There is a vibration of Divine energy that has been pulsating through this world since creation. I believe that Jesus was the life that was most perfectly attuned to that Divine energy. Even so, as we saw in last Sunday’s lesson, even Jesus needed to go apart regularly and pray to keep his heart synchronized with God’s. I think an atheist who denies the existence of this spiritual energy is as foolish as a person who never owned a radio... Read more

Prayer isn’t a child delivering their Christmas wish list to God. Prayer is opening our souls, centering our lives, calming our spirits so we might experience the presence of God: the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t give us what we ask for when we pray; rather God comes to be with us. That is why prayer takes practice and persistence. It is not that we need to persuade God, but that we need to attune our souls to God’s presence with... Read more

Throughout the summer, I have been preaching a series called “Caffeine for the Soul.” In our caffeinated, sometimes hyper lives, prayer is counter-cultural. It is an invitation to be still, quiet, and centered. We get up in the morning and have our coffee so we will be invigorated and ready to meet the day, able to tackle whatever life throws at us, and energized to climb every mountain. Prayer is the opposite of that. It is sitting in the presence... Read more

Sam Rayburn was one of the most powerful men in Washington, D.C. during his tenure as Speaker of the House. He liked to say that he had not served under eight presidents, but with eight presidents. He enjoyed instant access to the White House by a side door. His power and influence were immense. There was a side to the man that very few knew. One day he heard that the teenaged daughter of a Capitol Hill reporter had died.... Read more

Truth be told, most of us are afraid of close, intimate relationships. George Bernard Shaw once remarked that he could not admire a lion tamer’s courage because, when the tamer was in the cage with the lions, at least people could not get to him. He was safer than the rest of us. People scare us. We are afraid if we let people get too close they will take advantage of us or make too many demands. So we play... Read more

Martin Buber, the eminent Jewish theologian, wrote about two basic kinds of relationships. The first is the “I–it” relationship, in which we do not treat people as people, but as things to be used. We manipulate people to accomplish our desired ends. We use them to reach our goals. The second relationship he wrote about was the “I–Thou” relationship in which we treat others as human beings to be loved and cared about. I am very much afraid that most... Read more

One afternoon, a Japanese freighter was being unloaded in the Los Angeles harbor. Gigantic cranes were lifting crates of merchandise from the hold of the ship and placing them on the docks below. Each crate had unusual handling instructions printed on the side in bold black letters. The writing was in both English and Japanese. Normally, you would expect an arrow with the word “Up” printed beside it. Such simple, concise language is usually sufficient, but that was not the... Read more

I am reading Brennan Manning’s last book, All is Grace. Manning died this past spring, so this will be his last word to those of us who, like him, feel a good bit like God’s ragamuffins (see Ragamuffin Gospel). I never met Brennan, though there was a time when we seemed to be following one another around the country speaking. I always dreamed of a day when we would be on the same program together. Being an openly gay pastor,... Read more

This past weekend I had the great privilege of spending the night with Pat de Jong and Sam Keen at their “farm.” It was wonderful to sleep with the door open and awaken to the fog and six or seven wild turkeys outside my room. As for many of you, Sam is a legend to me, having read many of his books and allowed his brilliance to challenge the mendacity of my own thinking at times. Wow; to have him... Read more

I had lunch with my dear friend Jim Mitulski on Saturday. I’ve known Jim for almost 30 years, and he is one of the people I admire most on earth. He is incredibly wise and very smart, so his advice is something I have always treasured. We have had vigorous disagreements over the years, but never for even a split second have either of us doubted the other’s deepest intent was for our good not their own. Such relationships are... Read more