Faith & Life Inspirational Message

The thing that amazes me the most in this discipline of writing some spiritual reflection is where I get the ideas.  Sometimes I have to struggle to get an idea, but with some perseverance, I can get one.  More often than not, something happens and, boom, the idea pops into my head.  Such was the idea for this entry.  The idea came immediately, but the title came only with some reflection. Oddly enough, the idea came when a car turned the corner in front of me.  I was out for a walk in the wonderful Metropark that is close to my campus.  It is a tree-lined, fairly wide path that goes for miles.  Where I join it, it passes a couple lakes.  There is some traffic on the adjoining road, but for the runners, walkers and bikers, the cars are a secondary distraction.  Most of us are enjoying the beauty of nature. As I approached the corner where the Metropark leads me back to the street, I heard a car coming, so I stopped.  Quickly this whi...

I have a newer friend whom I am growing to appreciate.  By newer, I mean that I met him within the last couple years, so the relationship is young.  On top of that, Glenn lives in Australia!  So far, I have never visited Australia, so that means we have not met on his turf.  I met him a couple years ago at a conference.  We both had written papers and were paired to present in a session of the conference.  We took a liking to each other and a budding relationship began. Glenn is an Anglican priest.  Much of his ministry is done as a chaplain in an Anglican school in Australia.  Essentially, he is working with high school students.  When I met him, I could understand why he was involved in this ministry.  Even though he must be in his 50s, he has a boyish look and certainly spirit.   It was easy to imagine him being the ringleader for a bunch of guys doing things that pushed the boundary of fun and acceptability.  I rec...

I am just back from another monastic visit.  Let me clarify.  I am a Benedict oblate, which basically means I am a lay Benedictine monk.  That sounds much more committed and serious than it probably is.  To be an oblate means I affiliate myself with a local Benedictine monastery and do my best to live as spiritually as I can.  Most of the time, I would confess that I am not doing my best.  I am still too influenced by the culture around me.  I still have desires that really don’t align with a fully mature faith.  In a word I am far from perfect.     I appreciate my local Benedictine monastery and the brothers in it.  They allow me to come as I can and participate in whatever ways I am able.  I find my visits there to be humbling and inspiring.  I don’t ever feel judged.  They encourage me in my own spiritual journey.  I know I am not pretending to be a monk.  I simply am associating with them because th...

Recently I have become aware again of something I probably have known for a long time.  Perhaps I have even known it my whole lifetime!  It is not a dramatic knowing, but it is healthy and can be healing.  What more can we ask?  Put simply, I became aware again of what I would call the simple soulfulness of quiet and aloneness.  I can put more fancy spiritual terminology to this, but the simplicity is sufficient for now. I like to be engaged in my work.  I like being with people.  I know my life still borders on the too-busy end of the spectrum.  Even though I am getting older, I wonder whether I am any wiser?  I know more than I execute.  Ignorance often is not the problem.  I know enough to grow spiritually, but frequently my stupidity blunts the process.  So I find myself in the same place year after year.  It is not a disaster, but there is a mountain yet to climb.  I still like the metaphor of mountain when thi...

Sometimes I think I have this thing for monks and nuns!  I realize with all that’s going on in our world, that statement could get me in trouble!  Minimally, it sounds fishy.  But I mean it.  I am not sure exactly when it was that I met my first monk or nun.  I know it was not growing up through high school.  We barely had any Catholics in the rural area that I called home.  So it would be college time, at least. There is not doubt my religious world expanded significantly in my college days.  I went to college in the south, so suddenly there were many Baptists in my life!  I also began to make friends with Episcopalians, Catholics and all their cousins who could teach this Quaker boy a thing or two about liturgy.  I made friends with Jews and knowingly made friends with Muslims.  My world was getting much bigger. But I don’t remember meeting a monk or a nun.  However, I do remember reading about monks and, in fact, began r...

One of the benefits of having to prepare for new presentations is the chance to do new reading and thinking.  Of course, at this stage of the game, I do have some things that are true to me.  Those things are central to the way I see myself and my world.  It does not mean they are universally true, but they are true for me.  And I think they are true for many other people. I like to share these.  And I also like to keep reading and thinking to see how my own truths can be confirmed or challenged.  And I like to find new things that make sense and fit into the way I look at things.     Recently, I had the challenge of helping a group of church leaders think about the future---not only their own personal future, but the future of their congregations and organizations.  Sometimes this exercise is called strategic planning or long-range planning.  I am ok with this, but when it comes to spiritual organizations, it is not fully adequate....

