Book Excerpt—the 1 1/2 miles to church
We didn’t know it at the time, but much later I was able to articulate “that the church felt more like home than our own family home did.”
Mystic Mondays—nonpolitical Christianity?
There is no such thing as a nonpolitical Christianity or spirituality….You can’t split human beings in half..
Book Excerpt—Breaking into the Church
Three weeks before high school graduation, I broke into the church of my childhood.
Mystic Mondays—Mysticism and Politics
Religion and politics are not two separate worlds. They are more like kissing cousins.
Dear Readers—A Shift
This is what I know: When I write specifically from my post-Christian, spiritually informed, universalistic perspective I seem to connect…
The Reluctant Prophet: Two Cultures
It was like a big “Duh!” I was operating out of a “What do we have to lose” type of mentality and energy.
The Reluctant Prophet: The In-Between Time
Many of us who have been working with the religious shifts in our culture and in our congregations believe we are living in one of the BIG “in-between times.’
The Reluctant Prophet: When Legacy is all that is Left
A congregation has a right to let its building crumble around it and leave nothing for future generations. But, quite honestly…
The Reluctant Prophet: The Universal Church?
Reader Suzan posted, “My first question is should we think of (the church’s) legacy as belonging to the church universal or individual congregations.”
The Reluctant Prophet: What I Learned
Reader Bobbi asked, “From your experience of straddling the line of a loving Christian belief system and exploring other spiritual paths, how would you approach such a divide?”
The “Reluctant” Prophet
Anyone who knows me well knows that I tend to be a pretty nice guy. In fact, probably overly nice.
The Reluctant Prophet: Are all Welcome?
Reader Bob responded to my “Theology of Presence” blog commenting that what the church needs most is a “theology of belonging” more than a “theology of presence.”
The Reluctant Prophet: A Theology of Presence
Jesus Christ is at the center of my life, but probably not in the way that most church people would like to hear it.
The Reluctant Prophet: Mission and Membership
Reader Beth wrote, “If Jesus were here today, I wonder if he would tell the church what he said to the rich man about giving away his wealth in order to follow him.”
I’m Back and I Need You!
Ask what needs to be asked. Say what needs to be said. The future depends on it.
Mystic Musings: Easter Sunday
Off in the nether lands, I heard a sound
Like the beating of heavenly wings
And deep in my brain, I can hear a refrain
Of my soul as she rises and sings
Anthems to glory and anthems to love
And hymns filled with earthly delight
Like the songs that the darkness composes to worship the light
Mystic Musings: Holy Saturday
I said to God, “Let me love you.” And He replied, “Which part?”
“All of you, all of you,” I said.
This time God said, “There is a hideous blemish on my body, though it is such an infinitesimal part of my Being—could you kiss that if it were revealed?”
“I will try, Lord, I will try.”
And then God said, “That blemish is all the hatred and cruelty in this world.”
St. Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century Catholic theologian
Mystic Musings: Good Friday
"Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.”
Jesus, the first mystic of the Christian tradition
Mystic Musings: Maundy Thursday
If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will
Mystic Musings: Lent 4/01
“With all humility I say, it is God who should ask for forgiveness, not we, Him. Someday you will know this. A saint could explain.”
St. John of the Cross, a 16th century Christian mystic