Walking With God

Coming Soon: Saints As They Really Are

2012-03-02T04:42:00.007-08:00

I am thrilled to announce that Father Michael Plekon's new book, Saints as They Really Are: Voices of Holiness in Our Time will be published in May by The University of Notre Dame Press. Father Plekon is also the author of Living Icons as well as his most recent book Hidden Holiness also published by The University of Notre Dame Press.

The cover art is beautiful, contrasting the iconographic image of the late Dorothy Day, writer, editor, philanthropist, and servant of the poor with a real photo of her below.

Below are some comments about Father Plekon's new book. Further down you will find more information about Father Michael as well as ordering information.

“This is the third in a progression of books by Michael Plekon that have served to expand our understanding of saints and holiness. In this new book, he has taken yet a further step in relating holiness to ordinary or everyday life by showing the contours of grace, or the harmonics of holiness, revealed in the Christian journey of a number of contemporary Christian memoirists. He shows how the gospel story of death-resurrection is written in the journey of ordinary Christians.” — Robert Ellsberg, author of All Saints

“In this profoundly engaging and moving book, Michael Plekon looks at a range of contemporary writers who have charted their own paths in ‘holy living’ in the context of a fast-changing church and world. He introduces us to the three-dimensional reality of some of those who have explored God’s ways with us in recent decades and distills a great deal of significant theological and spiritual wisdom. And, above all, he boldly argues that what he has been describing is seriously good news about the future of Christian discipleship in the supposedly secular North Atlantic world. This is a book to unsettle us and inspire us: that is, it is a Christian book.” — Archbishop Rowan Williams

“Actual saints, Michael Plekon reminds us, don’t come with ready-made halos. They struggle and fail just as we do, endure bitter disappointments, and are at times nailed to the cross by the church itself. One of Plekon’s main themes is the problem of dysfunctionality in religious institutions. Too often those entrusted to lead ‘poison our hunger for God, discourage our desire to serve God and the neighbor, even disorient our vision of human relationships.’ Even so, saints—few of them formally canonized—continue to arise, partly thanks to the church, partly despite it. Plekon’s book challenges the reader’s very idea of sanctity.” — Jim Forest, author of All is Grace: A Biography of Dorothy Day

You can order a copy of Saints As They Really Are by clicking here

To learn more about Father Michael click here

New Book Coming Soon

2012-02-27T10:23:00.007-08:00

I am glad to announce that after several years of research, writing, editing, and waiting, my doctoral dissertation, Church, World, and Kingdom: The Eucharistic Foundation of Alexander Schmemann's Pastoral Theology will be published this coming Fall by Hillenbrand Books, a division of Liturgical Training Publications.

While many students and scholars have studied Schmemann's liturgical theology, my book is the first to investigate his thoughts and ideas on the interconnectedness of liturgy and pastoral care.

Father Alexander's writings contain much food for thought for priests, lay leaders, and teachers regarding the pastoral life, ministry, and our common vocation to offer our prayer and praise to God, which is fulfilled in the Eucharistic celebration.

In the coming months I will share more information about the book, but for now, I just wanted to put the word out.

Publication details regarding Church, World, and Kingdom will be forthcoming.

For more information about the life and legacy of Father Schmemann click here.

Blog interview

2012-02-01T11:45:00.001-08:00

My friend and colleague Dr. Adam DeVille interviewed me recently on his excellent Eastern Christian book blog which you can find below. Happy reading.

Click here for the interview

To read an excerpt from my new book and for ordering information you can click here

New Book Published

2012-01-21T07:14:00.001-08:00

I am happy to finally announce that my new book, Encountering Jesus in the Gospels is being released today for publication. The book is a series of easy to read pastoral reflections on basic Gospel images of Jesus: Jesus the Bread, Jesus the Vine, Jesus the King, and so forth. Each chapter has a series of questions for personal reflection, for spiritual journaling, or for small group discussion. The book is a great resource for personal and group Bible study and sermon preparation.

You can read a sample chapter on my website if you click here

You can also order a copy directly from amazon.com if you click here

Bulk order copies for parishes or book clubs/studies can be ordered directly from my publisher if you send them an email info@orthodoxresearchinstitute.org

Happy reading!!!

Advanced Praise for Encountering Jesus in the Gospels:

In this welcome and wonderfully accessible book, Father William Mills very skillfully cuts through the fog of the current Jesus wars and helps readers discover for themselves the richly diverse answers provided in the gospels to Jesus’ own question: “Who do you say that I am?”"

Adam DeVille, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Theology

University of Saint Francis

"At first glance this book is a study of the names and titles of Jesus, proves to be far more, as each name proves, in the author's related experience to be a point of meeting with the Lord. Surely people will have a deeper intimacy with Christ from this brief, but life touching, book."

Bishop Seraphim Sigrist

Book Review: Between Heaven and Mirth

2011-09-29T06:32:00.001-07:00

I have a love/hate relationship with Father James Martin, well, it's probably more love than hate actually. I love him because he is ruthlessly honest, truthful, funny, and has a great writing style. I devoured all of his books in one or two sittings. Then why do I hate him you ask? For all of the same reasons! Just to be honest Father James is my idol, my mentor, my muse, I want to be just like Father Martin (I'm kidding of course).

Father Martin's latest book is called Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life (Harper One, 2011). You need to go out now and get a copy of this book today. Read it once, twice, even three times. Read it in your adult class at Church. Give a copy to your pastor. Buy a copy to your grumpy neighbor. They'll thank you for it later.

Between Heaven and Mirth explores the importance of humor and joy in healthy spiritual development. I agree with Father Martin's thesis that a healthy spiritual life needs humor. Humor is everywhere, in the Bible, in community life, in ones own family. The problem is, and Martin mentions this several times throughout his book, is that we take ourselves too seriously and when we do this we loose sight of Jesus and the Kingdom.

Martin draws on a host of examples from both the Old and New Testament's, from the writings and lives of the saints, and from his own personal anecdotes. He also draws some examples from Jewish, Buddhist, and Islamic religious traditions, although these examples were not as abundant as the examples from the Christian tradition. The pages turned so fast that I forgot where I was in the book. Page after page Martin shares with readers the mental, physical, and spiritual necessity of humor. In one particular passage Father Martin highlights the importance of humor for bishops and priests. He asks (and I'm paraphrasing here): "why not require our leaders to have a sense of humor, after all isn't that an important quality to have in leadership?" How true. Having a sense of humor and joy means that we are in tune with God. This does not mean that we are crack jokes all day, i.e humor for humor's sake, but that we see ourselves from God's vantage point. After all, just look around you, there is humor in everyday life, we just need, as Jesus says the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

I could go on and on but I won't. Father Martin has written a thoughtful, inspirational, and funny book about living a life of joy. If you want more joy in your life and lightness than start today! Also, while you're at it, buy a copy of Between Heaven and Mirth, read a chapter a day and you'll see how your life begins to change.

For more information about Father Martin and Between Heaven and Mirth click here

To pre-order a copy of Between Heaven and Mirth click here

Virtual Tours Part 1

2011-07-27T11:39:00.001-07:00

Many people would love to visit Christian holy sites in various parts of the world but due to time constraints, higher travel costs, and family and work responsibilities, travel becomes very difficult. However you can always take a virtual tour. What is a virtual tour? A virtual tour is exactly what the phrase says--a virtual tour of holy sites. Now with greater technology the internet provides pictures, videos, and plenty of written information about holy sites of interest.

Today's trip is to the many holy sites in Israel. Sacred Destinations is a wonderful educational website that has plenty of information about the Christian holy sites in Jerusalem as well as in the Galilee area.

Take some time out of your busy life and visit the Holy Land

Click here to begin your virtual tour

New Jerusalem Movie

2011-07-25T12:01:00.001-07:00

I just found out that there is a new IMAX 3D movie coming out in 2013 called Jerusalem. It is being filmed right now and will be ready for viewing in a few years. The directors are filming aerial shots from across Jerusalem as well as in other parts of the Holy Land. The movie looks very exciting, I cannot wait to see it.

Below is a link to more information about the movie.

For more information about the Jerusalem movie click here

Book Review A Will to Lead by William H. Willimon

2011-07-19T06:43:00.001-07:00

I came across the writings and sermons of William H. Willimon a few years ago while doing graduate work in pastoral theology. Willimon currently serves as a Methodist bishop in Alabama, but for over twenty years was the Dean at Duke Chapel and instructor of preaching at Duke Divinity School. Willimon is funny, but not just funny for humor's sake, but funny because he speaks the truth. Actually Willimon holds nothing back as the subtitle of the book states, Letters On Leadership From a Peculiar Prophet, and that is the God's honest truth! If anything Willimon doesn't care what people think of him because what he says is audacious.

The collection of short essays are edited blog posts from Willimon's weekly blog that he maintains in order to communicate with his pastors and laity in his district in Alabama. He covers topics such as Advent and Christmas, Women in Ministry, Discipleship, as well as Leadership, and Clergy Issues. A good public speaker may not always be a good writer and a good writer is not always the best public speaker, but after reading a few of Willimon's books and hearing him preach, well, he received a double portion of the Spirit. The book is good, actually it is more than good. I would suggest that a pastor read through this book a few times letting Willimon's words soak into the soul.

Willimon is correct when he says that too many pastors water down the Word of God. We want to make parishioners happy, we want them to like us, to feel good about themselves and about the world around them. Yet the gospel doesn't allow it, we are to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Willimon is right when he says that in many areas the gospel has lost its power not because the Word is weak but pastors are weak, we cave into the whims and cares of the congregation.

Those of us in the Eastern Christian Church could learn a lot from Willimon. Many of us live in our ethnic and religious ghettoes, and sometimes I think we have turned into a sect! One of my very good pastor friends said that he was aghast when he suggested to his parish council that the parish host a free luncheon once a week for the local neighborhood, the response, "Father, we don't want those people in our Church." What? Those people! Those people are the ones that Jesus loved, the poor, the lame, the blind, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the sinners. Yet many parishioners are turned in on themselves, seeking to placate their own egos rather than move out of the boundaries of the parish to the world around them, living what the great preacher and pastor St. John Chrysostom said, "living the liturgy after the liturgy."

If you like Stanley Hauerwas, Eugene Peterson, Marva Dawn, Andrew Purves, and Walter Brueggeman, you will like this new book by Bishop Willimon. As God once said to St. Augustine, "take and read" and read deeply.

For more postings from Bishop Willimon click here

For more information about A Will to Lead click here

Thoughts about Faith, Hope, and Love

2011-07-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Still reading William Sloane Coffin, his writing is "right on" when it comes to the Church and the world. Below are a few more "spiritual gems' to think about in the days and weeks to come.

"Love, and you are a success or not the world thinks so. The highest purpose of Christianity, which is primarily a way of life, not a system of belief, is to love one another. And the first fruit of love is joy, the joy that represents meaning and fulfillment."

"Love measures our stature: the more we love, the bigger we are. There is no smaller package in all the world than that of a man all wrapped up in himself."

"If faith puts us on the road, hope keeps us there."

"I love the recklessness of faith. First you leap, and then you grow wings."

Some Thoughts About the Life of Faith

2011-07-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been reading Credo, a collection of thoughts from William Sloan Coffin, the former Chaplain at Yale University and pastor at Riverside Church in NYC. He was a big supporter of social justice, racial equality, and women's rights. He is a true prophet in all aspects of the word. Below are a few quotes from Credo, some food for thought as we try to follow Jesus better:

We are on the road to heaven if today we walk with God. Eternal life is not a possession conferred at death; it is a present endowment. We live it now and continue it through death. With God, "time is eternity in disguise."

While Adam lived through "summer's parching heat" Jesus died young, but didn't both show us that it is by its content rather than by duration that a lifetime is measured?

It is often said that the Church is a crutch. Of course it's a crutch. What makes you think you don't limp?

The Eucharist quenches my thirst for hope

Local churches, ministers, and laity alike need to be prodded, for we domesticate God's word too soon. Lacking the vigor to deal with big problems, we allow ourselves to become mesmerized by little ones.

Author Interview: Father Michael Plekon

2011-07-15T04:56:00.001-07:00

Besides posting regular book reviews and other short insights about the Spiritual life I have been conducting some online author interviews. Recent interviews with authors such as Bishop Seraphim Sigrist and Sarah Sentilles can be found in earlier posts. Today I am including an author interview with a longtime friend, colleague, and mentor Father Michael Plekon. The original interview was conducted on the Eastern Christian Book blog hosted by my friend Adam Deville and he has given me permission to reproduce it here.

Enjoy!!

Please provide a brief biographical sketch:

MP: I have been teaching at Baruch College of the City University of New York since 1977. We have 18,000 students, with over 110 language groups represented in the academic community, so it’s a very diverse community! I love teaching there—the students are often the first in their families to attend college. They work alongside their courses, many full time. When you discuss the New Testament, for example, it is usual that there will be students from all the world's religious traditions in the class, some hearing the words of Jesus for the first time, all bringing fresh perspectives. We also have a high standard for scholarship and I am always working on one or another publications. I am also a priest in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and am associate at St. Gregory the Theologian Church, Wappingers Falls,NY, alongside my very good friend, the rector, Fr.Alexis Vinogradov, himself a trained and still-practicing architect. I have been at the parish 16 years and had almost 15 years of parish experience before that.

Tell us why you wrote these books:

MP: I am finished with the third in a series of books about holiness in our time. The one yet to be published (forthcoming from UND Press in 2012) is Saints As They Really Are, the title taken from Dorothy Day. This started with Living Icons: Persons of Faith in the Eastern Church (U Notre Dame Press, 2002).

There I profiled a number of contemporary holy people, only one of whom has been canonized, viz., Mother Maria Skobtsova--the other being St Seraphim of Sarov, whom I included because of the many characteristics he possessed common to out time. The others—Sergius Bulgakov, Paul Evdokimov, Alexander Schmemann, John Meyendorff, Nicholas Afanasiev, Lev Gillet, Alexander Men, Gregory Krug, while renowned for their scholarship, teaching, spiritual insight, and iconographic gifts, do not fit the traditional categories of sainthood. And this is precisely why I wrote about them, generously using quotes from their writings as well as photos of them. The book got rave reviews and an award, but there was more to be said.Moreover, I did not want to give the impression that only Eastern Orthodox women and men can be saints. Thus, in the sequel, Hidden Holiness (UND Press, 2009),

I used as a point of departure Paul Evdokimov’s comment that in our time, holy people would be both more ordinary and diverse in their

holiness; hence their holiness would be less flamboyant or noticeable. Here I also wanted to listen to a much more diverse set of voices about living the holy life, not just those from my own church. Among those generously cited (and pictured) were Thomas Merton, Etty Hillesum, Simone Weil, Mother Teresa, Charles DeFoucauld, Rowan Williams, Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, Kathleen Norris, Sara Miles, Darcey Steinke, Dorothy Day, as well as lesser known individuals like Paul Anderson, Joanna Reitlinger and Olga Arsumqaq Michael. One good thing leads to another, though, and there were issues that I should have but could not address in Hidden Holiness. I did question the obsession with “heroic” holiness or the “cult of celebrity,” likewise the formal processes and requirements for canonization. Perhaps the theme stressed most was the universal call to holiness, and closely related, the everyday qualities and possibilities for holy living in our time. Yet there were many issues I did not address such as the destructive potential of institutional religion, the toxic mess we can turn our spiritual lives into, harming others as well as ourselves. In Saints As They Really Are, I tried to address these, again listening to a diverse chorus of voices—Barbara Brown Taylor, Nora Gallagher, Peter Berger, Matthew Kelty, Lauren Winner, Diana Butler Bass, Andrew Krivak, as well as some from the earlier two books and some Carmelites from my own ten years’ experience in that order.

Will you continue writing on these themes or are there other interests?

MP: I am not sure if there will be more writing about holiness and those struggling to live it in the 21^st century, but all three volumes as well as my own pastoral experience (and that of colleagues and seminarian interns serving in our parish) have nudged me toward a related project. I am calling it “The Church Has Left the Building,” borrowing a phrase I saw on Religious News Service (RNS). I have asked colleagues and former interns to reflect, in essays, on their experience of parish life and pastoral ministry in the first decade or more of this new century. I think of those who may write, there is well over a hundred years of pastoral experience upon which to reflect, and all have encountered the complex collection of demographic, cultural and social factors challenging the churches now. For example, through no fault of dedicated clergy and laity, there are numerous “redundant” parishes across the churches: parishes in small towns now only a few minutes away from the next parish, also parishes where the economic and social bases have long since disappeared: mills, factories, mines to which immigrants flocked a century or more ago. Also the communities of ethnicity/language have now moved into the third or even fourth generation, with many, actually most “marrying out” of ethnic and denominational roots. Quite contrary to the myth that we continue to suffer from a “priest shortage,” the actual situation of basic church life, that is, parish life, is crying out for clear, insightful commentary. This is what the project hopes to provide through a handful of experienced pastors. It is not going to offer “recipes” for improvement, though clearly the conditions in which many parishes of all church backgrounds are finding themselves do signal a need to return to simplicity of life and the basics of prayer, sacraments, fellowship and service—precisely the characteristics Diana Butler Bass found in a study a decade ago.

Have you been involved in other projects?

MP: Yes, I have. Alongside these books, I have been involved in editing translations of some important studies in ecclesiology and church reform. Last year there was Jerry Ryan’s translation ofToward the Endless Day: The Life of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel (UND Press, 2010).

AD: Yes, that was a splendid biography, which I discussed briefly on here last fall. As soon as I read it, I wrote to the editor of Reviews in Religion and Theology telling her of the importance of the book and volunteering to review it, which I then did. The review was published earlier this year. EBS is such a fascinating figure that I wanted to spread the word, and also encourage further discussion of her challenging and important ideas on, e.g., gender.

MP: In addition, I edited Vitaly Permiakov's translation of an important classic in ecclesiology: Nicholas Afanasiev's The Church of the Holy Spirit (UND Press, 2007).

AD: I know it well, and have used it in my courses. My own book Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy: Ut Unum Sint and the Prospects of East-West Unity shows its indebtedness to that book of Afanasiev, especially my conclusion.

Future projects?

