Faith & Life Inspirational Message

A couple months ago I spent some time with a group of students in the process of discussing various careers.   Part of what was at stake was helping them think about this before they graduate.   Too often a college student thinks that a particular major leads to a special job.   Sometimes this is true.   But more often than not, there is no direct corollary between our major in college and the careers we wind up pursuing.             I am certainly not against a student choosing a major in college.   As a matter of fact, most colleges require that major to graduate.   What I do want to question is the assumption that certain majors lead to certain careers.   It is more involved than that.   And perhaps there are times when luck has a role to play.   What did happen in the discussion provoked me to start thinking about the whole phenomenon.        ...

Recently I have been doing some background research for a paper that I have agreed to write.   The paper offers a comparative look at my favorite monk, Thomas Merton, and the Quaker perspective on contemplative spirituality.   Certainly, Merton thought and wrote quite a bit about contemplation.   In fact, his monastery in Kentucky is rightly called a contemplative monastery.   Without going into a full explanation of contemplation, let it simply be understood here as a way of trying to live life in the Presence of God.             Quakers historically have not used the language of contemplation.   That meant that I would not have know much about the topic and would probably have answered negatively, if I had been asked whether Quakers were contemplative.   Now I would say that Quakers share much of what contemplation means without using the term or the normal contemplative language.   I had j...

As a graduate of a couple schools, I get my share of alumni magazines.  Additionally, I get the magazines from some of my two girls’ various universities.  Rather than toss these, I am actually intrigued by what the different universities are offering for my reading.  Clearly in the case of my two girls, I was not the intended audience.  But I am interested in what some of the nation’s best schools want their alums to read.             In my own case I clearly am the targeted audience.  Certainly the Divinity School I attended is assuming people like me are reading this material.  I am old enough now and far enough away from the intellectual epicenters, I am not on the cutting edge of religious scholarship.  I am ok with that.  I appreciate scholarship, but also find times when the scholarship is too far out there---too arcane---for the kind of ministry I am doing.  I also am reminde...

If you are reading this, you too have survived last year and now are living in a new year!   If you participate in the media in any form, from reading newspapers to watching tv, you have become aware of a flood of statistics.   There are countless stories about last year.   I have become aware of the ten most brilliant-this and the ten dumbest-that.   As one who watches sports, I have watched the most amazing-this and the most disappointing-that.   Already coaches are losing jobs because of their involvement in some kind of “disappointing-that.”   As I write this, two professional football coaches have been fired.   I can’t imagine what they will do without their million dollar salaries!   As an assistant coach next year, they may have to scrape by with half that! The other annual fascination of mine as last year gives way to a new year is the making of resolutions.   Two staples of the new year are greeting everyone you meet with the p...

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!        ...

When we hear the phrase, “do over,” it probably conjures up some kind of mistake that we hope to rectify.   That happens to me often when I play golf.   I’ll hit a shot that goes astray and very much want a do over!   I am sure we can think of any number of times in our lives when we did something and either got a do over---or wished we could have one.   So it is not unusual to associate that phrase with negativity. While that may be typical, it does not always have to be the case.   A do over can be anything we did once and, for whatever reason, we want to do it again.   I can think of many instances in which I sincerely wanted a do over.   Who would not want a do over of a very pleasant experience or a very positive outcome? This came to my mind recently when I was gathering some information for a public presentation I have to make in a few weeks.   The topic given to me made me think of a book I read a few years ago.   The book b...