Singing Along the Journey

Calling

Deep roots and remembrance…

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have an obsession with trees.  Wherever I go, I seek out the "local" tree -- that indigenous expression of what it takes to survive and thrive and have long life in that particular little piece of the planet.  I have countless pictures of giant sequoias, and yellow oak trees, and weeping willows, and red maples, and...well, you get the idea. I've just returned from a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM, and I had a chance to take some great pictures of cotton wood trees as I walked along the Paseo del Bosque, part of Albuquerque's great Open Space system.  Truth be told, I was surprised…
Read More

An arroyo is never the trail…

Last night, I enjoyed the Arena Stage production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, you know the one that ends with that big song about faith and hope, You Never Walk Alone.  And before that, I spent most of the day in the recording studio editing the final cut of my version of Walk with Me, an arrangement of the two traditional songs, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and We Must Walk This Lonesome Valley.  Methinks that I am thinking a lot about the road ahead, the path I walk, the path I am called to walk? A couple of weeks ago, I was in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, hiking.  That is not…
Read More

I will, with God’s help…

Seven years ago today, I was baptized into the community known as the Calvary Baptist Church.  Each year since then, on this date, I have taken time to reflect on that day and all that has followed, and generally, I've written something maybe meaningful, maybe...and shared it with all of you.  I really thought that I would let today pass without mention this year, but apparently that will not be the case. If there is any lesson that comes with living a few years, it is this -- that what we think to be constant and solid in our lives almost always proves to be as transitory as the dust…
Read More

Beyond my own walls…

It's Friday.  It's been another tough week in the world.  And I am sitting here, in a dorm room at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, getting ready to head out into the last day of an amazing conference for writers of all things spiritual, the Beyond Walls conference of the Kenyon Institute. The oddest thing happened at the beginning of the week was that people asked me, over and over again, a question that I had not considered at all myself -- why are you here?  It may not seem an odd question to you, but I had not thought about that question with the intensity with which it was asked…
Read More

Going plural…

I had never heard the phrase, until about a month ago.  And why would I?  Apparently it is a phrase that comes out of the Peter Drucker school of management theory -- not exactly my specialty.  There is even a consultancy manual to guide the executive towards diversification.  The friend who used the phrase in relationship to my life and the many and varied ways I am drawn in my life, said that they first heard it while travelling in Africa and believed it to be a cultural term, not a business one.  In my dreams, my research led me to anthropological tracts about the glorious of a natural, unsegmented…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

Onward…

Having spent most of my years as a communicator of some kind, words are important to me.  If you combine that life experience with a good ten years spent in a worship community in which the song that lead into prayer during worship went like this, Our thoughts our prayers And we are always praying Our thoughts our prayers Take charge of what you are saying Seek a higher consciousness A state of peacefulness And know that God is always there. And every thought becomes a prayer. and you have, well me -- someone who over and over again examines the use of words that many people assume have a…
Read More

The only thing we have to fear…

You know how that famous phrase offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  But after the last six months and more specifically, the last 6 weeks, of my life, I am no longer certain that I agree with our illustrious President. Fear, it turns out, is a natural, healthy human reaction, that when properly understood, can lead us to greater understanding and faith.  What we have to fear, most specifically, is our response to the fear we feel. I have been in recovery from a very serious heart operation these last weeks, an operation to repair a congenital defect that I…
Read More

Wherever two or more are gathered…

I read that quotation again this morning as I read Pastor Amy's amazing article about the importance of community in the new book Gathering Together:  Baptists at Work in Worship, but the truth is, I have been thinking about it for weeks and in particular these last few days.  Because right now I am in a unique position to testify to the power of  a community of worship. You see, on Sunday, as I attended what will be my last worship service for a while, people of my community gathered around me and sang songs and prayed over me and laid hands upon me and hugged me.  They cried with…
Read More

Let your light shine…

The opportunity to commemorate the day of Pentecost in Israel was an opportunity beyond my imagining.  Why?  Well, because I am one of those people who, if I could only attend church one day a year, would choose Pentecost over Easter and Christmas or almost any other day in the liturgical calendar.  So the chance to stand on the land of the peoples who gave birth to my faith, a faith that in many ways was really born this day -- well, that was a great gift.  And if you want to read about the events of the day, no one can tell you that story better than my friend…
Read More

Deep roots and remembrance…

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have an obsession with trees.  Wherever I go, I seek out the "local" tree -- that indigenous expression of what it takes to survive and thrive and have long life in that particular little piece of the planet.  I have countless pictures of giant sequoias, and yellow oak trees, and weeping willows, and red maples, and...well, you get the idea. I've just returned from a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM, and I had a chance to take some great pictures of cotton wood trees as I walked along the Paseo del Bosque, part of Albuquerque's great Open Space system.  Truth be told, I was surprised…
Read More

An arroyo is never the trail…

Last night, I enjoyed the Arena Stage production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, you know the one that ends with that big song about faith and hope, You Never Walk Alone.  And before that, I spent most of the day in the recording studio editing the final cut of my version of Walk with Me, an arrangement of the two traditional songs, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and We Must Walk This Lonesome Valley.  Methinks that I am thinking a lot about the road ahead, the path I walk, the path I am called to walk? A couple of weeks ago, I was in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, hiking.  That is not…
Read More

