Jacopo Bassano, Last Supper, 1542, Galleria Borghese, Rome (Wikimedia Commons). Next week's session of Sundays@6, an online parish book study group Debi and I facilitate, will take up the first chapter of The After Party: Toward Better Christian Politics, by Curtis Chang and Nancy French; it's an interactive group study curriculum for mostly evangelical Protestant … Continue reading Building community at an imaginary dinner party: Jesus’ disciples, partisan politics and the kingdom of God (Sundays@6 ‘After Party’ journal 2)
Praying to Einstein’s God (or Spinoza’s)? Dominican discernment journal (2 of _)
Raphael, 'Ezekiel's Vision,' 1518 (Wikimedia Commons). Second of (__) journals based on my answers raised by questions sent to Dominican Associates in advance f an Aug. 24 retreat at the motherhouse in Springfield. See HERE for more info in the first journal. Today's questions, on our Relationship with God, ask: “Who is God for you … Continue reading Praying to Einstein’s God (or Spinoza’s)? Dominican discernment journal (2 of _)
‘I believe; help my unbelief’: Praying with anxiety (spiritual direction, January 2024)
Lightly edited copy of an email I sent to my spiritual director in advance of our session for January. I think it's important to say what it is -- and isn't -- as we start a new year. I've been writing these for several years now, primarily in order to help me focus my mind … Continue reading ‘I believe; help my unbelief’: Praying with anxiety (spiritual direction, January 2024)
Back to the 1980s: Getting a biopsy during a hospital cyberattack with a little help from a Jesuit exercise and a Jewish novelist
As soon as I checked in at the registration desk in the main lobby at HSHS St. John's, I knew this hospital visit was going to be different. Normally when I check in at a doctor’s office, I give my name, the receptionist calls up my file and I give my date of birth or … Continue reading Back to the 1980s: Getting a biopsy during a hospital cyberattack with a little help from a Jesuit exercise and a Jewish novelist
Pilgrims: Reading about a pilgrimage on Spain’s Camino de Santiago as I set out on my chemotherapy journey
Pilgrims on the Camino del Norte, Spain (Wikimedia Commons) After my first round of chemotherapy Tuesday at Southern Illinois University's Simmons Cancer Center, I was asked how it went. I think my answer surprised us both (I know it did me), and the conversation went a little bit like this. "I liked it," I blurted … Continue reading Pilgrims: Reading about a pilgrimage on Spain’s Camino de Santiago as I set out on my chemotherapy journey
Luther and the indwelling ‘Christ present in faith’ — Finnish theologians, Irish Jesuit offer a way of coping with a scary diagnosis
Matthias Stom, St. Peter at Prayer, ca. 1633-40 (Wikimedia Commons) One thing about getting a cancer diagnosis -- it tends to focus your mind, especially if you've been working on your prayer life already. Increasingly since I was diagnosed toward the end of October, I've been falling back on what's sometimes called the Prayer of … Continue reading Luther and the indwelling ‘Christ present in faith’ — Finnish theologians, Irish Jesuit offer a way of coping with a scary diagnosis
Stray thoughts on centering prayer, a JAMA study on mindfulness meditation and a way to stop ‘catastrophizing’
Photo: RelaxingMusic/Creative Commons (Harvard Gazette). This Associated Press story jumped off the Yahoo! directory at me. Uh, let's rephrase that in the interest of accuracy -- it jumped off the computer screen. It's headlined "Mindfulness worked as well for anxiety as drug in study," and it's essentially a rewrite of research published today in the … Continue reading Stray thoughts on centering prayer, a JAMA study on mindfulness meditation and a way to stop ‘catastrophizing’
How a young adult novelist and a punk rocker-turned Orthodox rabbi guide my prayer life lately: ‘Are you there God, it’s me … (and help me get out of this foxhole)!’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7iqdBBYl40 Jim Martin, SJ, editor-in-chief, America, explains centering prayer. Editor's note. Short takes on the twists and turns in my spiritual life since I was diagnosed with bladder cancer Oct. 25. I had pretty much expected the diagnosis since the tumor was removed Oct. 17, but it still threw me for a loop. So in … Continue reading How a young adult novelist and a punk rocker-turned Orthodox rabbi guide my prayer life lately: ‘Are you there God, it’s me … (and help me get out of this foxhole)!’
