Humility
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Core Word #7: Awareness
Anthony de Mello wrote a potent little book titled Awareness. Do not read this book. If you read this book, you will be picked up, shaken out, and dropped several feet from where you started. You will most certainly be… Continue reading
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Stripping
Oh, you of the sacred plaid,and you of the holy stripes,you of the divine argyles and polka dots,you pinstripe believers and houndstooth congregants…it's time to strip clean. Leave your garments beside the door;exit your particular, peculiar house of worship. Out… Continue reading
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The Mystery in the Mundane
In my writing and in my photography, I want to reveal the mystery in the mundane, the transcendent in the every day. I want others to say, with me, "Wow! I never saw it like that," or, at least, "Hmmm…" To… Continue reading
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Core Word #5: Paradox
My dad once owned a sailboat with another physician. They named her Paradox. Get it? I appreciated the pun then, and I appreciate the concept now. Paradox means holding two opposing, contradictory points as equally true. If you need everything… Continue reading
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Core Word #4: Mystery
Mystery runs a close second to stillness in my list of favorite words In liturgical Christian churches, worshipers each week gather to proclaim "the mystery of our faith": Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ shall come again. The mystery… Continue reading
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Core Word #3: Expansion
As I've grown spiritually (and I do think of it as growth, though maybe it's change, or evolution, or devolution–in any case, because it gets better and better, I experience it as growth), it feels, even when I'm letting go… Continue reading
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Not One, But Not Two
My friend Jim recently commented on a post of mine, decrying the use of labels. I think his response was justified. Labeling sustains separations that ultimately are illusory. In God, we become one. (Jim will occasionally refer to God as… Continue reading
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WWWJE (With Whom Would Jesus Eat?)
Jesus practiced an open-table fellowship that scandalized and outraged those who believed they spoke for God. He was surprisingly indiscriminate, rubbing elbows with "tax collectors and sinners" (coded lanugage for all those on the outside, the disdained, the feared, the… Continue reading
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Was Jesus a Grownup?
I asserted (back on October 22), that there are no grownups. Part of maturing is acknowledging and embracing this. To be human means not being a grownup; to some degree, we all remain insecure, self-centered children. And that's okay. It's… Continue reading
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Unselfing
If it unselfs you,treasure it,cultivate it. If it muscles through your grim, monotonous monitoringof what others think of youor whether or not you measure up,make a note. If it picks you up,shakes you out,and drops you a few feet away… Continue reading