I will, with God’s help…

Seven years ago today, I was baptized into the community known as the Calvary Baptist Church.  Each year since then, on this date, I have taken time to reflect on that day and all that has followed, and generally, I've written something maybe meaningful, maybe...and shared it with all of you.  I really thought that I would let today pass without mention this year, but apparently that will not be the case. If there is any lesson that comes with living a few years, it is this -- that what we think to be constant and solid in our lives almost always proves to be as transitory as the dust…
Read More

Beyond my own walls…

It's Friday.  It's been another tough week in the world.  And I am sitting here, in a dorm room at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, getting ready to head out into the last day of an amazing conference for writers of all things spiritual, the Beyond Walls conference of the Kenyon Institute. The oddest thing happened at the beginning of the week was that people asked me, over and over again, a question that I had not considered at all myself -- why are you here?  It may not seem an odd question to you, but I had not thought about that question with the intensity with which it was asked…
Read More

Going plural…

I had never heard the phrase, until about a month ago.  And why would I?  Apparently it is a phrase that comes out of the Peter Drucker school of management theory -- not exactly my specialty.  There is even a consultancy manual to guide the executive towards diversification.  The friend who used the phrase in relationship to my life and the many and varied ways I am drawn in my life, said that they first heard it while travelling in Africa and believed it to be a cultural term, not a business one.  In my dreams, my research led me to anthropological tracts about the glorious of a natural, unsegmented…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

Onward…

Having spent most of my years as a communicator of some kind, words are important to me.  If you combine that life experience with a good ten years spent in a worship community in which the song that lead into prayer during worship went like this, Our thoughts our prayers And we are always praying Our thoughts our prayers Take charge of what you are saying Seek a higher consciousness A state of peacefulness And know that God is always there. And every thought becomes a prayer. and you have, well me -- someone who over and over again examines the use of words that many people assume have a…
Read More

The only thing we have to fear…

You know how that famous phrase offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  But after the last six months and more specifically, the last 6 weeks, of my life, I am no longer certain that I agree with our illustrious President. Fear, it turns out, is a natural, healthy human reaction, that when properly understood, can lead us to greater understanding and faith.  What we have to fear, most specifically, is our response to the fear we feel. I have been in recovery from a very serious heart operation these last weeks, an operation to repair a congenital defect that I…
Read More

Wherever two or more are gathered…

I read that quotation again this morning as I read Pastor Amy's amazing article about the importance of community in the new book Gathering Together:  Baptists at Work in Worship, but the truth is, I have been thinking about it for weeks and in particular these last few days.  Because right now I am in a unique position to testify to the power of  a community of worship. You see, on Sunday, as I attended what will be my last worship service for a while, people of my community gathered around me and sang songs and prayed over me and laid hands upon me and hugged me.  They cried with…
Read More

Let your light shine…

The opportunity to commemorate the day of Pentecost in Israel was an opportunity beyond my imagining.  Why?  Well, because I am one of those people who, if I could only attend church one day a year, would choose Pentecost over Easter and Christmas or almost any other day in the liturgical calendar.  So the chance to stand on the land of the peoples who gave birth to my faith, a faith that in many ways was really born this day -- well, that was a great gift.  And if you want to read about the events of the day, no one can tell you that story better than my friend…
Read More

Deep roots and remembrance…

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have an obsession with trees.  Wherever I go, I seek out the "local" tree -- that indigenous expression of what it takes to survive and thrive and have long life in that particular little piece of the planet.  I have countless pictures of giant sequoias, and yellow oak trees, and weeping willows, and red maples, and...well, you get the idea. I've just returned from a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM, and I had a chance to take some great pictures of cotton wood trees as I walked along the Paseo del Bosque, part of Albuquerque's great Open Space system.  Truth be told, I was surprised…
Read More

An arroyo is never the trail…

Last night, I enjoyed the Arena Stage production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, you know the one that ends with that big song about faith and hope, You Never Walk Alone.  And before that, I spent most of the day in the recording studio editing the final cut of my version of Walk with Me, an arrangement of the two traditional songs, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and We Must Walk This Lonesome Valley.  Methinks that I am thinking a lot about the road ahead, the path I walk, the path I am called to walk? A couple of weeks ago, I was in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, hiking.  That is not…
Read More

I will, with God’s help…

Seven years ago today, I was baptized into the community known as the Calvary Baptist Church.  Each year since then, on this date, I have taken time to reflect on that day and all that has followed, and generally, I've written something maybe meaningful, maybe...and shared it with all of you.  I really thought that I would let today pass without mention this year, but apparently that will not be the case. If there is any lesson that comes with living a few years, it is this -- that what we think to be constant and solid in our lives almost always proves to be as transitory as the dust…
Read More

Beyond my own walls…

It's Friday.  It's been another tough week in the world.  And I am sitting here, in a dorm room at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, getting ready to head out into the last day of an amazing conference for writers of all things spiritual, the Beyond Walls conference of the Kenyon Institute. The oddest thing happened at the beginning of the week was that people asked me, over and over again, a question that I had not considered at all myself -- why are you here?  It may not seem an odd question to you, but I had not thought about that question with the intensity with which it was asked…
Read More

