Unquenchable. Eternal. God. Omnipresent. Imminent. Unseen. Mystery. Breath. Wind. More than Christ who left his teachings for us and God whose stories are told in the Bible, the Holy Spirit is the cipher of the Trinity. There is no intellect that can comprehend him, no book learning that reveals him. The Holy Spirit, described by […]
Everyone is a gift to the world, a neat package of talents, passions and even weak areas, that, if realized and fulfilled, would make a real difference in this world. God has created each of us to be a certain kind of person, to pursue certain interests, to contribute with all of ourselves to life […]
Charlotte has had a particularly dry year this winter and spring, although no one is saying the “d” word yet. I moved here from Northern California where two particularly bad droughts have imprinted on me a need to keep track of rainfall, mostly on the subconscious level. The droughts I lived through there required us […]
What is your heart’s desire? Please note that the question is not “what do you THINK you want?” I am asking what your whole being wants, what the real you wants, not the you in the advertising-induced coma who wants what he or she is told to want. To answer the question “what is my […]
This morning I’m singing the “What’s it all about, Alfie?” song. What does it mean that we come together as a church? Is this all there is? I want something more dynamic and alive, more connected and contemporary. I am looking for the people with the most depth and capacity for love. I’m looking for […]
From the quiet, intimate melodies of Keith Jarrett’s “I love you Porgy” to the uptempo blast of Duke Ellington’s “Take the A train”, nothing illustrates individual expression better than Jazz music. Think of Count Basie, Oscar Peterson and Dave Brubeck. How different they are from each other and yet they all fall within the Jazz […]
I was brought up in a hell-fire and damnation church in Kentucky with the preacher yelling and screaming about how sinful we were and how consigned to hell we were, pounding his fist on the pulpit for emphasis every Sunday. This was a powerful and toxic drama that had these effects on me: 1)a tendency […]