The riches of the Christian tradition are revealed often in the writings of the saints, for instance Catherine of Siena who lived in 14th C. Italy. Many of her letters exist to this day. A force of nature in her own day, she convinced Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy to Rome from Avignon […]

I am a conservative liberal and a liberal conservative in my approach to life and religion. I am a liberal, mainline Protestant who is able to entertain new scholarship and thinking about Jesus Christ and religion and the church, but I am conservative in my liberalism(no longer the knee-jerk liberal a friend once labeled me) […]

In the 23rd Psalm the word “surely” rings out with confidence and love and expectation and God and me in life together! It is reassuring and definite and without qualifiers. It implies love and providence, needs and challenges met, and no doubt. Look at these synonyms for surely: Absolutely Beyond Doubt Definitely Inevitably Inexorably Infallibly […]

Reminder: Tuesdays thru Fridays I post additional comments and questions on Monday’s blog on FB. Use this link: www.facebook.com/pages/By-the-waters/146585815373488 Today I am putting together a test for all of us to use in evaluating ourselves on our ability to incorporate the main contributions of four major  denominations in the whole body of Christ. Since writing […]

There is a glass ceiling in the church that limits how far we will go in loving God and following Christ. Every sect and denomination has confined the relationship with God into a box of beliefs with which it feels comfortable. If Catholics hold to the practice of the veneration of Mary and the saints […]

I will not live in fear!  I say that emphatically to our culture.  I hang up on the recorded voice that starts “The FBI reports that there is a home break-in every….” I say “no” to every sales pitch for a home security system.  I say a more emphatic “NO!” to those who want guns […]

“I am the way and the truth and the life.”[1] It is Jesus’ life and what he modeled for us that interests me in this declaration from the Gospel of John.  I am thinking in terms of lifestyle, a more modern way of looking at it, but we have to go back to the early […]

Here’s what I believe about the spiritual journey: God creates each of us with a purpose and a unique set of gifts that we can use to fulfill our purpose in the world. Each of us as we were created to be is needed in the world right now. We each have a contribution to […]

So Horatio Alger’s “Go west, young man” no longer calls  us. And Teddy Roosevelt’s “Walk softly and carry a big stick” no longer works in the world. John F. Kennedy’s challenge, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” has faded away. The old American myths […]

Living at the still point[see the 3/14/11 blog, “Living Deeply into our Lives”] allows the Holy Spirit to transform us from an ego-centered and culture-centered person to a person of God through whom God’s love can freely flow. As we are being transformed, our created selves are brought into focus.  This whole process unfolds as […]