Singing Along the Journey

General

A room for things that just don’t fit in other categories.

The strangest story of all…

I will admit that when I began the committment to read from Orbis Books Bread and Wine (2003), I skipped ahead a bit and read all the poetry.  At the beginning of Lent, the poem I've quoted here really didn't make much sense to me.  I'm not a person who is often moved by poetry (which you might find strange since I spend a good deal of my life singing various forms of poetry), but this morning in the early hours as I sat with me tea, relaxing that last few precious minutes before the rush of Easter Sunday was upon me, this poem meant a great deal to me. …
Read More

Time to testify once more…

The last thing that I should be doing is sitting at the computer writing, but I have to eat my sandwich and drink my last cup of tea before tonight's performance anyway, so here it goes. I have written before that Lent as a season has been a very different experience for me than in past years.  And, as I approach our remembrance of Good Friday this difference continues.  For the five years before tonight, each Good Friday, we have offered a Good Friday concert...sacred music meant to guide worship or to simply inspire, depending on your beliefs.  Most of the pieces have been Baroque or Classical in compositional style,…
Read More

The Promise of the Passion

Yes, it is Holy Week.  Yes, it is a week of rehearsing and praying and worshipping and making a lot of music for me. And yes, since it is Holy Week, it is time for our 6th (can you believe it), Music for Good Friday program.  This year, we are performing Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), premiered in 1755.  If you are interested, below are the program notes for this Friday's performance. The Music for Good Friday program, which has been so gratefully housed and supported by my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, has been a workshop for me in so many ways -- a chance…
Read More

That precocious child…

There is nothing to bring on a little journey of introspection like being trapped in the house while a new roof is installed, particularly if you live in a flat roof row house like ours (where the last four attempts at fixing the roof were installed one on top of the other).  Real work is pretty much impossible with the tap-tap-pound-pound-rip sounds that have been over my head all day. But I did have a few minutes (between ka-thumps) to put a few pieces of a puzzle together, a puzzle that has been increasingly worrisome to me for the past couple of months.  Most of what I figured out I'll keep…
Read More

Unfolding, defined…

Today, I'm branching out a little bit...I've had the opportunity to read Dr. David G. Benner's book, Spirituality and the Awakening Self (2012) as a participant in the Patheos Book Club.  In return for receiving a copy of the book, I've agreed to share my impressions of the work and to let Patheos include a link to my thoughts.   To those who have not found my blog before, welcome.  And now, my humble thoughts on Dr. Benner's latest volume. For most of my life, I have struggled with the ideas of spiritual formation, change, transformation, awakening, and mysticism -- I struggled with these concepts and their place in my life and  in…
Read More

Those little God moments…

For the past 48 hours, I have been in Atlanta attending a conference called "The Singing Church," sponsored by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  In these past 48 hours, I have sung more church music than I ever imagined possible, I have experienced more different types of liturgy than I imagined existed, and I have had a chance to listen to and meet some people whose books have guided my thoughts and my learning and my transformation over the past three years. I have participated in five separate worship services, sung to guitar, piano, organ, drum, and hung (Korean string instrument that is a little like a…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

My Lenten book report…

One of my favorite things to do on vacation, particularly on a beach vacation, is to read.  Usually, I devote my uninterrupted book time to things I would not read at home (usually because I don't have time), but on this vacation, I didn't start the mystery novels until the last day...somehow I was inspired by the call during our Ash Wednesday service to embrace the act of study as a spiritual discipline and so I devoted my first precious reading hours of vacation to finishing up some long-in-process readables. Only after 4 days, when my brain and spirit were overstuffed like a big Thanksgiving turkey did I give in and pick up…
Read More

Star light, star bright…

I'll admit it.  I just returned from a much-needed-but-all-too-short-vacation in Mexico.  My biggest decisions during those few blissful days were "what book to read next" and "what restaurant do we choose tonight".  The weather was beautiful, etc., etc. and so forth. Now, I would not describe myself as a science nerd or even someone who pays much attention to the science news.  And, since the end of my days as a new-age-spirituality-guru, I haven't continued to cast charts (yes, that is correct, I did for a while cast horoscope charts...I'm kind of a hands-on type when it comes to any spiritual exploration), so I really haven't kept up with the…
Read More

We’ve come this far by faith…

It has been over a week now since we had our annual re-committment Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church.  I love that Sunday because we always do some small action to make the act of re-committment tangible:  somehow, we are asked to come forward again and make ourselves known to the community of faith.  In case you don't know, the act of "coming forward" is very important in the Baptist tradition;  and it is a physical manifestation of committment that speaks to me.  In fact, on many Sundays it is all I can do to stay in my seat, the call to stand and be counted is so compelling. Our…
Read More

The strangest story of all…

I will admit that when I began the committment to read from Orbis Books Bread and Wine (2003), I skipped ahead a bit and read all the poetry.  At the beginning of Lent, the poem I've quoted here really didn't make much sense to me.  I'm not a person who is often moved by poetry (which you might find strange since I spend a good deal of my life singing various forms of poetry), but this morning in the early hours as I sat with me tea, relaxing that last few precious minutes before the rush of Easter Sunday was upon me, this poem meant a great deal to me. …
Read More

Time to testify once more…

The last thing that I should be doing is sitting at the computer writing, but I have to eat my sandwich and drink my last cup of tea before tonight's performance anyway, so here it goes. I have written before that Lent as a season has been a very different experience for me than in past years.  And, as I approach our remembrance of Good Friday this difference continues.  For the five years before tonight, each Good Friday, we have offered a Good Friday concert...sacred music meant to guide worship or to simply inspire, depending on your beliefs.  Most of the pieces have been Baroque or Classical in compositional style,…
Read More

