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Rediscovering a Desire for God
Like a gentle diagnostician/professor, Frank Griswold, former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, spoke to clergy on Maundy Thursday morning. His words caught my heart. Beginning with the passage from the Revelation of John, chapter two, Griswold quoted the words of praise for those who work so hard in the church: “I know what you…
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Contemplative Possibilities in Corporate Worship/Liturgy
Here are a few suggestions that can help open the way for people’s first-hand presence in the Presence during a Sunday or other time of corporate worship. These include selected (sometimes modified) excerpts from the section on Liturgy in chapter four of my new book, Embracing the Call to Spiritual Depth (Paulist Press 2010), followed…
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The Search for Our True Self
We are all looking for an immortal diamond: something utterly reliable, something loyal and true, something we can always depend on, something unforgettable and shining. There is an invitation and an offer…from John’s very short Second Letter, when he writes: “There is a truth that lives within us that will be with us forever” (2…
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Peace in the Midst of Uncertainty
“no creature that is made that can know how much and how sweetly and how tenderly our Creator loves us” — Julian of Norwich Given the daunting economic, social, political, and religious challenges of today and the fierce divisions and demeaning actions sometimes accompanying these challenges, this seems to be a good time to remember…
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Sabbath Practices for Going Deeper
We yield, because you, beyond us, are our God. We are your creatures met by your holiness, by your holiness made our true selves. And we yield. Amen. — Walter Brueggemann I have always felt drawn to a daily time of quiet reflection and prayer. That practice has become more essential than ever, as I…
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Going Deeper
“It is not you who shapes God, but God who shapes you.” I came to Shalem dried out and dusty-wilderness clay grown hard and stale. I came parched for living water. I came needing renewal of my heart and soul-to be re-oriented, re-presented, re-purposed, re-shaped by the One who is at work even in me…