When our spirit sags
“Life itself has no meaning,” Joseph Campbell wrote. “However, each of us has meaning, and we bring it to life.” I like the paradigm shift here: meaning moves from the outside to the inside. It’s just that sometimes, we lose…
A song that saves people
In the movie Walk the Line, Johnny Cash auditions for Sam Phillips. He is hoping for a record deal. He is playing an uninspired and insipid version of a gospel hymn. And Phillips tells him no. When Cash demands a reason, Phillips says, "Because I don't believe you."…
Just to boogie
I was born and raised Baptist. The kind of Baptist that flinches when the words ritual or sacrament are mentioned, tainted as they were, by profane Catholicism. (But then again, we didn’t know what the words meant, only that anything…
Childlike Grownups
We don't get real winter here. You know, when you cover everything but your eyes and nose, and then hope the cold doesn't freeze your eyelids shut. Here, we prefer to stick to grey and rain, mostly. Probably because we're…
Explain the gaps
"How shall I account for the two, or the ten, missing years on my résumé? How should I explain the gap?"
These are these questions asked of Dr. Kimberley Patton
The sound of children playing
A seminary student body participated in a day of recollection and reflection. As the Seminary President introduced the guest retreat leader–on a beautiful Saturday morning in spring–he apologized to the seminarians, “I’m very sorry for the distraction and the noise.”
Living from love
I spent the weekend leading a retreat at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. A sanctuary in the desert. The retreat, Real People. Real Communication. You know the adage: Relationships wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the…
Buddy Ball and Easter… time to play
Have you ever heard of Buddy Ball? Beth Campbell started the program in 1994, in Bellevue, Washington. Because of his disabilities, Beth's son Stevie, age 7, was unable to play in the regular t-ball program. So Beth started a baseball…
Paying attention is about moments
I was preparing to write my Sabbath Moment. I had a window of time between commitments. Before I began to put my thoughts on the page, I decided to purge my email inbox. I noticed one email blast advertising a…
Give Scarlet Flowers
"Back to real life," the young woman sighed. I'm eavesdropping on a conversation, while waiting in line at the grocery store. Yes, the Holidays are over, and judging by email auto-responses, a surplus of folk are back in their offices…