The Promise of the Passion

Yes, it is Holy Week.  Yes, it is a week of rehearsing and praying and worshipping and making a lot of music for me. And yes, since it is Holy Week, it is time for our 6th (can you believe it), Music for Good Friday program.  This year, we are performing Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), premiered in 1755.  If you are interested, below are the program notes for this Friday's performance. The Music for Good Friday program, which has been so gratefully housed and supported by my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, has been a workshop for me in so many ways -- a chance…
Read More

That precocious child…

There is nothing to bring on a little journey of introspection like being trapped in the house while a new roof is installed, particularly if you live in a flat roof row house like ours (where the last four attempts at fixing the roof were installed one on top of the other).  Real work is pretty much impossible with the tap-tap-pound-pound-rip sounds that have been over my head all day. But I did have a few minutes (between ka-thumps) to put a few pieces of a puzzle together, a puzzle that has been increasingly worrisome to me for the past couple of months.  Most of what I figured out I'll keep…
Read More

Unfolding, defined…

Today, I'm branching out a little bit...I've had the opportunity to read Dr. David G. Benner's book, Spirituality and the Awakening Self (2012) as a participant in the Patheos Book Club.  In return for receiving a copy of the book, I've agreed to share my impressions of the work and to let Patheos include a link to my thoughts.   To those who have not found my blog before, welcome.  And now, my humble thoughts on Dr. Benner's latest volume. For most of my life, I have struggled with the ideas of spiritual formation, change, transformation, awakening, and mysticism -- I struggled with these concepts and their place in my life and  in…
Read More

Those little God moments…

For the past 48 hours, I have been in Atlanta attending a conference called "The Singing Church," sponsored by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  In these past 48 hours, I have sung more church music than I ever imagined possible, I have experienced more different types of liturgy than I imagined existed, and I have had a chance to listen to and meet some people whose books have guided my thoughts and my learning and my transformation over the past three years. I have participated in five separate worship services, sung to guitar, piano, organ, drum, and hung (Korean string instrument that is a little like a…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

My Lenten book report…

One of my favorite things to do on vacation, particularly on a beach vacation, is to read.  Usually, I devote my uninterrupted book time to things I would not read at home (usually because I don't have time), but on this vacation, I didn't start the mystery novels until the last day...somehow I was inspired by the call during our Ash Wednesday service to embrace the act of study as a spiritual discipline and so I devoted my first precious reading hours of vacation to finishing up some long-in-process readables. Only after 4 days, when my brain and spirit were overstuffed like a big Thanksgiving turkey did I give in and pick up…
Read More

Star light, star bright…

I'll admit it.  I just returned from a much-needed-but-all-too-short-vacation in Mexico.  My biggest decisions during those few blissful days were "what book to read next" and "what restaurant do we choose tonight".  The weather was beautiful, etc., etc. and so forth. Now, I would not describe myself as a science nerd or even someone who pays much attention to the science news.  And, since the end of my days as a new-age-spirituality-guru, I haven't continued to cast charts (yes, that is correct, I did for a while cast horoscope charts...I'm kind of a hands-on type when it comes to any spiritual exploration), so I really haven't kept up with the…
Read More

We’ve come this far by faith…

It has been over a week now since we had our annual re-committment Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church.  I love that Sunday because we always do some small action to make the act of re-committment tangible:  somehow, we are asked to come forward again and make ourselves known to the community of faith.  In case you don't know, the act of "coming forward" is very important in the Baptist tradition;  and it is a physical manifestation of committment that speaks to me.  In fact, on many Sundays it is all I can do to stay in my seat, the call to stand and be counted is so compelling. Our…
Read More

The strangest story of all…

I will admit that when I began the committment to read from Orbis Books Bread and Wine (2003), I skipped ahead a bit and read all the poetry.  At the beginning of Lent, the poem I've quoted here really didn't make much sense to me.  I'm not a person who is often moved by poetry (which you might find strange since I spend a good deal of my life singing various forms of poetry), but this morning in the early hours as I sat with me tea, relaxing that last few precious minutes before the rush of Easter Sunday was upon me, this poem meant a great deal to me. …
Read More

Time to testify once more…

The last thing that I should be doing is sitting at the computer writing, but I have to eat my sandwich and drink my last cup of tea before tonight's performance anyway, so here it goes. I have written before that Lent as a season has been a very different experience for me than in past years.  And, as I approach our remembrance of Good Friday this difference continues.  For the five years before tonight, each Good Friday, we have offered a Good Friday concert...sacred music meant to guide worship or to simply inspire, depending on your beliefs.  Most of the pieces have been Baroque or Classical in compositional style,…
Read More

The Promise of the Passion

Yes, it is Holy Week.  Yes, it is a week of rehearsing and praying and worshipping and making a lot of music for me. And yes, since it is Holy Week, it is time for our 6th (can you believe it), Music for Good Friday program.  This year, we are performing Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), premiered in 1755.  If you are interested, below are the program notes for this Friday's performance. The Music for Good Friday program, which has been so gratefully housed and supported by my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, has been a workshop for me in so many ways -- a chance…
Read More

That precocious child…

There is nothing to bring on a little journey of introspection like being trapped in the house while a new roof is installed, particularly if you live in a flat roof row house like ours (where the last four attempts at fixing the roof were installed one on top of the other).  Real work is pretty much impossible with the tap-tap-pound-pound-rip sounds that have been over my head all day. But I did have a few minutes (between ka-thumps) to put a few pieces of a puzzle together, a puzzle that has been increasingly worrisome to me for the past couple of months.  Most of what I figured out I'll keep…
Read More

