Faith & Life Inspirational Message

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...

What a trio of words we have in the title of this inspirational essay.   Work, creativity, and caring are all weighty words alone.   But together they are heavyweights!   These words come packaged in the last paragraph of the book, The Active Life , by my friend, Parker Palmer.   This is a book I have used in class, as well as the Soul Work group I lead on campus.   In essence, it is a book, which tries to teach us who are involved in the active life how to be contemplatives.   To those of us in the active life, it always seems easier to think about becoming a contemplative---that is, living life from the perspective of contemplation---if we could run off and join a monastery.   But obviously, most of us are not going to do that.             So I appreciate Palmer’s effort to show me how, as I live an active life on campus, to live my life contemplatively.   This is where that last paragrap...

We anticipate another Labor Day for yet another year.   As holidays go, it is one of the least important for me.   Maybe it is because I grew up on a dairy farm, so Labor Day was pointless; we still milked the cows twice that day just like any other day!   But clearly, it is special in many ways for many people.   And I am always intrigued by the history of a special day.   Labor Day was declared a national holiday in 1894 by President Grover Cleveland.   The traditional day of celebration apparently was chosen by some unions in New York.   Since I have spent some time abroad, I know the traditional global day of celebrating labor is May 1.   Sometimes these international days of celebration can lead to political protest and disruptions.   It seems President Cleveland was concerned about that, so he wanted to avoid that May date.   So the first Monday in September was a safer alternative.   There are typical associations with ...

Recently I read an interesting article that basically told me what I already knew.   The article focused on the happiness theme.   That is not surprising, since happiness is an “in thing” these days.   There are many studies that attempt to show us what happiness is, how to be happy and how to make it last.   I have said many times that I am certainly for happiness.   It is hard for me to imagine anyone saying, “No, I prefer being unhappy!”       The article was helpful as a reminder.   And it put together some important information for me to share with you.   I am convinced that happiness is not always a spiritual issue, but it can be a spiritual issue.   Personally, I am not sure that happiness should be a spiritual goal, but I am certain that happiness as a byproduct of spiritual goals is a good thing.            The author of the article, Ramesh Ponnuru, works in ...