I recently had the honor to be a guest interviewed on the BiCurean Podcast. I had only learned of this greatly needed podcast in the past year. It is hosted by two people on a mission – a mission to help heal our broken culture and to inspire us toward a less polarized way of being and relating to one another in society. In their words: What is BiCurean? BiCurean takes typically combative topics and teaches them to play nice.... Read more
“They’re so wrong.” “They’re impossible.” “They’re never going to change their minds.” That’s a lot of they-ing and overstatement. And yet, I think that’s what we do – we write others off as beyond hope. All too frequently, I think we dismiss people who think differently than we do – patently, wholesale, and out of hand. We de-friend people on social media and reduce or avoid contact with co-workers, friends from our past, people at the gym, and even members... Read more
At the start of this new year, this last year of our current decade, President Trump ordered a drone airstrike to assassinate a high ranking military official of Iran, General Qassem Soleimani – the person largely responsible for the (near) end of ISIS. The assassination took place on Jan. 2, 2020. This action was the equivalent of a head of foreign nation ordering the killing of the Secretary of Defense of the USA. By any measure, an act of war –... Read more
Donald Trump has a name. So do you. I’ve been participating in the “Photo-a-Day Challenge” where people are invited to post photos they’ve taken to social media that relate to the theme assigned for each day. Today is the 19th day of Advent and the word assigned is “Name.” We all have names and many of our names have meanings. Some contend that our names are actually part of our identity – that consciously or not – we often end... Read more
“They’re so wrong.” “They’re impossible.” “They’re never going to change their minds.” That’s a lot of they-ing and overstatement. And yet, I think that’s what we do – we write others off as beyond hope. All too frequently, I think we dismiss people who think differently than we do – patently, wholesale, and out of hand. We de-friend people on social media and reduce or avoid contact with co-workers, friends from our past, people at the gym, and even members... Read more
I’ve done it. There have been times when I’ve allowed my identity to become wrapped up in some trauma that happened to me or grief that I’ve experienced. I’ve allowed myself to view myself primarily as a victim. I’ve poo-pooed other people’s journeys of healing because I hadn’t experienced “sufficient” healing in my own life. In times of such felt personal brokenness, to use terms popularized by Fr. Richard Rohr, I “transmitted my un-transformed wounding” onto others. He says that:... Read more
Dark Creature. i don’t know why i fell for you, perhaps one of those opposites attract sorts of things. you revel in gloom, lurk among shadows and thrive amidst snark, sarcasm and disdain you loathe things that nurture life you’re allergic to care and resistant to grace you fancy yourself a healing “uniter” but only dish-out hurt a textbook case of the cycle of abuse – you got hurt and now seek to knock others down to your bleak plane... Read more
Oh My G-g-od! ? Someone recently asked me: “Can you please address the difference between God with a capital G and god with a lowercase g – and what the differences are and might mean?” As part of my major in Philosophy in college, I took a course in Aesthetics – the philosophy of art. I recall writing a paper in that class about how people experience pieces of art differently depending if the artwork has been given a title... Read more
Tough guys need help. They need the help of other guys. Dudes, this is guy-talk, man to men. In particular, I’m reaching out to my fellow white, liberal, cis-gender, progressive Christian, straight men who’ve “done our work.” Guys who aren’t intimidated about dating a woman who makes more money than we do; guys who are willing to surrender some of our privilege so that historically oppressed peoples might do better; guys who believe that black lives matter as much as... Read more
Like a feather hovering, suspended in the small pocket of breath above the angel-kissed cleft of your upper lip, a soft insight floats across the dream-screen of your waking mind: You don’t need to do anything. You don’t need to prove anything. You don’t need to try to impress anyone. You don’t need to try to win anyone’s approval or validation. You don’t need to even to try to validate yourself. You don’t need to try. You don’t need anything.... Read more
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