Unfolding, defined…

Today, I'm branching out a little bit...I've had the opportunity to read Dr. David G. Benner's book, Spirituality and the Awakening Self (2012) as a participant in the Patheos Book Club.  In return for receiving a copy of the book, I've agreed to share my impressions of the work and to let Patheos include a link to my thoughts.   To those who have not found my blog before, welcome.  And now, my humble thoughts on Dr. Benner's latest volume. For most of my life, I have struggled with the ideas of spiritual formation, change, transformation, awakening, and mysticism -- I struggled with these concepts and their place in my life and  in…
Read More

Those little God moments…

For the past 48 hours, I have been in Atlanta attending a conference called "The Singing Church," sponsored by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  In these past 48 hours, I have sung more church music than I ever imagined possible, I have experienced more different types of liturgy than I imagined existed, and I have had a chance to listen to and meet some people whose books have guided my thoughts and my learning and my transformation over the past three years. I have participated in five separate worship services, sung to guitar, piano, organ, drum, and hung (Korean string instrument that is a little like a…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

My Lenten book report…

One of my favorite things to do on vacation, particularly on a beach vacation, is to read.  Usually, I devote my uninterrupted book time to things I would not read at home (usually because I don't have time), but on this vacation, I didn't start the mystery novels until the last day...somehow I was inspired by the call during our Ash Wednesday service to embrace the act of study as a spiritual discipline and so I devoted my first precious reading hours of vacation to finishing up some long-in-process readables. Only after 4 days, when my brain and spirit were overstuffed like a big Thanksgiving turkey did I give in and pick up…
Read More

Star light, star bright…

I'll admit it.  I just returned from a much-needed-but-all-too-short-vacation in Mexico.  My biggest decisions during those few blissful days were "what book to read next" and "what restaurant do we choose tonight".  The weather was beautiful, etc., etc. and so forth. Now, I would not describe myself as a science nerd or even someone who pays much attention to the science news.  And, since the end of my days as a new-age-spirituality-guru, I haven't continued to cast charts (yes, that is correct, I did for a while cast horoscope charts...I'm kind of a hands-on type when it comes to any spiritual exploration), so I really haven't kept up with the…
Read More

We’ve come this far by faith…

It has been over a week now since we had our annual re-committment Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church.  I love that Sunday because we always do some small action to make the act of re-committment tangible:  somehow, we are asked to come forward again and make ourselves known to the community of faith.  In case you don't know, the act of "coming forward" is very important in the Baptist tradition;  and it is a physical manifestation of committment that speaks to me.  In fact, on many Sundays it is all I can do to stay in my seat, the call to stand and be counted is so compelling. Our…
Read More

The strangest story of all…

I will admit that when I began the committment to read from Orbis Books Bread and Wine (2003), I skipped ahead a bit and read all the poetry.  At the beginning of Lent, the poem I've quoted here really didn't make much sense to me.  I'm not a person who is often moved by poetry (which you might find strange since I spend a good deal of my life singing various forms of poetry), but this morning in the early hours as I sat with me tea, relaxing that last few precious minutes before the rush of Easter Sunday was upon me, this poem meant a great deal to me. …
Read More

Time to testify once more…

The last thing that I should be doing is sitting at the computer writing, but I have to eat my sandwich and drink my last cup of tea before tonight's performance anyway, so here it goes. I have written before that Lent as a season has been a very different experience for me than in past years.  And, as I approach our remembrance of Good Friday this difference continues.  For the five years before tonight, each Good Friday, we have offered a Good Friday concert...sacred music meant to guide worship or to simply inspire, depending on your beliefs.  Most of the pieces have been Baroque or Classical in compositional style,…
Read More

The Promise of the Passion

Yes, it is Holy Week.  Yes, it is a week of rehearsing and praying and worshipping and making a lot of music for me. And yes, since it is Holy Week, it is time for our 6th (can you believe it), Music for Good Friday program.  This year, we are performing Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), premiered in 1755.  If you are interested, below are the program notes for this Friday's performance. The Music for Good Friday program, which has been so gratefully housed and supported by my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, has been a workshop for me in so many ways -- a chance…
Read More

That precocious child…

There is nothing to bring on a little journey of introspection like being trapped in the house while a new roof is installed, particularly if you live in a flat roof row house like ours (where the last four attempts at fixing the roof were installed one on top of the other).  Real work is pretty much impossible with the tap-tap-pound-pound-rip sounds that have been over my head all day. But I did have a few minutes (between ka-thumps) to put a few pieces of a puzzle together, a puzzle that has been increasingly worrisome to me for the past couple of months.  Most of what I figured out I'll keep…
Read More

Unfolding, defined…

Today, I'm branching out a little bit...I've had the opportunity to read Dr. David G. Benner's book, Spirituality and the Awakening Self (2012) as a participant in the Patheos Book Club.  In return for receiving a copy of the book, I've agreed to share my impressions of the work and to let Patheos include a link to my thoughts.   To those who have not found my blog before, welcome.  And now, my humble thoughts on Dr. Benner's latest volume. For most of my life, I have struggled with the ideas of spiritual formation, change, transformation, awakening, and mysticism -- I struggled with these concepts and their place in my life and  in…
Read More

Those little God moments…

For the past 48 hours, I have been in Atlanta attending a conference called "The Singing Church," sponsored by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  In these past 48 hours, I have sung more church music than I ever imagined possible, I have experienced more different types of liturgy than I imagined existed, and I have had a chance to listen to and meet some people whose books have guided my thoughts and my learning and my transformation over the past three years. I have participated in five separate worship services, sung to guitar, piano, organ, drum, and hung (Korean string instrument that is a little like a…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

My Lenten book report…

One of my favorite things to do on vacation, particularly on a beach vacation, is to read.  Usually, I devote my uninterrupted book time to things I would not read at home (usually because I don't have time), but on this vacation, I didn't start the mystery novels until the last day...somehow I was inspired by the call during our Ash Wednesday service to embrace the act of study as a spiritual discipline and so I devoted my first precious reading hours of vacation to finishing up some long-in-process readables. Only after 4 days, when my brain and spirit were overstuffed like a big Thanksgiving turkey did I give in and pick up…
Read More