Going plural…

I had never heard the phrase, until about a month ago.  And why would I?  Apparently it is a phrase that comes out of the Peter Drucker school of management theory -- not exactly my specialty.  There is even a consultancy manual to guide the executive towards diversification.  The friend who used the phrase in relationship to my life and the many and varied ways I am drawn in my life, said that they first heard it while travelling in Africa and believed it to be a cultural term, not a business one.  In my dreams, my research led me to anthropological tracts about the glorious of a natural, unsegmented…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

Onward…

Having spent most of my years as a communicator of some kind, words are important to me.  If you combine that life experience with a good ten years spent in a worship community in which the song that lead into prayer during worship went like this, Our thoughts our prayers And we are always praying Our thoughts our prayers Take charge of what you are saying Seek a higher consciousness A state of peacefulness And know that God is always there. And every thought becomes a prayer. and you have, well me -- someone who over and over again examines the use of words that many people assume have a…
Read More

The only thing we have to fear…

You know how that famous phrase offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  But after the last six months and more specifically, the last 6 weeks, of my life, I am no longer certain that I agree with our illustrious President. Fear, it turns out, is a natural, healthy human reaction, that when properly understood, can lead us to greater understanding and faith.  What we have to fear, most specifically, is our response to the fear we feel. I have been in recovery from a very serious heart operation these last weeks, an operation to repair a congenital defect that I…
Read More

Wherever two or more are gathered…

I read that quotation again this morning as I read Pastor Amy's amazing article about the importance of community in the new book Gathering Together:  Baptists at Work in Worship, but the truth is, I have been thinking about it for weeks and in particular these last few days.  Because right now I am in a unique position to testify to the power of  a community of worship. You see, on Sunday, as I attended what will be my last worship service for a while, people of my community gathered around me and sang songs and prayed over me and laid hands upon me and hugged me.  They cried with…
Read More

Let your light shine…

The opportunity to commemorate the day of Pentecost in Israel was an opportunity beyond my imagining.  Why?  Well, because I am one of those people who, if I could only attend church one day a year, would choose Pentecost over Easter and Christmas or almost any other day in the liturgical calendar.  So the chance to stand on the land of the peoples who gave birth to my faith, a faith that in many ways was really born this day -- well, that was a great gift.  And if you want to read about the events of the day, no one can tell you that story better than my friend…
Read More

Deep roots and remembrance…

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have an obsession with trees.  Wherever I go, I seek out the "local" tree -- that indigenous expression of what it takes to survive and thrive and have long life in that particular little piece of the planet.  I have countless pictures of giant sequoias, and yellow oak trees, and weeping willows, and red maples, and...well, you get the idea. I've just returned from a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM, and I had a chance to take some great pictures of cotton wood trees as I walked along the Paseo del Bosque, part of Albuquerque's great Open Space system.  Truth be told, I was surprised…
Read More

An arroyo is never the trail…

Last night, I enjoyed the Arena Stage production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, you know the one that ends with that big song about faith and hope, You Never Walk Alone.  And before that, I spent most of the day in the recording studio editing the final cut of my version of Walk with Me, an arrangement of the two traditional songs, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and We Must Walk This Lonesome Valley.  Methinks that I am thinking a lot about the road ahead, the path I walk, the path I am called to walk? A couple of weeks ago, I was in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, hiking.  That is not…
Read More

I will, with God’s help…

Seven years ago today, I was baptized into the community known as the Calvary Baptist Church.  Each year since then, on this date, I have taken time to reflect on that day and all that has followed, and generally, I've written something maybe meaningful, maybe...and shared it with all of you.  I really thought that I would let today pass without mention this year, but apparently that will not be the case. If there is any lesson that comes with living a few years, it is this -- that what we think to be constant and solid in our lives almost always proves to be as transitory as the dust…
Read More

Beyond my own walls…

It's Friday.  It's been another tough week in the world.  And I am sitting here, in a dorm room at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, getting ready to head out into the last day of an amazing conference for writers of all things spiritual, the Beyond Walls conference of the Kenyon Institute. The oddest thing happened at the beginning of the week was that people asked me, over and over again, a question that I had not considered at all myself -- why are you here?  It may not seem an odd question to you, but I had not thought about that question with the intensity with which it was asked…
Read More

Going plural…

I had never heard the phrase, until about a month ago.  And why would I?  Apparently it is a phrase that comes out of the Peter Drucker school of management theory -- not exactly my specialty.  There is even a consultancy manual to guide the executive towards diversification.  The friend who used the phrase in relationship to my life and the many and varied ways I am drawn in my life, said that they first heard it while travelling in Africa and believed it to be a cultural term, not a business one.  In my dreams, my research led me to anthropological tracts about the glorious of a natural, unsegmented…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

Onward…

Having spent most of my years as a communicator of some kind, words are important to me.  If you combine that life experience with a good ten years spent in a worship community in which the song that lead into prayer during worship went like this, Our thoughts our prayers And we are always praying Our thoughts our prayers Take charge of what you are saying Seek a higher consciousness A state of peacefulness And know that God is always there. And every thought becomes a prayer. and you have, well me -- someone who over and over again examines the use of words that many people assume have a…
Read More

The only thing we have to fear…

You know how that famous phrase offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  But after the last six months and more specifically, the last 6 weeks, of my life, I am no longer certain that I agree with our illustrious President. Fear, it turns out, is a natural, healthy human reaction, that when properly understood, can lead us to greater understanding and faith.  What we have to fear, most specifically, is our response to the fear we feel. I have been in recovery from a very serious heart operation these last weeks, an operation to repair a congenital defect that I…
Read More