MP: One is Antoine Arjakovsky’s The Way: Religious Thinkers of the Russian Emigration in Paris and their Journal, translated by Jerry Ryan, which I edited with John Jillions (UND Press, forthcoming, 2012).

And ahead lies the publication of Hyacinthe Destivelle, The Moscow Council of 1917-1918: The Creation of the Conciliar Institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church, also translated by Jerry Ryan with my editing.

For whom were the books written—did you have a particular audience in mind?

MP: The three books having to do with holiness in our time I aimed at the widest possible audience, trying hard to write accessibly, without jargon, also explaining wherever needed. The same would be true for the Elisabeth Behr-Sigel biography in translation. It’s a nominee for the ForeWord annual awards. I think both the Arjakovsky and Destivelle studies will attract those interested not just in Russian church history and theology but most importantly, in the efforts at renewal and reform in the Eastern Church in the modern era. The Moscow council of 1917-18, never really implemented there, did shape ecclesiastical statutes and structure here in the OCA, as well as in Finland, Japan, the Sourozh diocese in the

and the Paris/western European archdiocese.

Nicholas Afanasiev’s The Church of the Holy Spirit (UND Press, 2007)

has had a much wider audience, involving theologians of the liturgy, ecclesiologists and ecumenists. Ecumenically minded readers would also have had a great deal to invite them in the three books on holiness, since the effort there was deliberately ecumenical in the writers selected and examined. Now I would hope that “The Church Has Left the Building” will be readable and accessible insofar as the reflections will be personal and based on everyday parish life.

What about your own background led you to the writing of these books?

MP: I think just as it goes with preaching and teaching, so too with scholarly research and writing—you work with what is of great interest and commitment to yourself. Surely, this is the case with every book I have mentioned here. As one who was always intrigued by saints, I wanted to respect and honor the past but look more carefully at the time we live in. Saints are not only for icons or statues or holy cards. Holiness is a gift of God, first and foremost, and only real people, flesh and blood women and men, can be saints! I have had quite a few years on my life deeply involved in the church. I went to minor seminary, gave monastic life a serious try. I have experienced both Eastern and Western church life from the inside, I have great love for the gospel but as with many, I have a lot of strong feelings about what the institutional church has done to distort it, not to mention other atrocities such as clericalism, abuse of those in pastoral care, or the fundamentalism pretending to be traditionalism--addressed in an essay of mine in this collection.

Were there any surprises you discovered in the writing?

More than anything else, research on contemporary holy people as well as those writing about their own efforts to find God keeps showing me that ecclesiastical differences and divisions do not quench the Spirit. God is not the building nor is God the rules or the “culture” of the ecclesiastical community to which we belong. God is beyond all of this yet closer to us than our hearts. God lives with us and gives us the gift of holiness, God’s own life. Let me give you an example. In an online course, I guide students through some of the nastiest, meanest anti-ecumenical writing—not because I honor or agree with any of it but because it is there and in some places and for some people enormously powerful. The rationale then was that students needs to understand how strongly some feel about other Christians having no grace, no church life, sacraments, not even being Christians really, just heretics. All this runs counter to the New Testament as well as what we know and what was written in the first five hundred years of the church’s history. If anything, I have been very pleasantly surprised at seeing what I have been writing about confirmed, for example, in Diarmaid Macculloch’s magisterial Christianity, The First Three Thousand Years (Viking, 2010).

I have also been encouraged to see the swell of support for theologian Elizabeth Johnson in the wake of the heavy-handed criticism and rejection of her recent book, Quest for the Living God.

Are there similar books out there, and if so, how is yours different?

Publishers always ask about this in author’s questionnaires, mostly for marketing purposes. No good ideas are the monopoly of an author. Quite a few people have been writing about the same issues I have looked at, which is why I have listened to, quoted, even pictured so many of them in my books—James Martin, Elizabeth Johnson, Rowan Williams, Barbara Brown Taylor, Mary Karr, Elizabeth Strout, Mary Oliver-- to name just a few.

You’ve been very generous with your comments. Anything to add in closing?

This past spring 2011 semester, as I have done many times in the past, I used materials from my books in my classes at school. Specifically, we read together a number of memoir and autobiographical authors, some of which I had used, others not. The response, as usual, was very good but this time, far deeper, more moving, than I could have expected. Given the diversity of my students as well as the “street smarts” that usually make them personally very guarded, their sharing of their own searches for God, for identity and for meaning in their lives bowled me over—and I have been teaching for a long time! This assured me of something that the last years of working on and writing these books has revealed to me. The world around is ought not to be castigated as secular, immoral, materialistic, promiscuous, corrupting. Rather, it is filled with saints like the summer evening skies are with stars.

Author Interview: Sarah Sentilles

2011-07-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

Earlier I posted a book review of Sarah's new book Breaking Up With God (Harper One, 2011) an honest look at her own work and ministry as she prepared for official ministry in the Episcopal Church. Her own faith crisis and journey is an honest look at the difficulties and issues involved with a spiritual journey. While I didn't agree with everything in the book I do think that her honesty and openness about her faith is commendable. Below is an interview with Sarah:

Tell us why you wrote Breaking Up With God? How long did it take to write it?

I was almost an Episcopal priest but now I don’t call myself a Christian. I wrote Breaking Up with God to figure out what happened to my relationship with God. Technically, I wrote the book in two years, but you could also say that it took me my whole life to write this book. The seeds for Breaking Up with God were planted when I wrote A Church of Her Own, which examines the sexism women face when they try to lead churches. My editor for that project made me take out all the parts of the story that were about me and focus instead on the ministers I interviewed. I realized then that I had my own story to tell.

For whom was the book written—did you have a particular audience in mind?

I always joke that I had Oprah in mind when I wrote the book (what writer doesn’t?), but in reality I always try to write imagining my closest friends as my readers. I think this is part of what gives my book an intimate feeling. Several readers have written to me to share that after they read the book they felt as if we were friends, as if we had just had a conversation in their kitchens late into the night. Sometimes I write just for myself, a choice that allows me to take bigger risks with my writing because I don’t worry about what anyone else will think of my words. For this particular book, however, the audience I most often had in mind was the person who is trapped in a faith—or a job, or a relationship, or a home—that is making her feel small and alone and frightened. I hope my book will help her give herself permission to leave, help her know she’s free to go, that she can claim a different kind of God.

Were there any surprises you discovered in the writing? Any painful moments? Any funny ones?

The writing process is filled with surprises for me. I never know what a book will look like until I am finished writing it, which is what makes writing so life-giving and exciting for me. The biggest surprise that came with this book was the revelation that the story I had been telling about why I was not a priest was not the whole story. I had been telling people that I left institutional Christianity because the institutional church was sexist—which is true—but I also left institutional Christianity because my faith in God changed dramatically. I no longer believed what I once believed. I had also been telling people that I lost faith in God, but writing this book I realized that wasn’t exactly right either: I didn’t lose my faith; I left it. I think that’s why the break-up metaphor works so well.

I think the funniest moment writing this book came when I first saw the design for the cover. I happen to love the cover. And at the same time I am a little embarrassed as a feminist that I love the fact that my book has a beautiful model on the cover. I sent my friend Amy Walsh the cover when I saw the first version of it to see what she thought of it, and she reminded me how weird it was to have a model on the cover. She said she wished I was on the cover, which made me laugh, so my husband and I did a fake photo shoot, and remade a version of the cover with me on it. Instead of sitting next to a suitcase, I sat next to my own dirty laundry. And instead of looking beautiful, my hair was all greasy because I’d just gotten back from the gym and I hadn’t yet showered that day. We laughed for days. Amy later sent me an even funnier version of the cover that now hangs on my refrigerator and that is too brilliant to try to describe here.

Are there similar books out there, and if so, how is yours different?

Barbara Brown Taylor wrote a beautiful book called Leaving Church about her decision to leave the church where she was a priest. William Lobdell wrote a book called Losing My Religion about losing faith as a religion reporter for the LA Times. And there are, of course, all the books by the “new atheists”—God Is Not Great and The God Delusion and The End of Faith—but I think my book is very different from those. First, I am not an atheist. I am agnostic. And second, I understand the value of being part of a religious community, and I still very much miss that.

Is there anything in particular that you want readers to learn when reading Breaking Up With God?

That there is more to God than most of us have been taught in church. That faith is an imaginative, constructive, ethical enterprise. That theology matters. That the way we think about God has real effects on the earth and on other human beings. That we are the ones we have been waiting for. In the book I write, “This is my faith: a fragile hope in what humanity might be able to do when we stop looking for someone else to save us,” and I think that sentence sums up what the book is about.

I also think the book is an invitation, a way to let other people know that they don’t have to stay in faith communities just because they find themselves there by birth or by choice. It’s an invitation to come out—as a seeker, an atheist, an agnostic, a dissatisfied believer, a questioner. Sometimes you know something doesn’t feel right, but you force yourself to stay—whether it’s in a relationship that isn’t working, in a job that is making you miserable, or in a faith community that is making you feel small and scared. That is part of why I figured my faith in God as a romantic relationship. Just like you wouldn’t tell your friend to stay with a partner who hits her, you shouldn’t tell someone to stay with a version of God that makes them sick or scared or impedes her ability to thrive and shine and be her biggest self in the world.

What are you doing now professionally? Are you teaching? Doing more writing?

I am in the beginning stages of three books right now. I’m working on an edited volume with Karen King called Torture and Christianity. I’m working on a book about artists’ responses to torture. And I’m writing a novel based on the true story of a conscientious objector during World War II. I taught courses in critical thinking and art theory at a university when I lived in southern California. I am moving to Portland at the end of the summer and hope to find some teaching opportunities there. I’d love to teach in my field again, which is somewhere at the intersection of religious studies, ethics, visual culture, and theology. At the center of my work is a commitment to investigating the roles religious language, images, and practices play in oppression, violence, social transformation, and justice movements.

Book Review: The Spirit's Tether: Eight Lives in Ministry

2011-07-08T07:55:00.001-07:00

There are plenty of books written by academic theologians and teachers on the topic of pastoral ministry. Unfortunately many of these books are written by people who have little or no real life experience in the pulpit. These books deal with the theology of ministry as seen in the Scripture or the great Tradition of the Church but have little reference to real people and real lives.

The Spirit's Tether is different. The Spirit's Tether: Eight Lives in Ministry (Alban Publishing, 2011) by Malcolm L. Warford is a book focusing around the lives and ministry of 8 ministers. Warford followed these ministers from their seminary days in Union Seminary in NYC from 1976 to the present. He started his research as a way to get feedback from seminary students about their experiences in seminary. He followed them along their life-travels, including their parish experiences as well as their own personal ups and downs. The Spirit's Tether is not theories about ministry but ministry from the "ground up" told by both men and women who have diligently served in various pastoral settings.

The pastor's included in this volume come from a wide Christian background: Baptist, Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian, Episcopal, as well as Brethren. There are men and women, black, white, and hispanic. Some have been married more than once, others have had one spouse. Many have overcome great personal and spiritual battles: cancer, divorce, parish conflict, and other such difficulties. It is amazing to hear their stories. Warford does a very good job weaving their personal narratives into a seamless story about the formation and life of pastors.

I recommend this book for seminary teachers, spiritual directors, and pastoral mentors. These eight lives are witnesses to God's work in the world and in the Church.

Below is the Table of Contents of the Book:

Foreword by Donald W. Shriver, Jr.

Preface: Stories of Work and Calling

Chapter 1: Setting the Context

Chapter 2: Childhood and Formative Events

Chapter 3: Beginning Theological Education

Chapter 4: The Middle Years of Theological Study

Chapter 5: Reassessments and Moving On

Chapter 6: Years in Ministry

Chapter 7: Looking Back and Going Forward

Chapter 8: Summing Up

Afterword by Serene Jones

Notes

For more information about The Spirit's Tether click here

Coming Soon--Encountering Jesus in the Gospels!!!

2011-06-26T14:32:00.001-07:00

I am finishing up last minute touches on my latest book, Encountering Jesus in the Gospels, a book that I have been wanting to write for some time now. Many people have a very narrow or limited view of Jesus' life and ministry. When reading the gospels we encounter many different very diverse images of Jesus:

Jesus the Wanderer

Jesus the Friend of the Poor

Jesus the Bread

Jesus the Prophet

Jesus the Teacher

Jesus the Light

Jesus the Son of God

as well as many others. This small little book will hopefully help people get a more well rounded vision of Jesus' teaching, preaching, and ministry. Each section will also include a Food for Thought series of questions for small group discussion, personal reflection, and/or journaling.

The book will be available towards the end of the Summer.

Keep an eye out for it on amazon.com and I will be updating you from time to time on the publication date.

Need Some Summer Spiritual Reading????

2011-06-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Are you down in the dumps?

Do you need some spiritual renewal?

Do you need direction?

Are you spiritually tired?

If you find yourself down in the dumps and need some spiritual renewal this summer I recommend Our Father: A Prayer for Christian Living. I wrote this book several years ago as a way to introduce lay people to the message of the Lord's Prayer. The chapters are very short and easy to read. Each chapter includes a Food for Thought section where the reader can stop and take a few moments and reflect on several key questions about the Lord's Prayer. If you want to learn more about the Lord's Prayer and Christian discipleship pick up a copy of Our Father: A Prayer for Christian Living today!

Many people have found this book helpful on their spiritual journey and hopefully so will you.

Buy one for yourself, for your pastor, and for a friend!!!! Pass the word around too!!

For more information about Our Father: A Prayer for Christian Living click here

Author Interview: Bishop Seraphim of Sendai

2011-06-16T05:35:00.000-07:00

My friend Bishop Seraphim, former bishop of Sendai in Japan just wrote a lovely new book called A Life Together which I reviewed here on this blog a few weeks ago. Here is an author interview, enjoy!!!

1.Tell us why you wrote this book:

This book A Life Together: Wisdom of Community from the Christian East began with a talk in Moscow and with a British man from BP actually who was present asking if I would consider writing more on the idea of 'sobornost' because (himself a member of a renewal community in Britain) it seemed important to him... So began to write...in my way which is rather recursive...or perhaps it is as Ingmar Bergman says one throws a spear as far into the forest as one can and then goes and finds it. I tend to write in paragraphs circling the topic and then draw them together. This has analogy to the 'centuries' of St Maximus or of course the Temple of Thomas Traherne. But I have gotten into mechanics... as to why? It is my little offering to the Church, might be an answer...? To try to suggest ways forward...ways of elan and even a little romanticism (Chesterton and Merton and Lax were romantics werent they) to the extent that I could... ways of hope in the work of the Spirit...And of course what I might have to offer includes my being a Christian of the Eastern Orthodox tradition and my experience in life and so on...

2. What about your own background led you to the writing of this book?

Well the subject of sobornost is of a meditation of unity, sobornost being a Russian word whose root means 'gathering'. I am an American and for years I served in Japan and then returned to the United States where I live now. But my deepest experience of community perhaps came in visits to Russia beginning in 1994 and contact with disciples and spiritual heirs of Fr Alexander Men. Fr Men was a great leader of renewal of life and mission in the church at the end of the Soviet period, who baptized many thousands, wrote many books, and had an ever widening ministry through lectures and the media cut short by his assassination in 1990. However these works, including house meetings and all sorts of ministries to the poor,to prisoners, to youth and so on continue in the Church through those who learned from him...and with these people I felt a very deep sense of community and I have remained in contact with and sharing in this work until now...however paradoxical it may be, myself an American separated usually by many miles and also speaking little Russian and so on. But this experience and other experiences of community, and of what the theologian Antoine Arjakowsky calls 'the ecumenism of friendship' form a background for my feeling that the mystery of the church is indeed the mystery of community, and that the meditation of it and the opening out of the experience and reality of deep community and unity in Christ is ongoing in the Church and is something to which we are called...

3.For whom was the book written—was there a particular audience you had in mind?

I did not, and would not, conceive the appropriate readership to be narrowly limited. Of course the subject of community, or of sobornost, can be of particular interest to people interested in the Eastern Church, as to sobornost, or in the new communities. But also when we speak of unity we must start with inner unity, which is something which all people need, and all of us are involved with others in in the interweave of relationswhich is the ground of community. Certainly any Christian who takes seriously John 17 where the Lord says that the unity of the disciples can be and ought be of the order of that of the persons of the Trinity, will find it important to consider where we stand now, so many years after that high priestly prayer and after Pentecost and how this sort of depth of unity still comes to us as a call from the future...

4.Were there any surprises you discovered in the writing?

Well as I said earlier I started with discussing the meaning of the idea of sobornost, unity if you will, for the Russian thinkers of the 19th century. And then like the man throwing a spear into the woods and following to its place, I found many connections that opened out...For example to the idea of co-inherence developed quite independently by the novelist Charles Williams, and then beyond my initial intention there came the question of what spiritual disciplines can be ways of unity? The final three sections of the book propose a new discipline of attention, of 'watchfulness', not simply inwardly as in some monastic writing but to the world and to the times that are coming and to the coming Lord which we suggest recovers the original sense of the command to 'watch', secondly in complementarity the principle of opposites completing each other in physics associated with Nils Bohr we propose an important inner orientation also deeply related to unity and only beginning to be applied in religious thought, and thirdly that external mission which is dialogic, on the model of the conversation on the road to Emmaus, and is necessarily grounded in prayer...These are some of the ideas which came together as I worked with this theme.

5. Are there similar books out there, and if so, how is yours different?

I am honored by comparisons to Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and I do cite Bonhoeffer in one place, but I think for one thing my discussion is more broadly focused... and, apart from simmilarity of title, the books quite different. The only book I know on simply sobornost is Sobornost by Catherine de Hueck Doherty. It is an admirable little book but again its scope is really the spirituality of her Madonna House and it is part of a trilogy (Poustinia--hermitage--and Molchanie or silence being the other two.) It is rather surprising fact that there are really no books giving a broad consideration just to Sobornost, and this in spite of the importance of the word and its currency in Eastern Christian circles. The more I looked into the subject the more I felt that something further ought be said and in A Life Together I attempted to at least open the discussion in a new way...

6. Sum up briefly the main themes/ideas/insights of the book

That the Mystery of Unity our Lord spoke of, should appear as fresh and unheard of in the 19th century, shows how the history of the Church is not finished...rather it seems we are only beginning to enter the depth of the experience of Pentecost...

