Faith & Life Inspirational Message

Recently I heard a friend use a phrase that deeply struck me.   I don’t actually remember the context and I don’t remember anything else he said.   But that phrase lingered long after I heard it.   It really was a phrase---not even a sentence.   The phrase simply says, “to make heaven on earth.”   Since I have no clue what he was talking about, I am going to make the phrase my own and develop it in ways that make sense to me.             I am going to take it in two contexts.   One context is overtly spiritual.   The other context is to use it as a phrase that makes some sense, but actually has nothing to do with religion or spirituality.   This might be the way you would hear the phrase in contemporary culture, much like swearing might use God-language, but have no real reference to God.               The first way this phrase ...

Recently I had the occasion to return to some readings that I did long ago.   Because of an article I am writing, I needed to go back to my Quaker roots for some ideas and Quaker way of putting those ideas.   I returned to one of my favorite Quakers of last century, Douglas Steere.   I knew Douglas as an acquaintance, but not well enough to call a friend.   He was a long-time professor of philosophy at Haverford College in the Philadelphia area.     In some ways Douglas Steere became a role model for me.   He was one of those seasoned veterans who come along early in one’s career.   Douglas was an academic---a good academic.   But he also was a man of the Spirit and a man of the world.   Douglas was involved in the ecumenical movement long before most of us knew what the word meant.   He read Catholic literature, much of which today we would talk about as the Catholic spiritual literature.   He chose to spend a month in a ...

I am working my way through a book now that is quite challenging and very rewarding.  Fortunately, I am reading it along with a group that I lead.  The folks in the group are great troupers.  They are plugging along with me.  They are not complaining---no whining!  I fear if I were using it in a normal college class, there would be some grumpiness about how “hard” it is.  The book is by Christian Wiman and is entitled, My Bright Abyss .  The subtitle is revealing: Meditation of a Modern Believer .             I don’t know Wiman and have to confess that I had not even heard of him.  He is a poet.  He also is a lecturer in religion and literature at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music.  He has been editor of Poetry magazine, which one publication calls “the oldest and most esteemed poetry monthly in the world.”  Wiman was born in 1966 and as a relatively young man of thirty-n...

It is hard for me to imagine anyone seeing the three words that form the title of this reflection---peaceful, happy and strong---not wanting a share in all three.   Can you believe anyone would say, “Nah, I prefer war to peace.   I prefer conflict to peace!”   Can you imagine anyone saying, “I much rather prefer sadness and despair to happiness!”   And it is just as difficult to hear someone saying, “Heck, I’d much rather be weak and hurting than be strong.”   Anyone in his or her right mind wants to be peaceful, happy and strong.            The real question is not whether I prefer these attributes, but how do I get them?   Is there anything I or we can do to make them come true?   Or do we simply have to wait, sit back and hope to become peaceful, happy and strong?   The good news is, there are some things we can do to bring peace, happiness and strength to ourselves and to others.  ...

Much of the time I get material from the things I read.   But sometimes I hear interesting things.   Such was the case yesterday.   I was with a group of people whom I very much like.   They are gracious.   They are warm and quite hospitable.   I like to sit back and watch them do what seems very natural.   I long ago concluded that people who live in the Spirit do what comes natural to the Spirit.   I think people of the Spirit naturally begin to focus on others, rather than themselves.   People of the Spirit know the first thing you do is to welcome the other.   They do this even if the “other” is stranger.   I am sure they see a stranger who has not yet become a friend.   That is a neat way of looking at the world.   It certainly is a way of peace making. It is a way that begins in trust and hopes for the best.   Some would call this naïve.   The bolder critics would call it stupid!   It is naïve an...

If you glanced at the title of this, it might make very little sense.   Many folks would know the word, agency, but have no idea what it actually means.   We would know the word, agent, and assume they are related---which they are.   Agency means the capacity to do something---to get something done.   It requires some power to pull off the task.             The idea for this inspirational message came when I read a recent editorial by David Brooks.   While I do not always agree with Brooks, I find him incredibly thoughtful and articulate.   He writes about philosophical and spiritual things and writes for an audience that would not always be eager to read such things.   He is an astute observer of human nature and our communities.   The title of the recent editorial was “The Agency Moment.”   I began reading that column with interest and with no guess what he was going to do.  ...

I try to follow various people I respect to see what kinds of things they are doing with regards to spirituality.   One of the people I respect is Richard Rohr.   While I don’t agree with everything he writes, I find his Franciscan spirit resonates with my Quaker spirit.   He and I are about the same age, so it makes it easy to understand some of his concerns and issues.   Neither one of us deals with teenage problems any more!             He has the ability to look at a common issue and see it in a way I might not ever look at it.   Perhaps some of that is due to our different backgrounds and experience.   I recall Rohr talks some about growing up in Kansas.   That might not be too different than growing up in rural Indiana.   But he also talks about his caring German, Roman Catholic family.   My family certainly was caring enough.   I have no complaints on that score.   But...

Yesterday I wrote about the beautiful day.   Obviously that day is gone.   I have memories of the day, its beauty, and how much I enjoyed it.   But it exists only in memory.   That does not make it any less real.   But it is not present.   Today is a new and different day.   And it, too, will disappear with the night and give way to tomorrow.   Such is the running of chronos ---Greek word for chronology or time. However, I cannot get my mind off beauty.   That’s ok.   I don’t know as much about beauty as I do about other things.   I have much to learn about beauty.   I want to learn how to sense it more deeply.   I want to learn how to appreciate it more profoundly .   I want to be moved by it.   I am sure there is something significantly spiritual about beauty that I don’t yet grasp. In my attempt to grasp more significantly that spiritual aspect of beauty, I was reminded of some writing that appeared year...

That phrase, “desire for peace,” resonated with me as I was reading the first sentence of an article about peace.   It appeared in a new journal series I am reading to figure out whether it would be a useful addition to some of my teaching.   By and large, I have not found the articles very helpful, so I admit that I may not have been reading some new stuff with much expectation of good results.   And I recognize that may not be a very good approach to new reading material or, perhaps, to life. Not only was the phrase a good one, but also the entire first sentence was arresting.   The sentence reads, “The desire for peace is a holy longing.”   I realized I had stopped after reading that sentence and re-read it.   That was my clue that something had resonated.   Usually I read along fairly quickly.   I am confident we can read, take in information and not be affected by what we are learning.   Reading the phrase inside this sentence was di...