A Failure to Thrive ... marriage in the 21st century

Waiting for my flight I check my email, “Tina, Duane and I need to come in to see you ASAP.  I found out he has been communicating with another woman and has had drinks with her a couple of times.  I suspect more …” Read More...

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Walking the Talk …

As I prepare for our next Couple’s Sacred Intimacy Retreat as well as a couple of upcoming talks, I find myself thinking about the eight couple’s that bravely ventured into the vulnerable world of intimacy at our last retreat in March. Read More...

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Basic Christianity ... NOT Christian Extremists

Few things printed in the public press inspire me … and how I love to be inspired! But today a colleague passed along this op-ed on the Rev John Stott who died recently.
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Need more joy? Take 5

Failure to take pleasure in the good things in life dishonors the gifts or accomplishments that deserve appreciation. It also dishonors your desire to know joy.
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We don’t have much time … we better go slow!

Except for paying attention, what else is continual prayer?
Poet Samuel Green

How often do you let the sense of being rushed prevent you from enjoying the moments you have ... with your friends, with your children, with your beloved? Read More...

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Longing for the Silly and Holy

What I Know
by Lee Robinson
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America's Sexual Ethic

Silence ... just because it cannot be heard, does it have no effect? And ignorance ... no responsibility?

What is the guiding sexual ethic in our country? Read More...

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Ruah ... is now

I was reading the book Holy Eros by Whitehead and Whitehead the other day and came across the line: "Scholars today - social scientists as well as theologians - suggest that our hunger for contact with the foundational source of significance is part of what it means to be human." Read More...

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It's Your Call

Have you ever had one of those experiences when you are standing in the presence of someone (or a group of some one's) who believe that they know what YOU should think, believe, care about? Read More...

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What is the story ... of your life ... of you?

A day bits and pieces - parts of a story ...
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Taken Hostage ... musings by Parker Palmer

A week or so ago I basked on my favorite spot on Orcas Island ... a spot I have visited most years since I was 4. It was over 90 degrees (it is never that hot!) and I was sitting on the edge of Cascade Lake listening to the sound of life's laughter ...Read More...

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Saudade

Its evening ... the light is fading ... I feel tired, slow, reflective. I spent the last 24 hours with graduate students and colleagues sharing stories of the human sort and was reminded of a word that has found its resonance in the cords of life over the last year. Saudade. Read More...

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In Its Time...

A while back while re-reading Gayle Brandeis’ book “Fruitflesh” I was reminded again of the luscious sensual wisdom of our bodies. Read More...

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Desire … is it of God?

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

- Ps 37:4 Read More...

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Leash Life ... A Parenting Paradox

After a series of events I find myself on a ferry, hopping between island life and the mainland reflecting on parenting teenagers. Read More...

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Stubborn Winters

I don't usually do winter gracefully - I get tired of being cold, I get tired of the gray, I get tired of the waiting ... and tho spring has always come in her time ... like a doubting Thomas, by late winter I always wonder will she leave us this year in our perpetual frozen Narnia? Read More...

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Delight and Attention ... Communion and Prayer

"Except for paying attention, what else is continual prayer?"

This is the last line of a poem by Samuel Green that speaks of the acuity of our attention in times of mourning. Read More...

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Your Time To Live ...

Today as I walked around the lake near my home the chill in the air was softened by the sun’s rays reminding me that winter will in the end relent and spring will come. Read More...

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The Body Is the Spirit Thickened

It was a cloudy day and I was riding on a ferry reading Letters to a Young Doctor by Richard Selzer. This is a book written by a surgeon who shares his surprise at how often sacred encounters emerged in his career as a physician. “The body is the spirit thickened.” As I read these words it was as if my whole being resounded “YES!” Read More...

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Women, Mom's and Oxygen Masks

Sitting on the plane waiting to push off for a 9 hour flight, I watch the automated “safety instructions” on the video screen. Today the language is German and the figure demonstrating what to do is a handsome avatar. Read More...

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