Autumn Leaves

A Classic (sung by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and many many others over the years-click on the Frank link to listen):
The falling leaves
Drift by my window
The falling leaves
Of red and gold
The song of course goes on, but I really like the tune. The music really matches the autumn theme in the words. I’ve been [...]

Power

I think I mentioned in a post before about wanting to work through a theological understanding of power. My current thoughts have revolved around the idea that if God’s power is most fully displayed on the cross, which is a sign of complete weakness and submission, how does that affect our notions of what Divine [...]

3 Things

Thing 1: A successful carving of an image I find really moving, in pumpkin form:
Thing 2: Delicious Butternut Squash Soup recipe, shared with friends at a party:
Ingredients:
2 medium Butternut squash
Curry Powder
Olive Oil
1 large Onion (a sweeter variety)
Salt and Pepper
4-5 cloves of garlic
Stock (vegetable or other)
1 Pint Heavy Whipping Cream
leeks (optional)
lemon grass (also optional). I didn’t [...]

Praying Through Creation

The final session of my class on prayer at New Leaf School for Christian Living was about learning how to pray through God’s creation. In the same way that St. Francis learned to see how connected we are to the rest of what God made, I think we can and should learn how to praise [...]

D.C. Metro Tensions

Riding the Metro later at night is always an interesting event. Everybody is always quiet. I think there is some unspoken rule, like at the library, the Metro at night is supposed to be quiet. There are fewer people, and instead of being in a hurry like at rush hour, people seem to just want [...]

Becoming a Prayer: First Session

Here are the notes from our first session at New Leaf School for Christian Living about prayer. I apologize if they’re not all in the most grammatically correct language, as they were my notes. I also apologize for any formatting issues.

Practical suggestions and cautions

Contemplative Stance: Meditation is less about method than about outlook. You want [...]

Recovery-ese

In my brief time so far here at Cornerstone, I’ve learned a lot from the other residents. It doesn’t take long to realize the completely different backgrounds and worldviews we have. I, a 23 year old white college educated male with no history of substance abuse,  and they, middle aged African American men with a [...]

Across the Universe by car

Two weeks ago (hard to believe it’s already that long ago) I left Albuquerque and trekked 2800 miles, in a rather windy fashion, back to Washington, D.C.  From Albuquerque, my good friend James and I went to the Grand Canyon, up to Denver, through St. Louis down to Durham, NC, and then back up to [...]

Desert Experience II

This past weekend, I went to Red Mesa, property of the CAC about 2 hours west of Albuquerque. It’s about 140 acres of more or less wilderness, no electricity, no cell signal, and no human beings for probably about 10 miles (at least) most of the time. There is a very little used road about [...]

The Labyrinth Part II

Since posting before about my initial experience walking the labyrinth, I have walked it dozens of times for different reasons and had different stirrings as a result of them. Sometimes, I just walk it when I have no where else to walk, when I feel like it is a familiar path that I can trust, [...]