What’s the right way to do centering prayer? ‘Pray as you can’: A stripped-down Trappist spiritual practice for today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IKpFHfNdnE Editor's note (Oct. 17). I started this a couple of days before I had a tumor removed from my bladder. But I ran out of time, and I was in no mood last night to stay up late journaling before a 5:30 a.m. check-in time today. The procedure went off as scheduled; I'm home … Continue reading What’s the right way to do centering prayer? ‘Pray as you can’: A stripped-down Trappist spiritual practice for today
Centering prayer: A ‘Zen Lutheran’ chatterbox meets a Trappist meditation when he needs to be still — and to trust
https://www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/centering-prayer.html For a little more than a month now, I've been in one of those limbos we fall into when we're waiting for a biopsy. Now the surgery is scheduled -- finally! -- for next week. But it's had quite an effect on my prayer life, and I'm practicing something I call "emergency room spirituality" … Continue reading Centering prayer: A ‘Zen Lutheran’ chatterbox meets a Trappist meditation when he needs to be still — and to trust
New header picture — labyrinth in the rolling prairie at Jubilee Farm
A new background picture for Ordinary Times' header shows the center of a labyrinth at Jubilee Farm, the Dominican Sisters' center for ecology and spirituality. Jubilee Farm, on 147 acres of rolling prairie west of Springfield, bills itself as a "a home to farm animals and wildlife, an educational resource, a demonstration of living in an … Continue reading New header picture — labyrinth in the rolling prairie at Jubilee Farm
‘What am I doing for Christ?’: An Ignatian triple colloquy F2F with Jesus via Zoom
Third in an occasional series of Ignatian colloquies ... Christ Pantocrator, Haiga Sophia, Istanbul, ca. 1080-1100 (Wikimedia Commons) Editor's (admin's) note. One of a series of posts in which I journal my attempts to incorporate Jesuit imaginative prayer exercises into my own prayer life. In today's, I try what is often known as the triple … Continue reading ‘What am I doing for Christ?’: An Ignatian triple colloquy F2F with Jesus via Zoom
Imagining a F2F colloquy with Jesus in a Zoom call: Talking back to the still, small voice of the triune God
An Ignatian colloquy for Trinity 2020 -- 1 of ___ Images of Jesus by Dutch graphic designer Bas Uterwijk, 20 Minutes, July 2, 2020 So I'm trying to practice a new prayer technique adapted from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, and I'm stuck. It's called the Ignatian Colloquy, and it involves imagining yourself … Continue reading Imagining a F2F colloquy with Jesus in a Zoom call: Talking back to the still, small voice of the triune God
Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend / ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now’
d r a f t https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j219xJKXydg Detleff Korsen Text: Wilhelm II von Sachsen-Weimar (?) 1648, Strophe 4 Gotha 1651, Melodie: Gochsheim / Redwitz 1628, Görlitz 1648, Evangelisches Gesangbuch Nr. 155, aufgenommen in der Kirche St. Cosmae und Damiani in Hassel. Wikipedia has background "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend" at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herr_Jesu_Christ,_dich_zu_uns_wend Also a digital … Continue reading Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend / ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now’
‘Just a little talk with Jesus’: Getting up to speed on a Jesuit prayer exercise — with an assist from the Oak Ridge Boys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH9ta2CaWaM Live performance by Oak Ridge Boys, Gaither Studios, Alexandria, Ind., 2021 Welp, I guess I talked myself into a new assignment ... trying a brand-new Jesuit prayer exercise (new for me at least, as a mainline Protestant who never had much use for organized religion until fairly recently). It's called an Ignatian "Colloquy." It … Continue reading ‘Just a little talk with Jesus’: Getting up to speed on a Jesuit prayer exercise — with an assist from the Oak Ridge Boys
In dir ist Freude / ‘In Thee is Gladness’: Notes and links so I can learn it