Star light, star bright…

I'll admit it.  I just returned from a much-needed-but-all-too-short-vacation in Mexico.  My biggest decisions during those few blissful days were "what book to read next" and "what restaurant do we choose tonight".  The weather was beautiful, etc., etc. and so forth. Now, I would not describe myself as a science nerd or even someone who pays much attention to the science news.  And, since the end of my days as a new-age-spirituality-guru, I haven't continued to cast charts (yes, that is correct, I did for a while cast horoscope charts...I'm kind of a hands-on type when it comes to any spiritual exploration), so I really haven't kept up with the…
Read More

We’ve come this far by faith…

It has been over a week now since we had our annual re-committment Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church.  I love that Sunday because we always do some small action to make the act of re-committment tangible:  somehow, we are asked to come forward again and make ourselves known to the community of faith.  In case you don't know, the act of "coming forward" is very important in the Baptist tradition;  and it is a physical manifestation of committment that speaks to me.  In fact, on many Sundays it is all I can do to stay in my seat, the call to stand and be counted is so compelling. Our…
Read More

The strangest story of all…

I will admit that when I began the committment to read from Orbis Books Bread and Wine (2003), I skipped ahead a bit and read all the poetry.  At the beginning of Lent, the poem I've quoted here really didn't make much sense to me.  I'm not a person who is often moved by poetry (which you might find strange since I spend a good deal of my life singing various forms of poetry), but this morning in the early hours as I sat with me tea, relaxing that last few precious minutes before the rush of Easter Sunday was upon me, this poem meant a great deal to me. …
Read More

Time to testify once more…

The last thing that I should be doing is sitting at the computer writing, but I have to eat my sandwich and drink my last cup of tea before tonight's performance anyway, so here it goes. I have written before that Lent as a season has been a very different experience for me than in past years.  And, as I approach our remembrance of Good Friday this difference continues.  For the five years before tonight, each Good Friday, we have offered a Good Friday concert...sacred music meant to guide worship or to simply inspire, depending on your beliefs.  Most of the pieces have been Baroque or Classical in compositional style,…
Read More

The Promise of the Passion

Yes, it is Holy Week.  Yes, it is a week of rehearsing and praying and worshipping and making a lot of music for me. And yes, since it is Holy Week, it is time for our 6th (can you believe it), Music for Good Friday program.  This year, we are performing Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), premiered in 1755.  If you are interested, below are the program notes for this Friday's performance. The Music for Good Friday program, which has been so gratefully housed and supported by my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, has been a workshop for me in so many ways -- a chance…
Read More

That precocious child…

There is nothing to bring on a little journey of introspection like being trapped in the house while a new roof is installed, particularly if you live in a flat roof row house like ours (where the last four attempts at fixing the roof were installed one on top of the other).  Real work is pretty much impossible with the tap-tap-pound-pound-rip sounds that have been over my head all day. But I did have a few minutes (between ka-thumps) to put a few pieces of a puzzle together, a puzzle that has been increasingly worrisome to me for the past couple of months.  Most of what I figured out I'll keep…
Read More

Unfolding, defined…

Today, I'm branching out a little bit...I've had the opportunity to read Dr. David G. Benner's book, Spirituality and the Awakening Self (2012) as a participant in the Patheos Book Club.  In return for receiving a copy of the book, I've agreed to share my impressions of the work and to let Patheos include a link to my thoughts.   To those who have not found my blog before, welcome.  And now, my humble thoughts on Dr. Benner's latest volume. For most of my life, I have struggled with the ideas of spiritual formation, change, transformation, awakening, and mysticism -- I struggled with these concepts and their place in my life and  in…
Read More

Those little God moments…

For the past 48 hours, I have been in Atlanta attending a conference called "The Singing Church," sponsored by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  In these past 48 hours, I have sung more church music than I ever imagined possible, I have experienced more different types of liturgy than I imagined existed, and I have had a chance to listen to and meet some people whose books have guided my thoughts and my learning and my transformation over the past three years. I have participated in five separate worship services, sung to guitar, piano, organ, drum, and hung (Korean string instrument that is a little like a…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

My Lenten book report…

One of my favorite things to do on vacation, particularly on a beach vacation, is to read.  Usually, I devote my uninterrupted book time to things I would not read at home (usually because I don't have time), but on this vacation, I didn't start the mystery novels until the last day...somehow I was inspired by the call during our Ash Wednesday service to embrace the act of study as a spiritual discipline and so I devoted my first precious reading hours of vacation to finishing up some long-in-process readables. Only after 4 days, when my brain and spirit were overstuffed like a big Thanksgiving turkey did I give in and pick up…
Read More

Star light, star bright…

I'll admit it.  I just returned from a much-needed-but-all-too-short-vacation in Mexico.  My biggest decisions during those few blissful days were "what book to read next" and "what restaurant do we choose tonight".  The weather was beautiful, etc., etc. and so forth. Now, I would not describe myself as a science nerd or even someone who pays much attention to the science news.  And, since the end of my days as a new-age-spirituality-guru, I haven't continued to cast charts (yes, that is correct, I did for a while cast horoscope charts...I'm kind of a hands-on type when it comes to any spiritual exploration), so I really haven't kept up with the…
Read More

We’ve come this far by faith…

It has been over a week now since we had our annual re-committment Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church.  I love that Sunday because we always do some small action to make the act of re-committment tangible:  somehow, we are asked to come forward again and make ourselves known to the community of faith.  In case you don't know, the act of "coming forward" is very important in the Baptist tradition;  and it is a physical manifestation of committment that speaks to me.  In fact, on many Sundays it is all I can do to stay in my seat, the call to stand and be counted is so compelling. Our…
Read More

