Category Archives: The Church of What’s Happening Now

I am reading Frederich Nietzsche (“The Birth of Tragedy”) and Arthur Schopenhauer (“The World as Will and Representation”) simultaneously, with each alternating as comic relief to the other. Every time I open either, I experience an immediate flashback to the Kevin Kline character Otto in “A Fish Called Wanda,” acknowledge the similarities, and dig in.Continue reading “July 21-C, 2022”

When the door opens, walk through. The tricky part is knowing the right door when it opens. It is not necessarily the door we want to open. “That which you seek lies far back in the darkest corner of the cave you most don’t want to enter” (Joseph Campbell). Walking through a door open toContinue reading “July 21-B, 2022”

This Singing Bowl was blessed by three Buddhist monks over the course of my tenure at the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in Greensboro, NC. I used it to ring us into and out of the silence that began the service of A Gathering of Sojourners each Sunday morning. The right kind of silence opensContinue reading “July 21-A, 2022”

How do we spend our time? How do we decide what to do? I recommend the practice of living out of the emptiness, stillness and silence. And finding our guidance and direction from the things that come to us, arising, appearing, emerging in the silence to evoke us into acting in the field of action.Continue reading “July 20-C, 2022”

People who look for what makes life worthwhile, worth their effort, worth their time, are not concerned about their original nature and innate virtues. “What’s in it for me?” is their only interest. “When is it going to be my turn?” “How can I get what I want?” “All I want is MY WAY NOW!”Continue reading “July 20-B, 2022”

We have vulnerabilities that are actual, and vulnerabilities that are imaginary. At 2:00 AM, imaginary is actual. At 2:00 AM, we can worry about the damnedest things. For some people, 2:00 AM lasts all day long, every day. They are awash in agony over earthquakes that never happen, droughts and floods, and a critical shortageContinue reading “July 19-B, 2022”

We build a life around our original nature and the innate virtues that are our from birth. We live to serve these things, sharing them appropriately in each situation as it arises. What we do to pay the bills falls into place around this center, and we live with balance and harmony, with integrity andContinue reading “July 19-A, 2022”

We have to find the center and live from there– the center of the boundary line between the extremes. Between the contraries. Between the contradictions. We have to live on the boundary between the mutually exclusive polarities that populate our life, and not just anywhere on the boundary, but in the dead center of theContinue reading “July 18-C, 2022”

Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1328) said, “The final leave-taking is leaving God for God.” That is to say, “Leaving our idea of God for God.” Our idea of God is not God. Yet, the thing we do best is to tell God how to be God. We tell God who God ought to be. Growing upContinue reading “July 18-B, 2022”

We are always waking up to some aspect of our life– the life that we are living and the life that is ours to live. The nagging, recurring, idea that we have missed something, that this isn’t what we are cut out for, that we are empty in the wrong kind of way, and floundering,Continue reading “July 18-A, 2022”

I am officially old. I cry at everything these days. The Webb Telescope being a case in point. But also, Joe Manchin for blocking a better life for millions of people. It’s a long list. And I’m an old man crying over everything on it. Flash mob concerts. Animals being reunited with former owners. WonderfulContinue reading “July 17-A, 2022”

There is a willing force in nature that cannot be denied. Grass and weeds don’t quit growing even though they are whacked down once a week. Dandelions grow through asphalt! They don’t say, “Oh, gee. Asphalt! Can’t grow here!” Life is determined, willful, unrelenting, non-stop. Our life is like that. The life we came toContinue reading “July 16-A, 2022”