of Christmas, I'm continuing my walk through the season with Bruce Epperly's reflections on the work of Howard Thurman, published in The Work of Christmas.   So far, I have been completely on board with the program and unconcerned by the lack of reference to the lectionary texts I expected, but today the disconnect seems to bother me. Why?  Because today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a time when we remember the children of Bethlehem who died in blind power's quest to stop this one particular child.  And today, as we sit with the knowledge that in our own world, innocent children are dying because…
Read More

Christmas 2: Joy and Wonder

Joy is one of my favorite topics, so I was very, well, joyful, when I saw the title for Bruce Epperly's second reflection on the days of Christmas.  I mean, I named my dog Joy -- does that give you a hint about how important the idea of joy is to me?  And I mean joy -- not happiness.  Really, they are two different things altogether. My definition of joy is this:  that feeling of peace that underlies all being (even when we are not aware of it).  I experience joy as a kind of contended hum--almost like the soft purring of a cat.  It is the sound of the…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Telling the sacred story, Part 1

This is the first of a series that began as an exercise -- a training exercise for those pursuing a call to spiritual companioning (or, as it is often called, spiritual direction).  Living into the charism of a listening ministry requires of all of us that we pursue, each and every day, the continued path of our own spiritual formation.  My telling of my own sacred story is a result of just that formation project and the kind of ongoing work that I do.  I heard wise words this morning, from the Rev. Michele H. Morgan at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  She was talking about the Gospel text of the…
Read More

Primary Questions: What Do You Mean by Freedom?

Every day this week and last, when I put on the funny looking bicycle helmet and tentatively climb aboard my bright red cruiser to head to the beach, I find that my mind is flooded with a single question:  why, my friend, do you drive all this way and go to all this trouble just to do this one thing? Yes, I am on vacation.  And I am on vacation in one of my favorite places.  I come here over and over again, whenever I can.  I don't golf, I don't play tennis, and really, I don't swim.  I come here for another reason.  I come here to do one…
Read More

Your brain is social…

As Paul Costello, President and Founder of the New Story Leadership project, looked out at the crowd last night in Baxter Hall, he said to all of us assembled there, “Stories can imprison, or stories can empower.” And for the next two hours, we sat and listened to the 2017 fellows of NLS, five 20-somethings from Palestine, 5 from Israel, as they told us their stories – what brought them there, their struggles, their triumphs, their memories, their hopes and dreams for the future.  They told us about a world and a life that we only read about; they were brave and confident and, dare I say, filled with just…
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 10: Christmas Waits to be Born…Again

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that there are two different Christmases -- the cultural Christmas, with its presents and parties and television specials, and the religious Christmas, that which springs from the life of the Church.  My time with the words of Bruce Epperly and Howard Thurman have convinced me that there is a third, never-spoken-of Christmas, the one that knows no time or place, the one that waits to be born in you and me and in this world each and every day: Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their…
Read More

Christmas 8: Every Day is Christmas

I'll be honest -- it becomes more and more difficult to hold the Christmas thread as the days between December 25 and today grow in number. And even harder when the world around you is shouting "Happy New Year!" and preparing to go back to their routines of work and whatever tomorrow morning.  I suppose this is where the concept of the great both/and comes into play -- for today is indeed still Christmas and it is also the first day of a brand, spanking-new calendar year.  So, Happy New Year, and again, Merry Christmas. I am not surprised that Bruce Epperly captures this tension in his reflection today in The…
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

Christmas 4: The Symbol of Christmas

Today, on the fourth day of Christmas, I'm continuing my walk through the season with Bruce Epperly's reflections on the work of Howard Thurman, published in The Work of Christmas.   So far, I have been completely on board with the program and unconcerned by the lack of reference to the lectionary texts I expected, but today the disconnect seems to bother me. Why?  Because today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a time when we remember the children of Bethlehem who died in blind power's quest to stop this one particular child.  And today, as we sit with the knowledge that in our own world, innocent children are dying because…
Read More

Christmas 2: Joy and Wonder

Joy is one of my favorite topics, so I was very, well, joyful, when I saw the title for Bruce Epperly's second reflection on the days of Christmas.  I mean, I named my dog Joy -- does that give you a hint about how important the idea of joy is to me?  And I mean joy -- not happiness.  Really, they are two different things altogether. My definition of joy is this:  that feeling of peace that underlies all being (even when we are not aware of it).  I experience joy as a kind of contended hum--almost like the soft purring of a cat.  It is the sound of the…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Telling the sacred story, Part 1

This is the first of a series that began as an exercise -- a training exercise for those pursuing a call to spiritual companioning (or, as it is often called, spiritual direction).  Living into the charism of a listening ministry requires of all of us that we pursue, each and every day, the continued path of our own spiritual formation.  My telling of my own sacred story is a result of just that formation project and the kind of ongoing work that I do.  I heard wise words this morning, from the Rev. Michele H. Morgan at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  She was talking about the Gospel text of the…
Read More

Primary Questions: What Do You Mean by Freedom?

