The Celtic Monk

Arrived yesterday at the Humphries Terminaal, MSP airport. Friend/colleague John was on the ground and had rented a car... Peggy and John V would soon be landing then we'd together make our way the 75 miles west to St. Johns Abbey/University/ Guest House. It's a once a year reunion for us (the week after Easter) when sometimes up to nine of us gather to share the continuing stories of our lives and ministries since being ordained ('93-'94) This year it's a double-reunion for me as I'm able to make an extra trip up to St. John's-- where in early July I'll take my final vows as a Benedictine Oblate. But today, for the first time it feels as though my two communities...are merging. Gathered with these folks in this location - I'm able to talk about being "Presby-dictine" a called, ordained Presbyterian clergywoman and a Benedictine Oblate learning to incorporate the Rule of Benedict into my everyday life. I am sharing the ways in which this pl...

"Real holiness doesn’t feel like holiness; it just feels like you’re dying. It feels like you’re losing it. And you are! You are losing the false self, which you foolishly thought was permanent, important, and you! You know God is doing it in you and with you, when you can even smile, and trust that what you lost is something you did not finally need anyway." - Richard Rohr I ran across the above quote from the Jesuit, Richard Rohr recently.  It was one of those moments when my whole body heaved a sigh of agreement and relief. My experience on this journey of faith is dotted with those moments he described. But its not only my experience.  My mind and heart are full of significant conversations with people on this path who some of the time feel like I'm losing it. I've been party to many conversations that begin: "I really need to tell you something" and end with: "thanks, because I really thought I was losing my mind." Over the years I'v...

For the past year-and-a-half, I've led a meditation group each Tuesday evening at Peace River Spirituality Center. We gather and listen to a short homily received electronically from the World Community of Christian Meditation. Next we spend 30 minutes together in silence. We close each evening with Compline,the same order of service prayed each night at The Abbey of Gethsemani. Our whole evening is just over an hour -- my favorite hour of the week. In the fall, I was able to offer a six week class on meditation at First Presbyterian Church of Naples. Because folks there had a wide-spread of experience in meditation, we began with half an hour of teaching which I prepared to bring us to some common understandings of meditation as Christian prayer. It was there, in the give and take of the teaching time, that someone first asked me if I ever use words to pray. A very fair question. Surely I write prayers for liturgy most weeks -- the prayer of adoration to begin the service, a p...

My husband is a pharmacist. He's practiced long enough that he can look at most pills and within a few seconds tell you what it is, the strengths its available in, what its used for and many known side effects. He also is diligent about his continuing education and has, over the years, picked up on the nuances of the 'name brand' vs 'generic' battles. He fills many of our personal prescriptions with generics. For only a very few drugs does he go the extra mile to fill with name brands. While making a presentation to a community group--he fielded questions about the differences between specific drugs. He knows which generics are manufactured in the same factory... only going into a different bottle at the end of the line - and which ones are perhaps made somewhere else and perhaps not as identical as they could be. It always amazes folks to hear about such things. Yet in daily practice, he finds that some folks will pay sometimes 100% more for a name brand, rath...

For Lent of 2010, my discipline was to rise early in the morning and make my way through the Gospel of John. My purpose was two fold as I hoped it would be both a spiritual practice, and that what I'd commit to paper would become a devotional on the Gospel of John that others could use. During the past year, my faithful friend Connie, took my early morning scribble notes and entered them into the computer. I went back over the material to add and edit -- format and add prayers. Then it was off to 'real' editing. It's been a labor of love on so many levels. But how to publish it - that became the question. As time became short, electronic publishing seemed the best option. So below, please find the reading for today. If you'd like to get a full week of daily readings and reflections, you can go to the link for the Peace River Spirituality website: If you click on THE GOSPEL OF JOHN on the prayer page, seven daily readings in Word format will open. So that I don...

This week I was asked to vote for or against a document which opened with this affirmation: "The good news of the Gospel is that the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—creates, redeems, sustains, rules, and transforms all things and all people." This opening sentence spoke to me of the sovereignty of God. I've been out of seminary for quite a long time, so perhaps my ideas on the doctrine of the sovereignty of God are no longer theologically precise. And maybe you feel the same way, so let me run this by you. I've always thought that Matthew 5:45 "for God causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" spoke to the sovereignty of God. It doesn't matter if you're a saint or a sinner [BTW: all saints are sinners] God's sovereign will and way is over ALL - whether you acknowledge God or not. God is God. God is sovereign over the righteous and the unrighteous. As our debate ensued, there a...

No surprise to those who know me,I'm a voracious reader. I prefer reading to most things that take up our time. I prefer reading to movies and television...to soduko and crossword puzzles...to facebook and farmville... to Hearts and Solitare. You get the picture. Years ago I had an ongoing conversation with a friend about the kinds of things I read; much of which I consumed as fodder for the next thing I would write. It was for me one of those uncomfortable seasons of discernment about my very being. Am I more than what I do professionally? Is there room for a small percentage of reading material for "me" and not for "Rev. Dr." I don't think that conversation ever came to a conclusion. I didn't start reading trashy novels to compensate for the many volumes of theology and religious history! I did begin to read more poetry. That conversation bubbled back up to a conscious level as I looked at the book on the glass coffee table, marked by a creased pa...