Wherever two or more are gathered…

I read that quotation again this morning as I read Pastor Amy's amazing article about the importance of community in the new book Gathering Together:  Baptists at Work in Worship, but the truth is, I have been thinking about it for weeks and in particular these last few days.  Because right now I am in a unique position to testify to the power of  a community of worship. You see, on Sunday, as I attended what will be my last worship service for a while, people of my community gathered around me and sang songs and prayed over me and laid hands upon me and hugged me.  They cried with…
Read More

Let your light shine…

The opportunity to commemorate the day of Pentecost in Israel was an opportunity beyond my imagining.  Why?  Well, because I am one of those people who, if I could only attend church one day a year, would choose Pentecost over Easter and Christmas or almost any other day in the liturgical calendar.  So the chance to stand on the land of the peoples who gave birth to my faith, a faith that in many ways was really born this day -- well, that was a great gift.  And if you want to read about the events of the day, no one can tell you that story better than my friend…
Read More

Deep roots and remembrance…

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have an obsession with trees.  Wherever I go, I seek out the "local" tree -- that indigenous expression of what it takes to survive and thrive and have long life in that particular little piece of the planet.  I have countless pictures of giant sequoias, and yellow oak trees, and weeping willows, and red maples, and...well, you get the idea. I've just returned from a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM, and I had a chance to take some great pictures of cotton wood trees as I walked along the Paseo del Bosque, part of Albuquerque's great Open Space system.  Truth be told, I was surprised…
Read More

An arroyo is never the trail…

Last night, I enjoyed the Arena Stage production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, you know the one that ends with that big song about faith and hope, You Never Walk Alone.  And before that, I spent most of the day in the recording studio editing the final cut of my version of Walk with Me, an arrangement of the two traditional songs, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and We Must Walk This Lonesome Valley.  Methinks that I am thinking a lot about the road ahead, the path I walk, the path I am called to walk? A couple of weeks ago, I was in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, hiking.  That is not…
Read More

I will, with God’s help…

Seven years ago today, I was baptized into the community known as the Calvary Baptist Church.  Each year since then, on this date, I have taken time to reflect on that day and all that has followed, and generally, I've written something maybe meaningful, maybe...and shared it with all of you.  I really thought that I would let today pass without mention this year, but apparently that will not be the case. If there is any lesson that comes with living a few years, it is this -- that what we think to be constant and solid in our lives almost always proves to be as transitory as the dust…
Read More

Beyond my own walls…

It's Friday.  It's been another tough week in the world.  And I am sitting here, in a dorm room at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, getting ready to head out into the last day of an amazing conference for writers of all things spiritual, the Beyond Walls conference of the Kenyon Institute. The oddest thing happened at the beginning of the week was that people asked me, over and over again, a question that I had not considered at all myself -- why are you here?  It may not seem an odd question to you, but I had not thought about that question with the intensity with which it was asked…
Read More

Going plural…

I had never heard the phrase, until about a month ago.  And why would I?  Apparently it is a phrase that comes out of the Peter Drucker school of management theory -- not exactly my specialty.  There is even a consultancy manual to guide the executive towards diversification.  The friend who used the phrase in relationship to my life and the many and varied ways I am drawn in my life, said that they first heard it while travelling in Africa and believed it to be a cultural term, not a business one.  In my dreams, my research led me to anthropological tracts about the glorious of a natural, unsegmented…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

Onward…

Having spent most of my years as a communicator of some kind, words are important to me.  If you combine that life experience with a good ten years spent in a worship community in which the song that lead into prayer during worship went like this, Our thoughts our prayers And we are always praying Our thoughts our prayers Take charge of what you are saying Seek a higher consciousness A state of peacefulness And know that God is always there. And every thought becomes a prayer. and you have, well me -- someone who over and over again examines the use of words that many people assume have a…
Read More

The only thing we have to fear…

You know how that famous phrase offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  But after the last six months and more specifically, the last 6 weeks, of my life, I am no longer certain that I agree with our illustrious President. Fear, it turns out, is a natural, healthy human reaction, that when properly understood, can lead us to greater understanding and faith.  What we have to fear, most specifically, is our response to the fear we feel. I have been in recovery from a very serious heart operation these last weeks, an operation to repair a congenital defect that I…
Read More

Wherever two or more are gathered…

I read that quotation again this morning as I read Pastor Amy's amazing article about the importance of community in the new book Gathering Together:  Baptists at Work in Worship, but the truth is, I have been thinking about it for weeks and in particular these last few days.  Because right now I am in a unique position to testify to the power of  a community of worship. You see, on Sunday, as I attended what will be my last worship service for a while, people of my community gathered around me and sang songs and prayed over me and laid hands upon me and hugged me.  They cried with…
Read More

Let your light shine…

The opportunity to commemorate the day of Pentecost in Israel was an opportunity beyond my imagining.  Why?  Well, because I am one of those people who, if I could only attend church one day a year, would choose Pentecost over Easter and Christmas or almost any other day in the liturgical calendar.  So the chance to stand on the land of the peoples who gave birth to my faith, a faith that in many ways was really born this day -- well, that was a great gift.  And if you want to read about the events of the day, no one can tell you that story better than my friend…
Read More

