Faith & Life Inspirational Message

I enjoy finding pithy or great summary statements.   I just found one in my favorite Quaker book.   Thomas Kelly wrote the popular Quaker book, A Testament of Devotion , which actually is a series of lectures.   Some of these come out of his experience of WWII.   Kelly spent some time in Germany watching Hitler come to power.   He returned to this country.   One of the chapters is entitled, “The Eternal Now and Social Concern.”   The core ideas were originally a lecture delivered to a gathering of German Quakers.             The summary statement embodies so much of what I have been taught when growing up as a Quaker.   Kelly writes that the central Quaker message affirms “The possibility of this experience of Divine Presence, as a repeatedly realized and present fact, and its transforming and transfiguring effect upon all life…”   If I can unpack this amazing sentence and understand i...

The concept of friendship has been an important one for quite a long time for me.   And I am sure the phenomenon of friendship has been important to me since I was in the first grade, at least, and probably even before then.   I have taught a few times a college class on spiritual friendship.   Every time I have done that, it has been a special occasion.   It seems that teaching a course on friendship creates a special opportunity for significant personal development among the students.   And fortunately, I am the beneficiary of that experience, too. I have studied the idea of friendship, so I probably know more about the history, the philosophy and theology of friendship than most people know.   I have valued the way Aristotle talks about different kinds of friendships.   I appreciate the way Cicero, right before the time of Jesus, developed some profound ways of understanding how friendships are formed and how they should be lived.   Friendsh...

As I have mentioned so many times, when serendipity comes my way, I am delighted.   I always feel so lucky when serendipity hits.   I feel good when I recognize that serendipity has just graced my life.   Sometimes I wonder how many times I miss something that is serendipitous, just because I failed to notice it?   This time serendipity came in the form of a John Lennon quotation.   I like John Lennon and the Beatles, but I was never a huge fan.   The quotation from Lennon did not even come from some music.   Instead it came rather innocently in some regular mailings that I receive.   Often I do not even read those things.   For whatever reason, this time I read it and Lennon’s words leaped out at me.   I am thankful.   I also am curious, so I did some research.   It seems that it is pretty dubious that Lennon ever said the words I am about to quote.   But I don’t care.   It is not important to me that they ...

If the first fundamental human question is “who am I,” surely the second question is “what should I do?”   In most cases these two questions are inextricably tied together.   What happens with one question affects the other one.   However, we can only talk about them one at a time, so this reflection piece gives focus to the question, what should I do?             The first thing to realize in this question is the focus goes on the verb.   In the other question, “who am I,” the focus was on the subject---on “who.”   But in this second question the focus clearly shines on the verb---“do.”   The implication is everyone should do something.   Not doing something is, in effect, doing something, i.e. doing nothing.   This tells me that human beings are essentially designed to be somebody and to do something.   The only questions are who am I as a somebody and what should I do, since I have ...

I am not surprised to see a new study out which links spirituality and health.   For quite a while, people have thought there was a connection between spirituality and health.   In fact for quite a long time, I have assumed there are a variety of ways to talk about health.   Normally, I think people mean physical health.   That is a given.   If someone asks if you are healthy, they typically mean physical.   Or if I call in “sick,” the boss is going to assume I have a fever, a cold or some other physical malady.        But we all know there are ways we talk about mental health.   Everyone would assume health is not limited to one’s physical state of being.   I can be perfectly healthy and not feel “well.”   Ask anyone who has bouts of depression.   He or she may be ok physically, but not at all up to engaging life.   I can be physically in tip-top shape and not want to get out of the bed in the mornin...

One of the books I use in a course on contemplative spirituality that I teach is by my friend and fellow Quaker, Parker Palmer.   Parker’s book, The Active Life , tries to describe what contemplative living looks like for the average person who will not join a monastery.   I like the subtitle of his book: A Spirituality of Work, Creativity, and Caring .     One of the chapters I like focuses on “action, failure, and suffering.”   It is a story about an angel who wants to alleviate suffering---an angel who tries to care.             Clearly all of us know there is suffering in our world.   No doubt many who read these inspirational pieces have known some personal suffering.   I don’t know whether suffering is necessary in life, but I am convinced it is inevitable.   Live long enough and you will suffer.   Something the angel needed to learn was sometimes suffering cannot be allevia...