The strangest story of all…

I will admit that when I began the committment to read from Orbis Books Bread and Wine (2003), I skipped ahead a bit and read all the poetry.  At the beginning of Lent, the poem I've quoted here really didn't make much sense to me.  I'm not a person who is often moved by poetry (which you might find strange since I spend a good deal of my life singing various forms of poetry), but this morning in the early hours as I sat with me tea, relaxing that last few precious minutes before the rush of Easter Sunday was upon me, this poem meant a great deal to me. …
Read More

Time to testify once more…

The last thing that I should be doing is sitting at the computer writing, but I have to eat my sandwich and drink my last cup of tea before tonight's performance anyway, so here it goes. I have written before that Lent as a season has been a very different experience for me than in past years.  And, as I approach our remembrance of Good Friday this difference continues.  For the five years before tonight, each Good Friday, we have offered a Good Friday concert...sacred music meant to guide worship or to simply inspire, depending on your beliefs.  Most of the pieces have been Baroque or Classical in compositional style,…
Read More

The Promise of the Passion

Yes, it is Holy Week.  Yes, it is a week of rehearsing and praying and worshipping and making a lot of music for me. And yes, since it is Holy Week, it is time for our 6th (can you believe it), Music for Good Friday program.  This year, we are performing Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), premiered in 1755.  If you are interested, below are the program notes for this Friday's performance. The Music for Good Friday program, which has been so gratefully housed and supported by my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, has been a workshop for me in so many ways -- a chance…
Read More

That precocious child…

There is nothing to bring on a little journey of introspection like being trapped in the house while a new roof is installed, particularly if you live in a flat roof row house like ours (where the last four attempts at fixing the roof were installed one on top of the other).  Real work is pretty much impossible with the tap-tap-pound-pound-rip sounds that have been over my head all day. But I did have a few minutes (between ka-thumps) to put a few pieces of a puzzle together, a puzzle that has been increasingly worrisome to me for the past couple of months.  Most of what I figured out I'll keep…
Read More

Unfolding, defined…

Today, I'm branching out a little bit...I've had the opportunity to read Dr. David G. Benner's book, Spirituality and the Awakening Self (2012) as a participant in the Patheos Book Club.  In return for receiving a copy of the book, I've agreed to share my impressions of the work and to let Patheos include a link to my thoughts.   To those who have not found my blog before, welcome.  And now, my humble thoughts on Dr. Benner's latest volume. For most of my life, I have struggled with the ideas of spiritual formation, change, transformation, awakening, and mysticism -- I struggled with these concepts and their place in my life and  in…
Read More

Those little God moments…

For the past 48 hours, I have been in Atlanta attending a conference called "The Singing Church," sponsored by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  In these past 48 hours, I have sung more church music than I ever imagined possible, I have experienced more different types of liturgy than I imagined existed, and I have had a chance to listen to and meet some people whose books have guided my thoughts and my learning and my transformation over the past three years. I have participated in five separate worship services, sung to guitar, piano, organ, drum, and hung (Korean string instrument that is a little like a…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

My Lenten book report…

One of my favorite things to do on vacation, particularly on a beach vacation, is to read.  Usually, I devote my uninterrupted book time to things I would not read at home (usually because I don't have time), but on this vacation, I didn't start the mystery novels until the last day...somehow I was inspired by the call during our Ash Wednesday service to embrace the act of study as a spiritual discipline and so I devoted my first precious reading hours of vacation to finishing up some long-in-process readables. Only after 4 days, when my brain and spirit were overstuffed like a big Thanksgiving turkey did I give in and pick up…
Read More

Star light, star bright…

I'll admit it.  I just returned from a much-needed-but-all-too-short-vacation in Mexico.  My biggest decisions during those few blissful days were "what book to read next" and "what restaurant do we choose tonight".  The weather was beautiful, etc., etc. and so forth. Now, I would not describe myself as a science nerd or even someone who pays much attention to the science news.  And, since the end of my days as a new-age-spirituality-guru, I haven't continued to cast charts (yes, that is correct, I did for a while cast horoscope charts...I'm kind of a hands-on type when it comes to any spiritual exploration), so I really haven't kept up with the…
Read More

We’ve come this far by faith…

It has been over a week now since we had our annual re-committment Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church.  I love that Sunday because we always do some small action to make the act of re-committment tangible:  somehow, we are asked to come forward again and make ourselves known to the community of faith.  In case you don't know, the act of "coming forward" is very important in the Baptist tradition;  and it is a physical manifestation of committment that speaks to me.  In fact, on many Sundays it is all I can do to stay in my seat, the call to stand and be counted is so compelling. Our…
Read More

The strangest story of all…

I will admit that when I began the committment to read from Orbis Books Bread and Wine (2003), I skipped ahead a bit and read all the poetry.  At the beginning of Lent, the poem I've quoted here really didn't make much sense to me.  I'm not a person who is often moved by poetry (which you might find strange since I spend a good deal of my life singing various forms of poetry), but this morning in the early hours as I sat with me tea, relaxing that last few precious minutes before the rush of Easter Sunday was upon me, this poem meant a great deal to me. …
Read More

Time to testify once more…

The last thing that I should be doing is sitting at the computer writing, but I have to eat my sandwich and drink my last cup of tea before tonight's performance anyway, so here it goes. I have written before that Lent as a season has been a very different experience for me than in past years.  And, as I approach our remembrance of Good Friday this difference continues.  For the five years before tonight, each Good Friday, we have offered a Good Friday concert...sacred music meant to guide worship or to simply inspire, depending on your beliefs.  Most of the pieces have been Baroque or Classical in compositional style,…
Read More

