Good and gracious God, I suppose I'm one of those 'idiots' who can find you in a sunset. I see you in the swooping play of seagulls and in the quiet stillness of deep waters. I have heard a silent hymn sung by the light of the Milky Way and I have heard the choral … Continue reading Finding God in the Sunset [A Prayer]
Good and gracious God, In a world where you can both LOVE your family and LOVE Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream, it can be difficult to truly understand the love we are called to practice. With so many ideas and understandings of love we provide ourselves with a buffet of choices for how to … Continue reading Unconditional Love [A Prayer]
I lost my joy. I suspect there are a few of you who feel the same way. Not that you aren't happy, but there is this deep place of celebratory joy which you once knew that really doesn't come around much anymore. There was a time when I was a pretty joyful guy. Not “blind … Continue reading The Church That Doesn’t Steal Your Joy
Part 2 of my sabbatical adventure away from the church entitled: "Church No More." It might be that the thing which concerned me the most about leaving the church was losing my spiritual community. It's not that I thought the spiritual-but-not-religious folk were helplessly lonely people wandering around seeking a spiritual community. Not at all. … Continue reading How The Wild Goose Festival Cured My Heebie-Jeebies
What is love? We humans have tried to answer that question for ages: “What is love?” Quite a few years ago my daughter, Kayli, and I had the chance to see not only what love looks like, but what hate looks like as well. We went to Raleigh to attend the counter rally to the … Continue reading The Importance of Love
Dear Kayli and Hunter, You both know how immensely proud I am of you. All I ever hoped for the both of you was for you to have a strong self-identity, pursue the things that make you happy, and care about other people. You have far exceeded my wildest hopes and expectations. I love you … Continue reading A Southern Minister Apologizes to His Kids for Trump
Nationalism is a spirituality killer. Let me clarify. Spirituality is sets of beliefs and practices that give us a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves. At its best, it opens us up to possibilities and connects us with others. Nationality is its enemy. Nationality presents a very narrow world perspective. Rather than opening … Continue reading Nationalism: Antagonist to Spirituality, a Nation, and Activism
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.” ― Napoléon Bonaparte “Religion is the opiate of the people.” ― Karl Marx Trump, at some point in his bid for Presidency, recognized the reality of those two statements. Then seemingly out of nowhere, never having been … Continue reading Following Jesus in the Age of Trump: Resistance as a Spiritual Practice
Good and gracious God, Awaken us. May we see violence, oppression, hatred, hoarding, power, and privilege with eyes wide open. Even as we've make some progress, assuring more equality for some and enlivening a sense of righteous resistance against the abuse of power in others, we have continued to live in an all too routine … Continue reading On Living Wide Awake [A Prayer]
Good and gracious God, Sometimes our words get in the way. Sometimes we allow our words to be the full extent of our actions. We say that we love someone, but our actions can seem less than loving. We say that we would hate to see anyone go hungry, but we drive by people who … Continue reading On the Limitations of Words [A Prayer]
Rev. Mark Sandlin 