While reading for an upcoming speech I have to give, I ran across a great quotation and some helpful reflection.   Although it was not inherently a spiritual message, it struck me that implicitly it was spiritual.   The one-liner comes from the well-known Peanut cartoonist, Charles Schulz.   He said, “Life is a ten-speed bike.   Most of us have gears we never use.” Obviously Schulz is using an analogy here.   Life is more complex than a bicycle.   But if we understand something about the bike, then we can gain some insight to life.   This is a time-honored way of approaching not only life, but also spirituality.   Use what you know to learn about what you may know less about.   Of course, most of us have ridden bicycles in our lifetime.   And you have to be pretty old to remember bikes that only had one gear!   Since I can recall those kinds of bikes, that is one more sign that age is creeping up on me.   At some point, t...

I cannot recall the first time I heard the term, double-belongers.   I probably did not even know what it meant.   It is not a term I see very much; I think it is still fairly rare, at least in the circles I spend time.   I have no idea whether it is a technical term in the theological world, but it does not matter.   It makes some sense to me, even though I am not sure that I am a double-belonger.             Fortunately I learned some time ago that I could learn a great deal from people who are not like me and from traditions that are not my own.   The person who introduced this term to me, Paul Knitter, was until recently a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.   I know Union.   In fact, when I was heading off to seminary, Union was one of the places I gave very serious consideration.   It was globally famous even in those days.   Before Union, Knitter taught for...

One of the things I know about myself is I prefer the routine and normal.   I hope this does not mean I am incapable of living in different kinds of times---special times and, perhaps, even crisis times.   I have had some of both, as would be natural for anyone my age.   But in the end, I prefer the normal and the routine.   Maybe that is because so much of life happens in that sphere.   However, special times do come at regular times.   There are the religious holidays. If you are Christian, the two big ones are Easter and Christmas.   If you are Jewish, there is Passover and Yom Kippur, which is the most important holy day.   Of course, Muslims, Hindus and other major traditions have their holidays, such as the Hindu Diwali.   As I write this, I realize a particular day can be a religious holiday for some tradition and just a normal day for another tradition.   I don’t know very many Christians who celebrate Diwali.   And th...

Sometimes I read something simply because of the person who wrote the piece.   It is typical for humans to have their preferences.   Some people like specific musical groups.   Others are drawn to particular artists.   I am a person who likes specific authors.   In fact, I have a number of favorite authors.   There are the obvious favorites like the late monk, Thomas Merton.   He is pretty famous, which means many people know him.   Another favorite of mine is Paul Knitter.   Knitter has just retired from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.   He is a long-time professor and scholar who is not as famous as folks like Merton.   But he has had a long, distinguished career shaping the   ways young folks think about life and their world. Knitter was one of the earlier people involved in the ecumenical and interfaith conversations.   When I say ecumenical, primarily I mean the interaction and dialogue among differen...

As I have mentioned so many times, when serendipity comes my way, I am delighted.   I always feel so lucky when serendipity hits.   I feel good when I recognize that serendipity has just graced my life.   Sometimes I wonder how many times I miss something that is serendipitous, just because I failed to notice it? This time serendipity came in the form of a John Lennon quotation.   I like John Lennon and the Beatles, but I was never a huge fan.   The quotation from Lennon did not even come from some music.   Instead it came rather innocently in some regular mailings that I receive.   Often I do not even read those things.   For whatever reason, this time I read it and Lennon’s words leaped out at me.   I am thankful. I also am curious, so I did some research.   It seems that it is pretty dubious that Lennon ever said the words I am about to quote.   But I don’t care.   It is not important to me that they be from him…or a...