The great pastor and theologian, Eugene Peterson, said: "God hears anything we whisper or shout, say or sing. Right words and correct forms are not prerequisite to a heavenly audience. God is not fastidious in these matters." Thank God, right? Prayer can be any form of utterance we throw out into the universe. God is […]
A brief thought or poem for the weekend, friends ... "There must be someone to live through it all and bear witness to the fact that God lived, even in these times." (Etty Hillesum, Diaries - Murdered in 1943 in Auschwitz)
A brief thought or poem for the weekend, friends ... Pamela Greenberg's beautiful translation of the Psalms leaves me speechless. Her version of part of Psalm 27 lives in my heart these days: Don't give me over to the breath of my fears. For distortions in the name of truth, they breathe out visions of […]
During the last year or so as I made hard decisions about the direction of my life and career, I faced strong headwinds of frustration, confusion, and even anger from friends and colleagues. As I navigated these tricky moments, my spiritual director would often ask me to close my eyes and imagine myself. She would […]
It was JRR Tolkien who wrote, "Not all who wander are lost." So wise. In the 10 months since resigning from my church of a couple decades, I have met my fair share of wanderers, church nomads, refugees. People who - for one reason or another - walked out of their houses of worship for […]
In my decades as a pastor, the complaint I heard most from all kinds of folks went something like this, "I want to have a stronger spiritual life, but my everyday life gets in the way." Sound familiar? There is an inherent fallacy in this statement that leaves us all with no perceivable solution. There […]