Although I have not mentioned it for a while, I continue to follow the lectionary.  This helps me with my own form of spiritual discipline.  Simply put, the lectionary is a series of readings picked out for each day.  I follow the lectionary I know Benedictine monks follow.  They observe multiple times daily when they worship.  During these periods, some Biblical material will be used.  At every one of these, some selection from one of the Psalms will be used.  Since I did not grow up using the Psalms, this continues to be part of my ongoing spiritual formation.      The Psalms are not all fun.  Many of them talk about hard things in life.  They deal with people who have gone off the rails in terms of their faith.  Often the emotions being dealt with in particular Psalms are raw.  The God portrayed in the Psalms is not a God who is always easy going and dispensing happiness all the time.  This God is a dema...

Folks who know me know that I am someone who acknowledges an appreciation for the writings of the late monk, Thomas Merton.  Even though Merton died in 1968, he has had a formative role in my spiritual faith and life.  I never met him, although I know a few people who knew Merton.  Part of the intrigue of Merton is his own pilgrimage from no faith to a life of faith.      Had you known the early Merton---from his birth in 1915 through university years in the 1930s, you would never has guessed his life would take him where it did.  He became famous as a monk---an odd thing in itself.  Paradoxically, you could say he left the world only to have the world find him.  From an out of the way monastery in the hinterlands of Kentucky, Merton became a global spokesperson on a number of key issues in the 1950s and ‘60s.  For people like me, his words still have a relevance more than half a century later.      Probably no o...

Yesterday was the Christian Church’s birthday.  Maybe “birthday” is not a good descriptor, but it gives you the idea.  Pentecost is a Greek word meaning “fifty.”  Pentecost comes fifty days after Easter.  Since Easter was so late this year in the calendar, Pentecost also has come late.     Pentecost commemorates the post-Easter gift of the Holy Spirit on the early Christian disciples.  Essentially, the New Testament texts for this major Christian day are Acts 2 and John 20.  The gift of the Spirit is about the only thing the two texts have in common.  The more well known of the two biblical texts is Acts.  In that account the disciples are gathered in an Upper Room and the Spirit comes upon the believers like a fire and they speak in a variety of tongues (languages).     The Holy Spirit is the key to their beginning ministry in the world, just as it was for Jesus.  In one sense, the presence of the Spirit on one’...

Recently I went to a local restaurant, sports bar place with some friends.  It was late afternoon and the plan was to spend a little time together after work and in a different setting than the one in which we normally interact.  I enjoy these opportunities to be with some folks I like, but some of whom I barely know.  I especially appreciate the chance to get to know some people who work at the same place I do, but whom I never have the chance to see.  I am always amazed to walk into one of these gatherings and see some faces and have no clue who they might be.  It’s a humbling experience, since I usually think I know most people who work at my institution.  Wrong!  I like the fact that getting to know and spend some time with people is the reason we are getting together.  Where we do it is not that important.  But I know food and drink often make the occasion more pleasant, so I am happy to participate. When we go to this kind of place,...

In a couple months I have agreed to do a teaching series that I am excited about, but not ready to do.  I have agreed to compare some different Christian spiritualities.  The challenge is to talk about some things about which I don’t know too much.  The delight is the work I will do in order to be prepared.  For me it is a learning time.  I hope I am a model of the life-long learner we talk about with our college students.  I am not sure it means much to them at their age, but it means something to me.     In the first instance I want to do some comparisons between my own Quaker spirituality and Ignatian spirituality.  Ignatian spirituality is that tradition linked to Ignatius of Loyola, the sixteenth century Spanish Catholic priest and creative genius.  Ignatius founded the religious order known as the Society of Jesus---better known as the Jesuits.  The Jesuits are remarkably well-educated who have been teachers and mission w...

I was challenged when I read a recent reflection by Pope Francis.  His reflections were on an experience of greeting a group of teens.  His experience was not surprising.  Of course, the teens were extremely delighted to have a chance to be with the Pope, if only briefly.  Since they were all Catholic teens, it was even more special.  Some typical things happened.     The Pope stated, “They were all there waiting for me.”  Obviously, this was to be expected.  The Pope’s next observation is not surprising, but it is a bit funny.  He noted, “When I arrived, they made noise, as young people do.”  Since I have never met the Pope---this one or any one before him---I am not sure what I would do.  I suppose I probably would be quiet, but I need to be careful and not assume this means I show more respect.  I am confident the teens were showing respect in their own way---noisier to be sure.  Francis’ next observation go...

I was sitting in my chair at home and mindlessly looking around.  Sometimes I have the television on and, while that focuses me, I am not sure it gives me much for my attention.  It is like eating cotton candy at a county fair.  The fluffy stuff looks good and sometimes even smells inviting.  But then you take a big bite of it and suddenly there is almost nothing in your mouth.  What seemed like so much turns out to be so little! I am not one for many possessions.  Quakers have a thing for simplicity.  That always made sense to me.  As a middle-class American, I know I cannot claim to be that simple.  But as Americans go, I probably do live more simply than many.  It always seemed to me that simplicity is a good corollary to poverty.  I appreciate how the monks and friars, like the Franciscans, take vows to that end.  Most of us “normal people” won’t take a vow of poverty.  But most of us can live with less stuff than we...