d r a f t https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1mog6POXNY Evangelische Kirche St. Sebald, Nürnberg, July 24, 2017 (Calvin Hobbes) I came across this 16th-century German hymn online when I was looking for something else. (Serendipity. Story of my life, at least in its better moments.) Checked it out. Decided to try to learn it. Discovered it transposes well … Continue reading In dir ist Freude / ‘In Thee is Gladness’: Notes and links so I can learn it
How a Zoom class on the 2nd (or 3rd) commandment, Luther’s catechism and a Latin pun suggest a God I can pray to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WppMKwpXsQs Trailer for the Rev. Adam Hamilton's curriculum, "Words of Life" The last couple of weeks, I've been doing something I never thought I would ever do -- I'm teaching a Sunday school class. In more exact terms, Debi and I are co-facilitating an adult faith formation class on the 10 Commandments over Zoom. It's … Continue reading How a Zoom class on the 2nd (or 3rd) commandment, Luther’s catechism and a Latin pun suggest a God I can pray to
DRAFT ‘Now rest beneath night’s shadow …’ DRAFT
d r a f t https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKyiGWYOQLU St. Thomas Boys' Choir Leipzig, 2016 (CHOR GESANG - Das Musikmagazin). "He who sings prays twice" -- St. Augustine (Catechism of the Catholic Church) Maybe I shouldn't admit this in public, but I've had prayer at the top of my B list for quite a while now. After a … Continue reading DRAFT ‘Now rest beneath night’s shadow …’ DRAFT
Spiritual journal for January, and hopes for spiritual direction in 2022
Editor's (admin's) note: When I was taking spiritual direction before, I emailed my director ahead of our monthly sessions … summing up what I’d been journaling about since our last meeting and, more to the point, focusing on themes I’d been working on and, more to the point, new directions that might (or might not) … Continue reading Spiritual journal for January, and hopes for spiritual direction in 2022
‘A child is born in Bethlehem’: New life in an old carol for postmodern, independent cats and misguided sheep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRyiOB4as9c DR Pigekor (Danish National Girls' Choir), dir. Philip Faber, 2021 Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. -- Charlie "Bird" Parker (Wikiquote). … Continue reading ‘A child is born in Bethlehem’: New life in an old carol for postmodern, independent cats and misguided sheep
‘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
A ‘Zen Lutheran’ morning prayer
Luther and family, by Gustav Spangenberg, ca. 1875 (Wikimedia Commons). Prayer and meditation have never been my long suit -- I don't have the patience for either. But thanks to a recent bout of pneumonia, I may have found a practice that works for me. It combines two of my interests, Western Buddhist spirituality and … Continue reading A ‘Zen Lutheran’ morning prayer
A spiritual journal for my birthday — looking back over this ‘festering boil of a year’ in 2020 and 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KkuoMs2MOI&list=PLrR4rlaGn2Ga5fsYl6vnCJsfU5wWeiofq&index=13 English folk singers usher out 'this festering boil of a year' (at 3:30) in December 2020. So look forward with hope to the twelvemonth a-coming, And away with this festering boil of a year; But the fire is still burning, and the world is still turning, And despite all its efforts, we're still bloody … Continue reading A spiritual journal for my birthday — looking back over this ‘festering boil of a year’ in 2020 and 2021
Now. Here. This. A kinda Zenlike mantra for a spiritual wannabe and aging 12-stepper exhausted by the pandemic
So Friday the Jesuit magazine America put an article up on its website with the rather sobering headline "Three Spiritual Exercises for Facing a Long Future with Covid-19." Not exactly what you want to see heading into the weekend, but it couldn't have come at a better time -- between the everlasting pandemic, the unfolding … Continue reading Now. Here. This. A kinda Zenlike mantra for a spiritual wannabe and aging 12-stepper exhausted by the pandemic
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