Faith & Life Inspirational Message

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 til...

One of the things I have come to value is the daily lectionary.   A lectionary is a schedule of readings used by many Christian traditions.   It is a useful tool for anyone looking to engage in some kind of daily or regular worship and reflection.   As a young Quaker, I had never heard the word, lectionary.   We never used that, although I was aware of a few people using the Upper Room devotional booklet, which was a similar idea.             I first encountered the lectionary with my Catholic and Episcopal friends I made when I went to college.   The lectionary always had some readings from the Bible, including readings from the Psalms.   Sometimes, these Biblical readings were augmented by a reading from a figure from Christian history or some more contemporary author.   The lectionary moved one through the liturgical year.   I realized the lectionary helped me avoid simply picking out ...

Last evening as I was doing the readings from the Benedictine lectionary for the Evening Prayer (called Compline), I was struck by one line.   It comes at the end of Psalm 16.   The Psalmist speaks to God, “You show me the path of life.” (16:11)   I appreciate the matter-of-factness in these words to God.   It is not a petition to God.   The Psalmist is not asking God to be shown the path of life.                When I read it closely, however, I see there are two possibilities.   One way to read this passage is to understand the Psalmist saying, in effect, “You have shown me the path…thank you.”   This would show me the Psalmist now knows the path and needs no more instruction or revelation.   The job now is to get on with it.   In some sense it now becomes an issue of obedience.   I know the path and now I have to walk it!        ...

Sometimes I wonder if I would make it as a monk!   Actually I don’t really wonder, because I am fairly sure I would blow it.   There is so much about being a monk that I find attractive.   But I fear that I idealize what being a monk means.   And that is funny, since I have been to any number of monasteries and convents and actually know quite a few monks and nuns.                If I am honest, what really attracts me is not being a monk, but it is the way of life that monks and nuns undertake.   That attraction is deepened by the fact that a group of them undertake that life together in community.   And they do that life together with such intentionality.   I am sure that intentionality is a big piece of the attraction for me and it is probably why I know I would blow it!   That is because intentionality has to be married to discipline to be effective.     ...

Labor Day has come and gone.   For most of us, it is nothing more than a national holiday.   I must admit that I don’t give it much thought.   It falls into the category of secular holidays.   Unlike Christmas and Easter, Labor Day does not have roots in any religious tradition.   Of course, both Christmas and Easter have their origins in the Christian tradition.   And those two certainly have come to play a huge secular role in our nation’s life.   They both have economic impacts that have huge implications for businesses.   The same cannot quite be said for Labor Day, although every store I am aware of seems to have a Labor Day sale!            Personally, it is not very special for me.   When I was a kid growing up on a farm, it was a great time to have three straight days to be involved in the harvesting.   But I don’t have much to do with corn and beans anymore, except to eat them...

A regular reader of this inspirational reflection series knows that one of my spiritual disciplines is to spend a little daily time with the lectionary.   A lectionary simply is a group of readings.   Lectio in Latin means to “read.”   The lectionary I follow comes from the world of Benedictine monks.   The traditional Benedictine monastery used to have seven periods during the day when the monks would gather for worship.   Most monasteries today have reduced this to four or five daily gatherings.      The lectionary readings have been chosen by representatives of the group.   Hence for the Benedictines they know every monastery across the land is reading the same set of readings at the same appointed gathering.   The Psalms play a central role in the lectionary.   Every Benedictine monastery would read from the Psalms at every gathering.   For one who grew up as a Quaker, this was a totally new experience.   As I have...

When I begin the day, I try to spend a little time in some devotions.   One of the things I like to do is use the lectionary---the daily readings---from the Benedictine monks.   I find some solace in knowing that what I am doing, every Benedictine monk and nun in this country and abroad is also doing.   It draws me into an invisible community of seriously devout people.   If I am not quite in the same place as they are, perhaps their influence can come my way.   They are good company to keep!   This morning I turned to the lectionary and the reading was from Psalm 24.   The opening line of that Psalm is engaging.   “ The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness…”   This certainly has the effect of putting me in my place.   The earth and everything on the earth and in the earth is the Lord’s.   Obviously I and you inhabit only the smallest part of the earth.   I can give you my address.   I can tell you where I live and wher...

I am a Benedictine oblate.   When I was a Quaker kid growing up in rural Indiana, I would not have known what either of those words means.   I am sure I never heard about “Benedictine.”   I would not have known they were monks.   If someone had told me that Benedictines were monks, I am not sure I would have really known what a monk was…or did! After too many years of school and a great deal of experience in the ecumenical and interfaith worlds, I know much about Benedictines and about monasteries.   Benedictines are monks (men and women) who follow the Rule of St. Benedict.   Benedict was an Italian Christian who lived in the late 5 th and early 6 th century.   It was a time of turmoil in the so-called “barbaric” period of the early middle ages.   The Roman Empire had fallen a century earlier.   All of Europe was politically, economically, and socially a mess.   Benedict wanted to find a way to practice his faith in a serious fashi...

Recently I was invited to speak to some people who were on a four-day spiritual retreat.   I welcome these kinds of invitations, because it guarantees that I am in the midst of folks who want to be there.   They are people who know they are on a journey and they are open to have people like me come into their midst and try to offer a thought or two to aid that journey.   I find it to be a humbling experience. I am on my own spiritual journey.   Sometimes, I think I have hardly made it out of kindergarten!   Most of us know the ups and downs of spiritual journeys.   They are anything but straight lines from beginning to perfection.   My own journey tends to go in fits and starts.   I make some progress and, then, fall back and need to start all over. I don’t think this is unusual.   So I don’t get down about the pace of the process.   After all, it is a lifetime journey.   I’m in no hurry! The good people who invited me to c...