This unity is, as the Russians felt, the necessary way between the loss of the person in collectivism and on the other hand the loss of the human family and of the Church in individualism...

The journey into unity is a spiritual calling to the Church but also to persons and we can become,as we are called to be, men and women of unity... We can live the sign of unity. It is a deeper question than that of 'ecumenism' and yet it is also of course the way forward for external church unity.

Christianity is in its infancy, Fr Alexander Men said. This is opposite to the current feeling which even enters the churches that Christianity is played out, exhausted... but as we enter the way of community and inner and outer unity we see how deeply true it is that the journey is only begun.. This realization I think is deeply liberating and renewing...

In this renewed journey is there not also a renewal of spirit and elan and of the sense of boundless possibility which we and, if we may say so, the Church so need?

For more information about the book click here

For more information about Bishop Seraphim click here

+Seraphim Joseph Sigrist
Bishop, Orthodox Church in America
formerly of Sendai and East Japan

Book Review: Breaking Up With God by Sarah Sentilles

2011-06-15T15:17:00.001-07:00

I was at the pool today finishing up Sarah Sentilles' new book Breaking Up With God (Harper One, 2011) and a lady walked by, saw the cover and said, "wow, that must be a powerful book" and my response "yep, you got that right!"

Breaking Up With God is indeed powerful. It's also brutally truthful and honest, just the type of book that I enjoy reading! I cannot stand sacherine spirituality, you know, the "just believe in Jesus and you'll be okay" or "just have Jesus in your heart" type of spirituality. Trust me, after 11 years in parish ministry and talking with a lot of people I can smell fake spirituality and faith a mile away. People often reduce Christianity to simple formulae or ideas (also called theology or doctrine) and that is that, forget about actually "thinking" or "reflecting" on what you believe! Breaking Up With God is the perfect antidote for a reader who wants to read an honest memoir about a spiritual journey. Breaking Up With God IS NOT a "feel good" type of book.

Sentilles started her life as a regular Church goer, first in the Catholic Church where her parents brought her and then later on in the Episcopal Church. At one point in her life she finds a very healthy and vibrant Episcopal Church in Pasedena, CA called All Saints. They are deep into social justice, radical hospitality, friendly to gays and lesbians, and committed to serving the hungry and homeless. Sentilles finds her home there. She finds God there. She finds holiness and goodness there. The people in the pew actually believe what they say in the prayers rather than just mouthing them week after week. But then things change. They change in big ways.

Through various by-ways and highways Sentilles persues graduate work and later an MDiv. and Ph.D at Harvard Divinity School. Soon after she enters into the ordination process in the Episcopal Church but then has a major crises of faith. I don't want to give out too much, so you'll just have to buy the book and see for yourself what happens to her! The title may give you some hints!

While reading Breaking Up With God I felt as if she were in the room speaking to me from her heart, that is how honest Sarah is. Surely there is some more to the story, something in her childhood faith upbringing or parents that may have precipitated her faith crises which she has later in life. A few times she confesses that she wanted God to love her and tried to change her life to make that happen. She does mention that she was seeing a therapist but never explains details as to why she is doing this.

Yet we do get some glimpses of what pastor's hear all the time: simplistic and often infantile images of God. A long time ago I was frustrated with some people about their notions and ideas about God, the Church, and spirituality in general and I told a friend about it, who happened to be a class mate of mine at seminary. She turned to me and said, "Bill, unfortunately most people have a 10 year old image of God and they stop learning, we have 50 year olds in parishes thinking like 10 year olds!" She was 100% correct. I had to laugh when reading a portion of the book where Sarah outlines a Church School Version of God: one God, three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, 7 Sacraments, and so forth.

Throughout her story Sentilles questions the real problems in Church life these days, parishes that worship on Sunday but have very little to do with the local community, parishes that do not engage in radical hospitality and philanthropy, and Christians who would as soon send a prisoner to the electric chair rather than follow the command of Jesus to love and forgive, which does not mean let back on the street but it certainly means not killing another human. Christians tend to set aside the scriptures that they don't like for ones that they do; enough said.

While I don't agree with everything in the book, I do agree that those of us in parish life and in the Christian Church, need to continually take the Gospel for what it is and no sugar coat Jesus, turn him into a puppet and tell him how to act or say. We often do this to make our life easier, yet Jesus never promises that discipleship is easy. Jesus always got himself in trouble because he questioned the religious authorities, hung out with prostitutes and sinners, and challenged the status quo. This is the Jesus that I want. This is the Jesus that Sarah is searching for.

I commend Sarah for her brutal honesty and truthfulness. Breaking Up With God would certainly create a lot of good conversation and dialogue in the greater Church. I hope others agree.

For more information about Sara Sentilles click here

For more information about ordering Breaking Up With God click here

Happy Pentecost!!!

2011-06-13T05:13:00.001-07:00

Those of us in the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Anglican traditions celebrated the Feast of Pentecost yesterday. Pentecost is recorded in Acts chapter 2 where the first disciples were gathered together and a rush of a mighty wind came through the upper room in Jerusalem and tongues of fire rested on the disciples and they began preaching the Word of God in many languages.

Pentecost is also called the "birthday" of the Church because it is the beginning of the preaching ministry of the disciples. Pentecost celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit into the world, which is the Spirit of unit, the Spirit of love, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of wisdom. This the same Holy Spirit that was given to us at our baptism and chrismation (or confirmation as they say in the Western Churches), the same Holy Spirit given to clergy at their ordination, and the same Holy Spirit that comes upon us at every Divine Liturgy or Mass.

I wish everyone a good Pentecost season. I hope that you realize that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in the world, in the Church, and in your life. Each one of us received the gift of the Holy Spirit at our baptism, don't forget that.

For more information about the Feast of Pentecost click here

If you want to read more about Pentecost from an Eastern Orthodox perspective and other feast days click here

New Book Coming Soon!!!!!!

2011-06-09T05:30:00.000-07:00

I am excited about a new book that I am currently working on called Images of Jesus. The book is a collection of New Testament images or allusions to Jesus such as Jesus the Bread, Jesus the Prophet, Jesus the Judge, Jesus the Vine, and so forth. Through the course of preaching, teaching, and reading the gospels it occurred to me that we have a plethora of various types of images of Jesus. The book will hopefully be complete by the end of the summer and ready for purchase in early Fall. Images of Jesus will be very similar to my previous books, Our Father: A Prayer for Christian Living and A 30 Day Retreat: A Personal Guide to Spiritual Renewal in that the chapters are short, easy to read, and have questions for further discussion and reflection.

Make sure to check back often for more information about the book.

Hopefully you can purchase a copy for yourself, for your pastor, for your friends!!!

Abbey of Gethsemani

2011-06-08T08:37:00.001-07:00

Another one of my favorite retreat places in the United States is the Abbey of Gethsemeni in Kentucky. This monastery is where Thomas Merton, the famous monk and writer lived. Merton was a prolific author, his most famous was his autobiography called A Seven Storey Mountain which sold thousands if not millions of copies.

The monastery is located not to far from Louisville, where the Merton Center is located. Gently rolling hills or knobs as they call them dot the land. Kentucky is bluegrass country and there is plenty of bluegrass around! The area around the monastery is very peaceful and you can take plenty of healthy walks, up and down those knobs!

The monastery is very quiet and peaceful. The monks keep a regular rule of prayer and liturgical services and guests are welcome to join in worship if they are able to do that. The rooms are simple and there is a library and quiet area for reading and rest. Meals are taken in the cafeteria and if I recall all meals are silent, which means, no talking. The only sound you'll hear are forks hitting plates and people sipping tea or coffee. There is also a large bookstore where the monks sell their famous cheese products, books, icons, and music.

If you want a semi-silent retreat or time away from the craziness plan a visit to the Abbey of Gethsameni. However you need to call in advance since they have literally thousands of pilgrims and retreat participants throughout the year.

For more information about the monastery click here

For more information about Thomas Merton click here

Monks of New Skete

2011-06-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

Summer is a time for rest and relaxation but also for retreat. Monasteries make a great retreat destination. They usually have a guest house as well as plenty of space for walking and hiking and quiet places for introspection and reflection. One of my favorite monasteries in North America is the New Skete Communities in Cambridge, NY. The Monks of New Skete are famous for their dog training and just last week they were featured on Good Morning America. I included the link to that short video below.

When visiting the New Skete community you will find rest and relaxation, plenty of nature, and hopefully you will find inner stillness and peace. The monastery chapel is gorgeous, the colorful painted frescoes are breathtaking and the singing is heavenly.

Do yourself a favor and visit the Monks of New Skete.

On the way home make sure to buy one of their gourmet cheesecakes, or maybe two of them, you won't be disappointed.

For more information about the New Skete Community click here

For a short video on Good Morning America click here

Coming Soon: Review of Orthodoxy by Paul Evdokimov

2011-06-03T17:26:00.001-07:00

This new volume by the late French Orthodox theologian Paul Evdokimov is being published by New City Press, a full review will be forthcoming shortly. Below is a blurb from the Preface of the book:

“The appearance in 1965 of Orthodoxy, a masterpiece of synthesis, was a landmark in religious publishing and earned for its author a doctorate of theology from the Institut Saint-Serge in Paris. Paul Evdokimov here circumvents all scholastic theology on the one hand, and the traditional approach of the ‘Dogmatic’ theologians on the other, to develop an original synthesis of Orthodox theological thinking. Although he constantly quotes the Fathers, he does so creatively, so as not simply to repeat them, but to incarnate their spirit in our own time and for our future. In addition, he enriches Patristic thought by bringing to bear on it the two great movements that have occurred in Eastern Christianity: the theology of the divine energies in the 14th century which enlightened our understanding of the material world and human culture; and the Russian religious philosophy of the first half of the 20th century with its prophetic intuitions, its Pentecostal understanding of the modern world, and its vital eschatology. A theological approach in which the human intelligence progresses by an ascesis of repentance, of the great conversion of the heart, metanoia, is here set forth so as to show, or rather celebrate, the theosis or deification of the whole human person.... An understanding we might call eucharistic, gathering together and clarifying the experience of life in the Church, an understanding inseparable from the golden chain of holiness, including the holiness of intelligence, which the Church venerates in those whom she calls the ‘Fathers.’ ”

Happy Ascension!!!

2011-06-02T13:32:00.000-07:00

Today those of us in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches celebrate the feast of the Ascension as recorded in the Book of Acts chapter 1 and Luke 24. Those of you in the Roman Catholic Church will celebrate this feast on Sunday since the Vatican II reforms moved the feast to the following Sunday.

For more information on the Ascension click here

Wishing you a good day and wonderful weekend.

I hope you are all finding God in the small daily stuff of life, in carpools, in taking out the garbage, in listening to a friend or family member. Try to find God in both big and small ways.

Be well!!!

Book Review: This Our Exile by James Martin, SJ

2011-06-01T06:44:00.001-07:00

You can't go wrong with a book by James Martin, SJ! If you haven't heard of James Martin, well, you haven't read much! Martin is an editor at America Magazine as well as a commentator for NPR and the Huffington Post. He is often interviewed my national media when the Catholic Church is in the news. He is also the author of numerous books, most recently The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything (Harper Collins).

This Our Exile: A Spiritual Journey with the Refugees of East Africa (Orbis Publishers) is a re-issued book. The book was first published in 1999.

This Our Exile is part theology, part travelogue, part memoir, part guide on vocation and ministry. Since Martin is a Jesuit he was assigned to a special ministry, in his case, Kenya. For two years Martin spent time in Kenya assisting the local peoples, Kenyans as well as refugees from Rwanda in their daily survival. We hear about their poverty, lack of resources, poor education, and lack of care. Missionaries from around the world try to help the people by digging wells and assisting with basic life skills.

Yet Martin goes deeper. This is not just a "I did this and then I did that...." type of book. He weaves personal stories and anecdotes into the narrative. Most people think that missionaries bring God to the un-Churched. Martin found out that actually his role was to witness what God was doing already. God was in Kenya way before Martin arrived back in the early 1990's.

If you want to learn more about missionaries in Africa and how we, as baptized Christians, are all called to be missionaries to the people around us, then take and read This Our Exile. You won't be disappointed!!!

For those who want to read more from James Martin, make sure to order his new book Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are At the Heart of the Spiritual Life (Harper Colllins, 2011). Just from reading this title I can see that it's probably going to be a great read!

To order a copy of This Our Exile click here

To read more about Martin's newest book Between Heaven and Mirth click here

To read more about the ministry and writing of James Martin, SJ click here

Remembering Our Fallen Soldiers

2011-05-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

Monday is Memorial Day, the day where we remember our fallen soldiers who died in combat. I am so grateful that there are so many brave women and men who have sacrificed their lives so that we can maintain our many freedoms, especially the freedom to worship as we choose.

I think that most of us forget how lucky we are to live in the United States. We go to Church on Sunday without the slightest worry or thought of being arrested or persecuted for our Christian beliefs. However, there are too many places in this world where you cannot go to Church without being harassed. Christians are often arrested and jailed for their beliefs. Churches have been closed. Clergy have been jailed or killed.

On Monday, make sure to take a few moments out of your day and remember our fallen soldiers who have died. These soldiers left behind spouses and children, fathers and mothers, friends and relatives.

I wish everyone a safe holiday weekend.

The Power of Words

2011-05-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

While surfing the net the other day I came across this new book by Nina Sankovitch called Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading (Harper Collins, 2011). The book will be coming out in early June and judging from some of the comments and early reviews I look forward to reading it.

The book is about the power of reading. In short, Nina spent an entire year reading one book a day and blogging about each book on her blog. Why did she do this? Nina spent a long time caring for her sister who had a debilitating illness and she eventually died.

What caught my attention were comments about how Nina changed and found healing through the written word. This is something that many people have mentioned. Every time I pick up a book whether fiction or non-fiction, whether a memoir or a collection of short stories I always come through a different person at the end. Sometimes I identify with the plot or a character or the specific situation in the book or story. If anything I always learn something about humanity and the human condition.

From a Christian perspective this reminds us of the power of The Word, aka the Bible. We forget that the Word of God is powerful, it inspires, encourages, reproves, leads to repentance, and reminds us of God's goodness and grace. The Word of God is powerful, it changes lives. Herod and Pontius Pilate put Jesus to death yet his memory, ministry, and legacy lived on through the preached Word of God and later the written Word. The world could never stop Christianity because they cannot stop people from talking about Jesus.

I look forward to reading Nina's memoir later this summer. I also hope that each one of you continues to read, study, and pray the Scriptures, which are really powerful.

For more information about Nina and her book click here

Sowing Seeds of the Kingdom

2011-05-23T05:17:00.001-07:00

Well, my vegetable garden is finally in, total plants: 3 long rows of green beans, 30 tomato plants (roma, yellow, grape, and regular), 15 cucumber plants, and a bunch of garlic, parsley, cilantro, basil, and thyme. Phew, it was a lot of work but well worth it. I enjoy taking care of the garden and tending to the weeds and watering, it gets me off my backside and into the warm sun and fresh air.

The Apostle Paul tells us in his epistles that we reap what we sow, if we sow sparingly we will reap sparingly. Ummm Paul must have known a lot about gardening!

It's true though. My mom put it another way, "you only get out of life what you put into it." From a spiritual perspective we could say that if you want to grow love, forgiveness, mercy, compassion, and prayer then you better start doing something about it now, these qualities just don't come from no where, they don't fall from the sky. It takes work, effort, blood, sweat, and tears sometimes!

Are you sowing seeds of the Kingdom?

Are you preparing the soil of your heart for God's Word to be planted and to grow?

Are you ready to work and grow love, compassion, and mercy?

I HOPE YOU REAP A LOT OF SPIRITUAL FRUITS THIS GROWING SEASON!!!!!!!!

Out of Character???

2011-05-19T05:24:00.000-07:00

The other day while driving I heard a very good interview on NPR Talk of the Nation about a new book by David DeSteno called Out of Character. It was one of those "driveway moments" when I just wanted to finish listening to the guest speaker. The book is about why we as humans do things that are not usually "normal" or "standard" for us. For example if you are a very financially conservative person and usually save money why is it that if one day you are feeling sad or gloomy you'll go out and splurge on a new suit or tie even though you don't need one? The author also gave an example of bad people doing good things. There was a bad accident somewhere in a big US city and a bunch of drug dealers on a corner went over and rescued several people from a building. We usually don't think of drug dealers as being good upright citizens with a moral compass yet when push came to shove these young men felt compassion and helped someone else. Amazing!!!

The rest of the interview talked about how our moral development is shaped when we are young but at the same time how we easily fall trap to temptations either good or bad at times, which is out of our character.

Anyway, this is not a full blown book review, I just wanted to share this with all of you because I found it very applicable to the Christian walk of faith. After all St. Paul himself said that the good that he wants to do he doesn't and the bad things that he doesn't want to do he finds that he does them anyway. There is a constant battle going on in our hearts between making good choices every moment of the day.

For more information about the social research of David DeSteno click here. You can also read an excerpt of the book

To order a copy of Out of Character click here

For more information about Dr. DeSteno's social research click here

I commend Dr. Desteno's social research. I am not sure whether or not he is a Christian, but his research reveals some deep human realities which is certainly applicable to Christians everywhere.

Book Review: A Life Together by Bishop Seraphim Sigrist

2011-05-17T05:01:00.001-07:00

I was excited when my review copy of A Life Together: Wisdom of Community From the Christian East (Paraclete, 2011) arrived. Last year I heard that Bishop Seraphim was working on this book and was excited about the topic. For those who do not know him, Bishop Seraphim was the former Orthodox bishop in Sendai Japan where he ministered both as a parish priest and then later as a bishop.

At the heart of this little book is the notion of community from the Eastern Orthodox Christian community. Focusing on the concept called "sobornost" which is a Russian word roughly translated as "conciliarity" or "togetherness." As Sigrist mentions many times throughout the book sobornost is a difficult word to translate since the meaning is not exactly the same in English.

Sigrist does for the Eastern Church what Bonhoeffer's book, A Life Together, did for the Western Church. Actually if you read Sigrist's book and Bonhoeffer together you'll get a thorough understanding of community life and how it can be fashioned and formed in our modern times.

