Sitting with Mystery In a post I wrote in 2023 around the spiritual practice of Mystery; I offered these words: The spiritual practice that goes with accepting a mystical experience is the practice of mystery. When one engages in the acceptance of mystery, the word acceptance here is important. In my practice as a Christian pastor, I would often bump into people who would look down upon the idea of mystery because it felt too close to the supernatural or... Read more
On May 19, Richard Rohr examined the influence of experience in his morning meditation. Rohr introduces a concept where scripture and tradition represent the back wheels of faith, while experience serves as the front wheel driving it forward. This can be compared to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, which integrates scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. The comparison highlights differences and similarities between ideas from the 17th Century and contemporary thought, exploring what can be learned from these perspectives. For Wesley, experience was... Read more
I have been reading through the Revised Common Lectionary recently and saw that the recent readings have been in the book of Ezekiel. The proceeding readings all sit in the prophets. A book full of prophetic witness, it stands as relevant today as it did for the Israelites of sixth century BCE. This week, I want to discuss the relevance of Ezekiel to 2025. The Babylonian Exile The Babylonian Exile, also known as the Babylonian captivity, was a period in... Read more
Recently, I taught a section in my World Religions Class around the idea of Religions and Politics. I challenged my students to consider this question: “What role does religion play in politics?” I then had the students consider this: “Though the United States wasn’t founded as a Christian nation, Christianity was always intertwined with America’s self-definition. Without it, Americans—conservatives and liberals alike—no longer have a common culture upon which to fall back” (Hamid, 2021). As a former pastor in an... Read more
Opening Reflection Mother’s Day in the United States has origins in the 19th century, with Ann Reeves Jarvis organizing clubs to improve children’s health and Julia Ward Howe calling for a “Mother’s Day for Peace” in 1870. The official holiday was established by Anna Jarvis, who campaigned after her mother’s death in 1905. The first official celebration occurred in 1908 in Grafton, West Virginia. By 1914, President Woodrow Wilson designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Originally intended... Read more
Prayer: Conversations in Faith I am sitting at my desk this afternoon, beginning my second post and considering what to write. This will be published several days after these first words are struck, but as I sit and consider what to write, I realized that today was the day of International Prayer. From those early Hail Mary’s and praying the hours on a strict schedule to now praying as the moment arises, prayer has been a constant in my life... Read more
Condemned to Freedom Humans are bound to two certainties: freedom and death. Jean-Paul Sartre asserts that human existence is freedom. The external world is composed of in-itself being, while consciousness is unique to humans. Consciousness is defined as awareness of being, so human consciousness entails awareness of being human. This means having infinite choices, which Sartre calls freedom. Freedom does not imply an essence of freedom; man’s existence is intrinsically free. Sartre argues that human freedom precedes essence, allowing limitless... Read more
The significance of Jesus’ death for first-century Jews and the Roman Empire cannot be overstated. It was a catalyst for profound religious, social, and political transformations. For the Jewish community, it represented a theological shift and the genesis of a new religious movement. For the Roman Empire, it marked the beginning of a religious revolution that would ultimately reshape the entire Western world. Jesus’ crucifixion, an event rooted in the historical context of Jewish-Roman relations, thus stands as a monumental... Read more
Pope Francis passed away this week. While I am no longer Catholic, my early formational life was shaped by the Catholic Worker Movement and the type of ministry that Pope Francis brought to his church. He emphasized that a Christ centered life involves putting Jesus at the center of daily choices and actions, allowing His love to guide one’s life. He taught that true Christian living is about bearing witness to Christ through love and service to others. I celebrate... Read more
Introduction For my second post, I want to explore Wesely’s notions of inner and outer piety. As I dip my toes back into formal ministry, I am finding that while the younger people I talk to are very excited about the vast notions of how to be spiritual and religious, many established religious folks balk or even get intimidated when I use the many words and traditions associated with the contemplative traditions. Simply put, I am a bit rusty on... Read more
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