Spiritual Practices

It is easy to forget how dark darkness can be. Many of us live in places where real darkness is rare. Our dark times are diluted with night lights, lights over the door, street lights, lighted signs, and other things that glow in the dark. We turn our eyes toward lighted screens, hiding our faces from the […]

I have worshiped with many different people in a wide variety of places. For me, worship spaces smell like a combination of furniture polish, candle wax, and a little soap. For some people, the aroma of incense is a powerful reminder of spiritual life. Spiritual life is more than worshiping together, and it has different smells. Some

This has been a challenging and difficult summer, filled with painful news from around the world. We can talk face to face with people on the other side of the earth, but cannot resolve long term problems. It has been a summer in which war, hunger, disease, and hopelessness have shown themselves again and again. What does

It can be easy for us to perceive spiritual life as soft and fluffy, all sunshine and butterflies. We understand physical life depends on getting exercise. We know that financial life is based in earning and saving. We even have ways to measure our emotional lives, to test our EQ. Spiritual life seems different. When we consider our

The deep, clear truths of spiritual life are beyond words. We try to use words to express them, describe them, understand them, control them, but we fail. Words are not able to quantify or communicate the spiritual life within us and all around us. Only silence can come close. Our efforts to talk or to

The story of your spiritual life may begin, “Once upon a time,” or “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” Your spiritual life story may be full of detailed information and specific dates. You may not even remember when it started, or a time before it began. You may not be certain

How do you feed the fire of spiritual life? At times, spiritual life almost roars through me. Its energy melts away what is not important. The flame of spiritual life purifies what I think, how I feel, what I want. It is beyond my control. The power of spiritual life works sacred changes in me.

How do we celebrate the deepest things in our lives? I think it is a challenge to celebrate well. Life moves quickly. Even when we decide to commemorate a particular event, all the traditions can get in the way of true celebration. I live in a culture that tends to celebrate with consumption. Our special days are filled