Faith & Life Inspirational Message

                 Many times I am convinced that so much of the spiritual journey is simply plugging along.   There are no lightening bolts of revelation.   There are not thunderclaps of amazement.   So many days look and feel pretty much like the day before.   There is nothing spectacular and nothing awful either.   It is not a rut, but it is routine.             The question is how the spiritual is to be lived out in the midst of our routine.   For most of us routine is how life comes to us---for the most part.   I do not lament this.   But I do need to be alert and discern where and how the Spirit is present.   We have to guard against the idea that if there is nothing new, I conclude somehow I blew it.             In such a place, I am glad to run into some words from Luke Timothy Johnson, well-known New Testament scholar from Emory University in Atlanta.   I encountered these words about hope and I laugh a bit.   “Why do I keep grading ‘C’ papers even when the

                 Recently, I had the occasion to travel back to the city where I used to live.   Ostensibly, the reason for the trip was to lead a memorial service for a long-time friend of mine.   Whenever I do a memorial service, or funeral as some call it, I am thrown into a “remembering mode.”   Probably everyone is.   Inevitably, when someone dies, we remember when we met them, what we did, what they said and the list goes on.   Even though I had known this guy for a long time and would claim to know him fairly well, we were not close in the way I am close to some folks in my life.               When I am asked to give some leadership to the memorial service, that adds a layer to the normal remembering process.   I begin to think thematically about the person’s life.   I like to talk with the family to see what they want to see happen in the hour service.   In this case, this family wanted some music---but no singing.   One of the songs they wanted played was t

             As Americans, we enter the Thanksgiving season.   Already people are wishing me a “happy Thanksgiving.”   I am delighted with that greeting.   And I would be delighted if someone next week wishes me a “happy Monday.”   But I guess Mondays are supposed to be normal…not so happy, not so awful.          I am not sure I do major holidays very well.   I am not against them.   They celebrate important events in national, religious, and often personal lives.   Thanksgiving is an American deal.   In Turkey it is just another weekday!   As an American, I welcome it.   And I hope it is happy.          I am confident one of the reasons I am not sure about major holidays is the trickiness of expectations.   For example, Thanksgiving is supposed to be “happy.”   Christmas is supposed to be “merry” and, of course, we return to the “happy” theme for New Years.   Clearly, for too many people there are too many lousy things going on to gear up to be “happy” and “merr

                 Most days I do not think too much about it.   But yesterday I became very aware of how many words I use.   That is not surprising, since I am still teaching.   And certainly we know that teaching entrails speaking, even though I never lecture to the students.   I could lecture, but that would prove nothing except that I could talk all the time.   If I am talking all the time, how could I know whether they are learning anything?             I do not spend every waking hour talking.   In fact I am essentially an introvert.   So I enjoy time by myself.   Solitude has never been a problem, especially since I have been an adult.   As a teenager, I am sure too much time by myself caused some anxiety.   But teenagers are anxious as a matter of course!   So I was probably no crazier than any other teenager.             I am curious how many words I use in one day?   I truly have no clue.   It has to be in the thousands of words.   I wish I had some kind o

                 I recently read an interesting interview about a woman who has just written a book on the people who claim to be spiritual but not religious.   Clearly this is today a prevalent phenomenon in our world.   It often is associated with the young people, but I think it is a mistake to assume they are all this way and that older people are, by and large, still religious in the traditional sense.   Things are much more up for grabs these days.             The person being interviewed, Linda Mercadante, teaches in a Methodist seminary.   I found her interview both fascinating and insightful.   No doubt that is partly true because a significant number of the students who are in my classrooms consistently claim they are spiritual but not religious.   I have explored that theme, but not in the depth that Mercadante has.   So let’s examine some of her findings.             There was one question that I thought was revealing.   The interviewer commented to Me

                 I’ve said it so many times, but every time it is true.   I like reading something that strikes my fancy and leaves me saying, “Yes, that’s exactly the way it is.”   I use words enough to think that most of the time I can answer almost any question.   And typically I could speak for five minutes on most subjects.   In fact, I try to teach students to listen to conversations or ask questions that always lead to new ideas.   “Make yourself an interesting participant in a conversation,” I tell them.             So it was when recently I was reading my local newspaper.   No doubt I am one of those dinosaurs who still likes to pick up a real paper and read it with a good cup of coffee.   That is my morning ritual.   I am sure it won’t be the same when all of the newspaper in the world either fold up and go out of business or are only available on line.   It will not be the same to grab a cup of coffee and beginning reading the paper online.   It is diffic

