I still love the church. I love the church universal, as well as the church local (red brick, white-columned with deacons smoking in the parking lot). With all of its dysfunction and flesh marks, with all of its confusion and humanity, it is still the best thing God...
Religion without the Spirit, without authentic spirituality, basically becomes a way to give divine sanction/endorsement/legitimization to our biases and prejudices and it becomes a way to maintain the status quo. It also becomes a means of exerting control over...
We could not become like God, so God became like us. God showed us how to heal instead of kill, how to mend instead of how to destroy, how to love instead of hate, how to live instead of long for more. When we nailed God to a tree, God forgave. And when we buried God...
Amid the challenges of life, we seek--consciously or unconsciously--to experience that original connection with the Divine in ourselves and the world. God is on our side. God's loving energy courses through us, inspiring adventure and healing wounds. God is out to...
I give myself completely to you, God.Assign me to my place in your creation.Let me suffer for you.Give me the work you would have me do.Give me many tasksOr have me step aside while you call others.Put me forward or humble me.Give me riches or let me live in poverty.I...
Prayers for all who feel loneliness or grief...when we remember those who are no longer with us. I invite you to recall in the darkness of your grief that our Creator loves you so much and that you are promised to always be loved, and never to be alone. This presence...
If you knew how quickly people would forget about you after your death, you will not seek in your life to please anyone but God. (circa 387)
Anna is the very last character in the Christmas Story. Mary and Joseph have left behind the shepherds and the stable animals, stopping in the temple to fulfill their requirements of their faith. Upon arrival, they meet Simeon the Priest who would perform the...
The realm of God is within us and among us and around us...All the wonders you seek, and the inspiration you crave, are right where you are, within your own personal experience. Thin places, holy isles, burning bushes, angelic songs, and magi bearing gifts are...
Matthew writes: “[Herod] sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under.” Jesus is born, but in Flannery O’Connor’s words, “at a devastating price.” No one knows how many children died; the New Testament alone documents the...