Creating authentic community life in complete freedom is not an easy thing to do. A Life Together is not a "how to" book nor is it a scholarly or academic excursus of the subject but rather it is very much like the ancient Patristic writings, short reflections on the topic without much commentary in between. In other words, A Life Together reads like a series of reflections on community life rather than an extended prose narrative.

Sigrist brings together a wide host of voices in his book showing us how community life can be envisioned. From the perspective of a parish priest, of which I am, this book is a gem. Creating authentic community where everyones time, talent, and treasure can be shared in a spirit of freedom and authenticity is not an easy thing. Temptations for control, authority, power, and identity are constant, yet that is not what Jesus envisioned. He reminded his disciples not to lord it over the Gentiles since they were culturally and religious different than they were. He also warned them about the great potential for the abuse of power and position.

At the heart of Christian community is solidarity really since that is what happens when we all gather together around the Lord's Table on Sunday morning and offer our common prayer and praise and offer the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist. Jesus gives himself to us and we to him and then us to one another. We become little Christ's to each other sharing in our common sufferings, pains, problems, as well as joys, happiness, and celebrations. Life is a mixed bag if you will, joy and pain, sorrow and happiness all together. By virtue of our baptism and confirmation and continual indwelling with one another we are formed and fashioned into a community. St. Paul uses the image of the Body, when one member suffers we all suffer, when one member rejoices we all rejoice. Whether we like it or not we are all connected to one another through the intimate bond of Christ.

A Life Together: Wisdom of Community From the Christian East would make a good book for a small book club or parish adult study. The short chapters would provide basic easy to read material and cultivate conversation. I commend Bishop Seraphim for taking on such a project.

For more information about A Life Together by Bishop Seraphim click here

To order a copy of A Life Together click here

To learn more about Bishop Seraphim and his ministry click here

Vacation or a Spiritual Retreat????

2011-05-16T07:19:00.001-07:00

Summer is the time for vacations; day trips, a week at the beach, a cruise, or a multi week jaunt over to Europe. There are as many types of vacations as there are people! When I was growing up our family always took a summer vacation. We drove up and down the Eastern seaboard from Maine to Florida. Other families like to spend there time in one place like at a cabin in the woods or a week at the beach. Summer vacations usually require a lot of planning time, money, and energy figuring out the basic questions: what, when, where, and how. Very often you come so tired from you vacation that you need a vacation from your vacation!!!

A spiritual retreat is like a vacation but different. A retreat is like a vacation in that you leave your house or your local area and go to a different location whether a cabin in the woods or a monastery or retreat center. You could also go to a nice Bed and Breakfast. Taking a spiritual retreat means that you leave your regular surroundings and take time for yourself in quiet and deep introspection. You may want to take long walks and enjoy the nature around you, or maybe sit and read the Bible or perhaps a book or two. A retreat is a time for simplicity and reduction. When I go on a retreat (which is not often enough!!!) I make sure NOT to bring my computer, cell phone, or other electrical devices. I do not watch TV or listen to the radio. I spend my time in quiet. I also sleep a lot. I think we become so plugged into the world around us that when we take a few days to rest our body just collapses and we come to a major halt.

If you have never taken a retreat before you may think about taking one. You can start small by taking a one or two day retreat at first, just to "test the waters." Then, later on, if you enjoy it, you can go longer, 3, 5, or 7 days. But time away from work, family, and other personal commitments is healthy.

For a list of Benedictine monasteries click here

For a list of Jesuit retreat centers click here

For a list of ecumenical retreat centers (centers that cater to a wide range of faith traditions) click here

Project Linus

2011-05-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

Project Linus is one of my favorite outreach ministries. First of all I love the name, named after Linus on the famous Charles Shultz Peanuts cartoon. Linus was the kid always carrying his blanket around. Project Linus is a nationwide ministry that makes and delivers blankets to children in hospitals or children who have been in some sort of trauma such as a fire or car accident. For a few years now our parish has supported Project Linus and I encourage you to look into it for yourself. It is very rewarding to make blankets knowing that they are going for a great cause.

Don't worry if you are not adept at sewing. Project Linus blankets are easy to make actually. There is no sewing involved. More information about the blankets can be found on their website which I linked below. All you have to do is take some fleece, cut some tags on the side of it and then knot them and voila you have a Project Linus blanket.

I hope you get involved in this ministry. You will make a lot of children happy!!!!

For more information about Project Linus click here

Book Review: Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy by Adam Deville

2011-05-14T05:02:00.000-07:00

I am very excited for Dr. Adam A. J. DeVille, his new book, Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy has just been released by the University of Notre Dame Press. Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy is the result of his tedious and detailed research in the important 1995 Papal Encyclical Ut Unum Sint, a document which discusses Christian unity. DeVille, an Eastern Catholic (also known as Byznatine Catholic or Greek Catholic) looks at Ut Unum Sint through the lens of Orthodox and Catholic dialogue for greater unity.

First of all I love the cover. It's bold yellow background with Pope Benedict XVI and Bartholomew in the foreground is very attractive and through images shows what unity is all about, the East and West coming together. Unfortunately, like most families, the Church has a long history of divisions, arguments, and ad hominem attacks. Ecumenical relations have been off and on and then off again. Hopefully with a renewed interest in dialogue, and with the publication of this new book, both East and West will begin talking again, at least I hope so.

DeVille is hopeful. Without giving too much of the book away I do want to mention a few hallmarks of his work. DeVille looks at commentaries from major theologians from both Eastern Orthodox as well as Roman Catholic (and Eastern Catholic) sources. He then attempts to shed light on how the Papacy could be transformed to include greater conciliarity and sobornost among the Eastern Patriarchates and Rome.

DeVille's clear prose, combined with his copious footnotes reveals that he has done his homework. As a reader not very familiar with Ut Unum Sint it would have been helpful perhaps to include either an outline or the entire document at the back of the book as a handy resource. Additionally, I would have liked to see more discussion of the basic structure and themes of Ut Unum Sint in the first chapter. However, those two minor comments do not take away from this book. If you are remotely interested in ecumenism or you are a theological student interested in the Eastern Catholic or Orthodox traditions I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you read Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy. With greater interest in ecumenism in general, and in Catholic and Orthodox dialogue in particular, I can see this book having a long shelf life. I commend DeVille for his hard work and certainly we look forward to seeing more books from him in the near future.

To order a copy of Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy click here

For more information about Dr. DeVille and his book click here

To read the Papal document Ut Unum Sint click here

Book Review: Into the Depths by Meg Funk

2011-05-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

I have been following the work of Meg Funk now for some time. Funk is a Benedictine nun at Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana and the author of several books on the spiritual life: Lectio Matters (Continuum, 2010), Thoughts Matter (Continuum, 1999), and Humility Matters (Continuum, 2005). Funk is very active in ecumenical dialogue and at one time was the Executive Director of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue.

Her new book, Into the Depths: A Journey of Loss and Vocation (Lantern Publishing, 2011) is a spiritual memoir. The book is divided into three parts. In Part 1 Funk outlines her early faith formation as a Catholic but then soon after as a Benedictine nun. She entered monastic life on the heels of the Second Vatican Council but her monastic formation was clearly pre-Vatican II. Stories of control, authority, and “following the rules” in the monastery were eye opening. Her stories reminded me of a friend of mine who is a Trappist monk who entered monastic life in the early 1950’s. He told me that when the monks were called into the abbot’s office they were supposed to kneel during the conversation, only later receiving a blessing and a piece of candy before leaving! Talking about "old school" geesh! Thankfully monastic and spiritual formation has changed since then. Eventually Funk's superiors allowed her to enter a graduate program at Catholic University in Washington, DC and a new world emerges as she learns more about theology, scripture, and liturgy. Her wonderful blog and her books attest to her love for life-long learning.

The second part of the book focuses primarily on a tragic incident in Bolivia where five of her friends die in a tragic car accident. Funk was the only survivor. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but needless to say this accident sends Funk into a spiritual tailspin and sets her on a journey to find healing and wholeness. This was my favorite part of the book and Funk lets the reader into her mind as she discusses her most intimate spiritual questions and concerns.

The third part of the book shows the reader the results of these efforts. Her coming to grips with her previous faith formation, what it means to be a Christian, as well as really living a Christian life which is healthy and wholesome.

The only shortcoming is that this book was too short! I felt that Funk held back too much when discussing her early faith formation in the monastery as well as her deep spiritual questions. Funk has been a nun for almost all of her adult life and surely she could have offered more insight into how monastic life changed in her monastery, perhaps offering some short anecdotes or vignettes. We see little for example of her fellow nuns and authority figures. We hear little about her friends in the car crash, all the people seem rather “flat.”

However, Into the Depths is a powerful book. Funk does not sugar coat the spiritual life nor does she idealize it, but shows the reader her own faults and foibles and her long-term bouts with depression. In the end we see Meg Funk as a real Christian, a real nun, and a real person striving to find God in the everyday. She should be commended for writing this book.

For for information about Meg Funk click here

To order a copy of Into the Depths click here

Coming Soon---Review of A Life Together by Bishop Sigrist

2011-05-12T05:10:00.000-07:00

I am excited about reviewing a new book from a friend and colleague , Bishop Seraphim Sigrist, former bishop of Sendai in Japan. This book, A Life Together: Wisdom of Community From the Christian East (Paraclete Press, 2011) looks at community life from the Eastern Christian perspective.

Sigrist looks at the concept of sobornost or conciliarity as the foundation for our life together. Sobornost is a Russian word which basically means "togetherness." Sobornost means that the Church is not just the bishops alone or the priests alone or the laity alone but everyone working together for the common good of the entire Body of Christ. Unfortunately, many parishes and eucharistic communities do not work on this model. The priest or bishop in many cases (too many!!!) think that they "rule the roost." Well, this is just false. The entire community is responsible for the well-being of everyone else.

One of my greatest frustrations in parish life is reminding lay people that they have an essential role to play and that they need to take greater responsibility and ownership of parish life including visitation ministry and stewardship. Ministry is not just for clergy but for everyone. We can all contribute something to the community of faith. I know many clergy who try to "do everything" in the parish and therefore the lay membership do not need to participate. Thankfully the tide is changing. I am lucky to have very good lay leaders who have taken on more parish responsibilities. Hopefully this type of leadership will increase over time.

For more information about A Life Together click here

For more information about Bishop Seraphim and his ministry click here

For a brief biography of Bishop Seraphim click here

A review of A Life Together will be coming soon, make sure to check back.

A 30 Day Retreat (one year later!!!)

2011-05-11T05:36:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am amazed at how fast time goes by. Just one year ago my book, A 30 Day Retreat: A Personal Guide to Spiritual Renewal was published by Paulist Press. The book was started years ago and took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to see the light of day. I had to deal with revisions, marketing, creating a new website, starting a blog, not to mention more revisions and changes! It's amazing authors continue to write given the sheer difficulty of publishing these days.

It has been a good year though. I received some very nice compliments from readers and it is good to know that some parishes and small groups are using the book for retreats and Bible studies.

For more information about A 30 Day Retreat click here

Oh yea, don't forget to buy a copy for yourself, for your pastor/priest, and for a friend, spread the good news about the Good News!!!

Book Review--- Speaking Christian by Marcus Borg

2011-04-21T13:30:00.001-07:00

I am jealous. Why am I jealous you ask? Well, I am jealous because I wish that I wrote this book! When I saw the title advertised in Harper Collins' new releases I knew that I had to read it. For the past ten years I have taught introductory courses on the Bible to undergraduate and graduate students and pastored a parish. During sermons and in the classroom I constantly have to define, explain, and often critique commonly used words and phrases such as forgiveness, love, sinner, mercy, salvation. More often than not I find that people use these terms but have no idea what they mean. My job is to help them.

Marcus Borg does a great job of explaining these terms and phrases in his new book Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Meaning and Power and How They Can Be Restored (Harper Collins, 2011). First I just love the title, a collection of pins with words such as God, Jesus, the image of a cross, WWJD, and so forth. The cover is very catchy. If the cover grabs your attention than the content will certainly gain your attention too.

Borg is a great writer which shouldn't be hard to understand since he devoted the majority of his life to teaching, most recently as the Hundere Chair of Religion and Culture and Oregon State University.

While twenty five chapters may seem overwhelming to the average reader they are not enough! Take it from me, this book, is a page turner. Borg divides his book into various thematic chapters such as Jesus, Easter, Sin, John 3:16, Pentecost, etc.....common words, terms, and events that we hear about in Church but may not be very familiar with them. He weaves personal anecdotes and vignettes along the way too.

Do yourself a favor during this Easter season and buy a copy of Speaking Christian. No, buy two, one for you and one for a friend. Trust me, you will read and re-read this book again and again!

For more information about Borg's Speaking Christian click here

Being Real---A Lenten Challenge

2011-03-08T06:25:00.000-08:00

Well, those of us in the Eastern Church have already started Lent. We started on Sunday March 6. In the East we have a forty day Lenten period which is then followed by Holy Week. The West however maintains a forty day Lenten period which begins tomorrow on Ash Wednesday, but they do not count weekends as Lenten periods. The most important thing though is that we are all on a spiritual journey during the next few weeks and will celebrate the Lord's Resurrection together on Sunday April 24. Let God keep track of time!

One of the things in life which I detest is false spirituality. Once in a while I receive an email from a seeker or someone who wants to join the Church and they sign their name with "the unworthy servant so and so" or "I kiss your right hand father......" or "bless me a sinner." I mean come on already, give it up! St. Paul reminds us in his letters that we are all the chief of sinners, that no one is worthy but Christ alone, and that we are all in need of his saving grace and mercy, period. So why the continual stress on "I kiss your right hand" spirit-speak as I say? Its all fake, that's why.

Real spirituality is not talked about but lived. Real spirituality is love in action. Real spirituality is doing things that you really don't want to do at a particular moment but out of love for your husband/wife/child/neighbor/boss, you do it anyway. Real spirituality is putting someone else in life first rather than yourself. Real spirituality is not pretentious or fake. Real spirituality is quiet and unassuming and hidden. Real spirituality does not put on catchy spiritual phrases but is revealed in common plain language.

I wish everyone a good Lenten season and hope that you all become more and more real; more and more the person that God made you to be, not some cheap version that you put on just to please others.

Resilience

2011-03-04T07:09:00.000-08:00

I am amazed at how strong people can be. The other day while driving I was listening to a very inspiring interview on NPR with the famous author Andre Dubus III, the author of The Land of Fog and Sand and most recently Townie. His father was the famous author Andre Dubus who died several years ago.

Townie is about growing up in a rough neighborhood. Since his parents were divorced his mom raised him along with his three other siblings. Her income was very meager so they lived in drug infested area with shootings, rapes, murders. He said that he missed at least 70 days a school a year. His sister was raped and was involved with drugs. His other brother became suicidal.

Thankfully everyone survived and they are now a close family.

What I was amazed at was the zeal to live. So many people have gone through some rough times: abuse, neglect, near death experiences, drugs, alcohol, divorces, rape, kidnapping, and war. Yet somehow they survived. They found some inner strength to move ahead. Andre Dubus III for example became a writer. Elie Wiesel, the famous writer, speaker, and scholar survived Auschwitz. There are countless others who have survived horrific things yet they managed to move ahead.

All I can say is "wow."

The interview also reminded me about the human condition and how broken we all are.

Honesty Is the Best Policy

2011-02-26T02:47:00.000-08:00

Honesty is the best policy. So often we tell lies about ourselves, our family, and the world around us. We live in denial. We sugar coat our problems and pain. Why? Sometimes we don't want to deal with it. Other times we are too distracted. Sometimes we are even blind to it, we just can't discern light from darkness.

The more we cling to Jesus and seek light and truth the more we have to be honest. Radical honesty. I am amazed at the lies we hear from politicians, local leaders, Church officials (including bishops and hierarchy!!!) about what is really going on. We hear that Senator A will vote for a bill but then later on we hear that he had some back-door dealings with a major Fortune 500 Company not to vote on it or some political action group got his ear. People give lip service to the truth but do we really want it. People say one thing or do another.

I think most of us would rather live in our own little closed off worlds than to deal with life as it comes to us.

We'd rather put our head in the sand rather than deal with our problems, pain, anxiety, or hurt.

The Apostle Paul says "speak the truth in love." Are we capable of speaking the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth every day? Are we capable of telling the truth to our partners, children, friends, and family? Or would we rather ignore the problems hoping that they would go away?

Life is too short. Why live in a world of lies?

Seek the truth in all things.

Seek the light of Jesus.

Seek to live an honest life.

Feeling Stuck Lately?

2011-02-24T05:10:00.000-08:00

I like this picture of the pig stuck in the mud because that's how I feel most of the time, stuck! Surely you have felt the same way too, at least once in a while. If you are saying, "no, not me" well, I think you're lying, we all have been in tough situations.

Following my post yesterday about new ways of Church life I feel that many of us in Church/Parish land feel stuck. Some communities are doing some great creative and innovative things in their parish communities, doing some great work and really following the gospel. Yet many of us in Church land feel stuck. We have have some great ideas, new ways of doing things perhaps and we share these ideas with the people around us. And we share and share and share and we realize after a while NO ONE IS LISTENING! Now that should make anyone feel stuck!

So many pastors have tried new ways of doing things in worship, singing new hymns perhaps or creating new ways of connections and community in parish life. Pastors have tried new ways of being community whether it is creating small groups or new ways of financial giving. Yet there is little if no response. People are busy. People are not interested; yada, yada, yada............

Most people like the tried and true the old and familiar. They are scared of new and different. When they hear the word "new" or "innovative" or "creative" ikes, they run the other way!

Yet when reading Acts and Paul we see a new message being preached, that finally, after hundreds of years God sent his Son into the world to save it. The messiah has come! One may think that everyone was happy and excited and thrilled about this good news. Yea, right. What do we read. Yes, some people were interested and thrilled, but most people kept on doing what they were doing not interested at all. They turned a deaf ear.

I wonder, did Paul or Peter feel stuck? Maybe so. All I know is that I feel stuck most of the time, maybe this is part of being a pastor, one foot in this world and one foot in the world yet to come. One eye on earth and one eye on heaven, meanwhile, we are stuck in the middle of two worlds.

