Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth. Grace evokes gratitude like the voice of an echo. Gratitude follows grace like thunder lightning. —Karl Barth The gratitude Barth speaks of is not happiness, certainly not elation. Maybe we feel grateful when something turns out perfectly, or our hard work is rewarded with some kind […]
Awe
The Day of The Dead, Mexico City
The funeral home in town has recently changed its name. It is now a “Life Celebration Home.” We are a death-avoidant culture. And the church is, often, little better. Many are deep-sixing funerals for “Life Celebrations.” The irony, the unintended sadness, is that the more we try to banish death, the more troubled about death […]
My Spiritual Hot Spot
My definition of a saint, a spiritual giant, is someone who makes other people holy, just by their presence. Someone who engenders peace in other people’s hearts, who calls forth beauty and goodness and faithfulness in other people’s lives. Nurturing your own holiness, your own peace, calling forth your own beauty and goodness and faithfulness […]
The Agony That Sparks Ecstasy
in every breathif you’re the centerof your own desiresyou’ll lose the graceof your beloved but if in every breathyou blow awayyour self claimthe ecstasy of lovewill soon arrive in every breathif you’re the centerof your own thoughtsthe sadness of autumnwill fall on you but if in every breathyou strip nakedjust like a winterthe joy of […]
The Musical Path To God
It was a warm August night under the stars. The lead guitar sent a piercing, melodic riff skittering out across the crowd. We leapt to our feet, whooping, shouting. We knew this song. Ready to sing! Suddenly thousands of people were belting out a song that overwhelmed the sound of the band. Everyone was swaying, […]
What The Lover Sees
If you love it enough, anything will talk to you.-George Washington Carver The arborist had come with a crew of workers to lay a great ash to rest. While he was here, I asked him to cut out an old stump that was now in a space where a garden was taking shape. The stump […]
We Came. We Sat. They Sang
After a run of hot days and nights, a cool spell descended. It was early morning, an almost chilly breeze in the air, and Pam and I decided to sit for meditation out on the deck. After the morning reading, we sat in silence—or so we thought. The surrounding trees seemed to teem with birds, […]
The Return of Innocence: A Week With Two Children
Our grandchildren, ages eight and four, are with us for a week. All day every day. By about day four an adult reaches a saturation point and becomes, in some sense, a child too. After days and nights participating in play, story, physical and imaginative games, make-believe, general silliness, and the deep need for security […]