It is probably true that every sane person in the world has thought about love.  There likely has been more written about love than almost any other topic.  However, this does not mean it is a worn-out topic or of any lesser value.  It is perhaps the most important word in the world.  Everyone I know has a sense of what loves means, wants some of it and hopes to live forever with love.  At one level, we can rightly ask whether any more words about love need to be written---including these words!  But at another level because love is so important, we need to keep thinking about it and cultivating more of it in our world.  This happens to be my approach.  I think many of our problems in the world can be traced back to lack of love or a warped sense of what love is. I feel lucky to be able to teach what I teach, because often the texts that I read talk about love.  There certainly are a variety of ways to discuss love.  One way that most pe...

I am not sure about you, but I am aware that I get ideas and have no sense of why that idea popped into my head.  That does not mean everything I think is profound.  Some stuff that pops into my head is crazy.  Some of it is random, irrelevant or even stupid.  But sometimes some good stuff pops into my mind.  An idea like that is analogous to someone walking up and handing you a $20 bill.  I can imagine that person saying, “Here ya go, $20 just for thinking!” Most of the time, these ideas come and go.  I don’t pay enough attention, so I know I have missed some very good ideas.  Of course, the bad ones should be forgotten.  And I should just laugh at the stupid ones and forget them, too.  When I talk about the good ones coming into my mind, I am not talking about the ideas that come when we are in that half-sleep, half-awake state.  I have in mind more the kind of ideas that come when we are in the shower or doing something that seem...

I have just read an article by my friend, Cassidy Hall.  She was reporting on a recent peacemaking conference held in Toronto.  I was intrigued by the article and the conference for more reasons than simply the report by a friend of mine.  My own Quaker tradition has always been associated with other so-called “peace churches.”  I grew up hearing about our testimony against war and violence.  Although Quakers recognize we cannot require individuals to adhere to this testimony, the group is clear this is the stand Jesus took and for which the Christian Bible argues.      My own commitment to this testimony was tested in the Vietnam War.  During this time, I experienced first-hand the dilemma of knowing my own tradition and the peer pressure of fighting for one’s country.  So often, peacemaking seems to be a choice between faith and nationalism.  Perhaps that is an unfair characterization, but that can be discussed later.  W...

At the time of his fairly recent death, I wrote an inspirational piece on Daniel Berrigan.  Certainly most middle-aged and older Catholics knew about Daniel Berrigan.  And anyone else who was aware of the work for peace and justice were familiar with him.  Law enforcement officers in various places knew Berrigan because they hauled him off to jail a few times!  Berrigan was a modern-day prophet, which means his life and witness were a real challenge for me.      Whenever I am confronted by a person like Berrigan, I feel like my own faith pilgrimage has been fairly lightweight.  Most of us know, it is far too easy to be a Christian---or Jew for that matter---in our contemporary American culture.  In fact, these days it does not matter much whether you are a person of faith or not.  It is no longer a big deal.  But for Daniel Berrigan, it was a big deal.      Berrigan was ninety-four when he died.  He was...

My colleagues and I often find ourselves complaining about having to grade papers.  Of course, that is not a fair critique of our work.  After all, we are the ones who asked for it!  But I never hear us complaining about what we asked for.  It is as if the students got together and decided to do some work in order for us to complain.  I don’t discount the amount of time it takes to offer good feedback to students.  Theoretically, that is why we are doing it.      I never forget that people before me did it for me.  Not for a minute do I think all the things asked of students are worthy.  I do believe some examinations are pretty silly.  Sure, any faculty can force students to learn things for a short period of time.  But I wonder if that is real learning.  Especially in an era when we can find almost all the information we want online.  When I was in college, “google” was not a word.  I never “googled” ...

Yesterday I went to Mass at a Catholic Church.  I went for a variety of reasons, but the reasons don’t matter.  It is a Church to which I occasionally go, so I feel pretty at home when I walk in the doors.  It has been a while since I was last there.  I was surprised and grateful for the many folks who came to me and told me how delighted I was to be with them again.  I take this as a true sign of their hospitality, rather than a backhanded way of saying, “Where have you been!”     The regulars at the Church know I am a Quaker and, apparently, chooses to remain a Quaker.  I like that Catholic Church and love the folks who go there.  They have been welcoming to me from the first time I attended.  I usually sit in the back row when I go because I still feel a bit like an outsider.  I am quick to say they have never done anything to make me feel that way.  In fact, I suspect they would be a little disappointed to know that I ...