Deep roots and remembrance…

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have an obsession with trees.  Wherever I go, I seek out the "local" tree -- that indigenous expression of what it takes to survive and thrive and have long life in that particular little piece of the planet.  I have countless pictures of giant sequoias, and yellow oak trees, and weeping willows, and red maples, and...well, you get the idea. I've just returned from a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM, and I had a chance to take some great pictures of cotton wood trees as I walked along the Paseo del Bosque, part of Albuquerque's great Open Space system.  Truth be told, I was surprised…
Read More

An arroyo is never the trail…

Last night, I enjoyed the Arena Stage production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, you know the one that ends with that big song about faith and hope, You Never Walk Alone.  And before that, I spent most of the day in the recording studio editing the final cut of my version of Walk with Me, an arrangement of the two traditional songs, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and We Must Walk This Lonesome Valley.  Methinks that I am thinking a lot about the road ahead, the path I walk, the path I am called to walk? A couple of weeks ago, I was in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, hiking.  That is not…
Read More

I will, with God’s help…

Seven years ago today, I was baptized into the community known as the Calvary Baptist Church.  Each year since then, on this date, I have taken time to reflect on that day and all that has followed, and generally, I've written something maybe meaningful, maybe...and shared it with all of you.  I really thought that I would let today pass without mention this year, but apparently that will not be the case. If there is any lesson that comes with living a few years, it is this -- that what we think to be constant and solid in our lives almost always proves to be as transitory as the dust…
Read More

Beyond my own walls…

It's Friday.  It's been another tough week in the world.  And I am sitting here, in a dorm room at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, getting ready to head out into the last day of an amazing conference for writers of all things spiritual, the Beyond Walls conference of the Kenyon Institute. The oddest thing happened at the beginning of the week was that people asked me, over and over again, a question that I had not considered at all myself -- why are you here?  It may not seem an odd question to you, but I had not thought about that question with the intensity with which it was asked…
Read More

Going plural…

I had never heard the phrase, until about a month ago.  And why would I?  Apparently it is a phrase that comes out of the Peter Drucker school of management theory -- not exactly my specialty.  There is even a consultancy manual to guide the executive towards diversification.  The friend who used the phrase in relationship to my life and the many and varied ways I am drawn in my life, said that they first heard it while travelling in Africa and believed it to be a cultural term, not a business one.  In my dreams, my research led me to anthropological tracts about the glorious of a natural, unsegmented…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

Onward…

Having spent most of my years as a communicator of some kind, words are important to me.  If you combine that life experience with a good ten years spent in a worship community in which the song that lead into prayer during worship went like this, Our thoughts our prayers And we are always praying Our thoughts our prayers Take charge of what you are saying Seek a higher consciousness A state of peacefulness And know that God is always there. And every thought becomes a prayer. and you have, well me -- someone who over and over again examines the use of words that many people assume have a…
Read More

The only thing we have to fear…

You know how that famous phrase offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  But after the last six months and more specifically, the last 6 weeks, of my life, I am no longer certain that I agree with our illustrious President. Fear, it turns out, is a natural, healthy human reaction, that when properly understood, can lead us to greater understanding and faith.  What we have to fear, most specifically, is our response to the fear we feel. I have been in recovery from a very serious heart operation these last weeks, an operation to repair a congenital defect that I…
Read More

Wherever two or more are gathered…

I read that quotation again this morning as I read Pastor Amy's amazing article about the importance of community in the new book Gathering Together:  Baptists at Work in Worship, but the truth is, I have been thinking about it for weeks and in particular these last few days.  Because right now I am in a unique position to testify to the power of  a community of worship. You see, on Sunday, as I attended what will be my last worship service for a while, people of my community gathered around me and sang songs and prayed over me and laid hands upon me and hugged me.  They cried with…
Read More

Let your light shine…

The opportunity to commemorate the day of Pentecost in Israel was an opportunity beyond my imagining.  Why?  Well, because I am one of those people who, if I could only attend church one day a year, would choose Pentecost over Easter and Christmas or almost any other day in the liturgical calendar.  So the chance to stand on the land of the peoples who gave birth to my faith, a faith that in many ways was really born this day -- well, that was a great gift.  And if you want to read about the events of the day, no one can tell you that story better than my friend…
Read More

Deep roots and remembrance…

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have an obsession with trees.  Wherever I go, I seek out the "local" tree -- that indigenous expression of what it takes to survive and thrive and have long life in that particular little piece of the planet.  I have countless pictures of giant sequoias, and yellow oak trees, and weeping willows, and red maples, and...well, you get the idea. I've just returned from a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM, and I had a chance to take some great pictures of cotton wood trees as I walked along the Paseo del Bosque, part of Albuquerque's great Open Space system.  Truth be told, I was surprised…
Read More

An arroyo is never the trail…

Last night, I enjoyed the Arena Stage production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, you know the one that ends with that big song about faith and hope, You Never Walk Alone.  And before that, I spent most of the day in the recording studio editing the final cut of my version of Walk with Me, an arrangement of the two traditional songs, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and We Must Walk This Lonesome Valley.  Methinks that I am thinking a lot about the road ahead, the path I walk, the path I am called to walk? A couple of weeks ago, I was in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, hiking.  That is not…
Read More

