Articles on Community
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Thoughts on Contemplative Conversations in Congregations
Article by Stuart Higginbotham (November 2018 eNews) Is it possible to be contemplative in our conversations with others? It seems a challenge today in any context—at work, in the home, even at church. When it comes to the experience of contemplative conversations within a parish church, which is where I serve, I think it is…
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Encountering God
Encountering God is… like meeting a friend or loved one. ~Bernard McGinn
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Uselessness and Benefitting Others
Today’s post is by Shirin McArthur I recently read a Buddhist story, shared by Andō, a Zen poet I follow online, about The Useless Tree. In a nutshell (!), the story is that an oak tree grew so twisted and gnarly that its wood was not considered useful, so it was not disturbed. The point…
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Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Grace
Today’s post is by Mary van Balen Sometimes an ordinary event becomes an extraordinary grace. That happened to me recently, and I’m grateful. Horrible headlines, day after day, overwhelm. I couldn’t finish reading an article about the violence and abuse that drove Honduran families to risk everything and take a chance on making it to…
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Mr. Rogers: Restoring the World to Wholeness One Neighbor at a Time
Today’s post is by Mary van Balen When my oldest child was three, friends with a son about the same age asked how I liked Sesame Street. I admitted that neither I nor my daughter had seen it. We rarely turned on the television, but after hearing other young parents extolling the show’s merits, I…
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Open-Hearted in the Darkness
Today’s post is by Sarah-Kate Fishback In both joy and pain, love is boundless. Love is open, allowing our hearts to be touched and moved by what exists. Love is honest, willing to be present to life just as it is, in all its beauty and ugliness. True love is not blind at all; it…