Oh well, at least I try getting out of the mud once in a while :)

New Ways of Being Church

2011-02-23T05:34:00.001-08:00

Lately I have been reading about new ways of being Church, or in other words, new forms of community life. While many people see the Anglican Church in the UK as declining, and perhaps it is, they at least have dealt with the issue with a national program called Fresh Expressions which can be found in the link at the end of this post. The Anglicans, like most other denominations are facing hard times these days mostly due to finances. Let's face it, those of us in full time parish ministry see the writing on the wall. How can our parish communities sustain our current situation. Most people don't realize the cost of maintaining a physical plant with high mortgages, heating and cooling costs, maintaining the physical plant, not to mention insurance and everything else. Several years ago Brian McClarnen and others created the Emergent Church movement as a way to try to "be Church." Smaller, more intimate settings, not focusing so much on building and material things but on true community life. After all, what do we read about in the Book of Acts? The early Christians focused on the prayers, the breaking of bread, and charity. They met on the "first day of the week' which was Sunday and then went back to work, mostly as farmers and day laborers. They certainly didn't have to pay insurance, mortgages, or cut the grass!

Fresh Expressions is just one way of dealing with the issue. The main problem is that most of us in "Church land" are not dealing with the problem at all. A friend of mine has a parish that has to deal with a major roof repair let alone upfitting the ancient heating and cooling system. Who is going to pay for this? People come and go in parish life. We live in a culture where people move for new jobs, homes, or work without batting an eye. Most people are not that committed to their local parish. They have other forms of community too, their local neighbors, YMCA, or other associations. Furthermore, Generations X'ers and Y'ers and the new "Millenials" as they call them are not interested in keeping large building afloat. But they are interested in community life that is engaging, serious, stimulating, and fulfilling. They are interested in learning about Christianity in a way that is honest and real. They are not interested in yard sales, sisterhood meetings, flower committees, or big buildings. They are interested in charity and helping others. They are not interested in Friday night bingo.

I am not sure what the answer(s) are but I am sure that we need to begin to think about them.

To read more about Fresh Expressions in the UK click here

The Pastor: A Memoir by Eugene Peterson

2011-02-22T08:16:00.000-08:00

It's finally here! Yes, you heard me correctly, the new Eugene Peterson memoir is here. I have waited almost a year to read this book and I'm glad I did. Back in April I heard Pastor Peterson speak at a national Faith and Writing conference in Michigan. He read several sections from his manuscript and at the end there was a five minute long standing ovation. Peterson is a monumental figure in pastoral care. I first came across his writings while pursuing graduate work in pastoral ministry when I came across his Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work and Working the Angles. Then last year I bought a copy of his famous translation of the Bible into colloquial English, simply titled The Message. Peterson's publishing output is amazing. His books take up at least half of a library shelf.

For nearly thirty years Pastor Peterson was the main pastor at Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, MD. Then, before his retirement he spent nearly a decade teaching pastoral ministry at Regent College in Vancouver British Columbia. Peterson is now retired and is a guest speaker at conferences and clergy gatherings.

His memoir, which is simply titled, The Pastor (Harper One, 2011) is not a usual memoir. Rather, as he states in the introduction, it is a collection of thoughts about the people and events that went into his becoming a pastor in the first place. While at New York Theological Seminary Peterson had hoped to enter into a Ph.D. program in Semitic languages and teach in a college or seminary setting. This dream never came to fruition. After several seminary classes and working with such noted pastors such as George Buttrick, Peterson felt called to the pastorate, and he never left.

Peterson has lived a long life and includes much of his early childhood in this book. We learn about his early Church life in the Pentecostal Church and stories about his mother who often preached on Sunday and his father the butcher. We hear about his seminary training in New York and later his clergy gatherings and work in Bel Air. Peterson devoted his whole life to serving God, the Church, and fellow humanity. If there was a Nobel Prize for pastors Peterson should get one. He is what I call a pastor's pastor and of all my books in my personal library I turn to his when I feel down in the dumps or need some inspiration in the pulpit.

However, while reading The Pastor I realized there were some important facts left out. Peterson never really tells us why he left the Pentecostal Church to join the Presbyterian Church, only that a professor mentioned this suggestion to him one day in passing. He spent nearly 30 years at Christ the King but we never hear of any problems or pains that he had there except for what he calls "the Badlands" years but he never fleshes this out. There is no way he pastored for 30 years and never had a breakdown or manic episode not to mention conflict in the parish. We never hear about why he went to Regent College or what he did there, that part of his life was also mentioned only in passing. We never hear of his troubles and trials, what John of the Cross calls the "dark night of the soul." I have been in my parish for only 10 years and have had more than enough "dark nights" that I remember, what about Peterson?

I cannot fault Peterson for leaving out these parts of his life. Perhaps they are too personal or too hurtful to share? Perhaps his editor suggested him to leave them out? Perhaps those events will be in another future volume? After reading the book though I was yearning to hear the whole story. After reading Richard Lischer's pastoral memoir Open Secrets and more recently Barbara Brown Taylor's Leaving Church I realize that pastor's go through a lot of tough stuff, stuff that Peterson left out of his memoir. Was this by choice or by suggestion?

Overall I am glad that I read The Pastor and have noted several pages which I will, like his other books on my shelf, read again and again and again. If you are a Church leader or pastor, go out, do yourself a favor, and buy a copy of The Pastor. Read it and be inspired!

For more information about The Pastor click here

Brother Andre of the Oratory, His Life and Sanctity

2011-02-04T06:08:00.000-08:00

About twenty years ago when visiting Montreal I had the chance to visit the St. Joseph Oratory on Mount Royal. It is located in a lovely location overlooking the city. It was early summer and people were walking about and the flowers were blooming. I had no idea of what an Oratory was or even why the parking lot was overflowing with visitors. I later learned that the Oratory was a place of pilgrimage for Catholic Christians. Why you may wonder? The Oratory was where Brother Andre Bessette lived and ministered. While he died in 1937 his life and legacy still live on and now the Vatican has confirmed Brother Andre's sanctity. In other words, Catholics honor him as a saint.

It was overwhelming going into the chapel at the Oratory. Hundreds of cards, rosaries, crucifixes, and notes were pinned to the wall. There were crutches and wheelchairs from pilgrims who were miraculously cured from their diseases. Thousands of red votive candles were burning around the clock. While at first look these things may seem a bit out of the ordinary, over the top really. Yet many people said that they were cured after asking for Brother Andre's intercessions.

In his new English language book simply titled Brother Andre (Ave Maria Press, 2010), Jean Guy Dubuc provides his readers with the life and legacy of Brother Andre. While this is not the forum for a more lengthy review, needless to say Brother Andre was quite an extraordinary person. He was born and raised in Eastern Canada in what is the Eastern Townships and eventually made his way to Montreal. He became a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross and for most of his life was the Porter or doorkeeper at the Oratory. He also assisted newcomers and visitors, helped with cleaning, and was a good listener. Brother Andre soon became a popular figure at the Oratory with people coming to him with physical and spiritual ailments. Unlike some saints, Brother Andre was very popular during his lifetime. Upon his death in 1937 hundreds of thousands of people attended his funeral in Montreal and his body is now in a crypt in the Church at the Oratory.

I remember visiting the Oratory and while I didn't know much about Brother Andre, I felt a deep sense of holiness there. Every year millions of pilgrims flock to this special place in Montreal in order to walk where a saint once walked. They come every year, young, old, healthy and sick alike to pay homage to a man of God. They pray. They light a candle. They ask for help.

If you are interested in the life and legacy of Brother Andre Bessette click here

If you want to learn more about the Oratory of St. Joseph on Mount Royal click here

Book Review: Pursuing Pastoral Excellence

2011-01-26T05:41:00.001-08:00

Once in a while I come across a book and I go "wow, where has this author been all these years when I needed him (or her)???? I found Pursuing Pastoral Excellence: Pathways to Fruitful Leadership (Alban, 2011) while browsing books on the Alban Institute website, and am I glad I found it. Pursuing Pastoral Excellence is a treasure trove for pastors. This is definitely a book that I will read at least once a year!

The author, Dr. Paul Hopkins, is an ordained minister in the DCC (Disciples of Christ) and for the past eighteen years has served as the CEO of the Samaritan Counseling Center in Albuquerque, NM. Hopkins has spent his entire life in ministry, as the son of two Christian ministers and then himself as a minister and as a pastoral counselor. Pursuing Pastoral Excellence is a result of his many years helping pastors find their way through the difficulties and tragedies of parish life.

Ministry is toxic. If pastors are not careful we will find ourselves afflicted with other peoples' problems, taking on their baggage as our own. Parishioners often project their cares, wants, needs, ideas, emotions, anger, on their pastor. Likewise, the very nature of ministry comes with its own challenges as well: time management, lack of routine, maintaining proper boundaries, not including the challenges and burdens that parishes often put on the family. Of course note all pastors have major problems, but may do and Dr. Hopkins certainly knows the ins and outs of ministry.

Pursuing Pastoral Excellence is organized around 7 primary ways in which pastor's strive for excellence in ministry:

Integrity

Practice

Resilience

Justice

Narrative

Spirituality

Blessing

Hopkins weaves his narrative with stories from real life pastors (whose names have been changed) as models of ministry. We meet Richard, Russell, Trey, Carole, Sue, Paul, and Christine; each pastor highlights one or more aspects of fruitful leadership. We hear about real-life joys and sorrows, challenges and possibilities in the local Church. We read about the problems and issues of small family and pastoral sized Churches as well as pastor's serving in larger corporate size Churches. Hopkins has a fine writing style, never does he preach to the choir, but highlights and calls to the reader's attention the matter at hand.

I read Pursuing Pastoral Excellence with a pen, underlining sentences and making comments in the margins for later reflection. Hopkins also includes several questions for small group discussion or for further reflection or journaling. Pursuing Pastoral Excellence could easily be used as a piece for discussion and reflection.

I am not sure if Hopkins plans to write another book, but as one new fan, I hope he does. Pastors need more honest, truthful, and what I call "real" books for ministry. So many new resources focus on Church growth or building bigger and better buildings. Yet pastors need to be fed with food that keeps us going. Hopkins is Biblical, focusing on the ministry of Jesus without being dogmatic as well as practical. He shows us how these real-life modern day pastors have dealt with real-life issues in the local Church. I congratulate Paul Hopkins for his work and look forward to more from him in the near future.

For more information about Dr. Paul Hopkins and his work click here

To order Pursuing Pastoral Excellence click here

To learn more about the ministry of the Samaritan Counseling Center click here

House Churches

2011-01-20T05:31:00.000-08:00

Recent news reports say that the current financial recession is ending. Well, at least some reports say that. Other reports say that we are in a multi-year slump. I don't know about you but in my part of the country real estate is at an all year low and unemployment numbers keep rising. I call it stagnation rather than recession. Our failing economy effects the Church too. Giving is down. People are worried about their financial futures. Church building is also down too, banks are fearful to lend money, especially to a local parish which may not have enough funds to make their monthly mortgage payments.

What to do?

Rather than sit on our hands and worry ourselves to death I was wondering if there is another way to "be Church" as in re-invent what our conception of Church really is.

Most certainly the newer parishes in the 21st century must learn to live within their means. Large, multi-million building projects seem way out of proportion nowadays. Smaller, more intimate communities seem not only more effective as far as ministry and communication are concerned, but also they reflect peoples most dire need: connection. Large congregations with hundreds of families are more like small (and sometimes mid-size) corporations. Newcomers can easily be lost within a sea of parishioners. How can the pastor know all of his flock if he or she has 300, 400, or 500 families?

I was recently reading an excellent post on Duke Divinity School Faith and Leadership blog about newer "house Churches" where the pastor works a full time or three-quarter time job and ministers to a small community of less than fifty people. They meet on Sunday morning but also mid-week as well. Not only do they meet for worship, but also for prayer, fellowship, and study. Smaller, leaner, and without large financial obligations, these "house Churches" create Christian community without having to worry about salary and benefits for staff, building upkeep, cleaning, lawn maintenance, rising utility costs such as heating and cooling, and large mortgage payments; costs which cannot be sustained in the long run. A colleague of mine who runs a large inner city parish with a large physical plant told me that his building is an albatross; the heating and cooling costs alone are enormous.

If you ask me I think that these new created house Churches, focusing on the basics of the Christian gospel message, might help us out of our current mess in which we find ourselves. Of course house Churches are not a panacea for all of our problems, but at least it is a way to think outside the box and help us be more creative in the way that we engage in ministry in the 21st century.

What do you think?

Do you belong to one of these smaller parish communities? Do they work? What are the drawbacks?

Thanks for sharing!

Article about these new house Churches at Newsweek click here

There is a season........

2011-01-19T12:58:00.000-08:00

Ah, middle of winter. Dark. Cold. Snow. Sleet. Time for being indoors and enjoying a good book by the fireplace or maybe taking a long afternoon nap. Every season in the year brings with it a different rhythm of life. Summer is for parks, pools, and playgrounds. Fall means raking leaves, planting bulbs for the Spring, and large bowls of chili and soup. Springtime means getting the garden ready and planting those vegetables. I enjoy the change of the seasons and look forward to what each season may bring.

The season metaphor is exactly how Bruce and Katherine Epperly envision ministry: every season of ministry brings with it new challenges, trials, tribulations, as well as joys. The Epperly's are co-pastors and are active in ministerial formation at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, PA. I came across their book by accident while browsing through the new and recent book selections at the Alban Institute. I am glad I found them.

Four Seasons of Ministry (Alban, 2008) is a book that should be on every pastor's shelf. They go through the various stages of ministry, the immediate post seminary years, the early years, mid-career, and then those pastors heading towards retirement. Each of the six chapters includes not only solid academic and theological reflection on ministry, but this information is far from dry theological jargon. Bruce and Katherine have a lovely way of weaving personal vignettes from their own ministry experience as well as from numerous narratives from former students or from their colleagues. This narrative approach is very appealing. As a pastor who has served a parish for ten years now I identified very much with many of the "seasons" which the Epperly's discuss: those early years of excitement after graduating from seminary which then turn into the hum-drum of the daily routines of parish life. While not exactly mid-career yet, I can certainly see the challenges and issues which I might encounter as I grow older. Ministry is not for the faint of heart and as we increasingly are challenged by continuing economic pressures due to the recession as well as decreasing parish membership the wider Church must reflect on what it means to "be Church" in 21st century North America, but also, what it means to minister in this new world in which we live.

I could easily go on and on about this book, yet I would be doing readers a disservice.

After reading this blog post. Go over to Alban Institute or Amazon.com and order yourself a copy (or more!!) of Four Seasons of Ministry. You won't be disappointed.

For more information about Four Seasons of Ministry click here

For more information about the Epperly's and their ministry at Lancaster Theological Seminary click here

Book Review: A Time to Plant

2011-01-17T05:25:00.001-08:00

Besides serving a parish, raising two wonderful daughters, and cooking our family meals I also love gardening. During these long cold winter nights all I can think about is planting my Spring garden with garlic, onions, lettuce, spinach, oh, Spring seems so far away! There is nothing better than eating a salad which was grown right out in the backyard or biting into a fresh tomato sandwich on homemade bread slathered with a thick layer of mayo, well, maybe not that thick, we all have to watch our cholesterol! My garden is much smaller than Kramer's but you can still grow quite a lot of vegetables in a small garden.

Last week I was reminded about the joys of gardening when reading Kyle Kramer's new book published by Ave Maria Press (2010) called A Time to Plant: Life Lessons in Work, Prayer, and Dirt. First of all I love the cover art, it is both mysterious and inviting at the same time; a man looking out across a vast flat field. Kramer is a farmer, writer, and the Director of the Lay Ministry program at St. Meinrad Archabbey, a Benedictine monastery and seminary in Indiana.

When reading Kramer's book we learn that this field wont' remain barren for long. No. At a ripe young age of 27 Kramer set out to purchase some rough terrain in Indianna and not only build a barn with also served as his apartment, but also to plant a small family farm. We learn about the ins and outs and the trials, troubles, and tribulations of farming told from the angle of a neophyte. We read about Kramer's apartments sans bathroom and running water let alone electricity! We also learn about soil amendments, building problems, and soil erosion. Kramer doesn't hold back either. One of the most memorable moments comes about mid-way through the book revealing his near nervous breakdown as he must finish his house while at the same time work the land.

This book is more than a gardening journal, but a thoughtful and prayerful look at what it means to be a steward of God's creation. Kramer wants to sustain himself by living an ascetic life eating from the produce from his garden and leaving as little of a carbon footprint as possible. He even installed a composting toilet, now that is roughing it if you ask me!

Through his journey Kramer also has a love interest who later becomes his parter in this new life that they have created. I don't want to give too much of the plot away, needless to say Kramer is a good storyteller. A few times I caught myself reading and re-reading some of the funny ones, like the time when he was getting his apartment, "girl friendly."

While reading A Time to Plant I kept wanting more. I wanted Kramer to reveal more of his personal side as far as the details of his own upbringing. Through the course of the narrative he glossed over his life without delving deeper. I wanted to know more about his own domestic life before farming, perhaps some of the reasons why he wanted to live such a radical life-style and at a young age too.

A Time to Plant is a great read if you are remotely interested in gardening/farming, spirituality, and stewardship. When I finished the books I started counting the days to the last frost date in our growing zone, the time when I can start planting our Spring garden.

For more information about A Time to Plant click here

Snow--reminder of sabbath rest

2011-01-11T09:27:00.001-08:00

Right now most of the East coast is covered with either snow or ice or a combination of both! My friend in NY just told me that they are expecting ANOTHER 8-14 inches of snow on top of the snow and ice that they already have. Snow and ice storms are cause for concern especially for the elderly and emergency workers who have to work (doctors, firemen, policemen, pharmacists, etc..). The rest of us have the luxury of staying home and enjoying some much needed rest or if you have kids, well, enjoying the cold outdoors: snowmen, snowball fights, sledding, cross country skiing, or making snow angels. Yesterday we went sledding on a steep hill and it was fun, fun, fun, the adults liked it more than the kids!

Snowstorms cause us to slow down a bit. Maybe we can stay at home and take a much needed nap or write an email or note to a friend whom we lost contact with. Perhaps we can play a board game with our children, watch a movie that we always wanted to see but never had time to do it.