Every day this week and last, when I put on the funny looking bicycle helmet and tentatively climb aboard my bright red cruiser to head to the beach, I find that my mind is flooded with a single question:  why, my friend, do you drive all this way and go to all this trouble just to do this one thing? Yes, I am on vacation.  And I am on vacation in one of my favorite places.  I come here over and over again, whenever I can.  I don't golf, I don't play tennis, and really, I don't swim.  I come here for another reason.  I come here to do one…
Read More

Your brain is social…

As Paul Costello, President and Founder of the New Story Leadership project, looked out at the crowd last night in Baxter Hall, he said to all of us assembled there, “Stories can imprison, or stories can empower.” And for the next two hours, we sat and listened to the 2017 fellows of NLS, five 20-somethings from Palestine, 5 from Israel, as they told us their stories – what brought them there, their struggles, their triumphs, their memories, their hopes and dreams for the future.  They told us about a world and a life that we only read about; they were brave and confident and, dare I say, filled with just…
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 10: Christmas Waits to be Born…Again

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that there are two different Christmases -- the cultural Christmas, with its presents and parties and television specials, and the religious Christmas, that which springs from the life of the Church.  My time with the words of Bruce Epperly and Howard Thurman have convinced me that there is a third, never-spoken-of Christmas, the one that knows no time or place, the one that waits to be born in you and me and in this world each and every day: Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, And the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their…
Read More

Christmas 8: Every Day is Christmas

I'll be honest -- it becomes more and more difficult to hold the Christmas thread as the days between December 25 and today grow in number. And even harder when the world around you is shouting "Happy New Year!" and preparing to go back to their routines of work and whatever tomorrow morning.  I suppose this is where the concept of the great both/and comes into play -- for today is indeed still Christmas and it is also the first day of a brand, spanking-new calendar year.  So, Happy New Year, and again, Merry Christmas. I am not surprised that Bruce Epperly captures this tension in his reflection today in The…
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

Christmas 4: The Symbol of Christmas

Today, on the fourth day of Christmas, I'm continuing my walk through the season with Bruce Epperly's reflections on the work of Howard Thurman, published in The Work of Christmas.   So far, I have been completely on board with the program and unconcerned by the lack of reference to the lectionary texts I expected, but today the disconnect seems to bother me. Why?  Because today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a time when we remember the children of Bethlehem who died in blind power's quest to stop this one particular child.  And today, as we sit with the knowledge that in our own world, innocent children are dying because…
Read More

Christmas 2: Joy and Wonder

Joy is one of my favorite topics, so I was very, well, joyful, when I saw the title for Bruce Epperly's second reflection on the days of Christmas.  I mean, I named my dog Joy -- does that give you a hint about how important the idea of joy is to me?  And I mean joy -- not happiness.  Really, they are two different things altogether. My definition of joy is this:  that feeling of peace that underlies all being (even when we are not aware of it).  I experience joy as a kind of contended hum--almost like the soft purring of a cat.  It is the sound of the…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Telling the sacred story, Part 1

This is the first of a series that began as an exercise -- a training exercise for those pursuing a call to spiritual companioning (or, as it is often called, spiritual direction).  Living into the charism of a listening ministry requires of all of us that we pursue, each and every day, the continued path of our own spiritual formation.  My telling of my own sacred story is a result of just that formation project and the kind of ongoing work that I do.  I heard wise words this morning, from the Rev. Michele H. Morgan at St. Mark's Episcopal Church.  She was talking about the Gospel text of the…
Read More

Primary Questions: What Do You Mean by Freedom?

Every day this week and last, when I put on the funny looking bicycle helmet and tentatively climb aboard my bright red cruiser to head to the beach, I find that my mind is flooded with a single question:  why, my friend, do you drive all this way and go to all this trouble just to do this one thing? Yes, I am on vacation.  And I am on vacation in one of my favorite places.  I come here over and over again, whenever I can.  I don't golf, I don't play tennis, and really, I don't swim.  I come here for another reason.  I come here to do one…
Read More

Your brain is social…

As Paul Costello, President and Founder of the New Story Leadership project, looked out at the crowd last night in Baxter Hall, he said to all of us assembled there, “Stories can imprison, or stories can empower.” And for the next two hours, we sat and listened to the 2017 fellows of NLS, five 20-somethings from Palestine, 5 from Israel, as they told us their stories – what brought them there, their struggles, their triumphs, their memories, their hopes and dreams for the future.  They told us about a world and a life that we only read about; they were brave and confident and, dare I say, filled with just…
Read More