I will, with God’s help…

Seven years ago today, I was baptized into the community known as the Calvary Baptist Church.  Each year since then, on this date, I have taken time to reflect on that day and all that has followed, and generally, I've written something maybe meaningful, maybe...and shared it with all of you.  I really thought that I would let today pass without mention this year, but apparently that will not be the case. If there is any lesson that comes with living a few years, it is this -- that what we think to be constant and solid in our lives almost always proves to be as transitory as the dust…
Read More

Beyond my own walls…

It's Friday.  It's been another tough week in the world.  And I am sitting here, in a dorm room at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, getting ready to head out into the last day of an amazing conference for writers of all things spiritual, the Beyond Walls conference of the Kenyon Institute. The oddest thing happened at the beginning of the week was that people asked me, over and over again, a question that I had not considered at all myself -- why are you here?  It may not seem an odd question to you, but I had not thought about that question with the intensity with which it was asked…
Read More

Going plural…

I had never heard the phrase, until about a month ago.  And why would I?  Apparently it is a phrase that comes out of the Peter Drucker school of management theory -- not exactly my specialty.  There is even a consultancy manual to guide the executive towards diversification.  The friend who used the phrase in relationship to my life and the many and varied ways I am drawn in my life, said that they first heard it while travelling in Africa and believed it to be a cultural term, not a business one.  In my dreams, my research led me to anthropological tracts about the glorious of a natural, unsegmented…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

Onward…

Having spent most of my years as a communicator of some kind, words are important to me.  If you combine that life experience with a good ten years spent in a worship community in which the song that lead into prayer during worship went like this, Our thoughts our prayers And we are always praying Our thoughts our prayers Take charge of what you are saying Seek a higher consciousness A state of peacefulness And know that God is always there. And every thought becomes a prayer. and you have, well me -- someone who over and over again examines the use of words that many people assume have a…
Read More

The only thing we have to fear…

You know how that famous phrase offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  But after the last six months and more specifically, the last 6 weeks, of my life, I am no longer certain that I agree with our illustrious President. Fear, it turns out, is a natural, healthy human reaction, that when properly understood, can lead us to greater understanding and faith.  What we have to fear, most specifically, is our response to the fear we feel. I have been in recovery from a very serious heart operation these last weeks, an operation to repair a congenital defect that I…
Read More

Wherever two or more are gathered…

I read that quotation again this morning as I read Pastor Amy's amazing article about the importance of community in the new book Gathering Together:  Baptists at Work in Worship, but the truth is, I have been thinking about it for weeks and in particular these last few days.  Because right now I am in a unique position to testify to the power of  a community of worship. You see, on Sunday, as I attended what will be my last worship service for a while, people of my community gathered around me and sang songs and prayed over me and laid hands upon me and hugged me.  They cried with…
Read More

Let your light shine…

The opportunity to commemorate the day of Pentecost in Israel was an opportunity beyond my imagining.  Why?  Well, because I am one of those people who, if I could only attend church one day a year, would choose Pentecost over Easter and Christmas or almost any other day in the liturgical calendar.  So the chance to stand on the land of the peoples who gave birth to my faith, a faith that in many ways was really born this day -- well, that was a great gift.  And if you want to read about the events of the day, no one can tell you that story better than my friend…
Read More

Deep roots and remembrance…

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have an obsession with trees.  Wherever I go, I seek out the "local" tree -- that indigenous expression of what it takes to survive and thrive and have long life in that particular little piece of the planet.  I have countless pictures of giant sequoias, and yellow oak trees, and weeping willows, and red maples, and...well, you get the idea. I've just returned from a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM, and I had a chance to take some great pictures of cotton wood trees as I walked along the Paseo del Bosque, part of Albuquerque's great Open Space system.  Truth be told, I was surprised…
Read More

An arroyo is never the trail…

Last night, I enjoyed the Arena Stage production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, you know the one that ends with that big song about faith and hope, You Never Walk Alone.  And before that, I spent most of the day in the recording studio editing the final cut of my version of Walk with Me, an arrangement of the two traditional songs, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and We Must Walk This Lonesome Valley.  Methinks that I am thinking a lot about the road ahead, the path I walk, the path I am called to walk? A couple of weeks ago, I was in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, hiking.  That is not…
Read More

I will, with God’s help…

Seven years ago today, I was baptized into the community known as the Calvary Baptist Church.  Each year since then, on this date, I have taken time to reflect on that day and all that has followed, and generally, I've written something maybe meaningful, maybe...and shared it with all of you.  I really thought that I would let today pass without mention this year, but apparently that will not be the case. If there is any lesson that comes with living a few years, it is this -- that what we think to be constant and solid in our lives almost always proves to be as transitory as the dust…
Read More

Beyond my own walls…

It's Friday.  It's been another tough week in the world.  And I am sitting here, in a dorm room at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, getting ready to head out into the last day of an amazing conference for writers of all things spiritual, the Beyond Walls conference of the Kenyon Institute. The oddest thing happened at the beginning of the week was that people asked me, over and over again, a question that I had not considered at all myself -- why are you here?  It may not seem an odd question to you, but I had not thought about that question with the intensity with which it was asked…
Read More

