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
Book Review: Answering the Contemplative Call: First Steps on the Mystical Path, by Carl McColman. Hampton Roads Publishing, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-57174-677-1 “One day, Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he was finished, his disciples asked him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples how… Read More »Book Review: Answering the Contemplative Call: First Steps on the Mystical Path, by Carl McColman
As I sit in my study writing and doing other work, I often listen to the New Age station on an internet radio service. It’s the only time I listen to this style of music. The acoustic and piano melodies form a background that enable me to focus more clearly… Read More »Here I Pause … In the Midst of My Work
It’s early morning. I sit at my computer with a freshly brewed cup of coffee. From the vantage point of my study, I see flowers in bloom, watch the leaves on the tree as they rustle in the breeze, hear the chirps of young birds, and spy an occasional visit… Read More »Dance with Me?
It’s been about a dozen years since I officiated at a wedding. That’s quite a long time for a minister who has served as a local church pastor to go without performing a wedding ceremony. But that was my decision. Let me explain. Shortly after serving as the officiant for… Read More »The Wedding
After providing care for her in our home for five years, my mother passed from this life on May 19, 2012. On the first anniversary of her passing, I am aware that my journey of grief has passed through many different experiences, memories, and sensations. The feelings of sadness for… Read More »One Year Later
The emotions caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting them, particularly during a meditation class. I had no realization this was something about which I felt so deeply. I sat with forty or fifty others in the Buddhist meditation hall. The leader guided us in meditation to consider the ways… Read More »Holding Onto Life
