I spend most weekday evenings engaged in a familiar ritual: making dinner. I’m a slow cook. That doesn’t make me part of the slow food movement or anything like that. It just means that, try as a might, my work in the kitchen is slow. I’m only good at doing… Read More »The Muslim Who Called Jesus a Zealot
Book Review: Beyond the Lectionary A Year of Alternatives to the Revised Common Lectionary by the Rev. David Ackerman. C. 2013. Circle Books. ISBN-13: 978-1780998572. (Available in paper back or as an e-book.) If you’re a church go-er, you may have noticed that friends from other Christian denominations often hear… Read More »Book Review: Beyond the Lectionary A Year of Alternatives to the Revised Common Lectionary by the Rev. David Ackerman.
I live in a great neighborhood. While it’s only a few minutes drive to Atlanta’s downtown and midtown neighborhoods, it’s also just as close to the city center of neighboring Decatur. While we live in an urban area, our yard leads into a woods and the houses in our neighborhood… Read More »Fear Versus Trust
I received a message from my church. A woman, whose name I didn’t recognize, had called for me. The message conveyed the sense that the woman wanted to speak only to me and that it seemed like her request was urgent. When I reached Emma, her voice was soft. She… Read More »Security, Austerity, and Compassion?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (from the Declaration of Independence) “We the People of the United States, in Order to… Read More »Toward a More Perfect Union
It’s not working. Let’s face it: most of us know that already. Some of us are afraid to say it. Most of us aren’t sure what to do about it. But let’s get it out in the open: it’s just not working. Many people in the United States, as well… Read More »It’s Just Not Working
I was happy to meet with the couple. They were looking ahead to their wedding anniversary. They wanted to do something special. When they first got married, they didn’t have a great deal of money. Complicating matters, one family didn’t approve of the union. They had a small ceremony and… Read More »As long as we both shall love…
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to participate in a training for Cognitive Based Compassion Meditation. Based on the classic Tibetan writings that are the basis for mind-training (lojong), Geshe Lobsang Tenzin of Atlanta’s Drepung Loseling Monastery developed this protocol in conjunction with researchers at Emory University. As I… Read More »The Contemplative Path: Communion with the Beloved
