The first thing I do during and after a crisis or after experiencing a shock is to pray. Then the second thing I do is to look to the arts and what is being created with wholeness, love and amazing vision. These past several weeks I have been privileged being up here in the Valley, to see amazing and beautiful nature, God’s own art there.
Read MoreThese words, these so lovely words, “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth,” words that speak to our deepest longing to escape from our unhappiness with the way things are: with our divisions, our antagonisms, our fears, our insecurities.
Read MoreIn this week’s gospel, Jesus is questioned by some Sadducees. They are authorities and have some power… and perhaps feel threatened by this upstart Jesus who has a different message than the one that keeps them safely in their power and authority, or perhaps is simply a message that they truly don’t understand. Jesus’ response is one that steps out of the word-trap they set for him and offers a completely different perspective.
Read MoreWhat is the most spiritually transformative event of your life? And, what is your prayer about that event?
Read MoreThis week in Hendersonville, North Carolina, the 2016 Lansing Lee Conference will consider the question of whether civility and respect as spiritual values are essential to democracy. Led by Los Angeles Times writer, Mark Oppenheimer and a panel of thinkers and writers, participants will explore the idea of transformational leadership. As we look toward the elections of 2016, how can the country go from a place of partisanship to engagement? On September 24, 2015, led by Pope Francis, the United States Congress applauded the Golden Rule. The next day, things were back to normal.
Read More“Have mercy on us.” What a cry that is. It echoes down the ages of human history, showing up in our literature as early as The Iliad, almost three millennia ago, where Greek orTrojan warriors, defeated on the battlefield, helpless before their foe, cry out for mercy, a futile cry in the heat of battle where it mostly goes unheeded. Amongst us humans, mercy can sometimes be in short supply.
Read MoreWhen I read this week’s texts, I could relate in a very keen and particular way to what was being expressed. It seems as though I have become so quickly connected here that it pained me to go there. Today’s readings in Lamentations, “She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her…” Or the reading from 2nd Timothy, “Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy,” offer a glimpse of feelings that are about loss, separation, pain and grief.
Read MoreMost folks, in talking about this story, never think about the wisdom in it, because they can’t get over the dishonesty. The fellow belongs in jail, folks say, and they dismiss the story in disgust. In Jesus’ eyes, making friends with the poor by means of ‘unrighteous mammon’ is wise, because in the realm of God’s holiness, the poor are beloved far more than the rich. And so we store up treasure in heaven when we help the poor. Jesus doesn’t stipulate a narrow path for righteous help. Nor does he forbid righteousness to sinners.
Read More“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ ” I love that line, partly because now that we’re in such an enlightened age, what with three hundred years of science and a hundred fifty years of biblical criticism, history seems to have brought about a great reversal, so that now it’s the fool who says, “there is a God.”
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