Friday Mirror, Take 1
Hello dear ones – Welcome to the first edition of the Friday Mirror. The Mirror is The Way of the River’s take on the spiritual practice of self-reflection. It’s a way for us, as a community, to reflect on the past week externally and internally. The Mirror is what it sounds like, a place to take a […]
Orphaned Believers and Skeptical Dreamers
Orphaned believers, skeptical dreamers / You’re welcome. You can stay right here. / You don’t have to go ~~Over the Rhine~~ Thanks to my friend Oscar Sinclair for introducing me to the words above. They are, indeed, a fine encapsulation of my hopes for The Way of the River. Orphaned believers Some of us belong […]
Gentleness, But Discipline, Too
Sometimes the very thing that has inspired this ministry—spiritual practice—gets undermined by my working on the ministry. Silly? Yes. Common? Yes, that too. There is some dispute as to who made the following wise remark—I’ve heard it attributed to at least three spiritual or religious leaders: If I am busy, I must pray for an […]
Stones Rising and Four Quarters: Part One
A memory. A memory with many words and images that will mean the most to those from Four Quarters, but that may paint a picture for others. At Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary, the high holydays are those around the raising of new Stones in the Stone Circle. I see rollers and ropes raise the Stones. […]
Shuffled: We or the Cards?
“It is we who are shuffled; not really the deck.” – Jonathan White My dear friend and ritual partner, Jonathan, was talking about Tarot cards when he said the above. He was referring to the idea that whether one is pulling a card for the day or laying out a spread to read for a […]
Altars, Altars Everywhere!
I am looking at the rickety wooden table to the left of my desk. It was given to me by Maria, my first lover, then roommate, then ex-roommate, now reconnected friend. Maria gave me this small, wooden table she painted sky blue. She gave it to me to be an altar, a place to center […]
Prayer and Discernment (v. 2016)
NB: This post is from 2014 when I was offering the e-book The Practice of Prayer. Now, in 2016, I am proud to be gifting my subscribers with The Days of Discernment, a series of self-study pages. I have changed the end of the post to reflect this change. *** So I was sitting on the floor and my […]
My Gentleness Thing
“I will be gentle with myself. / I will love myself. / I am a child of the Universe / Being born each moment.” ~Libana~ When I first heard that chant, it sounded a little hokey, a little woo, as we say these days. I didn’t get why it was important or what it meant. […]
What Am I Doing Here?: Part Three
It was October, I remember. My wife and I had decided that, in the absence of a regular spiritual community and with the desire to worship in a multicultural congregation, we would go to the Dupont Circle Friends Meeting. The Quakers had welcomed us before. We had attended Quaker Meetings back in my hometown, in […]
What Am I Doing Here?–Part Two!
As I said in part one, if I learned liturgical ritual, feast days, and smells-and-bells from the Catholic Church, it was at Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary that I began to make those things my own. To feel them in my bones. To know that ritual was worth my blood, sweat, and tears. While I had […]