One of the books that has had a disproportionate impact on me has been Ben Okri’s delightful myth Astonishing the Gods, which tells the story of a young man’s mystical journey through a enchanted island city. One of the book’s themes is learning what you already know, the idea that we keep on having to … Continue reading Learning and Learning Again
It’s been a few weeks now since I looked a practice rooted in scripture reading, so I decided this week to look at one of the other traditions commonly known as lectio divina, or sacred reading. Whereas a few weeks ago I explored devotional reading focused on different ways scripture can speak to us, this … Continue reading Lectio Divina (Gospel Contemplation)
[Originally posted two years ago on my old blog] Those of you who know me undoubtedly know my deeply ambivalent feelings about Lent, or more accurately, about how Lent tends to be celebrated. Too often this season of penitence is defined by external things, like the lack of flowers on the altar, or depriving oneself … Continue reading A Bright Lent
The twentieth-century physicist Niels Bohr wrote: “The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.” I was thinking about this important principle the other day while pondering the relationship between God, faith, and safety. In one sense, there is no one or nothing as safe as … Continue reading Into the Cold
Let us move toward faith, trusting that God is cheering us on, quietly raising the bar for us and knowing that we will clear it.
Matthew Root 