There was a time when I would have read this reference book from cover to cover (I am among the readers who believe that when I read a book, I should read the entire book…..). This is a useful, scholarly book to have on one’s bookshelf as a reference to inform one’s study of any number of topics. I am reading some of it now and plan to refer to it on occasion as the reference book it is intended to be. Christianity is 2,000 years old. In 2024, the majority of us – with the possible exception of those Biblical scholars who specialize in Early Christian Literature – are not going to be familiar ..read more

“Run from what’s comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live.” Rumi Too often, we make decisions based on fear. “I couldn’t possibly travel alone. How would I navigate the travel experience on my own?” “I couldn’t live alone as a single person. (Because…..).” “I couldn’t (fill in the blank).” Okay, I cheated. The fears I listed above are fears that I don’t experience. I have my own list of fears – sometimes making decisions in reaction to those fears. In some ways, people view me as living a fearless life – I simply never learned how to have some of the fears that many people have ..read more

I took a literature class in college in which we read Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. I attended a state university and we read The Brothers Karamazov as secular literature. While we read the book as secular literature, I do remember our instructor posing a question about a particular point for one of the books’ characters. I found myself responding as seeing the character as analagous to a friend of mine who was serving as a spiritual guide for me at the time. My instructor and classmates found this odd and laughed as such. It was an awkward moment. Since then, I have periodically heard ..read more

I wrote a post in July titled Surrender in Prayer. In that post, I wrote “Despite our western ideas about individual autonomy and self-agency, us permitting God’s agency to mold and shape us is liberating. God loves us, wants good for us and our world, and and has capacity for transformational good beyond our comprehension. There is no room for a negative outcome when we allow God to work within and through us.” Surrendering to God’s will needs to be ongoing. The people who can stay in a perpetual state of surrender to God’ work in their lives – well, some of them are saints! They get the ong ..read more

Every year. we hear the salvation story at Easter . God loved us so much that he sent his only son to die for our sins. Our salvation involved Jesus’ death, so his death was predestined. So, someone – some human – had to somehow be complicit in Jesus’ death? When Judas came to realize what he had done – that he had betrayed Jesus such that this betrayal was to involved in the circumstances of Jesus’ death – he took his own life. Given that it seems that one of us – some human – had to somehow be complicit in Jesus’s death…. Hmmm…. This raises difficult questions about the circumstances involv ..read more

The assertion that “we are all radically incomplete” – a statement quoted by Timothy Radcliffe – is the what I’ve grabbed onto from his series of opening reflections for the synod meetings in Rome last October (and, he said, “we all need each other”).. Many of us are aware of our own inadequacies. We only need to read the news and reflect on our own selves to see that “we are all radically incomplete.” In response to this, society would have us increase our life skills and “build up our self-esteem.” “I am enough.” In Christianity: We acknowledge being radically incomplete as a fundamental a ..read more

This image of an empty bird’s nest in a winter tree – with spring approaching – speaks visually to nature’s annual cycles of death and the anticipation of new life. Seattle – where I live – is in the midst of a cold snap after a period of relative winter warmth. Many of us are ready for the increasing warmth and life that comes with the pending spring. When I saw this empty bird’s nest and the similar-or-contrasting lack of leaves on the tree, I immediately thought of our own spiritual death, rebirth, and – for many people – the perpetual hope of new life. In Christianity, we learn to die to ..read more

This Sunday, we hear the Gospel reading of the woman at the well. Jesus offered “living water” to the woman at the well. The Samaritan – who was viewed by Jews as “the other” – accepted Jesus’ offer of “living water.” Jesus also offers us “The Living Water.” How well do we – of the Christian faith – drink of “The Living Water?” Do we come to the well? If we come to the well – Christ’s offer of vibrancy of life in faith – do we just skirt around the edges of the well (such as simply sitting in a pew on Sunday morning), or do we open our hearts to drink freely of what is offered? To “drink of t ..read more

I was recently given a copy of Martin Laird’s Into the Silent Land: Christian Practice of Contemplation. As a contemplative pray-er, I find this book refreshing. Rather than only being a how-to book on the mechanics of how to pray contemplatively, this is the type of contemplative prayer book I look for: a description of what happens when we do a deep dive into contemplative prayer. It is – to paraphrase a speaker I heard once – the “poetry of our lives” that demonstrates the animation of one’s prayer life when prays contemplatively. Such poetry – it seems to me – helps lead readers into the ..read more

Many of Christianity’s denominations read the same Bible readings each Sunday – the three-year cycle of weekend readings decided upon by the Catholic church after Vatican II. This Sunday, we hear in the First Reading of Abraham following God’s orders by going to a mountaintop to sacrifice his only son – the son he was given later in life to be the son who God had said would provide Abraham with countless descendants. At the last moment – when Abraham had demonstrated his willingness to follow God’s instructions – he was told not to sacrifice his son. In the second reading (Romans 8:31-34), we ..read more