Snowstorms are times for much needed Sabbath. Taking time for ourselves without feeling guilty.

We are so burdened by work, projects, timelines, and deadlines we forget how much fun life can be.

When I was sledding with my children yesterday I felt like 5 years old again frolicking and falling in the snow. Surely by day number 2 at home most of us will get cabin fever, but for now, stop and enjoy the white puffy stuff falling from heaven!

Book Review Discovering Our Spiritual Identify

2011-01-07T06:18:00.001-08:00

Well folks its already 2011, wow another year come and gone. I wish everyone a peaceful, healthy, and joyful new year full of God's blessings. I also hope everyone keeps following the Lord each and every day. It's not easy, but if we encourage and support one another it might be a little easier.

Over the course of the Christmas holidays I read some great books on spirituality. More reviews will follow in the coming days but today I have a new book by Trevor Hundson called Discovering our Spiritual Identity: Practices for God's Beloved (InterVarsityPress, 2010). Hudson is a pastor in the Methodist Church in South Africa and is the author of numerous books, most recently Listening to the Groans. He also works closely with the Renovare Spiritual Formation Institute as well. I look forward to reading Hudson's other books.

Discovering Our Spiritual Identity is not only a collection of spiritual tid-bits and insights but a full fledged book that you will want to read, take notes, and read again. The book is constructed as a workbook. After every chapter, which are not very long, Hudson offers some very insightful questions for the reader to answer. I must say that I read the book without answering the questions, however, I will certainly go back and re-read parts of the book and answer those questions! Hudson created a book that can be used for spiritual journaling and will foster group discussions. I envision this book being used for small groups and personal devotion.

The book is divided into 16 chapters each of varying length and each chapter has the same format: signpost, reading, holy experiments, following the signpost together, and reflection questions. This book is not a quick read, you savor it like a fine meal, enjoying Hudson's many stories from his long pastorate. Hudson is a master story teller sharing stories from his many years in ministry and travel. This book is not a dry at all but full of the Spirit.

The chapters deal with all sorts of topics such as God's call to discipleship, dealing with our memories, becoming who we are, as well as mission and formation. I could see how pastors would use this book in their parishes, each chapter would encourage conversation and reflection on the Word of God as we all strive and struggle as disciples of Christ.

I commend Mr. Hudson for writing this book and quite frankly was a bit jealous too-----I wish I had written it!

Don't delay, pick up a copy of Discovering Our Spiritual Identity and take this long spiritual walk with Trevor Hudson as he leads you to the still small quiet place in your heart where God dwells.

For more information about Discovering Our Spiritual Identity click here

For more information about the Renovare Spiritual Institute click here

Joseph the Betrothed

2010-12-22T06:27:00.000-08:00

By now most of us have our presents wrapped, cookies baked, and tree trimmed and glistening with lights. Well, at least some of us do. The other day I saw a zillion people in the store doing some last minute shopping. Oh well, there still are a few more days until Christmas..........

I always felt bad for St. Joseph, whom in the Eastern Church we called Joseph the Betrothed. He gets very little "air time" in the gospels. He is mentioned only a few times in Matthew 1-2 and then that's it. At Christmas we tend to focus on the Magi, or the Shepherds, or Mary, but what about Joseph?

For more information about Joseph click here

I hope that your cookies don't burn and your cakes rise and your presents are wrapped without too much trouble!

O Little Town of Bethlehem .........

2010-12-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I had the opportunity to visit Bethlehem, the birth place of our Lord. I had no idea what to expect but boy were my eyes opened! I cannot go into all the details but Bethlehem (which in Hebrew means the house of bread) is in the West Bank in Israel. Suffice it to say people there are extremely poor and their are few jobs and opportunities for young people. Basically Palestinians living in Bethlehem have little chance of improving their lives, at least under the current situation.

As we go through the Advent Season take time to pray for Christians here and throughout the world who are being persecuted or who lack resources. Think of those who are less fortunate than us, those without home or shelter, those who lack food and education.

Christmas is a time of joy and celebration, but also a time when we reach out to those around us who need some joy and peace in their lives .

For more on the city of Bethlehem and its history click here

O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may his His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel

Book Review: Christmas: Festival of Incarnation

2010-12-09T05:21:00.001-08:00

Christmas is coming, Christmas is coming! Yep, I enjoy Christmas carols, trimming the tree, shopping for presents (not wrapping them though!), and everything else that comes with the Christmas season. There is nothing like taking a drive to a local Christmas tree farm and cutting down your own Frazier Fir for the house. Thanks to the work of Prof. Donald Heinz we have a thorough introduction to the "reason for the season" of Christmas: the incarnation of the Word of God, Jesus Christ.

Christmas: Festival of Incarnation (Fortress, 2010) is a lovely book, the cover is very attractive as well, an angel fresco from Italy invites the reader to ponder and peruse Heinz's commentary on the problems, misunderstandings, and issues involving the Christmas season. Fortress Press has done a great job with this book and I hope readers will agree, this book is a must read during the holiday season.

Heinz, a professor of religious studies at California State at Chico. He takes the reader through several layers of the holiday season including the birth and infancy narratives in Luke 2 and Matthew 1-2, the history and development of the Christmas holiday, the cultural and societal issues regarding the holiday such as the desacrilization and resacrilization of Christmas as well as some interesting tidbits and facts surrounding Christmas such as the term "wassailing" comes from the German words which mean "sing for food/drink" or that peacocks were a delicacy during the Christmas dinner feast in some aristocratic circles.

Christmas: Festival of Incarnation is a comprehensive look at Christmas. These eleven chapters are packed with information about how Christmas was celebrated in 19th century England as well as in modern America. Heinz considers the music, art, and stories about Christmas as well. I didn't know for example that Christmas was out-lawed in Puritan New England for several years or that the major push for Christmas shopping and the secular reduction of Christmas started just after WWII.

If you want to give someone a book this Christmas, a book that deals with the "reason for the season" then give them Christmas: Festival of Incarnation.

For more information about this book click here

For the faculty page of Prof. Heinz click here

For more information about the Christmas holiday in general click here

Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue

2010-12-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

My friend Dr. Adam Deville, professor of theology at St. Francis University, is pleased to announce his new book on Orthodox-Catholic dialogue published by University of Notre Dame Press (March 2011). Adam is a top notch scholar in the field of ecumenism and his new book, a revision of his doctoral dissertation will be an important piece of the continued discussion of the 1995 Papal Encyclical Ut Unum Sint.

The late Pope John II often said that the Church must breathe with both of Her lungs, both East and West, and hopefully Deville's book will be a breath of fresh air as Catholic and Orthodox continue to seek unity.

To order Dr. Deville's book click here

To read Dr. Deville's blog on Eastern Christian books click here

To learn more about Ut Unum Sint click here

I look forward to reviewing Dr. Deville's book on my blog at at later date.

As we pray in the Divine Liturgy for the "union of all" may we always strive to seek peace, concord, and unity among Christians. Hopefully we can all be ambassadors of unity.

St. Nicholas is coming.........

2010-12-02T05:45:00.000-08:00

Next Monday (Dec. 6) Christians around the world will be celebrating the life and ministry of St. Nicholas, the fourth century saint and caregiver of the poor. St. Nicholas is the precursor to Santa Claus. Not much is known about St. Nicholas but stories have been handed down through the generations revealing his devotion to charity and care for the poor, orphan, and widow.

You can learn more about St. Nicholas if you click here

There is even a St. Nicholas Center to learn more about the various traditions, customs, and history of this universal saint, click here to learn more about the St. Nicholas Center

Wishing everyone a good Advent season and remember to help those who are less fortunate than you are. Pray for those in need. Help those who need help. Reach out to those who are suffering. Life is too short, we all need to help one another.

Hymn to St. Nicholas

You were revealed to your flock
as a measure of faith.
You were the image of humility
and a teacher of self-control.
Because of your humble life,
heaven was opened to you.
Because of your poverty,
spiritual riches were granted to you. O holy Bishop Nicholas
we cry out to you:
Pray to Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

O Come O Come Emmanuel.........

2010-12-01T05:41:00.001-08:00

Well, today is December 1 and Christmas is just around the corner. While those of us in the Eastern Church have been in the season of Advent since November 15 our Western friends are just beginning their Advent season. I wish everyone a peaceful and wonderful Advent season as Christians around the world prepare for the birth of Christ.

One of my favorite Christmas hymns from the West is the old Latin hymn Veni, Veni Emmanuel which translates as O Come O Come Emmanuel.......which is often heard by choirs and carolers. It is a beautiful theological hymn reminding us of God's salvation in Christ.

Below are the lyrics for the hymn. The hymn is part of the O Antiphons sung in the Western Church during Vespers. You can learn more about that in the link below. There are a series of hymns beginning with "O" therefore the name "O Antiphons"

For more information about the O Antiphons click here

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Helping Those In Need

2010-11-30T08:35:00.000-08:00

December means that the Advent Season is now upon us. Advent is a time when Christians prepare for Jesus' birth which we celebrate on December 25. A lot of people use the Advent season as a way to help those in need. Advent is a time for caring and sharing. Many of us will be collecting food or clothing for the homeless or food for the hungry. We will probably hear sermons about love and caring for the less fortunate. It is important to take our faith seriously, love is a verb, it requires action. We just don't love abstractly, we love in concrete ways: a meal, a jacket, some money.

Each day during the Advent season take a few minutes out of your busy day and pray for those in need; pray for the homeless, the hungry, the orphan, or the widow. Pray for those who are jobless and hopeless. Share your love with those who have no love.

Below is a partial list of some well known national charitable organizations. Take some time and look at their websites and see how you can help them. Each of us can share our God given time, talents, and treasures with those who have none.

There is also a national Better Business Bureau register of national charities, you can click here to find that link.

Click on each charity to learn more about them:

Meals on Wheels (provides food for the homebound)

Project Linus (accepts donated blankets for children who are in accidents, hospitals, and care centers)

Salvation Army USA (supports the homeless and poor in local communities)

National Red Cross (helps in times of tragedy)

Florence Crittenton Services (helps teen unwed mother's care for their babies and provides educational services)

Habitat for Humanity (builds homes for those who cannot afford their own home)

National Homelessness Awareness (helps educate people about homelessness and poverty)

What are some of your favorite charities? Leave your list in the comment box along with a link to them and in a few days I will add these to this list.

May we always strive to serve both God and neighbor!

Book Review Thomas Merton: A Life in Letters

2010-11-27T08:38:00.000-08:00

I am a big Merton fan. When I was in college I devoured many of his books, especially his spiritual biography The Seven Storey Mountain as well as Contemplative Prayer. Throughout the years many publishers have released various collections of his writings, namely his journals and letters. The Merton Center, hosted at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY has over 20,000 of Merton's letters, both the letters that Merton wrote as well as the ones that he received from fans or from business associates or friends. This latest paperback edition published by Ave Maria Press is a nice collection of a selection of Merton's letters and is a welcome resource for newcomers to Merton or longtime Merton fans.

This new paperback edition is identical to the hardcover edition published last year by HarperOne and edited by William H. Shannon and Christine M. Bochen. The letters are organized by topics such as: monastic living, the writing life, culture, peace and war, and various letters on the state of the Catholic Church.

The letters reveal not just Merton the longtime Trappist monk, but the human Merton, the Merton who struggles with his faith, the Church, living the solitary life, as well as seeking forgiveness and love in a world in which war and power rules. People are drawn to Merton first and foremost because he was a real person. So much of contemporary spiritual writing is what I called "sugary spirituality" which offers readers pleasant platitudes or cliched spiritual aphorisms which don't offer much. Reading Merton is like sitting down to a three course dinner. When reading the letters we see the ride range of longtime friendships that he maintained such as: Dorothy Day, Catherine de hueck Daughtery, a well as the French Catholic philosopher and writer Jacques Maritaan and his wife Raiisa, as well as poets, writers, and artists. While living a cloistered solitary life far from family and society Merton's letters reveal a person who was very much connected to the world around him. The letters reveal a man who was widely read, not just in Catholic theology but in Orthodox and Protestant theology as well as in art, music, and other world religions. We see Merton struggling with his Abbot James Fox as well as living in a large monastery with all the trials and tribulations of what that type of living presents. We see a man struggling with love and intimacy as well as his own faith in God.

I encourage newbies to Merton's writings to take and read Ave Maria's new paperback edition of A Life in Letters. Those who are diehard Merton fans won't find much new in this book, but they might want a copy to fill the Merton section on their bookshelves.

For more information about Thomas Merton: A Life in Letters click here

For more information about the Thomas Merton Society click here

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

2010-11-25T06:51:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a good Turkey Day. I hope your day is peaceful and restful surrounded by family and friends.

On this day I am thankful for:

Family

Friends

Parishioners

Neighbors

A government which provides us freedom and safety

Creation

All those turkey's out there who sacrificed their lives for millions of Americans (I couldn't resist that one!!)

What are you thankful for on this Thanksgiving?????????

Book Review: Come Sunday by Isla Morley

2010-11-18T08:04:00.001-08:00

I usually have four to five books sitting by my comfy blue office chair at a time. Depending on the mood that I am in I will read one book, then another, and then hopefully finish at least one during the month! When I saw an advertisement of Come Sunday by Isla Morley (Picador, 2009) in the Fall issue of Poets and Writers Magazine I knew that I had to read this book; and as I thought, I stayed up late to finish it, there was no way I was going to go to bed and not read to the end!

The two main characters, Greg, a Methodist pastor and his wife Abbe live in Hawaii. Abbe is a transplant from South Africa and is working as a freelance writer before meeting her husband to be. They have one child named Cleo who is killed in a car accident.

Needless to say once you start reading you can't stop. Come Sunday is a page turner, we follow Greg and Abbe as they mourn both their dead child and their soon to be dead marriage. Greg eventually takes a parish in Fresno, CA, leaving his parish, house, and wife behind. We follow Abbe as she visits her native Paarl South Africa where she deals with her difficult past, her alcoholic father and battered mother. We see the racial divide of South Africa as well as the sheer stark beauty.

Morley is truly a wordsmith. The writing is gorgeous and the sentences are crisp, there are no cliches in this book! Likewise the story revolves around the liturgical year beginning on Good Friday and ending on the Feast of Ascension a year later. This structure provides ample meaning as the turns of events hinge on certain feast days in the Church, drawing from their theology and context.

Come Sunday was not an easy read. Many times I caught myself getting mad at Morley because I didn't like the way the plot was turning. Of course this is my problem not Morley's! I wanted a certain character to act a certain way and others to get revenge for what was done to them. I wanted more forgiveness and less hurt.I wanted the book to end a different way too, but again this shows you how good Morley is, she leads you to places that you won't expect.

Come Sunday is also a theodicy asking deep questions about the existence of God and why there is evil in this world. Morley delves deep into Greg's vocation as a pastor and the "Church" people in his parish who don't always act in a Christian fashion. As a pastor I laughed at certain parts as Morley described some people to a "t" with their particular affections and mannerisms, people whom I have known over the years.

Do yourself a favor, go out and buy a copy of Come Sunday, do it now and find yourself lost in a book that delights mind, heart, and spirit.

For more information about Isla Morely and Come Sunday click here

Advent begins for Eastern Christians

2010-11-17T04:38:00.001-08:00

For those of us in the Eastern Church (Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics) Advent, the lenten period before Christmas has started. There is a slight difference between the Advent season in East and West, Western Christians usually have four Sunday's of Advent, in the East we have a forty day period beginning November 15.

Wishing everyone a good Advent season this year.

What do you plan to do this Advent to prepare yourself for the birth of Jesus?

1. Support your local food pantry by donating canned food items?

2. Skipping a meal during the week or maybe cutting food consumption overall, as in, eating less at every meal?

3. Read the birth story of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1-2 and Luke 2?

4. Purchasing a few gifts for children in your local community?

There are a lot of ways that you can serve your neighbor!!!

For more information about the Christmas icon click here

For more information about Advent in the Eastern Church click here

Book Review: Defending Constantine

2010-11-16T07:16:00.000-08:00

It has taken a while but we finally have a book that presents the Emperor Constantine in a more objective light than what we usually get: an evil secular/worldly emperor who co-opted the Church and imported the Church-state problem to the rest of the world! Or as Leithart says in the introduction, Constantine has been called an anti-Semite, heretic, and a hypocrite. Constantine has been blamed for a lot of things and now with the diligent work and research of Prof. Peter J. Leithart we have a new take on this important figure in Church History.

Leithart is a senior fellow at St. Andrews College in Moscow Idaho and serves as the pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Moscow. He is also the author of Deep Exegesis: The Mystery of Reading Scripture.

Defending Constantine must have been a labor of love. Well researched with copious notes and references, clean crisp prose, and a good storyteller, Leithart brings Constantine to life for his modern readers, placing him in his cultural, social, and religious context. People generally refer to Constantine as a power hungry emperor who called the First Ecumenical at Nicea and eventually accepted Jesus Christ, reluctantly of course, on his deathbed. Not so says Leithart. Constantine was truly interested in theological matters and took much time to reflect upon the work of Nicea and the immediate aftermath. He was concerned about the future of the Church and the rise of heretical teachings.

In fourteen chapter Leithart goes through the evidence, parsing the great historians Eusebius and others showing us what Constantine actually was like and the legacy that he left behind. One major theme woven throughout the text is the relationship between Church and State, and the political impact of ones theology.

Defending Constantine is not a quick read. One has to read slowly, taking in all of the evidence and lengthy argument which Leithart presents. Defending Constantine is a book that I wish I had in seminary, it would have made Church History courses a lot easier! I hope that seminary students read Defending Constantine, not only will it make their life easier, it will certainly give them an alternative view of Constantine and his life.

If you are interested in Church History in general or the Emperor Constantine in general go out and get yourself a copy of Defending Constantine, it will fill your historical and theological appetite!

For more information about Peter Leithart and Defending Constantine click here

To view Peter Leithart's personal website click here

Book Review: Compassionate Fire

2010-11-11T12:43:00.001-08:00

My mother always told me that great things come in small packages. I have to agree with that statement, especially regarding the recent publication of the letters between Catherine de Hueck Doherty and Thomas Merton called Compassionate Fire: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Catherine de Hueck Doherty (Ave Maria Press, 2010). The book is only about 110 pages, you could easily read it in one sitting. However, don't let this small volume fool you, it contains a lifetime of "food for thought" on the Christian journey.

