https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMG2IsXMskw 'I've Got Oil in my Vessel,' traditional gospel blues, NC fiddler Joe Thompson, 1997. Editor's (admin's) note. Second of ___ (I'm shooting for four) Advent meditations, prompted by a parish workshop exercise in which we were asked to craft a personal mission statement. My spiritual director suggested I operationalize it by asking myself: Who, … Continue reading What can a white spiritual mutt learn from the Black church in a time of neofascist ethnic cleansing? (Advent 2 of __?)
David Brooks discusses ‘moral injury’ inflicted by Trump’s cruelty and bullying (notes for spiritual direction, July ’25)
David Brooka on PBS News Hour, March 3, 2025 (quote at 5:40). Screen shot. Editor’s (admin’s) note: A copy of my email, with necessary links and edits, in advance of this month’s appointment with my spiritual director, giving her a heads-up on what I’d been journaling on since our last meeting and, more to the point, … Continue reading David Brooks discusses ‘moral injury’ inflicted by Trump’s cruelty and bullying (notes for spiritual direction, July ’25)
Fighting cancer as a group activity — of science, religion, communities of trust and walking the talk with Jesus
Fr. Pollard and Eleanor Roosevelt inspect radiation counter at ORINS, 1955 (Wikipedia). When I was growing up in East Tennessee, an Episcopal priest in a neighboring city was also the executive director of the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, a consortium of universities that worked with the old Atomic Energy Commission to promote nuclear medicine research … Continue reading Fighting cancer as a group activity — of science, religion, communities of trust and walking the talk with Jesus
How Beyoncé’s crossover country and a Black harmonica player of the 1930s got me back to making music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7xxnaWxmPo DeFord Bailey at Grand Ole Opry reunion (Living the Blues). My taste in music is nothing if not eclectic. It runs toward Anglo-Celtic fiddle tunes, southern Appalachian ballads, trad Irish, Swedish and Norwegian gammaldans, English folk melodies, roots reggae, blues, African American spirituals, Southern gospel and early American shape-note hymns -- practically anything, in … Continue reading How Beyoncé’s crossover country and a Black harmonica player of the 1930s got me back to making music
‘I want Jesus to walk with me’
d r a f t https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL7rLD1H3g0 Sharon Irving and Anders Nordstrom of Pocket Radio (www.fb.com/PocketRadioChicago) xxx The singer According to the About Page on her website, Sharon Irving of Chicago is a singer-songwriter, actress, worship leader and self-described "Spreader of Holy Mischief." The song The Hymnary.org website says it is an African-American spiritual in the … Continue reading ‘I want Jesus to walk with me’
‘Christ child … singing softly’ like the south wind blows in the treetops — startling image in an African American folk carol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyIfCmGYRi4 Peggy Seeger singing "Child of God," American Folk Songs for Christmas, 1989. For the last few weeks, I've been playing Christmas carols by the fireplace at night. We have the lights up (well, actually, they've been for two years now), and I've got a hunch playing the carols might be a good spiritual exercise. … Continue reading ‘Christ child … singing softly’ like the south wind blows in the treetops — startling image in an African American folk carol
Ordinary Time 