August 20, 2018—Johann Arndt was a German Lutheran theologian, serving some time as a pastor. He lived in the late 16th and early 17th century (1555-1621). He was born to a Lutheran pastor who served as a chaplain to a…
August 6, 2018—Born in 1592, John Comenius came from Moravia, within the modern Czech Republic. His life was marked with tragedy. His parents and two of his sisters died in 1604 from the plague. He was subsequently raised by and…
July 16, 2018—Walter Hilton was born in 1343 and studied church law at Cambridge. At about the age of forty-three, after spending some period of time as a hermit, he began to lead a semi-monastic life with other priests in…
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5)
He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed…
June 18, 2018—At the very beginning of the 15th Century, the German, Thomas a Kempis, became a monk in an Augustinian monastery in the Netherlands. This monastery was comprised of priests who were members of the Brethren of Common Life,…
June 4, 2018—The first confirmed English woman writer was Julian of Norwich. At the age of thirty years, Julian experienced a series of revelations or showings which manifested themselves in her senses, in her mind, and through insights exceeding her…
March 22, 2018—“What was the best part of your recent pilgrimage to Israel?” several people have asked me. I could say it was the opportunity to walk, for a second time, in the places Jesus walked or see some of…
March 14, 2018—What was most meaningful to you?
“People’s lives are changed. When you encounter God in new ways and continue to seek that which is deep and true and holy,” says Debra Weir, Associate Director, Spirituality and Lifelong Learning…
February 22, 2018—Having recently retired at the ripe old age of 62 and having given it (I felt) considerable thought and prayerful preparation, I thought that some feedback on the “before and after” would be of interest to those contemplating…
December 11, 2017—I’m often intrigued by what church leaders, anxious about numbers and attendance, assume about non-church-goers. A lot interesting ideas get foisted on “prospects” in an effort to entice them into the church front doors—especially the elusive 20-somethings and…
November 20, 2017—I know a man who likes to sleep, although he’s not a lazy person by any means. He is responsible, competent, and productive in his work, but he likes his sleep! In fact, he is the only person…
August 7, 2017—Every once in a while I hear something in church that catches me by surprise. It’s usually not a good surprise, admittedly. More often than not the surprising comment reveals a disconnect between my perception or assumption of…
June 8, 2017—Online courses provide a contemporary learning opportunity—one with which some of us are unfamiliar and frankly, uncomfortable. What a different experience to be in a learning community without seeing fellow learners or a teacher.
Perhaps, however, online learning…
May 11, 2017—The Celts are the people of the end of the world.
Visit the tip of the Cornwall peninsula and you will find a rocky placed called Land’s End, where the thundering surf of the Atlantic pounds mercilessly against…
Thompson asserts that whatever happens in the family life “inevitably touches our spiritual lives, whether for good or for ill”