The Promise of the Passion

Yes, it is Holy Week.  Yes, it is a week of rehearsing and praying and worshipping and making a lot of music for me. And yes, since it is Holy Week, it is time for our 6th (can you believe it), Music for Good Friday program.  This year, we are performing Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), premiered in 1755.  If you are interested, below are the program notes for this Friday's performance. The Music for Good Friday program, which has been so gratefully housed and supported by my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, has been a workshop for me in so many ways -- a chance…
Read More

That precocious child…

There is nothing to bring on a little journey of introspection like being trapped in the house while a new roof is installed, particularly if you live in a flat roof row house like ours (where the last four attempts at fixing the roof were installed one on top of the other).  Real work is pretty much impossible with the tap-tap-pound-pound-rip sounds that have been over my head all day. But I did have a few minutes (between ka-thumps) to put a few pieces of a puzzle together, a puzzle that has been increasingly worrisome to me for the past couple of months.  Most of what I figured out I'll keep…
Read More

Unfolding, defined…

Today, I'm branching out a little bit...I've had the opportunity to read Dr. David G. Benner's book, Spirituality and the Awakening Self (2012) as a participant in the Patheos Book Club.  In return for receiving a copy of the book, I've agreed to share my impressions of the work and to let Patheos include a link to my thoughts.   To those who have not found my blog before, welcome.  And now, my humble thoughts on Dr. Benner's latest volume. For most of my life, I have struggled with the ideas of spiritual formation, change, transformation, awakening, and mysticism -- I struggled with these concepts and their place in my life and  in…
Read More

Those little God moments…

For the past 48 hours, I have been in Atlanta attending a conference called "The Singing Church," sponsored by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  In these past 48 hours, I have sung more church music than I ever imagined possible, I have experienced more different types of liturgy than I imagined existed, and I have had a chance to listen to and meet some people whose books have guided my thoughts and my learning and my transformation over the past three years. I have participated in five separate worship services, sung to guitar, piano, organ, drum, and hung (Korean string instrument that is a little like a…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

My Lenten book report…

One of my favorite things to do on vacation, particularly on a beach vacation, is to read.  Usually, I devote my uninterrupted book time to things I would not read at home (usually because I don't have time), but on this vacation, I didn't start the mystery novels until the last day...somehow I was inspired by the call during our Ash Wednesday service to embrace the act of study as a spiritual discipline and so I devoted my first precious reading hours of vacation to finishing up some long-in-process readables. Only after 4 days, when my brain and spirit were overstuffed like a big Thanksgiving turkey did I give in and pick up…
Read More

Star light, star bright…

I'll admit it.  I just returned from a much-needed-but-all-too-short-vacation in Mexico.  My biggest decisions during those few blissful days were "what book to read next" and "what restaurant do we choose tonight".  The weather was beautiful, etc., etc. and so forth. Now, I would not describe myself as a science nerd or even someone who pays much attention to the science news.  And, since the end of my days as a new-age-spirituality-guru, I haven't continued to cast charts (yes, that is correct, I did for a while cast horoscope charts...I'm kind of a hands-on type when it comes to any spiritual exploration), so I really haven't kept up with the…
Read More

We’ve come this far by faith…

It has been over a week now since we had our annual re-committment Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church.  I love that Sunday because we always do some small action to make the act of re-committment tangible:  somehow, we are asked to come forward again and make ourselves known to the community of faith.  In case you don't know, the act of "coming forward" is very important in the Baptist tradition;  and it is a physical manifestation of committment that speaks to me.  In fact, on many Sundays it is all I can do to stay in my seat, the call to stand and be counted is so compelling. Our…
Read More

The strangest story of all…

I will admit that when I began the committment to read from Orbis Books Bread and Wine (2003), I skipped ahead a bit and read all the poetry.  At the beginning of Lent, the poem I've quoted here really didn't make much sense to me.  I'm not a person who is often moved by poetry (which you might find strange since I spend a good deal of my life singing various forms of poetry), but this morning in the early hours as I sat with me tea, relaxing that last few precious minutes before the rush of Easter Sunday was upon me, this poem meant a great deal to me. …
Read More

Time to testify once more…

The last thing that I should be doing is sitting at the computer writing, but I have to eat my sandwich and drink my last cup of tea before tonight's performance anyway, so here it goes. I have written before that Lent as a season has been a very different experience for me than in past years.  And, as I approach our remembrance of Good Friday this difference continues.  For the five years before tonight, each Good Friday, we have offered a Good Friday concert...sacred music meant to guide worship or to simply inspire, depending on your beliefs.  Most of the pieces have been Baroque or Classical in compositional style,…
Read More

The Promise of the Passion

Yes, it is Holy Week.  Yes, it is a week of rehearsing and praying and worshipping and making a lot of music for me. And yes, since it is Holy Week, it is time for our 6th (can you believe it), Music for Good Friday program.  This year, we are performing Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), premiered in 1755.  If you are interested, below are the program notes for this Friday's performance. The Music for Good Friday program, which has been so gratefully housed and supported by my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, has been a workshop for me in so many ways -- a chance…
Read More

That precocious child…

There is nothing to bring on a little journey of introspection like being trapped in the house while a new roof is installed, particularly if you live in a flat roof row house like ours (where the last four attempts at fixing the roof were installed one on top of the other).  Real work is pretty much impossible with the tap-tap-pound-pound-rip sounds that have been over my head all day. But I did have a few minutes (between ka-thumps) to put a few pieces of a puzzle together, a puzzle that has been increasingly worrisome to me for the past couple of months.  Most of what I figured out I'll keep…
Read More

Unfolding, defined…

Today, I'm branching out a little bit...I've had the opportunity to read Dr. David G. Benner's book, Spirituality and the Awakening Self (2012) as a participant in the Patheos Book Club.  In return for receiving a copy of the book, I've agreed to share my impressions of the work and to let Patheos include a link to my thoughts.   To those who have not found my blog before, welcome.  And now, my humble thoughts on Dr. Benner's latest volume. For most of my life, I have struggled with the ideas of spiritual formation, change, transformation, awakening, and mysticism -- I struggled with these concepts and their place in my life and  in…
Read More

