Praying with the Elements for Advent: Christmas Eve: Spirit

Last updated on: December 24, 2015 at 6:27 pm By Jason M. Brown

Reflecting on the Infinite, we celebrate the element of Spirit; in our bodies, in our world, and in our hearts. With Spirit we honor possibility. The unknown. The undying beauty of human potential. We look toward a Great Turning toward a livable future for humanity and all the other creatures we share with planet with. “We have begun to contemplate our origins: star stuff pondering the stars; organized assemblages of ten billion billion billion atoms considering the evolution of atoms;... Read more

Dark Days Within and the Return of Light

Last updated on: December 22, 2015 at 10:03 pm By Jason M. Brown

It is a little strange to be celebrating Christmas among palm trees, Winter Solstice among tumble weeds and green lawns in sunny Southern California. But every year at this time, I return to my childhood home to spend time with family. For many years, visiting home was a sort of dreaded excitement. I love my family, but through my tumultuous teens, I had learned to put up walls. Away from home, I had constructed safe identity markers, and long lists... Read more

Praying with the Elements for Advent: Week 4: Air

Last updated on: December 19, 2015 at 9:36 pm By Jason M. Brown

“The universe began with a great outpouring of cosmic breath that has complexified over billions of years until it could burst forth as evergreen forests and alpine meadows, with their cicadas and fireflies.” Read more

Praying with the Elements for Advent: Week 3: Water

Last updated on: December 13, 2015 at 9:18 am By Jason M. Brown

Needed this week: Small bowl of water Reflecting on the Infinite, we celebrate the element of Water; in our bodies, in our world, and in our hearts. In gratitude for the sacred element of water, we honor the direction of the west, the season of autumn, of quiet rain, the vast dark seas, the ocean in our blood and bodies. Water is new life, as our bodies are reborn each day, cell by cell. When the earth was formed 4.5... Read more

Terrorism in the Psalms

Last updated on: December 7, 2015 at 7:39 am By Jason M. Brown

For Christians and others to criticize ISIS for a selective and toxic reading of their sacred text and tradition in the name of Allah, is to selectively forget the toxicity of our own conquests and zealotry in the name of Jesus, and to dualize the real pain that comes from loss. Read more

Praying with the Elements for Advent: Week 2: Earth

Last updated on: December 6, 2015 at 7:48 am By Jason M. Brown

The bread in my hand is the body of the cosmos. Read more

Olives and Bodhisattvas: Two Religious Centers that Foster Faith through Food

Last updated on: December 5, 2015 at 10:08 am By Jason M. Brown

Perhaps that is what draws me to spiritual ecology, or to study monastic life; the convergence of spirit and matter, sacred and mundane, work and church. Read more

Worlds Less Visible

Last updated on: December 4, 2015 at 3:28 pm By Jason M. Brown

When white North Americans like myself see historic sites on the landscape, we read them as a story about ourselves. Read more

Praying with the Elements for Advent: Week 1: Fire

Last updated on: November 28, 2015 at 9:29 pm By Jason M. Brown

Over the next four weeks I will share one of five sections from a workshop I ran at this year’s Parliament of the World’s Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah that correspond with the four elements of Fire, Earth, Water and Air plus Spirit. It is meant to be read aloud in a small group, but it can also be prayed in solitude. Ignore the quotation marks and citations during prayer, I just want to make sure folks know where... Read more

Fallow Deer and Vedanta

Last updated on: November 28, 2015 at 6:30 pm By Jason M. Brown

After my long drive through the Pacific Northwest, I arrived in Point Reyes National Seashore. I have been to here many times to visit my cousin who works for the park, participating in his annual tradition: a New Year’s Midnight Polar Bear dip in Pacific. This weekend, the weather held just enough for some good beach-side hiking and a kayaking trip in Drake’s Estero. We spent time with the local residents of Point Reyes: river otters, elephant seals, harbor seals,... Read more