I listen to a lot of books from audible.com. When someone asks me if I have read a book that I have listened to, is it legit to say that I have? Or do I need to clarify that I haven’t actually read it, but listened to it instead? Why is it that when I […]

James Finley on the benefits of contemplative practice. You write, “The true nature of the present moment is the reality of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.” Could you explain what you mean by that? Christ’s life is a mirror of our own life and the deepest reality is that we’re called to die […]

Just saw “The Village.” I don’t want to spoil the twist so I won’t say anything about it except that I was able to sniff it out fairly early. That’s unusual for me. Good movie.

This week I’m going to do a “Gospel According to Finding Nemo” sermon. I’ve seen it at least a hundred times–oh the blessings of having two little boys–and I think I can draw some great parallels between Marlin and the God who relentlessly pursues us. I’d love to find a way to include the “Sharks […]

Here are a couple of quotes from Teasdale’s book, “A Monk in the World.” And here is our true challenge as mystics in the world: to create community with those who are so different from us that we feel we have nothing in common with them. As our world becomes smaller, through a growing common […]

All day long I’ve been dreading writing this post. Every time I take an extended break from blogging I feel intense pressure when writing the post that announces my return. I can imagine readers saying to themselves, “He had a week to think about his next post and this is what he writes?” Well, I’m […]

I’m officially on vacation. This will be my last post for the next eight days. We’re heading to the beach. One of my goals for this week is to not check my email. If you send me an email and I reply, then you will know that I have failed in my quest to fully […]

In my message yesterday from Eph. 6:10-20, I said something like this: Paul uses a military illustration to once again tell us that through the gospel God has us provided the necessary armor, the necessary power for standing firm. This point is worth emphasizing because I’m not sure how many of us are really hearing […]

This piece reminds me of John 5:39-40, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” These people know that the bible is not a self-help book full of easy answers, […]

Here are some pictures from my time at camp in Siberia.