Going plural…

I had never heard the phrase, until about a month ago.  And why would I?  Apparently it is a phrase that comes out of the Peter Drucker school of management theory -- not exactly my specialty.  There is even a consultancy manual to guide the executive towards diversification.  The friend who used the phrase in relationship to my life and the many and varied ways I am drawn in my life, said that they first heard it while travelling in Africa and believed it to be a cultural term, not a business one.  In my dreams, my research led me to anthropological tracts about the glorious of a natural, unsegmented…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

Onward…

Having spent most of my years as a communicator of some kind, words are important to me.  If you combine that life experience with a good ten years spent in a worship community in which the song that lead into prayer during worship went like this, Our thoughts our prayers And we are always praying Our thoughts our prayers Take charge of what you are saying Seek a higher consciousness A state of peacefulness And know that God is always there. And every thought becomes a prayer. and you have, well me -- someone who over and over again examines the use of words that many people assume have a…
Read More

The only thing we have to fear…

You know how that famous phrase offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  But after the last six months and more specifically, the last 6 weeks, of my life, I am no longer certain that I agree with our illustrious President. Fear, it turns out, is a natural, healthy human reaction, that when properly understood, can lead us to greater understanding and faith.  What we have to fear, most specifically, is our response to the fear we feel. I have been in recovery from a very serious heart operation these last weeks, an operation to repair a congenital defect that I…
Read More

Wherever two or more are gathered…

I read that quotation again this morning as I read Pastor Amy's amazing article about the importance of community in the new book Gathering Together:  Baptists at Work in Worship, but the truth is, I have been thinking about it for weeks and in particular these last few days.  Because right now I am in a unique position to testify to the power of  a community of worship. You see, on Sunday, as I attended what will be my last worship service for a while, people of my community gathered around me and sang songs and prayed over me and laid hands upon me and hugged me.  They cried with…
Read More

Let your light shine…

The opportunity to commemorate the day of Pentecost in Israel was an opportunity beyond my imagining.  Why?  Well, because I am one of those people who, if I could only attend church one day a year, would choose Pentecost over Easter and Christmas or almost any other day in the liturgical calendar.  So the chance to stand on the land of the peoples who gave birth to my faith, a faith that in many ways was really born this day -- well, that was a great gift.  And if you want to read about the events of the day, no one can tell you that story better than my friend…
Read More

Deep roots and remembrance…

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have an obsession with trees.  Wherever I go, I seek out the "local" tree -- that indigenous expression of what it takes to survive and thrive and have long life in that particular little piece of the planet.  I have countless pictures of giant sequoias, and yellow oak trees, and weeping willows, and red maples, and...well, you get the idea. I've just returned from a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM, and I had a chance to take some great pictures of cotton wood trees as I walked along the Paseo del Bosque, part of Albuquerque's great Open Space system.  Truth be told, I was surprised…
Read More

An arroyo is never the trail…

Last night, I enjoyed the Arena Stage production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, you know the one that ends with that big song about faith and hope, You Never Walk Alone.  And before that, I spent most of the day in the recording studio editing the final cut of my version of Walk with Me, an arrangement of the two traditional songs, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and We Must Walk This Lonesome Valley.  Methinks that I am thinking a lot about the road ahead, the path I walk, the path I am called to walk? A couple of weeks ago, I was in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, hiking.  That is not…
Read More

I will, with God’s help…

Seven years ago today, I was baptized into the community known as the Calvary Baptist Church.  Each year since then, on this date, I have taken time to reflect on that day and all that has followed, and generally, I've written something maybe meaningful, maybe...and shared it with all of you.  I really thought that I would let today pass without mention this year, but apparently that will not be the case. If there is any lesson that comes with living a few years, it is this -- that what we think to be constant and solid in our lives almost always proves to be as transitory as the dust…
Read More

Beyond my own walls…

It's Friday.  It's been another tough week in the world.  And I am sitting here, in a dorm room at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, getting ready to head out into the last day of an amazing conference for writers of all things spiritual, the Beyond Walls conference of the Kenyon Institute. The oddest thing happened at the beginning of the week was that people asked me, over and over again, a question that I had not considered at all myself -- why are you here?  It may not seem an odd question to you, but I had not thought about that question with the intensity with which it was asked…
Read More

Going plural…

I had never heard the phrase, until about a month ago.  And why would I?  Apparently it is a phrase that comes out of the Peter Drucker school of management theory -- not exactly my specialty.  There is even a consultancy manual to guide the executive towards diversification.  The friend who used the phrase in relationship to my life and the many and varied ways I am drawn in my life, said that they first heard it while travelling in Africa and believed it to be a cultural term, not a business one.  In my dreams, my research led me to anthropological tracts about the glorious of a natural, unsegmented…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

Onward…

Having spent most of my years as a communicator of some kind, words are important to me.  If you combine that life experience with a good ten years spent in a worship community in which the song that lead into prayer during worship went like this, Our thoughts our prayers And we are always praying Our thoughts our prayers Take charge of what you are saying Seek a higher consciousness A state of peacefulness And know that God is always there. And every thought becomes a prayer. and you have, well me -- someone who over and over again examines the use of words that many people assume have a…
Read More

The only thing we have to fear…

You know how that famous phrase offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  But after the last six months and more specifically, the last 6 weeks, of my life, I am no longer certain that I agree with our illustrious President. Fear, it turns out, is a natural, healthy human reaction, that when properly understood, can lead us to greater understanding and faith.  What we have to fear, most specifically, is our response to the fear we feel. I have been in recovery from a very serious heart operation these last weeks, an operation to repair a congenital defect that I…
Read More