Much could be said about either of these two people and much has been written by them and about them too. Needless to say Ave Maria Press wanted to share some of the more personal and intimate lives with readers who are seeking truth and some guidance in the spiritual journey. Both Merton and Doherty struggled with their inner demons and temptations, after all who doesn't? Doherty started work setting up her Madonna House and Friendship House in Harlem as a way to live with the mostly African American community there which was poor, hungry, and often left without much assistance. Doherty received support from her longtime friend Dorothy Day who also corresponded with Doherty as well after Doherty moved to Canada.

Merton of course struggled as a monk. As a Trappist he took a vow of silence yet was encouraged to write, an ironic fact in his life that this "silent monk" as Doherty says was called to write volumes about life in God. Merton fought with his superiors and the Vatican censors as well as his own temptations as well. It is also ironic that Brother Louis as he was called in the monastery was buried next to the Abbot Fox in the Gethsameni Monastery cemetery.

The letters are not profound, the reader will not learn anything "new" in them. What you will find are two Christian pilgrims seeking some way towards clarity and integrity in corrupt Church and world. Yes, both Merton and Doherty struggled with the human side of the Church, Merton with his censors and Abbot General and Doherty with the Vatican. Many times she applied for her Madonna House to be a full Apostolate and was turned down. She never gave up. The letters reveal the joys and sorrows, the troubles and tribulations of living a life in community.

Go and read Compassionate Fire, you won't be disappointed.

For more information about Compassionate Fire click here

For more information about Thomas Merton click here

For more information about Catherine de Hueck Doherty click here

Some more reviews just in...........

2010-11-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

by Dr. Adam Deville professor of Theology at St. Francis College in Indianna. He maintains a book blog called Eastern Christian books, here is the link below..........

next week some more reviews coming and some Christmas season spiritual resources for your Advent and Christmas season.

http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com/2010/11/praying-and-fasting-with-william-mills.html

Blog review of A 30 Day Retreat

2010-11-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

I just found this nice online blog review of my book, A 30 Day Retreat, take some time to read it and also to look around Elaine's blog, called Walking the Water Way, beautiful pictures too

http://walkingthewaterway.blogspot.com/2010/10/book-review-30-day-retreat.html

To order A 30 Day Retreat click here

Book Review Small Faith Great God

2010-11-02T04:49:00.001-07:00

I am hooked on the writings of N.T. Wright. A few years ago our parish prayer group focused on his previous book, Suprised by Hope (Harper Collins, 2009). While not a quick read, we really dug deep into Wright's prose, talking and reflecting upon death, the afterlife, heaven, and the Kingdom of God. When I saw this new book, Small Faith Great God I knew I would like it right away.

Wright, recently retired as the Archbishop of Durham (England) and is now a professor of New Testament Studies at the University of St. Andrews in England. His many years as an Archpastor and as a New Testament scholar serves him well as an author, speaker, and pastor.

Small Faith Great God is a small book, only 130 pages or so but it packs a punch. The chapters are revised talks and sermons that Wright delivered years ago, only now to see the light of day as a collection of his thoughts about the concept of faith and what it means today. The chapters focus on key biblical themes from the New Testament as we read about Moses, Abraham, Ruth, and the Virgin Mary. Wright includes many scriptural examples but not so much as to be burdensome.

I was a bit suprised though that even in the revised manuscript Wright didn't include more pastoral stories or events that would support his writing. Wright has a fine writing style that is easy to follow but his many years as a pastor would have provided him with some rich insight into the human condition. I was wanting to see more examples of present day faith in action other than just what some of the New Testament texts say. I always enjoy spirituality books that also include stories or vignettes to support their commentary, it makes the reading more interesting.

Also, since this book is probably marketed towards a lay audience it would have been nice to have a series of questions or a short "readers guide" at the end for group discussion. I envision that many parishes will use Small Faith Great God as a Bible study.

Readers look forward to future books by Wright as he enters a new phase of his ministry.

For more information about Small Faith Great God click here

Book Review Things Seen and Unseen

2010-11-01T07:45:00.001-07:00

Ave Maria Press based in Notre Dame Indianna is an up and coming Catholic Press. While they have certainly been around for a long time, 140 years and counting, it seems as if they have been publishing some really inspiring titles lately, a new collection of the letters of Thomas Merton, one of my favorite spiritual writers, and now Lawrence S. Cunningham's Things Seen and Unseen: A Catholic Theologian's Notebook.

I first came upon the work of Cunningham when reading Commonweal Magazine. He writes a regular Book Notes section for Commonweal and also a blog there as well. Cunningham is what I call an ecumenical theologian, he is firmly rooted in the Catholic tradition, yet his writing speaks to the larger/wider Church. As an Orthodox Christian I have found many pearls of wisdom from Cunningham's prose.

Things Seen and Unseen is not a traditional type of book. It is neither a regular journal, diary, or memoir, but a collection of thoughts, ideas, ruminations, from his many years teaching. Each entry stands alone, they are not arranged thematically or chronologically, but each on its own worth. When reading Things Seen and Unseen I immediately thought of the desert fathers and mothers whose writing we have in many collected anthologies. Their short bits of wisdom, usually a sentence or two, sometimes even a paragraph, would be enough to chew on for the rest of ones life.

Cunningham is no different. Collected here is over 30 years of teaching and writing, thoughts from the liturgical year, books that he has written or plans to write, articles, and lectures delivered to students or religious orders. This book is a book to be read and re-read again and again. I can envision using this book for sermon ideas or parish bulletins. Take for example this little insight from his entry about devotional practice and the word "heart" in spiritual writing:

Apropos to the memory of the Lord: The Italian very to remember is ricordare--literally it means to bring back to the heart. How wonderfully rich etymology can be! (page 15).

There are others like it. He speaks about current events or ideas for future lectures. Things Seen and Unseen is not a book to read quickly, but rather, the reader takes it slowly, entry by entry, taking time to reflect and gaze upon these precious pearls of wisdom. Things Seen and Unseen is perfect for lectio divina, holy reading, as we all struggle with the spiritual journey.

For more information about Things and Unseen click here

Book Review: Vestments by John Reimringer

2010-10-30T11:44:00.001-07:00

Once in a while a book crosses my desk and I say, "Wow, I HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!"

Vestments by John Reimringer (Milkweed, 2010) is a must read for pastors and clergy serving in parishes (yours truly) or seminarians who are currently in ministry formation, or for anyone remotely interested in Christian spirituality. This is not a "feel good" book but a work which takes you to the depths of hell and despair and back again. It is a book that shows the reader that life, especially the spiritual journey, is not so neat and tidy but quite messy and raw. The reader encounters such moral questions as the place of celibacy and sex in ministry, abortion and the problems surrounding it, the role and place of family, and the ups and downs of friendship. Reading Vestments reminded me of the work of Elizabeth Strout, Andre Dubus, and Raymond Carver, authors who show the grittiness of life without glossing it over.

The cover art, reminiscent of a stained glass window at Church, is very attractive. The cover includes several lower income houses at the crack of dawn with smoke billowing from their chimneys but the artist has covered that image with a luminescent purple and mauve, as if you were looking through a stained glass window. The artwork is a nice touch because the book invites us into the lives of two young men who are in seminary formation and who will live the rest of their life, perhaps, in a parish setting.

I do not want to give away the story line, but suffice it to say we meet a very dysfunctional family, the father is a high school dropout, functional drunk, and who is both verbally and physically abuse to his former wife and children. His son, the main character, enters a Roman Catholic seminary. During this time we see him in action, learning theology but also dealing with celibacy and the major vows which he will undertake. He struggles not only with his future ministry in the Church but with his messed up family. I have met many families in my life but none as colorful as his family! They would be a case study for any pastoral counselor!

We also see his friend who is someone whom all too often I have seen in ecclesial settings as well, the "professional pastor" the one who envisions ministry as a profession and career. In many ways he is under the temptation of power and authority, having little trouble keeping his vows yet breaking them with his secret lover, his live in girlfriend who also is the local barmaid.

John Reimringer is a master storyteller, he weaves this book like a master weaver. Characters are neither all good or all bad, neither all darkness nor all light. Everyone has warts and wrinkles and also light and goodness. As a reader I was mad, I wanted the bad characters to "get their due" yet Mr. Reimringer doesn't allow that. His story, like the Bible, shows us life and humanity through the lens of how God might envision it, not as we do.

While searching online about Mr. Reimringer I learned that it took him nearly ten years to write Vestments. I hope his next book doesn't take that long, this is one reader who is hooked on Reimringer's prose.

For more information about John Reimringer and Vestments click here

For more information about Milkweed Publishers click here

Book Review Jesus Wars by Philip Jenkins

2010-10-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

I have been catching up on my book reviews so here is another installment this week which should be the last one for a while. I was getting a bit back logged in Sept!!

Every Sunday Christians attend worship. They pray to God, invoke the name of Jesus, offer their praise and prayer, and many break the bread of the Eucharist which is often referred to as the Last Supper. However, I bet most Christians do not have the foggiest idea that Christians long ago actually fought about who Jesus was. Yes, you heard correctly. There were debates, divisions, political wars, and blood spilled over the nature of Jesus and his ministry.

If you want to learn more about this intriguing part of Church History than look no further than Philip Jenkin's latest book, Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years (Harper One, 2010).

Jenkins is a full time professor at Penn State University and the author of numerous books on Christian history and culture. His writings and essays have also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe.

Jesus Wars is written with a historians eye for detail and in the vein of a good story, after all, Church history is filled with intrigue, wars, debates, and arguments. Jenkins offers his readers insight into the history that led up to the great Jesus debates of the fourth can fifth century, namely: Nicea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. The book is woven around the basic theme which opens the book, a phrase from the gospels as Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"Was Jesus just a human being who had a divine vocation? Was he a "super human" with super natural powers? Was he solely divine who appeared to be human? Who was this Jesus anyway?

Since Jenkins is a Church historian his many years of teaching students provides him with the many questions that people have on their minds. He has a fine writing style and like a good teacher you feel like he is talking right to you, a trait which I wish all writers had!!

However, while reading Jesus Wars I kept asking myself, so what? Much of what Jenkins offers is already located in various Church history books. I didn't find much new in this book, other than the fact that Jenkins brings ancient texts to new light. Perhaps this is why Jesus Wars is so important, not for the fact that Jenkins is offering some new theories or ideas about Jesus but that he sheds light on the ancient Jesus debates and the various fights between bishops and emperors and between countries and nations.

When I finished this book I realized that the Jesus debates have not stopped, they are as fresh as ever. Christians across the globe are still arguing and fighting for the "correct" understanding of Jesus.

The statement that Jenkins uses to open the book is asked of us today, "who do you say that I am?"

What would you answer?

For more information about Philip Jenkins and his book Jesus Wars click here

Book Review: The Complete Psalms by Pamela Greenberg

2010-10-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

My bookshelves are filled with all types of books: fiction and non-fiction, hardcover and paperback, history, literature, culture, and art. Because I am both a pastor and an instructor in Scripture I have several shelves reserved for theological tomes, especially different translations of the Bible. I generally use the Revised Standard Version for daily devotion and sermon preparation, it is a translation that I grew up with and also used in seminary and in graduate school. However I also have other translations which I consult frequently: The Message, New Jerusalem Bible, as well as the New International Version and sometimes the King James Bible. I always encourage my students to use a variety of Bibles when reading and studying Scripture since they will most certainly find different nuances of words, concepts, and sentences. Every year publishers release new Bible translations and hosts of "Study Bibles." Among the latest publications dealing with an entire book of the Bible is Pamela Greenberg's The Complete Psalms: The Book of Prayer Songs in a New Translation published by Bloomsbury.

This fine hardcover edition is beautiful. The cover reminds me of my grandmother's old leather bound King James Bibles that she used often. The book also includes a red ribbon which serves as ready made book mark. This volume is one which readers will turn to again and again as they read and re-read the Book of Psalms.

Why a new translation? After all there are hundreds of Bible translations available in local bookstores and online. However Ms. Greenberg reminds her readers that the Psalms were written in Hebrew and very often the translations can be wooden and life-less, others perhaps less so. Mary Karr, the famous memoirist and poetry teacher at Syracuse University, says that Greenberg, "has lifted the old language from spider webs and mothballs, breathing new air into the songs." (from the front cover). I agree. Greenberg provides readers with a fresh translations, offering a new and refreshing insight into these ancient words.

When I read the Psalms I generally use the RSV translation, a translation which I am very familiar. The problem however is that since I know many of the Psalms already I tend to read very quickly, skipping over words or rushing through them. However, when reading Greenberg's new translation I caught myself reading slowly, meandering through the Psalms of David line by line taking in each and every word. I could not skip lines or read fast, this translation makes you savor each word as it should be savored. After all, the Psalms have been called the Prayerbook of the Church and for centuries both Christians and Jews have used the Psalms in their daily and weekly prayers.

Greenberg must be thanked for her hard work and dedication trying to capture the beauty of a very old language. I used The Complete Psalms for my lectio divina and I encourage you to do the same.

For more information about Pamela Greenberg and The Complete Psalms go to her website here

Book Review The Greatest Prayer by John Dominic Crossan

2010-10-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

The Lord's Prayer is the only prayer that we have from Jesus himself and every Sunday millions of Christians throughout the world either read, sing, or recite this wonderful little prayer. Very often we recite this prayer not giving too much attention to what we are actually saying. When was the last time you really ever thought of "hallowed be Thy name" or "lead us not into temptation"?

Well, if you are interested in learning more about the Lord's Prayer in an easy to read friendly volume then look no further. Harper One has recently published John Dominic Crossan's new book, The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord's Prayer.

This is a book that I will keep on my bookshelf near the other books that I would like to re-read in the near future. Crossan certainly has a friendly conversational style of writing. He is a notable lecturer and teacher and his tone and style reflect that. I felt like Crossan was sitting in the room giving me a tour of the Bible and how the Lord's Prayer fits into the Christian Spiritual tradition.

The book is rather short, it includes 8 chapters devoted to each of the stanza's of the prayer. Crossan is a prolific writer and this book is a culmination of his other "Jesus" type books such as The Historical Jesus or The Birth of Earl Christianity or his latest book co-authored with his longtime friend and colleague Marcus Borg called The First Paul.

Crossan looks at the Lord's Prayer through the lens of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), especially looking at its connection to the prophets. The prophetic movement forced the aristocracy and kingly rulers to deal with important "kingdom" issues such as poverty, homelessness, lack of food, war, famine, and other social concerns. If you take some time and turn to any of the prophets (Amos or Hosea) for example you will see many examples of this common call to repentance. The prophets saw the rich getting richer on the backs of the poor and their lack of care for the needy neighbor.

Jesus entered into this prophetic movement as not just any prophet, but the Son of God who is the Prophetic Word incarnate so to speak. Jesus actualizes this common call to repentance and care for the poor. Crossan suggests that the Lord's Prayer is not some "spiritualization" but a radical call to change ones vision of the world. Crossan states numerous times that we are co-workers with God and collaborate with God in the creation of the kingdom of God in the here and now. Our calling as God's disciples is to be radical as Jesus, and that is a high calling indeed.

Of course there is much more to this book. I suggest that you buy it and read it for yourself. Perhaps you can use it for your next book club reading? Or maybe your parish adult education class will read it?

I plan to re-read this book again and again, finding pearls of wisdom in this wonderful little ancient prayer.

For more information about The Greatest Prayer click here

For more information about John Dominic Crossan click here

For my book on the Lord's Prayer called Our Father: A Prayer for Christian Living click here

Me or God first??

2010-08-21T08:48:00.001-07:00

The Christian life is not an easy path, there are days when I think, gee it would be much easier not to follow Jesus then to follow him!!! I feel like this when I get distracted and become irritable at those around me, get angry, or don't trust God. More often than not I think that I am the center of the universe rather than putting God in my center!

Oh well, I guess every day is a new day, a new beginning, a new chance to put one foot in front of the other trying to walk that life of faith.

Poem by Mary Oliver

2010-08-18T05:11:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been reading a lot of poetry. Unlike prose and narrative, poetry slows you down, makes you savor and chew on every word. When reading a good page turning thriller or mystery it is easy to read fast skipping over words even, but not with poetry.

I have been reading several volumes of poetry by Mary Oliver. I came across this poem the other day and wanted to share, I hope you like it!

The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist

Something has happened

to the bread

and the wine

They have been blessed.

What now?

The body leans forward

to receive the gift

from the priest's hand,

then the chalice.

They are something else now

from what they were

before this began

or on the shore

just walking

beautiful man

and clearly

someone else

besides

On the hard days

I ask myself

if I ever will

Also there are times

my body whispers to me

that I have.

A Thought for Today

2010-08-16T04:59:00.000-07:00

A while back I came across this short reflection by the famous pastor, author, and Church leader Reinhold Niebuhr and wanted to pass it along to you. I hope you find some inspiration in it too!

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime, therefore we must be saved by hope.

Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history, therefore we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.

For information about Reinhold Niebuhr click here

Book Review I Am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirkby

2010-08-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Once in a while a very interesting book comes across my desk and I Am Hutterite (Thomas Nelson, 2010) by Mary Ann Kirkby is one of them.

The Hutterites were a small Protestant break off group that appeared in 1528 in Moravia. They took the Book of Acts very seriously and decided to have a common life together and have everything in common; food, fellowship, and income. The Hutterites make the Amish look liberal!

The Hutterites left Europe and many of them found a new life in Western Canada and in the North-Central United States, North and South Dakota, Iowa. Mary-Ann Kirkby's book is part family history and part memoir telling the story of her family through the lens of daily life in a Hutterite commune. Life was very structured with everyone eating and praying together, working on the farm, working the land, mending, sewing, and building. Kirkby recalls that each commune had about 125 people, just enough people to work the land and to feed without being too cumbersome.

