It was still dark when I woke up, more than an hour before my usual time around sunrise. I sat in the darkened living room my curtains open hearing a few sparrows chirping in anticipation of the dawn. In dark living room with my coffee in hand, I wondered …
Taizé Worship The Taizé worship is not simply a style of worship but humble way of connecting to the divine involving the whole person in prayer chant. The distinguishing marks adapted from Taizé include simple melodies, repetition of phrases, prayer, and silence and responsive readings. Repetition is not a new …
In our courtyard orange and grapefruit trees bear flowers and fruit at the same time. It is amazing and wonderful. The scent of the orange blossoms draws me outside to delight in the warm sunshine and the fragrance perfumed air. The purpose of the oranges and grapefruit is all there …
Wherever I walk or happen to be, anything may beckon me to take a picture. Sunrises and sunsets still catch my eye but lately, trails, pathways and bridges call to me. I began to ponder why I was so attracted to these images. The answer came quickly and with certainty. …
What a preposterous notion; wild beasts, carnivores sitting with their natural prey without devouring them and a baby petting a leopard who seems to like it. Edward Hicks, the man who found his spiritual home among Quakers who are known for advocating peace not war, portrays just such a preposterous …
I learned many things about the ideas and people who influenced Dr. Martin Luther King this past week. Mahatma Gandhi’s influence Mahatma Gandhi’s influence on Martin Luther King Jr. adopting “passive resistance” and “non-violence” as grounding principles for his civil rights must have solidified during his visit to India in …
We are accustomed to “checking-in”, a task we perform to get our boarding pass on the flight for which we have purchased a ticket. It’s an easy task to check in on my home computer and print my boarding pass for my departing flight. However, away from home, checking in …
Do you remember the big signs across store windows in January, “Closed For Inventory”? Nowadays businesses rarely close for inventory. Inventory is on going and often done at night. Taking inventory is a necessity for if you own a business. You must take great care to manage and account …
Hope Emily Dickinson imagined “Hope” as “the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.” Hope is one of our most commonly used phrases. We say, I hope it won’t rain, I hope I can make that train, I hope …
I recall several lectures at the Pacific School of Religion focusing on the work of the versatile scholar, geologist, theologian and Biblical archaeologist William Fredrick Bade. He carried out excavations at Tell en-Nasbeh in Palestine. Much of the artifacts are housed in the Bade Museum, located on the Pacific School of Religion campus. There, …