Happy 110th birthday to Etty Hillesum. Etty died in Auschwitz decades before I came along, but she is nevertheless a friend across the ages, a personal saint and trusted spiritual guide. Happy birthday, sweet Etty! Your memory is a blessing.
I'm kicking off my Advent series today with one of my favorite mystics, Brother Lawrence, a quiet kitchen boss who saw the Divine in all the small actions and details of life. /p/advent-2023-day-3-brother-lawrence .
#mystic #contemplation #meditation #advent #centerforactionandcontemplation #
Even more mystics, saints and prophets are here for 2023. Sign up at and receive a daily chapter from 12/3-25. Each chapter spotlights the spiritual journey of one amazing person and includes a reflection for contemplation and action.
#advent #adventcalendar #christmas #centerforactionandcontemplation #mystics #saints #unitedmethodistchurch #methodist #catholic #catholicsaints #desertfathers #abingdonpress #spiritualawakening #christianmystic
Cold this morning in Texas. I dress in the dark, light a fire and set my chair next to it. Waiting on my hands to warm, I open Wendell Berry. By the flames I read this, and it feels like hope:
What stood will stand,
though all be fallen.
The good return that time has stolen.
Though creatures groan in misery,
their flesh prefigures liberty
to end travail and bring to birth
their new perfection in new earth.
#wendellberry #kentucky #texas #contemplation #meditation #nature #progressivechristianity #everydaysaints #environmental
Apparently this poem by Jay Hulme has made the rounds for a while, though I'm just seeing it now. This riff on Mark 5:25-34 is an amazing example of how scripture is ever ancient, ever new.
#anglican #lgbtchristian #episcopal #methodist #unitedmethodistchurch #lutheran #presbyterian #christianmysticism #poem #jesus #jesuschrist #gaychristian #progressivechristianity #mystics #contemplation #meditation
Already queasy just thinking about the upcoming feeding frenzy (aka modern consumer Christmas)? Looking for something to deepen the season? I've got your prescription: Life In The City is serializing my book The Heart Moves Toward Light: Advent With The Mystics, Saints And Prophets. When you sign up (for free!), you will receive a daily email from Nov 27-Dec 25. Each email will introduce you to someone you need to know as well as a reflection for meditating, journaling and prayer. Even if you don't sign up, just remember this season comes but once a year, and it is yours, it does not belong to Target, Costco or Amazon. Make it sacred. And if you are inclined to sign up, you can do so here:
#christian #adventcalendar #advent #church #christianmysticism #mysticism #methodist #presbyterian #episcopal #lutheran #spirituality #spiritualnotreligious #catholic #catholicchurch #unitedchurchofchrist #saints #centerforactionandcontemplation #livingschool #meditation #prayer #journaling #bookstagram #books #christmas
Preparing this week for the upcoming Advent season, I recalled this 15th century alterpiece (this is the middle of 3 panels) depicting the Annunciation. It's kept at the Cloisters in NYC. When I lived in NYC, I went to the Cloisters a lot. I walked by this piece for years before I noticed (was ready to notice?) the embryonic Christ in the upper left, blazing in with his cross slung over his shoulder. I was shocked into stillness the first time I saw it. I don't think I looked at anything else in the museum that day. I was just rooted in place, haunted. Since becoming a father 14 years ago, I've contemplated it many times...that we bring our children into the world already bearing death...that we give them life and death both...when I look at my son, asleep in his bed, safe and sound, and loved by me with a deathless love, I can't wrap my mind around his body ceasing to exist. Of course, for millions of parents, witnessing the entire birth/life/death cycle of their child is a reality and not a subject of abstract contemplation. Ever since seeing this painting in its fullness I've wondered whether Mary, if she had understood the full scope of what she would witness with Jesus, would have told Gabriel to just keep on moving down the street and find some other girl to bear Christ.
#advent #christmas #centerforactionandcontemplation #christian #christianmysticism #christianmystic #allsaintsday #unitedmethodistchurch #bible #catholic #lutheran #presbyterian #episcopal #unitedchurchofchrist
RIP Frederick Beuchner.
When I was 18 I read these words by Beuchner and they changed my life:
The grace of God means something like: "Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are, because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you."
This passage allowed me to cut through the layers of (mostly well-intentioned) church crap I was exposed to as a kid. They confirmed that the union I felt with God was real, that the Presence was real, that I was bound to the Infinite by ties that could not be broken. That this whole mystery of life was a Grace. For giving me that, I will always be grateful to Beuchner.
RIP Freddy.
#frederickbeuchner #contemplation #christianmysticism #christianitytoday #livingschool #centerforactionandcontemplation #god #gaychristian #christianity #princetonuniversity #presbyterianchurch #presbyterian #methodist #unitedmethodistchurch #unitedmethodist #episcopal #episcopalchurch #jesus #jesuschrist #mystics #saints #everydaysaints #lawrencevilleschool #unitarianuniversalist #lutheran #metropolitancommunitychurch #unitedchurchofchrist #baptist
THE SPARKLE CREED
by the Rev. Rachel Small Stokes
I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural.
I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads, and who saw everyone as a sibling of God.
I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.
I believe in the church of everyday saints, as numerous, creative, and resilient as patches on the AIDS quilt, whose feet are grounded in mud and whose eyes gaze at the stars in Wonder.
I believe in the calling to each of us, that love is love is love, so beloved, let us love.
I believe, glorious God. Help my unbelief.
Amen.
#unitedchurchofchrist #unitedmethodistchurch #jesus #livingschool #pride #episcopalchurch #keepjesusweird #lgbt #metropolitancommunitychurch
In Dec 2008, my partner and I ate our first meal as parents at a roadside Denny’s in Oklahoma City. A few hours earlier, our surrogate had, suddenly and a month early, given birth to our son. We were 6 hours into an all-night drive up to Minnesota and needed sustenance. Specifically, a Denny’s Grand Slam. This past weekend we returned to OKC for the first time since then, and sat in the same booth, only now with a 13-year old. The Grand Slam was a few bucks more, and the lighting fixtures are new, but not much else has changed at OKC Denny’s. #dads #parenthood #oklahoma #oklahomacity #dennys
Prophets offer spiritual food of many flavors, but they all drink living waters from the same Source.
I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you visited me. What you did to the least of these, you did also to me. - Jesus
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give away, whatever renunciation you practice, know that you do these things as an offering to Me. - Krishna
If you do not care for each other, who will? When you take care of others, when you care for the sick, you are caring for me as well. - Buddha
#interfaith #livingschool #jesus #buddha #buddhism #hindu #hinduism #christianmysticism #christian #christianity
Thursday evening meditation: Mary Magdalene, Thomas Merton, and the holy wellspring which is both our Source and Destination.
All that is born, all that is created, all the elements of nature are interwoven and united with each other. All that is composed shall be decomposed. Everything returns to its roots. - The Gospel of Mary
All renewal is returning to the original fire. - Thomas Merton
#christianmysticism #marymagdalene #thomasmerton #livingschool #divinefeminine #sacredfeminine
