Today marks a turning point in the liturgical calendar as the last Sunday before Lent. And today we remember the story of the Transfiguration (whose main feast is in August). For me, it's the perfect story to think about at this time of year, to mark this transition between the seasons of Epiphany and Lent. … Continue reading You are the Light of the World
In the most recent post in the series exploring esoteric spiritualities, I touched briefly on Kabbalah and the Tree of Life. Today I want to use the Tree of Life as a jumping off point to talk about the language of ascent and descent, its philosophical history, and its impact on Christian spirituality throughout the … Continue reading Ascent or Transformation?
Because we are meaning-making creatures, it is no surprise that many cultures across the world and throughout history have extended this to finding symbolic meaning in numbers. Even in Western North American culture that doesn't have a historical numerological system of its own, we have a strong predilection for multiples of ten, and call the … Continue reading A Time for Every Matter under Heaven
The other week, in the post exploring the story of Moses and the Burning Bush, a theme that came up a couple times was sacred geography. There are ancient traditions in the Near East associating the wild and mountainous regions of the south and southwest — Midian, Horeb, and Sinai — with the dwelling place … Continue reading Geography of the Sacred
Story is everything. Everything is story. Story-telling is a fundamental part of being human. We all do it, every day, whether we are aware of it or not. We are wired to make meaning, to seek patterns and connections between people and events, causes and effects. This is a critical and wonderful part of what … Continue reading Changing the Story