The cover of the book says that the book received an award in Canada and Publishers Weekly gave the book a strong endorsement. I found the book intriguing in that Kirkby manages to tell us her own story through the lens of the Hutterite community, but I found her own voice missing. There was no empathy or emotion between me and Mary Ann. Not only was the book a bit cumbersome with the many German words peppered throughout, but the book was written almost objectively, without real feeling. I almost felt like Mary Ann was writing from too far away, that there was very little of "her life" on the page but was telling the story from several generations removed. Maybe this was no fault of her own, but in the end I am glad that I read this book, not only does it fill a gap in modern religious history but Kirkby also included a recipe for a Sugar Pie which I want to try one day, it looks delicious!

To learn more about I Am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirkby click here

To learn more about the Hutterite communities click here

Interview with author Judith Couchman

2010-08-10T05:21:00.000-07:00

A while ago I posted a short review of Judith Couchman's book, The Mystery of the Cross published by IVP Press. It is a wonderful read and a great resource for parish Bible study groups and or Christian book clubs.

You can find out more about Judith by clicking here

You can find out more about Mystery of the Cross by clicking here

Below is an interview that I recently had with Judith:

1. What inspired you to work on this particular book project, it is so unique, a combination of art history, theology, and Scripture? How did you manage to bring these three subjects together wholistically?

While working as a writer for years, I began studying art history just because I loved it. Then I decided to get a second master's degree in art history (I already had one in journalism) and studied online for it. I focused on Christian art. Especially as I studied early Christian andmedieval art, the visual representation of Christianity moved me deeply. It felt like viewing God at work in the world through images. It also intrigued me how, in a secular university classroom, I encountered Christian images and the beliefs related to them. The information spoke for itself, like a soft approach to sharing the faith.

While writing the book, I wasn't sure I was bringing art history, theology, and Scripture together wholistically. I wrote with hope and prayer. I thought the biblical and extra-biblical stories and beliefs offered context for the images. We can understand art better if we learn about its context. And always, readers want to know how ancient Christianity relates to their lives today. I wasn't sure if anyone else would benefit from the book, but the research affected me. Too often, the cross is just a common symbol to us. To the early Christians, it was everything. It represented their suffering Savior, the one who resuced them from sin. The one for whom they radically changed and sacrificed their lives.

2. Is there any particular chapter or chapters that are especially inspiring or memorable for you? Why?

Oh, yes. Chapter 9, The Descent from the Cross, touched me where I'd actually been living. That chapter relives how Joseph of Arimatheaand Nicodemus obtained and cared for Christ's body after his death. When my mother died, I helped prepare her body before the mortician took it. This was a loving, sacred act for me. A last chance to touch my mother and kiss her face. For the first time, I undestoodd the holiness of taking Christ's body down from the cross and preparing it for burial. I'd usually skipped that part when I thought about his death and resurrection.

Chapter 36, Desperately Seeking Sanctuary, also meant much to me. It described the ancient practice of sanctuary for those who'd committed crimes or fell into trouble. They ran to a church for sanctuary and received forgiveness through santuary laws. This practice is foreign to us; we want revenge. But the sanctuary laws and the cross's participation in them, exemplified God's forgiveness. It is broad, deep, wide, incomprehensible. I'm still trying to grasp the nature of such forgiveness.

3. What are some of the comments or feedback that you received from readers? I can imagine a lot of book clubs or small groups will be using this book for reading or devotional use.

Authors don't always know what's going on, unless people contact us. I'm no exception. But I do know the book has been discussed on blogs, taught in Sunday school classes, and read by churches for Lent. Readers have been complimentary about the content and the writing. I've worked hard to write decently, so good remarks about the writing cheer me. Some say they plan to read the book more than once. The book seems to be doing what I'd hoped: reaching into diverse Christian groups and bringing them closer to the Cross. I hope it's a book with a long life because the cross is a timeless topic. As the author, though, I think it's crucial to watch the book's progress with humility. It's really Christ's Cross that's speaking, not me. Whether the book sells a lot or a little, my responsibility is to follow God's call to write.

4. Has anyone, especially in the Protestant world, objected to the over use of Christian art or symbolism, especially the cross?

No, not so far. Instead, Protestants have been thrilled to read extra-biblical stories they hadn't heard before. I tried to write the book with a strong biblical foundation, in a way that Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians could appreciate it. I wanted the Scripture and the stories to minister to a broad range of Christians and possibly, spiritual seekers.

5. What are your future book projects? Any follow ups to this one?

I don't have a follow-up to The Mystery of the Cross, but I'd like to write one at some point. However, I just finished a book titled, The Art of Faith: A Guide to Understanding Christian Images (Paraclete). It releases in December of this year (2010). This book helps anyone interested in Christian art, from its beginnings through the Baroque era. You can read about the initial stirrings of Christian art; brief overviews of the Christian art eras; learn about common subjects in Christian art; understand its popular symbolism, and much more. The book is formatted so you can look at Christian art and consult the book for interpreting it. For every definition in the book, I've included, as an example, a work of art from somwhere in the world. And again, anyone can use it. You don't need a background in art or art history to understand and enjoy Christian art.

Some New Reviews in!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-01T02:11:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you know some fresh reviews in about my book, A 30 Day Retreat, one from the UK and the other from New Zealand, check them out if you have time.

Available Light blog

Bishop Alan's blog

Later this week I'll have some more book reviews and other spiritual reflections, but for now, I'm back on track for blogging!!!!!

Book Review The Art of Losing by Kevin Young

2010-07-12T06:40:00.001-07:00

Well, finally back to blogging after a few days of R and R in sunny Florida. This week I have a few book reviews to post. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and staying cool.

Recently I have been reading a lot of poetry. I find that poetry is very much like prayer, lyrical reflections on the human condition which are shared with the rest of the world. I have been reading Tony Abbott (a local NC poet), Mary Karr, Anne Sexton, Robert Frost, and Mary Oliver. Now I have to add Kevin Young to my list.

Mr. Young is the editor of a new anthology of poetry called, The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing published by Bloomsbury (2010) is a collection of poetry on the theme of grief, loss, death, and survival. The book is divided into six sections:

Reckoning

Regret

Remembrance

Ritual

Recovery

Redemption

I didn't know what to expect from Mr. Young's poetic insights because poetry is new to me. For the past 15 years I have devoted my time to theology, scripture studies, and Church history. Wow, did Mr. Young convert me! These poems were beautiful, some short, some long, some light, others intense. However, they all reveal the pain and anguish of losing a friend, parent, sibling, or neighbor. While reading I found myself thinking about grieving both of my parents who have died, one from a sudden heart attack and the other from a long bout with liver disease. I grieved each parent differently. Each parent left me with feelings of pain, joy, anger, and resentment. Poetry, like prayer, gives voice to those feelings.

The Art of Losing is a must read especially for pastors, social workers, or grief counselors who directly work with grief on a regular basis. These poems are the material from which sermons are made and prayers are offered.

Congratulations to Mr. Young for culling volumes upon volumes of poems and poets to find just the right ones to fill this lovely book. Judging from the poems and the beautiful cover of this book it certainly must have been a labor of love.

Take and read The Art of Losing, you will be inspired!

For more information about Mr. Young click here

Day 30 Angels We Have Heard on High

2010-06-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the last and final posting in our 30 Day Retreat. It has been a good process and I hope that everyone learned something about the gospel and our common calling to follow the Lord. I also hope that you have found my book, A 30 Day Retreat: A Personal Guide to Spiritual Renewal edifying. If you like my book please spread the word to friends, family, colleagues, fellow parishioners, etc....

The last and final installment in our 30 day journey are angels. Very often we think of angels as cute cuddly cherubs floating on cotton ball white clouds strumming their harps and playing their flutes. Yet when we read scripture we see an altogether different version of angels:

In Genesis Jacob is depicted as wrestling with an angel all night long

In Luke's gospel an angel comes bearing good news that Mary will bear a son and her first reaction is fear

In Matthew's gospel an angel of the Lord comes to Joseph telling him that Mary will have a son and his first reaction is fear and the notion to divorce her

When the women come to Jesus' tomb in order to anoint his dead body they meet an angel in the garden and their first reaction is fear.

Why so much fear with angels?

Well, I'd be scared to if an angel appeared to me speaking the Word of God. After all it's much easier to have God at an arm's length, and quite another to have his Word come face to face!!!

Yet angels come and go in scripture.

The word "angel" literally means "messenger" and the angels are messengers of God bringing news.

So our Hollywood and Hallmark versions of angels are not very biblical. Yes they might be cute and cuddly and warm and fuzzy but they are not the angels that we see in either the Old or New Testament.

Angels are sent to bring the good news of the gospel which is the message of repentance. The message that we have new life in Christ and that we have the opportunity of eternal life with God for ever and ever.

This is wonderful and exciting news!!

Today we thank God for his messengers.

I hope everyone continues to read Scripture on their own. I also hope that you are active in your parishes in order to help build up the Body of Christ wherever you find yourself.

God bless all of you.

Thanks for spending the past 30 days with me.

I plan on taking a few days off with blogging and will be return posting on July 12.

Day 29 Catching the Spirit

2010-06-29T04:40:00.001-07:00

Only two more days for our online retreat together. It was surely a discipline to write a blog entry every day for a month. I didn't know what to expect. However, the process of blogging every day and writing a short reflection was a good practice. I hope that you enjoyed this month together and that you learned something about the Christian faith.

Today we read about the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost which is found in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples as tongues of fire, each disciple receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is very powerful too.

In Genesis the Spirit was hovering over the waters

The Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness for forty days

The Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus in the Jordan River

The Holy Spirit was given to the disciples at Pentecost

Pretty impressive if you ask me.

This Spirit was given so that the disciples would be strengthened and could preach the gospel boldly throughout the ends of the world. The disciples had a lot of work to do; Peter, Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and others preached, taught, healed in the name of Jesus. They were witness of God's Kingdom, reminders that Jesus was Lord and Savior and that people could have new life.

Wow, I am still amazed when I read Acts 2.

Take some time today out of your busy schedule and read Acts 2.

What does it say to you?

How can the Holy Spirit change your life?

What does the Holy Spirit mean for your discipleship?

Let's share

Day 28 He Was Known to Them in the Breaking of the Bread

2010-06-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

I love this picture of bread and wine, it looks so earthy to me, the wine sitting in a pottery chalice and a large loaf of bread broken. Every Sunday Christians around the world remember our Lord Jesus in the "breaking of the bread" as we recount his final instructions to "take eat" and "drink of it all of you." Every Sunday I stand in the altar of our little parish reciting those last words of Jesus and it never stops to amaze me how new those words sound every Sunday, "take eat" and "drink of it all of you."

These words have been said for 2,000 years and they have comforted people.

Personally I love to eat and there is nothing better than a glass of wine and a hunk of bread and very often I eat cheese with it; brie, English Stilton, or some Port Salut, ummm, makes me want to go and get some now.

The Sacrament of Holy Communion, also called the Eucharist, is very earthy, incarnational. Jesus takes basic things in life such as bread and wine and tells his followers that when we eat of this bread and drink of this wine we are remembering Jesus and making his Presence felt again in the community.

This is truly awesome.

Take eat

Drink of it all of you

Jesus is known to us in a meal

How revolutionary!

Let's share. What are your thoughts on the Eucharist?

Day 27 Walking with the Lord

2010-06-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

I love to walk. Every day I walk my dog at least twice, once in the morning and once at night. I also walk on the treadmill at the local YMCA for at least an hour. I noticed that a lot of people are walking these days, mostly to keep healthy.

Walking is a theme found throughout the Bible

God walked with Adam and Eve in Paradise

Moses and the Israelites walked through the Sinai to the Promised Land

Jezebel and her friends walked in sin

Paul reminds us to walk in the light and in righteousness

Walking can be a dangerous activity is we do not pay attention to where we are going.

We can fall, hurt ourselves, get lost, or sprain an ankle.

If we don't bring water with us we may pass out or if we do not pay attention to where we are going we could get hit by a car.

I bet you never realized how important walking really is?

Paul reminds us to walk with the Lord, to follow Him each and every day. Before we start walking we have to do a few things:

1. Listen, we can't follow if we don't know where God is leading us

2. Be obedient. In my life as a pastor there are quite a few things that I either don't enjoy doing much or wouldn't choose to do on my own, yet because I am a pastor I must do them.

3. Be careful. If you are walking and talking with a friend you have to keep one eye on where you are walking lest you fall and trip or get hit by a car.

The Lord requires that we follow these basic teachings as well: listening, obedience, and alertness keeps us out of trouble.

Take a good look at your life right now.

Are you always a good listener? Do you follow through with your commitments as a sign of your obedience? Are you alert and awake to the people and events around you?

Day 26 Waiting For Jesus

2010-06-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

I admit I can be impatient at times, well, a lot of the time actually. I don't like waiting for things or persons, especially:

waiting for the light to turn green

waiting for medical tests

waiting in line in the grocery store

waiting on the phone

my laundry list could go on and on but I think you get the point.

We spend so much of our lifetime waiting.

The Israelites spent a lot of time waiting for the savior to be born didn't they?

All of those poor prophets and righteous people in the Old Testament, Abraham, Moses, Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Ruth, Naomi, they all had to wait. They never saw the messiah either; too bad.

Yes, God makes his people wait and for good reason. My mom had a saying that she always shared with us, "good things come to those who wait" boy was she right!!!!!!!!

What are some of the things that you don't like waiting for????????????

How can you better learn patience in life?????

Let's share some of our thoughts

Day 25 Looking for God in All the Wrong Places

2010-06-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

Looking for that mountain top spiritual experience? Waiting for the Angel Gabriel to come and bring you a message like he did with the Virgin Mary? Waiting for a vision of St. Francis or St. Mary Magdalene?

Sometimes people do experience very powerful and strong feelings of God or the Divine or have visions of a saint or of Jesus himself.

This is rare.

The saints also remind us that we are not to wait and look for these things. If they happen so be it and glory to God. They also tell us not to broadcast it upon the waters, but to keep it and ponder the message or vision or presence in our hearts. The New Testament reminds us that even Satan can visit like an angel of light so we have to be on guard and test all spirits.

It has been my experience though that we feel God's presence in the small things of life, the everyday routine stuff:

the birth of a child

the peaceful death of a loved one

the baptism of a newborn baby

a person who confesses their sin and repents

the comfort of a caregiver for those who are sick

the generosity of the bus driver who helped me today (I needed directions and she was very gracious)

If we are so busy seeking those "Mountain top experiences" we might loose sight of the everyday events that are small messages and reminders that God is still with us and cares about us.

Let's keep our eyes open and see the glorious hand of God everywhere, in a conversation over coffee and yes, even while changing diapers or making a pot of soup for a sick parishioner.

Day 24 The Poor You Shall Always Have With You

2010-06-24T05:09:00.000-07:00

I am always shocked that in America we have such a high rate of homeless, hungry, and poor people. I once knew a woman who worked at the Salvation Army shelter and said that every night they have to turn people away because there are not enough beds.

This bothers me.

This should bother you too.

Loving God requires, even is demanded upon us, to love our neighbor too.

Christians have so many opportunities to show our love and care for the other person

Lending a listening ear

Reaching out when they are sick, suffering, or hurt

Collecting food for the hungry

Donating used clothing for the local shelter

Serving at a soup kitchen or food bank

Volunteering at a local outreach center

There are a million ways in which we can serve our fellow brothers and sisters.

Jesus came to show compassion on the less fortunate. He came to teach us through both Word and action what God wants from us.

Yet we don't always listen do we?

We are not always the best and brightest disciples?

What's our problem??????

Let's share today

(Only 6 more days for this retreat. It has been a bit challenging. I must admit there were days when I didn't feel like posting because I felt like I didn't have much to say or that I had other things to do. Yet the sheer act of writing a short post every day has been a good discipline. I hope you have felt a little more inspired and encouraged in the process).

Day 23 Gardening With God

2010-06-23T19:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, how many of you like to garden? It's summer and my garden is fully into growth mode. I have tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil, parsley, as well as roses, tiger lillies, zinnias, and daisies growing. From May - Sept I have my hands full.

The New Testament is full of gardening imagery:

Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene in the garden

Jesus was betrayed in a garden

Jesus talks about growing vines and vineyards

Paul talks about planting, sowing, and reaping

Jesus talks about the importance of harvest

The world of Jesus was an agrarian society and people knew full well about the ups and downs and the ins and outs of gardening. For one thing it ain't easy.

Planting is hard work

Watering and reaping is hard work

Keeping away those varmits like squirrels and mice is hard work

When I"m in the garden I sweat a lot and my back hurts me.

Gardening is a powerful metaphor for our life together

The Apostle Paul says that he planted, Apollos watered, but God gives the growth.

In other words we have the responsibility to prepare the soil (us---our hearts and minds) to receive the Word but God gives the increase.

I always plant wild flowers and sow seeds hither and yonder and I am always amazed that some seed begins to sprout and others do not.

It's not up to me.

It's up to God

How is your garden growing today??????????

Let's share

Day 22 Become Like Children

2010-06-22T04:32:00.000-07:00

Today is one of my favorite topics. Jesus tells us that if we want to enter into the kingdom we have to turn and become like children. We need to be careful, he didn't say "childish" he said, like children.

And what are children like?

Joyful

Open

Free

Creative

Dependent on parents (i.e in our case, God)

Live in the moment

Engaging the world

Gee, aren't those wonderful qualities to have?

After reading this chapter I wondered to myself, "what happens to us adults???" We start out fine as children and then we mess things up don't we?

Adults put on our social faces, live our lives according to rules and driven by material concerns. We forget the basics of life, that life is a gift from God and we are to enjoy every minute of it in the fullest, as the Latin phrase goes CARPE DIEM seize the day!!!

Jesus tells us to become like children.

I love to watch children playing on the playground or making mud cakes and pretend to eat them. I love to watch children dance and put on plays. Children are so full of life.

We know that Jesus didn't have his own family and didn't have children of his own, but he certainly must have understood the nature of children. He was onto something.

How can we regain a child like nature? How can we once again turn and become like a child?

Let's share today...............

Only 8 more days in our virtual retreat.

(The radio interview on KNEO radio in Missouri went well yesterday. The show will be streamed and podcasted during the week of July 12. I will let you know when it becomes available. Also, help spread the word about A 30 Day Retreat, pass on my website to anyone who you think might be interested, www.williamcmills.com)