Reflecting Theologically My nature is not to be the most reflective person around. I have learned to reflect by spending time reflecting and finding its benefits. At the same time, I do not tend to be a formal theologian. Theology is the study of the nature of God. I have never taken a theology class or systematically studied theology. My theological background comes more from my experience than academic work. My deeper appreciation of spiritual life in recent years is more... Read more

What Do We Worship? Some people believe there are special places we must go to worship. If we do not go there, we are not worshipping. People think worship only takes place at particular, set times on specific days. I know people who think unless we do certain things in the right order we are not worshipping. Some people are convinced worship requires the right kind of music or even the right songs. We may think we need to dress or... Read more

Is Spiritual Life Intuitive? I was raised with the expectation that things were supposed to make sense. Life did not necessarily come with instructions, but you could sit down and figure it out. The idea was once you learned how something worked you could take it apart and fix it. If you were going to drive a car, you should know how to replace a tire and change the oil. Not only cars and other machines were supposed to make sense.... Read more

Even those of us who are not sure God exists have our own idea of what God looks like. Read more

Stillness Between Words Words grab us and hold us. Words in books and newspapers, words on street signs, even words written in blog posts. Spoken words, words in videos and words in songs. We say we are listening to someone else but we are busy thinking of our own next words. Our culture places an extremely significant emphasis on words. We may say actions speak louder than words, but words get our attention. It is easy for us to think... Read more

Taking a Wrong Turn Most of us like to know where we are going and how we intend to get there. We feel more comfortable when we have, and understand, a good set of directions. I know people who do not really trust the guidance they receive from electronic devices. They prefer to see the big picture, the entire map, rather than just one step after another. We like to think we can avoid making mistakes if only we can see... Read more

The Dance of Spiritual Life All of us are part of the dance of spiritual life whether we realize it or not. We may admire the skill of the dancers. It may be the choreography which captures our attention or how well people play the music. It could be the spontaneity of the dancers or the intricacy of the rhythms which attracts us. Some of us believe we are sitting along the edge watching other people dance. We may see ourselves as... Read more

We do not know what motivated those men in Philadelphia when they agreed to these words 241 years ago. Read more