Care of Soul
How Do We Want to be Memorialized as a Nation?
What we as a nation memorialize says a lot about what we value, how we want to be remembered, and how we want to step into the future as a community of people. Did you know that the Confederate monuments were built between 1890 and 1950? And the era coincides exactly with the era of…
Read MoreGeorge Floyd-We Need Each Other
I cannot be quiet while my country bleeds. Growing up in the sheltered white culture of western Massachusetts, love of flag and country was instilled in me, not just as a special Fourth of July event but through the example of my father, a World War II veteran. “Liberty and justice for all” was not…
Read MoreSoul Happy
The poet Rumi writes: no one knows what makes the soul wake up so happy. Maybe a dawn breeze has blown the veil away from the face of God. If there is a face of God, it is Eden, one of our youngest customers at six months old. (She may not be the one that…
Read MoreWe Can Start Now
Father Richard Rohr is a world-recognized ecumenical teacher, and someone I admire very much. With so much horror showing itself in our country, our society and in the world at large, I often think of one of Father Richard’s quotes. He says this: “Christianity is a lifestyle – a way of being in the world…
Read MoreInhabit Like Bonnie
One of my goals in life is to walk completely around Waban Pond like my dog-friend Bonnie. Bonnie is a sensate being who is completely at home walking around the pond. She fully inhabits her body as she circles the pond sniffing the various smells in leafy nooks and crannies, marking her territories, tasting the…
Read MoreChanting for Care of Soul
In our culture, there is a lot of talk about self-care. One of the ways I take care of myself and my soul is by chanting. Now I know what you may be thinking – candles, bells, Gregorian monasteries, Buddhist monks, dark medieval churches, new-age crystals, hippies-there are a lot of images that come to…
Read MoreGeorge Washington Carver: The Patron Saint of Painting
On a recent journey to the southern United States with my grandchildren, I rediscovered a great American, George Washington Carver. He is best known as the scientist-botanist who discovered many practical uses for the peanut crop. George Washington Carver invented over three hundred uses for the peanut including flour, paste, paper, wood stains and antiseptics.…
Read MoreCare of Soul-A Clear Education
You know I mentioned earlier this year that I wanted to write about systemic racism as an open wound that tears at the soul of our country. Racial reconciliation has long been passion of mine, but passion and good will are not enough; I consider it a lifelong spiritual journey for me . . .…
Read MoreGetting to Woke
Dear friends, I have been reflecting on “care of soul” for a number of years now. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot keep talking about this topic without talking directly about the soul of our country. We are not just individuals, but part of a larger fabric we call the United States…
Read More