Those little God moments…

For the past 48 hours, I have been in Atlanta attending a conference called "The Singing Church," sponsored by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  In these past 48 hours, I have sung more church music than I ever imagined possible, I have experienced more different types of liturgy than I imagined existed, and I have had a chance to listen to and meet some people whose books have guided my thoughts and my learning and my transformation over the past three years. I have participated in five separate worship services, sung to guitar, piano, organ, drum, and hung (Korean string instrument that is a little like a…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

My Lenten book report…

One of my favorite things to do on vacation, particularly on a beach vacation, is to read.  Usually, I devote my uninterrupted book time to things I would not read at home (usually because I don't have time), but on this vacation, I didn't start the mystery novels until the last day...somehow I was inspired by the call during our Ash Wednesday service to embrace the act of study as a spiritual discipline and so I devoted my first precious reading hours of vacation to finishing up some long-in-process readables. Only after 4 days, when my brain and spirit were overstuffed like a big Thanksgiving turkey did I give in and pick up…
Read More

Star light, star bright…

I'll admit it.  I just returned from a much-needed-but-all-too-short-vacation in Mexico.  My biggest decisions during those few blissful days were "what book to read next" and "what restaurant do we choose tonight".  The weather was beautiful, etc., etc. and so forth. Now, I would not describe myself as a science nerd or even someone who pays much attention to the science news.  And, since the end of my days as a new-age-spirituality-guru, I haven't continued to cast charts (yes, that is correct, I did for a while cast horoscope charts...I'm kind of a hands-on type when it comes to any spiritual exploration), so I really haven't kept up with the…
Read More

We’ve come this far by faith…

It has been over a week now since we had our annual re-committment Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church.  I love that Sunday because we always do some small action to make the act of re-committment tangible:  somehow, we are asked to come forward again and make ourselves known to the community of faith.  In case you don't know, the act of "coming forward" is very important in the Baptist tradition;  and it is a physical manifestation of committment that speaks to me.  In fact, on many Sundays it is all I can do to stay in my seat, the call to stand and be counted is so compelling. Our…
Read More

The strangest story of all…

I will admit that when I began the committment to read from Orbis Books Bread and Wine (2003), I skipped ahead a bit and read all the poetry.  At the beginning of Lent, the poem I've quoted here really didn't make much sense to me.  I'm not a person who is often moved by poetry (which you might find strange since I spend a good deal of my life singing various forms of poetry), but this morning in the early hours as I sat with me tea, relaxing that last few precious minutes before the rush of Easter Sunday was upon me, this poem meant a great deal to me. …
Read More

Time to testify once more…

The last thing that I should be doing is sitting at the computer writing, but I have to eat my sandwich and drink my last cup of tea before tonight's performance anyway, so here it goes. I have written before that Lent as a season has been a very different experience for me than in past years.  And, as I approach our remembrance of Good Friday this difference continues.  For the five years before tonight, each Good Friday, we have offered a Good Friday concert...sacred music meant to guide worship or to simply inspire, depending on your beliefs.  Most of the pieces have been Baroque or Classical in compositional style,…
Read More

The Promise of the Passion

Yes, it is Holy Week.  Yes, it is a week of rehearsing and praying and worshipping and making a lot of music for me. And yes, since it is Holy Week, it is time for our 6th (can you believe it), Music for Good Friday program.  This year, we are performing Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), premiered in 1755.  If you are interested, below are the program notes for this Friday's performance. The Music for Good Friday program, which has been so gratefully housed and supported by my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, has been a workshop for me in so many ways -- a chance…
Read More

That precocious child…

There is nothing to bring on a little journey of introspection like being trapped in the house while a new roof is installed, particularly if you live in a flat roof row house like ours (where the last four attempts at fixing the roof were installed one on top of the other).  Real work is pretty much impossible with the tap-tap-pound-pound-rip sounds that have been over my head all day. But I did have a few minutes (between ka-thumps) to put a few pieces of a puzzle together, a puzzle that has been increasingly worrisome to me for the past couple of months.  Most of what I figured out I'll keep…
Read More

Unfolding, defined…

Today, I'm branching out a little bit...I've had the opportunity to read Dr. David G. Benner's book, Spirituality and the Awakening Self (2012) as a participant in the Patheos Book Club.  In return for receiving a copy of the book, I've agreed to share my impressions of the work and to let Patheos include a link to my thoughts.   To those who have not found my blog before, welcome.  And now, my humble thoughts on Dr. Benner's latest volume. For most of my life, I have struggled with the ideas of spiritual formation, change, transformation, awakening, and mysticism -- I struggled with these concepts and their place in my life and  in…
Read More

Those little God moments…

For the past 48 hours, I have been in Atlanta attending a conference called "The Singing Church," sponsored by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  In these past 48 hours, I have sung more church music than I ever imagined possible, I have experienced more different types of liturgy than I imagined existed, and I have had a chance to listen to and meet some people whose books have guided my thoughts and my learning and my transformation over the past three years. I have participated in five separate worship services, sung to guitar, piano, organ, drum, and hung (Korean string instrument that is a little like a…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

My Lenten book report…

One of my favorite things to do on vacation, particularly on a beach vacation, is to read.  Usually, I devote my uninterrupted book time to things I would not read at home (usually because I don't have time), but on this vacation, I didn't start the mystery novels until the last day...somehow I was inspired by the call during our Ash Wednesday service to embrace the act of study as a spiritual discipline and so I devoted my first precious reading hours of vacation to finishing up some long-in-process readables. Only after 4 days, when my brain and spirit were overstuffed like a big Thanksgiving turkey did I give in and pick up…
Read More

