In recent years I have discovered contemplative prayer, an ancient practice of praying that focuses on listening to God more than talking. Henri Nouwen has described three kinds of prayer: crying out to God (supplication as monologue), conversation with God (speaking and listening to scripture as prayer), and contemplative prayer.[1] All three are important, but the … More Playing at Prayer
“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him: he will bring forth justice for the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick … More Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks
It was an ordinary day. Perhaps Mary was weeding the family garden patch in that poor backwater community of Nazareth when an angel, named Gabriel, unexpectedly appeared. The angel had an unusual message for Mary: “You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call … More Unexpected Expectancy
Albert Einstein once said that the most important question for a human to ask is this: “Is the universe friendly?”[1] It’s a particularly good question for 2020. This year that began with hopes of seeing all things better (with 20-20 vision) has turned out to be a year of unprecedented wildfires and hurricanes, blatant racism, … More Giving Thanks
The most significant measure of the greatness of a society is the manner in which it takes care of its most vulnerable persons. Period. You can tell the moral depth of a people by the way they care for children, the poor, the sick, the homeless, and, to use the moral mantra of the Old … More A Voter’s Guide
I remember well Dr. Anthony Fauci’s statement early in our US response to the COVID pandemic that he and other virologists are doing their jobs if the nation overreacts to the virus threat. That made a lot of sense to me: why not employ everything we can find to protect each other from this pandemic? … More COVID and the Unmasking of Selfishness
These days we are all living in between, in a liminal space. Liminality is an in-between state, as if you’ve left one room but are not yet in the next room. It’s a place of transition that leaves us looking backward at what was, and ahead at what will be, sometimes feeling unsettled by the … More Living In Between
These two weeks have been hard, with the beginning of the fall semester where I teach. I am buoyed by the joy of conversations with students in classes, undeterred by the need to conduct most of them by video. Yet I’m also feeling the heavy weight of the closing of the seminary I’ve invested myself … More Thank You Daniel and God
What are the treasures of the church? St. Laurence answered the question in a shocking way in the third century. In that day seven deacons led the church in Rome, and Laurence was one of them. Valerian, the Roman Emperor, was intensifying the persecution of the church that his predecessor Decius had begun. But the … More The Treasures of the Church
Life is a mess. Covid-19 keeps acting like a pandemic, paying no attention whatsoever to politicians who want to send it packing with their denials of science. The virus is immune to protestations by economic enterprises desperate to staunch financial hemorrhaging. Covid is in control, not us. Accept it, cope with it, be real. It’s … More Life Is a Mess
An Ever-Flowing Stream 