5 December I don't know exactly what it is about trees that evokes such peace. I guess it's their strength, which comes more from their rootedness and stability than from a desire to dominate (though some trees can dominate, I think). The second week of Advent, I am thinking of Peace that passes all understanding. … Continue reading Second Sunday of Advent
Author: OSM
First Sunday of Advent
28 November Hope as in envisioning positive future outcomes -- yes/and more as in infusing the present with positive intentions. Hope also as in waiting. Hope as decisive acting/ patient being simultaneously. Trees are very good at this. 29 November 30 November 1 December 2 December 3 December 4 December
Coffee Hour ~ 18 July, 1-2 IST ~ and temporary hiatus
I am still thinking and feeling with Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, and if you would like to join this Sunday and weren't able to join last Sunday, I recommend looking first at the previous invitation, which introduces Stephen Jenkinson. The text below comes after a meditation on the question "When does … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 18 July, 1-2 IST ~ and temporary hiatus
Coffee Hour ~ 11 July, 1-2pm IST
This week's invitation includes an excerpt from Stephen Jenkinson's book Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, which was on the reading list for the Weaving Grief retreat. While I hope that the deep value and urgency of the text justifies my sharing it at length without the author's or publisher's explicit permission, I … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 11 July, 1-2pm IST
Coffee Hour ~ 4 July, 1-2 IST
I am thinking a lot about Robin Coste Lewis this week. I initially made my way slowly, un-sequentially, through different sections of her Voyage of the Sable Venus, compelled less by its accolades and more by the image on the cover: Eudora Welty's photograph "Window Shopping," which shows a young Black woman during the 1930's … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 4 July, 1-2 IST
Coffee Hour ~ 27 June, 1-2pm IST
SÂNZIENE I began writing this invitation yesterday, the 24th of June, a special day in the traditions of Old Europe, by which I mean something between pre-Christian and syncretic-Christian Europe, when (I would like to believe) Christian traditions were still earthbound, in the way Celtic Christianity was earthbound -- and, in fact, Celtic Christianity bears … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 27 June, 1-2pm IST
Coffee Hour ~ 13 June, 1-2 IST
The lectionary reading from the Gospel of Mark this week, the story of the mustard seed (and the surrounding parables) is for me one of the most interesting passages in the Gospels. Maybe it's because I am most excited by language when it is in a poetic mode and less of a claim/ more of … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 13 June, 1-2 IST
Coffee Hour ~ 6 June, 1-2pm IST
I am writing this on the one year anniversary of the second terrible phone call of 2020, late evening news of my friend's death earlier that morning. I am thinking about Glenn today, his kindness and wit, his generous spirit, the hours long conversations about poetry and community, the way he encouraged me to step … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 6 June, 1-2pm IST
Coffee Hour ~ 30 May, 1-2pm IST
Where is theology happening? Who makes theology? What is theology? There are so many tensions in researching, writing about and holding space for theology, and sometimes the word starts to blur and refract, as when I repeat any word over and over. It gives me a strange sensation, as if the shape and sound of … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 30 May, 1-2pm IST
Coffee Hour ~ 23 May, 1-2pm Irish time
Constantine's vision and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in a 9th-century Byzantine manuscript. I'm thinking a lot about indigeneity, the literal and the political dimensions, whether indigeneity is something one inherits (for example, by being from a place), or whether it is something one can make/earn (by investing emotional, spiritual, material effort in a … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 23 May, 1-2pm Irish time