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I once had the terrifying experience of getting lost in Minsk, Belorussia.. With rising panic, I tried to retrace my steps, but nothing registered. No one spoke English and people shrugged then ignored me when I asked for help, the signs were all in Cyrillic, the phone booths were stripped of equipment, bare wires protruding and smelling of urine. I felt doomed until, in entirely the wrong…

 Habakkuk- a Modern 3000 Year Old Pilgrim Faith Sighing in the Valley of Silence The agonizing question: Where is God when the world burns?  The Math Doesn’t Add Up: – the confusing reality where evil goes unpunished; – The unthinkable answer –  a brutal marauding army, raised up by God Himself.  Pilgrims often find  their faith under fire, sighing in agonizing confusion.  Faith Seeing…

https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCCOReIq0xjlIM79DrT0oQ-A/videos/upload?filter=%5B%5D&sort=%7B%22columnType%22%3A%22date%22%2C%22sortOrder%22%3A%22DESCENDING%22%7D The Shortcut is a Lie: Are You Practicing “Subway Spirituality”?In the 1980 Boston Marathon, Rosie Ruiz pulled off one of the greatest deceptions in sports history. She crossed the finish line in record time, wore the laurel wreath,…

Are You a Tourist or a Pilgrim? 3 Rules for a Meaningful Journey Your life is a process, either as a tourist vacantly gaping at attractions, or wandering bewildered through a foreign grocery store; or, as a determined pilgrim living with intentionality. Life is not a simple path from A to B. It is a winding, rocky ascent through fog and friction—a path defined not by the miles covered, but by…

"Going to church" is not a biblical concept. It invites the self to evaluate people, performances and practices, all personal self indulgent preferences. Worship, in contrast, is being lost in wonder, not passively evaluating, but actively engaging.

While shaving this morning, I was anticipating with great joy the prospect of going to church. I like to prepare myself so that I get the full benefit. The thought came to me forcibly, “STOP USING THAT PHRASE!”  In biblical context, you cannot “go to church.” The Greek word that the bible uses  for church is “kuriakes.” It appears twice in the New Testament. It literally means “of the Lord”,…

At the center of every crisis is an inner space so deep, so beckoning, so suddenly and daringly vast, that it feels like a universe, feels like God.  When the unthinkable happens, and does not relent, we fall through our hubris toward an inner flow, an abiding and rebirthing darkness that feels like home.    —Barbara Holmes, “What Is Crisis Contemplation?”