Faith & Life Inspirational Message

I have not turned to David Brooks, New York Times columnist, for a while.  But I continue to read him and be helped with his insights.  He has been working on the idea of character, community and culture for some time now.  Much of his work lines up with the things I think about and which I write.  He is more famous! Brooks is one of those people who have a first-rate mind and has obviously leveraged a very good education with some deep life experience to be able to look at life and conclude things many of us would never discern.  It seems he has experienced the wonder of being pretty famous and realizing that is not ultimately the most satisfying thing in life.  I suspect this is what drives his desire to keep on and to keep thinking more deeply. In a recent column appropriately entitled, “Screw the Virus,” Brooks make an interesting distinction, which I would like to share and pursue.  In the first place he notes, “Judging from my social network, the...

There have been so many articles and opinions written about our time with the virus.  Some are too optimistic and show little realism.  Others spell doomsday for us and makes me wonder whether to get up another day.  I find that I am not reading much about them anymore and I am trying to fast from engaging the news all day long.  We know it will last longer than most people can imagine.  But that is true of most bad news.  It always is worse than we could have dreamed and it lasts longer---or the effects last longer. Recently, however, I spotted an article that piqued my attention.  It was entitled, “Covid-19 will change us as a species.”  Whoa, I thought, that is pretty serious and a big claim.  I was drawn to read it.  It was a piece in CNN written by Marcelo Gleiser, about whom I knew nothing.  With a little research, I found out he is Brazilian by birth and upbringing, but currently is a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dar...

It was an innocent conversation, but out of it came a gem for me.  The woman who was talking mentioned the word, stillness, as an afterthought.  But it became central for me and, therefore, the focus of some serious reflection.  That is it.  Sometimes the key is stillness…stillness of the spirit.  In some ways I am surprised I never thought about this before.  It is like all those things we come to know; after we know it, we can’t believe we did not figure it out much earlier!  I thought the same thing after I saw my first hula-hoop!  Why could I not have invented that…I could be rich! When I think about stillness, I am thinking about how I approach God or the Spirit.  I know there are many ways to do this---both within Christianity and in the various other non-Christian traditions.  But for me stillness is what works most predictably and, therefore, the best.  But first, let me contrast it with silence and solitude, the two c...

Every job has its drawbacks and down days.  That I am convinced is true.  Of course, some jobs have more drawbacks and down days than others.  I had a couple of those jobs as I worked my way through college.  I always knew they would not be forever, but in the midst of a job like this, it may seem interminable---it will never end! My current job as a college faculty person is actually quite a nice gig, as my friend says.  In my present context, I have freedom to do much as I like.  I realize this is a good deal and I have no complaints.  I accept that I have it quite good.  But even in a job like mine, there are days I find challenging. One of those days happened yesterday.  It was innocent enough.  I am involved in a teaching situation with some others in my little world.  They are quite nice and very supportive.  But sometimes the topic or subject matter is tricky.  It is often said of parties that one should not tal...

It actually happened.  I was driving the short distance today to my college campus.  I looked to my right and saw this guy walking along the sidewalk with a wooden cross!  It was not a mammoth cross like we often see in pictures and television.  It actually was a manageable cross, if you have to carry it very far.  The whole thing was simple: made from what I would guess were 1x1 wooden pieces.  The vertical piece of the cross was fairly long---I would guess at least six feet or more.  And the horizonal piece was perhaps four feet.  I could describe it as skinny, but sizeable.  However, he was carrying it with little labor.  It was flung over his shoulder. I was fascinated, as I sped by about 35 mph.  There was no sign.  I did not know who he was.  He looked to be perhaps mid-forties, slight build and walking with a purpose.  Obviously, it created many questions in my mind.  Who is he?  But then I stopped my...

There is no doubt during times of a pandemic---virus or otherwise---bad news and sad news dominate.  The news media spends non-stop hours talking about what is going wrong and pictures back up their claim that things are coming apart at the seams.  And for many of us, it seems to be correct.  And the signs are ominous.  People are suffering and dying.  Even though most people will not die, even those who get the virus will go through a period of suffering or, at least, discomfort.  Jobs are lost by the millions and the end of the story likely is not going to look like the beginning of the story. It is easy to get mad and depressed.  Those of a faith tradition might wonder where God is in all this stuff?  As one who teaches in this area, I recognize that to be a centuries-old question.  The Greeks had a fancy name for the problem---theodicy, which is, why does God allow suffering.  There are answers, but no definitive answers.  And m...

Usually I am hesitant to write about things like pain.  On one hand, it is more fun and popular to write about things like joy.  But there is always that other side of the coin.  Of course, most of us would prefer joy to pain.  But if we live long enough, we will get some pain in life.  There are many levels when we think about pain.  There is the obvious physical level.  Additionally, there is the psychological and spiritual.  No doubt, there can even be a corporate level and, even, societal.  In this reflection I want to deal with the physical and spiritual. I am prompted to think a little more deeply about this after reading the wonderful chapter in Barbara Brown Taylor’s 2009 book, An Altar in the World .  I use this in one of my spirituality classes and the students like it.  I suppose some of my colleagues would dismiss it as being too lightweight for academic considerations, but I figure pain is heavy enough!  And it cer...