The Celtic Monk

As I've proceeded along the path that is opening before me (which I trust is Holy Spirit led) I find myself doing things I never dreamed of doing or frankly never cared too much about. One of those is writing Articles of Incorporation to become recognized as a ministry organization in the state of Florida. The Articles include: * A Purpose Statement in less than 240 characters (including spaces) * A short description of who you are, what you intend to do and who you're intending to do it with * A Dissolution Statement that explains where all your worldly goods will go when the organization as an entity ceases to exist * and a $87.50 filing fee. The more I thought about the Articles of Incoporation for Peace River Spirituality Center, Inc. the more they reminded me of The Rule of St. Benedict or really any Rule of Life that someone has taken the time to write. What is a Rule other than a document explaining our understanding of our purpose...a plan for what we...

Earlier tonight on Book TV C-SPAN 2, I heard Stephen Baker, a writer from Business Week talk about his recent book THE NUMERATI. http://www.thenumerati.net/ It's about the unknown multitudes who gather data on people -- all kinds of data -- and use it to make generalizations about the population, predict trends, and sell their findings in the form of research. Listening to him could almost make you never, ever, ever fill out another survey or questionnaire of any kind. Little pieces of information standing on their own, without a context can be misleading. My dad was fond of saying that a lot of folks "had just enough information to make them dangerous." I didn't understand what he meant for a long time. And I don't know exactly when it was that I understood how true that oft repeated saying of his really was. Thinking we know more than we really do can make us act in foolish or reckless ways. Actually, I think little bit of knowledge, besides being able to lead...

Yesterday we joined the throngs to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. If you've read the book there are no surprises...just waiting for the last movie. But I'm getting ahead of myself. In this sequel we learn how the villian planned to assure his own immortality. He beleived that if you killed someone, a part of your soul own broke off, and hiding it gave you access to eternity. There are seven pieces of Voldemort's soul for Harry and friends to find. It's the wisdom figure "Dumbledore" who sees through the flawed logic. [I can't tell you how it would ruin the last movie.] For now, think with me about the reverse Christology of this diabolical belief of killing another for personal eternal reward. In the Gospel we learn that it's in the One who died for us, that we find eternal life; that it's in an act of self-giving and not life taking by which eternity is won. And that it's in our daily acts of 'dying to self' that we parta...

Tonight for the fourth night in the past week, we went out into the backyard to watch the north-eastern sky one minute after the scheduled take-off of the space shuttle. Believe it or not, being a mere 180 miles away is still a good seat for these events. In daytime launches, we can see the vapor trail as it heads into orbit. For night-time launches we can see the light disappearing into the sky. The first three times over the past seven days, we didn't tune-in to watch the countdown; we just went outside at the appointed time. It wasn't until we'd spent several minutes getting chewed-up by mosquitos that we realized it didn't launch. Tonight we tuned in to CNN and waited until it was 30-seconds-and-counting to go outside. Imagine our surprise when for the first time all week there were too many clouds in SW Florida to have a clear view of the NE sky, the direction of the take-off. One each previous night, while the sky had looked clear here, there were storms at Sat...

Early this past spring, I attended a three day workshop offered by the Committee on Ministry of Peace River Presbytery. Most of it was expected and helpful. Yet on the last day the presenter, from the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center, began to talk about Systems Theory and Spirituality for the church leader. I wondered if I was dreaming. During the course of the day, he used the teachings of Fr. John Main to instruct us in meditation techniques for anxious pastors of anxious congregations. At one point we all gathered to spend half an hour meditating together in the sanctuary. Not being new to meditation I thought to myself:"wow, this is great,a workshop with a built-in relaxation time!" But when we returned to our most uncomfortable meeting room to de-brief our experience... I realized that this time of group meditation was profoundly different than when I set aside time to meditate alone. I listened as one participant spoke about sounds I never heard. Another commented ...

Do you remember those mad rushes to church as a child? Awakened out of a sound peaceful sleep by an anxious parent. Cold cereal so that your stomach doesn’t growl during the silence. Clothes to put on that were a little too stiff, a little too clean, a little too much like they belonged to someone else. Shoes that hurt your feet, because you never wore them often enough to break them in. Hurry, we’re going to be late! I wondered during worship this morning (yes I was day-dreaming) when the awful “had to go to church because my parents made me go” turned into “I can’t possibly miss, because I have an ache that needs worship salve, a spiritual void inside that needs to be filled.” When did my body and soul first feel hungry if a Sabbath passed and I did not gather with my sisters and brothers in faith? When was it that on vacation, I began by Thursday looking for a little church to worship with on Sunday? Preaching almost every week came close to ruining me as a worshiper. Attending othe...

There are no beginnings without endings. A new job means the end of a time of preparation either at school or an apprenticeship or the end of an old job. The birth of a child, an awesome beginning, means the end of some freedom for first time parents, or at the very least the end of sleeping at will. The beginning of spring means we say good-bye to winter — the beginning of my favorite season of autumn means farewell to the fresh fruits of summer. Beginning a new hobby means I won’t have as much time for the old one, or other things that occupied my time. A new home means the old one now belongs to someone else and is now only a place of memory for me. Perhaps that’s why beginnings are often bittersweet; each beginning is also an ending. The beginning of this blog is a farewell to the past 15 years I’ve spent in parish ministry as an ordained minister of word and sacrament. Its the beginning of a new ministry of spiritual direction and spiritual companioning…but for the first time in m...