My own spiritual discipline has been to challenge myself each year with an expanded understanding of the traditionalholidays, while maintaining a sense of reverence, even sentimentality to a small degree. One of the great paradoxes of navigating the landscape of religious holidays, ceremonies and traditions is dancing with reverence AND relevance at the same time. [...]
Jesus Speaks to the 12 is a 4-part series written for Holy Thursday. In each part, 3 disciples present at the Last Supper are highlighted. It is partially inspired by the Unity teaching of the Twelve Powers. Part 1 sets the context and Jesus speaks to Peter, Andrew and James. Part 2 is John, Phillip [...]
Jesus Speaks to the 12 is a 4-part series written for Holy Thursday. In each part, 3 disciples present at the Last Supper are highlighted. It is partially inspired by the Unity teaching of the Twelve Powers. Part 1 sets the context and Jesus speaks to Peter, Andrew and James. Part 2 is John, Phillip [...]
Jesus Speaks to the 12 is a 4-part series written for Holy Thursday. In each part, 3 disciples present at the Last Supper are highlighted. It is partially inspired by the Unity teaching of the Twelve Powers. Part 1 sets the context and Jesus speaks to Peter, Andrew and James. Part 2 is John, Phillip [...]
Jesus Speaks to the 12 is a 4-part series written for Holy Thursday. In each part, 3 disciples present at the Last Supper are highlighted. It is partially inspired by the Unity teaching of the Twelve Powers. Part 1 sets the context and Jesus speaks to Peter, Andrew and James. Part 2 is John, Phillip [...]
One of the treasures in my life is the ability to lose myself in a song. Closing my eyes and allowing the words and music to play through me – to stop listening with my ears and listen with my heart. As the music washes over me, my mind relaxes, my breathing slows and I [...]
It seems as though we preachers are challenged to come up with new sermons every Sunday, and this can be especially tricky during the holidays. How many ways can we find to talk about Easter, Christmas, and Advent? I had a minister for many years who used to joke with me that he basically had [...]
I’m sitting in the cancer center, hooked up to an IV for my iron infusion for the next 6 hours, watching worlds go by. I am in a large room full of recliners, IV stands, rolling carts filled with anything your nurse could need - gauze pads in 6 different sizes, 5 varying lengths and [...]
Did you know that lamenting is a spiritual practice? It is incredibly relevant for Easter, especially Holy Week, when our time of the crucifixion and resurrection is coming to a close. This Easter season I want to talk about lamentations. Why? Because to lament is probably one of the most revolutionary things we can do [...]
If you say “Christmas tree” to me or utter the words “Christmas decorations” I immediately become like a 5-year-old and see lights in my mind. I see twinkly, sparkly, dazzling colorful lights all around me. This is one of my most favorite things - the lights at Christmas time. The other night I turned off [...]
It's the end of the second week of Advent, the week we focus on Peace, and I am wondering how much peace everyone is feeling or practicing in light of recent events, both here at home and abroad. Sometimes peace can seem a little out of reach or maybe for a few folks, even difficult [...]
THE SEASON of Advent is about something unknown emerging on the horizon, something we have never seen before. The word “advent” comes from the Latin adventus – to come. There is wondrous and expectant feeling about the very word ‘Advent.’ In the northern hemisphere, Advent takes place during the darkest and coldest time of the [...]
Do not adjust your screen, yes, you read the title correctly - I’m giving up God for Lent. I know this may sound strange since I am a member of the clergy. Why on earth would someone who’s JOB is God give up God for Lent? It would be like watching a doctor ask the [...]
Everywhere I look there are TV shows, articles, pictures, poems, reflections and pithy aphorisms about love, oneness and seeing or knowing God. If I didn’t know better I would think we were hungry, or even starving, to see Spirit! In our spiritual journey we seek to define God, to manifest Spirit, to know our faith and to live it. I sometimes find myself drifting in and out of knowing the Divine, and what it means to fully “see” God, or even to have faith in what I am doing.
I am almost always in awe at how the deepest and truest things in life are those things that are intangible. Things like love, fear, peace, faith and even God. We can’t really hold them in our hand, or really point definitively to them. And while we can’t see them with our eyes, we can [...]