Star light, star bright…

I'll admit it.  I just returned from a much-needed-but-all-too-short-vacation in Mexico.  My biggest decisions during those few blissful days were "what book to read next" and "what restaurant do we choose tonight".  The weather was beautiful, etc., etc. and so forth. Now, I would not describe myself as a science nerd or even someone who pays much attention to the science news.  And, since the end of my days as a new-age-spirituality-guru, I haven't continued to cast charts (yes, that is correct, I did for a while cast horoscope charts...I'm kind of a hands-on type when it comes to any spiritual exploration), so I really haven't kept up with the…
Read More

We’ve come this far by faith…

It has been over a week now since we had our annual re-committment Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church.  I love that Sunday because we always do some small action to make the act of re-committment tangible:  somehow, we are asked to come forward again and make ourselves known to the community of faith.  In case you don't know, the act of "coming forward" is very important in the Baptist tradition;  and it is a physical manifestation of committment that speaks to me.  In fact, on many Sundays it is all I can do to stay in my seat, the call to stand and be counted is so compelling. Our…
Read More

The strangest story of all…

I will admit that when I began the committment to read from Orbis Books Bread and Wine (2003), I skipped ahead a bit and read all the poetry.  At the beginning of Lent, the poem I've quoted here really didn't make much sense to me.  I'm not a person who is often moved by poetry (which you might find strange since I spend a good deal of my life singing various forms of poetry), but this morning in the early hours as I sat with me tea, relaxing that last few precious minutes before the rush of Easter Sunday was upon me, this poem meant a great deal to me. …
Read More

Time to testify once more…

The last thing that I should be doing is sitting at the computer writing, but I have to eat my sandwich and drink my last cup of tea before tonight's performance anyway, so here it goes. I have written before that Lent as a season has been a very different experience for me than in past years.  And, as I approach our remembrance of Good Friday this difference continues.  For the five years before tonight, each Good Friday, we have offered a Good Friday concert...sacred music meant to guide worship or to simply inspire, depending on your beliefs.  Most of the pieces have been Baroque or Classical in compositional style,…
Read More

The Promise of the Passion

Yes, it is Holy Week.  Yes, it is a week of rehearsing and praying and worshipping and making a lot of music for me. And yes, since it is Holy Week, it is time for our 6th (can you believe it), Music for Good Friday program.  This year, we are performing Carl Heinrich Graun's Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), premiered in 1755.  If you are interested, below are the program notes for this Friday's performance. The Music for Good Friday program, which has been so gratefully housed and supported by my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, has been a workshop for me in so many ways -- a chance…
Read More

That precocious child…

There is nothing to bring on a little journey of introspection like being trapped in the house while a new roof is installed, particularly if you live in a flat roof row house like ours (where the last four attempts at fixing the roof were installed one on top of the other).  Real work is pretty much impossible with the tap-tap-pound-pound-rip sounds that have been over my head all day. But I did have a few minutes (between ka-thumps) to put a few pieces of a puzzle together, a puzzle that has been increasingly worrisome to me for the past couple of months.  Most of what I figured out I'll keep…
Read More

Unfolding, defined…

Today, I'm branching out a little bit...I've had the opportunity to read Dr. David G. Benner's book, Spirituality and the Awakening Self (2012) as a participant in the Patheos Book Club.  In return for receiving a copy of the book, I've agreed to share my impressions of the work and to let Patheos include a link to my thoughts.   To those who have not found my blog before, welcome.  And now, my humble thoughts on Dr. Benner's latest volume. For most of my life, I have struggled with the ideas of spiritual formation, change, transformation, awakening, and mysticism -- I struggled with these concepts and their place in my life and  in…
Read More

Those little God moments…

For the past 48 hours, I have been in Atlanta attending a conference called "The Singing Church," sponsored by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  In these past 48 hours, I have sung more church music than I ever imagined possible, I have experienced more different types of liturgy than I imagined existed, and I have had a chance to listen to and meet some people whose books have guided my thoughts and my learning and my transformation over the past three years. I have participated in five separate worship services, sung to guitar, piano, organ, drum, and hung (Korean string instrument that is a little like a…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

My Lenten book report…

One of my favorite things to do on vacation, particularly on a beach vacation, is to read.  Usually, I devote my uninterrupted book time to things I would not read at home (usually because I don't have time), but on this vacation, I didn't start the mystery novels until the last day...somehow I was inspired by the call during our Ash Wednesday service to embrace the act of study as a spiritual discipline and so I devoted my first precious reading hours of vacation to finishing up some long-in-process readables. Only after 4 days, when my brain and spirit were overstuffed like a big Thanksgiving turkey did I give in and pick up…
Read More

Star light, star bright…

I'll admit it.  I just returned from a much-needed-but-all-too-short-vacation in Mexico.  My biggest decisions during those few blissful days were "what book to read next" and "what restaurant do we choose tonight".  The weather was beautiful, etc., etc. and so forth. Now, I would not describe myself as a science nerd or even someone who pays much attention to the science news.  And, since the end of my days as a new-age-spirituality-guru, I haven't continued to cast charts (yes, that is correct, I did for a while cast horoscope charts...I'm kind of a hands-on type when it comes to any spiritual exploration), so I really haven't kept up with the…
Read More

We’ve come this far by faith…

It has been over a week now since we had our annual re-committment Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church.  I love that Sunday because we always do some small action to make the act of re-committment tangible:  somehow, we are asked to come forward again and make ourselves known to the community of faith.  In case you don't know, the act of "coming forward" is very important in the Baptist tradition;  and it is a physical manifestation of committment that speaks to me.  In fact, on many Sundays it is all I can do to stay in my seat, the call to stand and be counted is so compelling. Our…
Read More