Gather 'round…
On the set of the smash Broadway musical Hamilton, before each and every performance, Chris Jackson leads the cast in pep talk and prayer. "Let's agree that for the next two and a half hours, this is the most important thing we'll do in our lives." Chris Jackson, for those 2 and a half hours, transforms... Continue Reading →
If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour,... Continue Reading →
On Tuesday of Holy Week, as we approach the Passion, we are often spent. Lent has wrung us dry, we are expectant yet exhausted, and we long for the warm fuzzy feelings of different days. If we are to travel with Christ, we must have more than feelings to fuel our faith. George MacDonald, mentor... Continue Reading →
We're coming up on the final days of Lent. It's been quite the journey. Today, just a short reminder of what drawing near to God entails, because it is so easy to forget: People in earlier generations had more familiarity with the characteristics of fire than we do. Until a hundred years ago, there was... Continue Reading →
I set aside fiction for Lent this year, intent upon digesting more spiritual reading in it's place. It's not such a great sacrifice, really; I wasn't in the fiction mood before Lent anyway. But you know when putting forth any measure of spiritual effort, even the most inane fiction on the shelves is suddenly very tempting.... Continue Reading →
... and walking, because that is where I find my silence. Thanks to the many-a-mentioned MOOC and the Monks of New Skete, I've learned some things about myself, and how to finally find some measure of stillness in my life. I got to thinking about that quite a bit a while ago, whilst evaluating my progress, and there was... Continue Reading →
"Do not let your intellect be disturbed by mere names, for Paradise has simply clothed itself in terms akin to you" (Hymns on Paradise, 11), admonished St. Ephrem the Syrian. Paradise is in this world. It is inside of every earthman and earthwoman and all around them, waiting to be reclaimed. ~ Vigen Guroian, The Fragrance of God... Continue Reading →
I judge. It is what I do. I am a people watcher from the word go, and for me it is not generally an exercise in edification, mine nor those so tormented to be found beneath my gaze. I do work very hard to stand in the way of my own comfort at the bench,... Continue Reading →
We are a fickle creation. Capable of such amazing feats of love and mercy, yet so often stuck in judgment and vice. We may stand in awe of God's majesty when we are hit in the head with it - when it comes to us as lightening to the scalp - but so often anything... Continue Reading →
When that notorious beauty-lover Oscar Wilde announced in The Decay of Lying, "Nobody of any real culture... ever talks nowadays about the beauty of a sunset. Sunsets are quite old-fashioned," sunsets reeled under the blow, then recovered. ~Susan Sontag, An Argument About Beauty The question of beauty is, as they say, subjective. Sadly, it changes with the... Continue Reading →
Eleven years ago, for reasons unbeknownst to me, I printed out an email. It didn't contain directions, or any other information that I needed to make portable. It wasn't a recipe that I wanted to add to my binder, or a receipt I needed to file (you know, back in the day that we filed... Continue Reading →
Things are tightening down a bit. And loosening up. My image of God, my perception of the Truth, my model of Perfection. They are being honed in and refined, while at the same time broadening out and becoming more and more universal. It is an interesting process, and one which has proven greatly frustrating, and... Continue Reading →
Tales From the Nexus 