Faith & Life Inspirational Message

                   Memorial Day---or better, yet, Memorial Day weekend---is a complex holiday.   That does not make it anything less than other major holidays; it is just different.   It seems that the federal holiday has its origins right after the Civil War.   It was an opportunity to remember those Union soldiers who had died in that cause.   Gradually, the “remembering” expanded to include all the men and women who had died in the service of their country.             Earlier it often was called Decoration Day.   I heard this term most of the time when I was growing up in rural Indiana.   I understood it as the time when the old people went to the cemeteries to “decorate” with flowers the graves of their family and friends.   I knew it had some military association, but by my lifetime, the holiday again had expanded to include everyone who had already passed away.   But it was more complex than that.             For many people Memorial Day celebrates the begi

                 The title for this inspirational piece comes from the title of a wonderful article by Thomas Ryan I recently encountered.   Ryan is a Catholic who lives in Sydney, Australia and teaches in a university there.   I do not know him, but would welcome a trip to Australia and a chance to meet and be in conversation with him.   In the meantime, I will simply share some of the insights I gleaned from the article.             I was attracted to the article because the focus of Ryan’s work is the amazing book by the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold.   I remember reading this book a long time ago.   Revisiting it reminded me it was published after Hammarskjold’s untimely death in a plane crash in Africa in 1961.   I am tempted to pull the book off the shelf and read it again.               Ryan explores the spirituality of Hammarskjold and demonstrates how that spirituality informed his life and action.   One of the things Ry

                 I have been intrigued by the idea of rebooting the mission.   The idea came when I reflected from the resignation of people and the chance the next person, for example when the Roman Church to elects a new Pope.   But the idea of rebooting the mission is more comprehensive than the Catholic Church.   I think it applies to all of us in the Christian tradition.   And perhaps, it is even more widespread than that.             As I have given it some thought, the first thing that came to my mind was the opportunity---maybe, the need---to repackage the message.   This has been an ongoing obligation for spiritual leaders throughout the centuries.   The heart of the gospel must be presented in lucid, understandable ways to the culture in which it is proclaimed.   It does no good to proclaim a transforming message in fourth century language to a scientific, pluralistic, global 21 st world.   The message is affected by the medium.             As I thought

                 I read a recent transcript of the interview of the Jesuit, Greg Boyle, by Kristi Tippett.   Tippett does a masterful job of finding interesting people and eliciting some wonderful insights from these folks.   Greg Boyle never disappoints.   Boyle is well-known for his work with gangs in Los Angeles.   He has been doing it for some time now, so it is not a publicity stunt.   He is known for helping the Homeboy Industries project get started.   It is a gang rehabilitation effort and a means to reintegrate them into society.   He is the author of the book, Tattoos on the Heart .             We get a sense of Boyle’s spirit in his answer to the question why he joined the Jesuits.   He said “ they were always this combo burger of absolute hilarity and joy, and the most fun people to be around.   And they were prophetic.”   This would be good enough for me, too!   Who does not want to hang out with people who are hilarious, joyous and have fun!   No doubt

                 A spiritual theological giant has died.   Rosemary Radford Reuther lived 85 amazing, creative years.   Doubtlessly, she is one of the most prominent theologians in the last half century.   She was popular in the sense of being very well-known---a scholar on the global scale.   Ruether was popular in the sense that huge numbers of folks within the Catholic Church, the Christian Church and the interfaith tradition have been influenced by her thought.   And she was popular in the sense that many people were put off by her theology and her faith claims for life.   She was a divisive person because she was willing to take a stand and to work for change in her own faith tradition and in her own country.               I cannot claim Ruether as a friend.   I have met her and been with her on occasion.   She was an exquisite scholar whose primary focus in graduate school was also my focus.   She was trained in the classics as an undergrad and had a graduate

                 The title for today’s inspiration is a modification of an interesting article I have read.   I cannot honestly say I understand it all.   The title is “Untangling the Brain: From Neuron to Mind.”   The first line of the article gives you the context.   “Modern neuroscience rests on the assumption that our thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and behaviors emerge from electrical and chemical communication between brain cells…”   This is really comprehensive.   Thoughts, feelings, behaviors are all caused by the electrical and chemical firing between my cells.             So, when I say, “I love you,” BANG, a bunch of cells electrically and chemically zealously fire, causing this feeling, which became a thought and is uttered with those three words.   What I mean to say, I should add, is “that my cells were set afire electrically chemically causing me to realize how deeply I am connected to you”            And yet when I use these thoughts from the arti

                 Most days when I go to work, I realize how lucky I am.   In fact I resonate with the person who first understand that if you enjoy what you are doing, it does not feel like work.   Most of why I like what I do is because it involves significant time with young adults---college students.   It is an exciting time for so many of them as they are transitioning from being a child at home to a young adult testing out their independence and figuring out the kind of person they want to be.             It is a joy to be involved with so many of them as they engage some aspect of spirituality.   Many of them sign up for a class with me, not so much because they want to focus on spirituality.   Honestly, most of them take a class because it counts for some kind of requirement.   In a sense they conclude I am the best of a bad thing!   Or just as likely, they like the time of the day when the class is offered.             But that does not concern me.   For d

                 I did have a fancier title in mind, but was not sure anyone would actually read it.   I wanted to say we find profundity in the quotidian.   However, I know if I used that Latin-rooted word, it is likely many readers would have no clue what it means.   Unlike a classroom setting where I know students would not have a clue, I cannot pursue someone online and say something like, “wait a minute…quotidian simply means daily.”   I like to teach college students new words, but again when we are online, you don’t have that chance.             In fact, the real point is not a fancy Latin word.   The real point is to learn that there are places where we are likely to find or encounter profundity.   It is expected that we would find normalcy in our daily lives.   That is probably one meaning of daily.   Daily is what we normally would do or normally would think.   More than likely, we don’t expect to find profundity in the daily.   Somehow, we think profundit

            It is inevitable if you live longer enough, you learn things you never thought you would learn or even be interested in learning.  That has happened to me with regularity.  If we are lucky, we get to spend much of our time doing things we want to do.  Perhaps this is one definition of freedom.  In this sense I have been quite free.  Other than a couple jobs during college, I have had some freedom in choice of work, where to work and even more.  At least, I know I have been fortunate and am grateful.           One of the things I assumed I had little interest in and assumed I did not want to learn about was business.  I respected folks who went into business.  Growing up on a farm meant, in some fashion, we were our own business.  I learned that you had to make more money than you spent or you were in trouble.  I learned the basics and could have been a farmer and made it ok.  But I was called elsewhere.           During the process of a great deal of religious studies, stud

          Joan Chittister, my favorite Benedictine nun, whom I have not met, always writes something I find insightful.   Chittister is a part of the fairly large Benedictine monastery in Erie, PA.   I have been there.   In fact, I was invited a few years ago to speak to what turned out to be a rather large gathering of religious sisters and some community folk.   Immediately, I thought of Vatican II and how that changed the religious landscape of the 1960s.   Before the wonderful church council convened by Pope John XXIII, no Quaker would have been invited into a monastic setting to share with the nuns.               Chittister wrote a piece on why people join monasteries.   On one hand, this issue should be of no concern for a Quaker.   We don’t have monasteries and most Quakers probably have no clue why anyone would want to be part of a monastic community.   On the other hand, I appreciate knowing about monasticism, becoming friends with quite a few religious women and men and lea