Wherever two or more are gathered…

I read that quotation again this morning as I read Pastor Amy's amazing article about the importance of community in the new book Gathering Together:  Baptists at Work in Worship, but the truth is, I have been thinking about it for weeks and in particular these last few days.  Because right now I am in a unique position to testify to the power of  a community of worship. You see, on Sunday, as I attended what will be my last worship service for a while, people of my community gathered around me and sang songs and prayed over me and laid hands upon me and hugged me.  They cried with…
Read More

Let your light shine…

The opportunity to commemorate the day of Pentecost in Israel was an opportunity beyond my imagining.  Why?  Well, because I am one of those people who, if I could only attend church one day a year, would choose Pentecost over Easter and Christmas or almost any other day in the liturgical calendar.  So the chance to stand on the land of the peoples who gave birth to my faith, a faith that in many ways was really born this day -- well, that was a great gift.  And if you want to read about the events of the day, no one can tell you that story better than my friend…
Read More

Deep roots and remembrance…

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have an obsession with trees.  Wherever I go, I seek out the "local" tree -- that indigenous expression of what it takes to survive and thrive and have long life in that particular little piece of the planet.  I have countless pictures of giant sequoias, and yellow oak trees, and weeping willows, and red maples, and...well, you get the idea. I've just returned from a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM, and I had a chance to take some great pictures of cotton wood trees as I walked along the Paseo del Bosque, part of Albuquerque's great Open Space system.  Truth be told, I was surprised…
Read More

An arroyo is never the trail…

Last night, I enjoyed the Arena Stage production of Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, you know the one that ends with that big song about faith and hope, You Never Walk Alone.  And before that, I spent most of the day in the recording studio editing the final cut of my version of Walk with Me, an arrangement of the two traditional songs, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me and We Must Walk This Lonesome Valley.  Methinks that I am thinking a lot about the road ahead, the path I walk, the path I am called to walk? A couple of weeks ago, I was in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, hiking.  That is not…
Read More

I will, with God’s help…

Seven years ago today, I was baptized into the community known as the Calvary Baptist Church.  Each year since then, on this date, I have taken time to reflect on that day and all that has followed, and generally, I've written something maybe meaningful, maybe...and shared it with all of you.  I really thought that I would let today pass without mention this year, but apparently that will not be the case. If there is any lesson that comes with living a few years, it is this -- that what we think to be constant and solid in our lives almost always proves to be as transitory as the dust…
Read More

Beyond my own walls…

It's Friday.  It's been another tough week in the world.  And I am sitting here, in a dorm room at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, getting ready to head out into the last day of an amazing conference for writers of all things spiritual, the Beyond Walls conference of the Kenyon Institute. The oddest thing happened at the beginning of the week was that people asked me, over and over again, a question that I had not considered at all myself -- why are you here?  It may not seem an odd question to you, but I had not thought about that question with the intensity with which it was asked…
Read More

Going plural…

I had never heard the phrase, until about a month ago.  And why would I?  Apparently it is a phrase that comes out of the Peter Drucker school of management theory -- not exactly my specialty.  There is even a consultancy manual to guide the executive towards diversification.  The friend who used the phrase in relationship to my life and the many and varied ways I am drawn in my life, said that they first heard it while travelling in Africa and believed it to be a cultural term, not a business one.  In my dreams, my research led me to anthropological tracts about the glorious of a natural, unsegmented…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

Onward…

Having spent most of my years as a communicator of some kind, words are important to me.  If you combine that life experience with a good ten years spent in a worship community in which the song that lead into prayer during worship went like this, Our thoughts our prayers And we are always praying Our thoughts our prayers Take charge of what you are saying Seek a higher consciousness A state of peacefulness And know that God is always there. And every thought becomes a prayer. and you have, well me -- someone who over and over again examines the use of words that many people assume have a…
Read More

The only thing we have to fear…

You know how that famous phrase offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ends...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  But after the last six months and more specifically, the last 6 weeks, of my life, I am no longer certain that I agree with our illustrious President. Fear, it turns out, is a natural, healthy human reaction, that when properly understood, can lead us to greater understanding and faith.  What we have to fear, most specifically, is our response to the fear we feel. I have been in recovery from a very serious heart operation these last weeks, an operation to repair a congenital defect that I…
Read More

Wherever two or more are gathered…

I read that quotation again this morning as I read Pastor Amy's amazing article about the importance of community in the new book Gathering Together:  Baptists at Work in Worship, but the truth is, I have been thinking about it for weeks and in particular these last few days.  Because right now I am in a unique position to testify to the power of  a community of worship. You see, on Sunday, as I attended what will be my last worship service for a while, people of my community gathered around me and sang songs and prayed over me and laid hands upon me and hugged me.  They cried with…
Read More

Let your light shine…

The opportunity to commemorate the day of Pentecost in Israel was an opportunity beyond my imagining.  Why?  Well, because I am one of those people who, if I could only attend church one day a year, would choose Pentecost over Easter and Christmas or almost any other day in the liturgical calendar.  So the chance to stand on the land of the peoples who gave birth to my faith, a faith that in many ways was really born this day -- well, that was a great gift.  And if you want to read about the events of the day, no one can tell you that story better than my friend…
Read More