                 Although the title for this inspirational reflection comes from inside the text of a small article I read online, it was the title of that online article that lured me into reading.   I routinely read quite a few religious and spiritual websites just so I can be more aware of what’s going on in the world.   And it is literally in the world.   Once upon a time, you were current if you knew what was going on in your city or state.   Really “with it” people had a good national awareness.   When I was growing up, I don’t think I knew anyone who had been abroad.   In those days on the Indiana farm, to go to New York City or DC was tantamount to going abroad!             With the internet things have changed.   The world is as near as the click of the mouse.   So I try to follow the global news, particularly in the spiritual sense.   If I am dealing with students in my class who may live till 2100, I need to help them live with an awareness of the shrinki

                 A friend sent me an interesting article that I want to share some parts of it with you and a little commentary on it.   The article carried the intriguing title, “God is a Question, Not an Answer.”   The author, William Irwin, is a philosophy professor at a college at King’s College.   What I did not know was the phrase apparently comes from a fairly recent novel.   The novel is not important; what is important is the phrase that God is a question, not the answer.               Irwin offers his perspective within the first paragraph.   Irwin says that phrase resonates with him.   He comments, “The question is permanent; answers are temporary.   I live in the question.”   Some of us may laugh off this perspective by saying what else would you expect from a college philosophy teacher!   But that is too easy.   I don’t go as far as Irwin, but I do hold high regard for questions.   And no one who is an adult should say all answers are sacred and never c

Occasionally, I run into an idea or a passage which really grabs me.  It has the effect of finding a toy that you immediately have to play with!  I found one such passage today and it was actually penned by a friend of mine.  Parker Palmer has been a friend for at least thirty years.  I have appreciated his writings for that long.  And I don’t remember ever encountering these words. Actually, I was not even reading one of Palmer’s books.  Instead I am working my way through Krista Tippett’s book, Speaking of Faith.  Krista hosts the popular public radio program by that same name.  Her book is a lush country of personal religious stories and narratives by a variety of men and women whom she has met or about whom she has read. She describes her approach interviewing people as a “first-person” approach.  Soon thereafter, she comes to Parker Palmer’s one-liner.  She says, “The Quaker author Parker Palmer likens the nature of the soul to a wild animal deep in the woods of our psyche that if

The call to be verbal is not always welcome news to anyone who is shy and introverted!  Being verbal is about the last thing they hope to hear.  But it seems to me this is exactly what the spiritual journey asks each of us to do: to be verbal.  Let me explain. It makes most sense to begin the explanation with a reminder of what all us knows about grammar.  I had a good elementary teacher—although I am not sure I can recall her name or the grade---who taught me the basics of English grammar.  I remember her saying something to the effect that the main components of the sentence are nouns and verbs.  She is correct; complete sentences have at least one of each. If we generalize, we can understand most nouns having to do with a “state of being.”  If we say “cat,” we point to a group of animals---all of whom may be pretty different---that have in common “catness!”  Since I do not share their state of being (genetic code, etc.), I an not a “cat.” On the other hand, verbs are different.  The

I am sure I have written a few times about grace.  When I did some regular pastoral ministry, I told the congregation I only believed three or four things.  Everything I told them and tried to teach them would be variations on the three or four themes.  They always laughed, but it was more true than they thought.  One of the three or four themes I believe in is grace.  I am sure I have it as a central tenet of mine because I am still trying to learn more about it and, importantly, to practice it. You can imagine my delight when I spotted a headline of an article that read, “Practicing grace benefits other people and builds community.  It’s also the original self-care.”  I was compelled to read it.  The article was by Kirsten Powers, whom I do not know.  Within the article I saw a book entitled, Saving Grace , by her.  It is a book I plan to buy and read.  I also discovered that Powers is a senior political analyst for CNN, as well as a USA columnist.  I was intrigued by what she can te

I recently wrote about artificial intelligence.  I used thoughts from James Keenan’s article on lessons he learned from the fall 2021 Vatican symposium on artificial intelligence.  I did not even know the symposium was happening, so it was a welcome piece of news.  I also know that artificial intelligence is a burgeoning field of study, but I don’t know anything about it.  Like all things computer, it clearly is going to play a huge role in our lives and most of us won’t have a clue what’s going on.  That is a bit scary! I can quickly share the first three lessons Keenan learned---lessons I explored in my earlier piece.  He says, “First, the advances of artificial intelligence are staggeringly more rapid than anyone ever anticipated.”  His next point underscores the cross-disciplinary nature of this field of study.  Keenen affirms, “Second, the discourse on artificial intelligence is occurring within very different language games.”  The final point quoting from my own words tells us th