When I was down in the Dominican Republic several years ago I got up early every morning and walked the beautiful sand beach as the sun rose. I’m an early riser, so it was always a pleasure. One morning I took my journal. When I finished my walk I wrote down exactly,...

I just wanted to use that big word. There! I feel better now. As we deconstruct our theology and beliefs, it is natural to be afraid. But remember: The image is not the thing. The word is not the thing. The idea is not the thing. The image: De-anthropomorphizing is...

The old paradigm of sinners in need of a sacrifice to save them from eternal torment, the old cycle of sin/ repentance/ forgiveness, the antiquated concept of helpless creatures of an all-powerful Creator seated unmoving in the heavens... all these have lost their...

I'm working on a list of discernments that one needs to embrace in order to be spiritual in the universe. My ideas obviously emerge out of a Christian perspective. But it is inclusive of all walks, including religious, agnostic and atheist. My concern is that as we...

I watched a fascinating auto-documentary last night, "I AM" by Tom Shadyac. He created such movies as Bruce Almighty, The Nutty Professor and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. He suffered an accident and endured many months of post-concussion. He came out the other side of...

Over the past several weeks many people have asked me about prayer. It brought to mind some correspondence Thomas Merton had with a Sufi mystic about prayer. It took me a while to find it today, but I finally did. The mystic communicated to Merton what his was like....

I took this photo this morning. It is so simple. So beautiful. It made me think about the small, subtle things in life that I can be thankful for. The little things. Dew is so delicate. It lightly falls in the night while we're sleeping and we awaken to these small...

While I was walking my dog this morning in the warm sunlit air along the river I was thinking about how what I call the z-theory is basically trinitarian in structure. I'm trying to articulate this theory because it helps me understand why I can be a Christian and an...

Yesterday someone tweeted about me: "… and then fucking nakedpastor says sometimes he's an atheist himself - I say go with that and make it all the time - you'd be better off!" The pressure to conform to a certain group or label is relentless and sometimes even cruel....

Have you ever gotten lost where you've never been? I have. I am. It's one thing to get lost in a place you've been. The best thing to do is just wait, calmly, for someone to find you or until you recognize a familiar marking and can find your own way back. But what if...