MOVING

I'm moving to a new blog: Mysterium Dei. I'm not taking down this site, but I won't be posting here anymore.

I'm Back

My lovely wife sent me away to the Benedictine monastery of St. Leo Abbey for a weekend retreat for my birthday. It was good to get away and have some alone time with my God. At the same time nothing can make you more spiritually squirmy than an extended period of silence & solitude. I enjoyed hanging out with the monks for prayers and meals, but the rest of the time it was just me, my thoughts and the Ancient of Days.

I got some good reading done. I finished off A Short History of the Mass by Alfred McBride, and How to be a Monastic and Not Leave Your Day Job by Brother Benet Tvedten. I took some great pictures--you can see them here. I got in some good prayer time & received some ministry from a Korean Benedictine priest who lives the monastic life in a small, one road central Florida town. I meditated on the prayer below by Thomas Merton.

With so many things up in the air right now--and only some that I can share with more than a select few--I found this prayer particularly timely. I did get some things settled and reconnected with an important part of who I am that will shape who I will be. There are still some unanswered questions and uneasy discussions to come, but I am finding more peace along the way.

My Lord God

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really understand myself.

And the fact that I think I am following Your will

does not mean I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you

does in fact please you.

And I hope I have the desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road

though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always

though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear for you are ever with me

and you will never leave me to face my troubles alone.

(from Thoughts in Solitude)

"Once you go Vatican, you can't go back again"

This one's for my buddy Alan...

the Body of Christ

My good friend Alan has decided to cross back over the Tiber and reconnect with his Catholic roots. I'm very happy for him. We have many shared hopes & dreams for the future--not to mention freakishly similar pasts. He posted these words by John Wesley written to a Roman Catholic. There is much wisdom in these simple words to goevern the way we relate to those united together in Christ.

Then, if we cannot as yet think alike in all things, at least we may love alike. Herein we cannot possibly do amiss. For of one point none can doubt a moment, -- ‘God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.’

In the name, then, and in the strength of God, let us resolve first, not to hurt one another; to do nothing unkind or unfriendly to each other, nothing which we would not have done to ourselves. Rather let us endeavor after every instance of a. kind, friendly, and Christian behavior towards each other.

Let us resolve secondly, God being our helper, to speak nothing harsh or unkind of each other. The sure way to avoid this is to say all the good we can both of and to one another; in all our conversation, either with or concerning each other, to use only the language of love to speak with all Softness and tenderness, with the most endearing expression which is consistent with truth and sincerity.

Let us, thirdly, resolve to harbor no unkind thought, no unfriendly temper, towards each other. Let us lay the axe to the root of the tree; let us examine all that rises in our heart, and suffer no disposition there which is contrary to tender affection. Then shall we easily refrain from unkind actions and word~ when the very root of bitterness is cut up.

Let us, fourthly, endeavor to help each other on in what­ever we are agreed leads to the kingdom. So far as we can, let us always rejoice to strengthen each other’s hands in God. Above all, let us each take heed to himself (since each must give an account of himself to God) that he fall not short of the religion of love, that he be not condemned in that he himself approveth. O let you and I (whatever others do) press on to the prize of our high calling! that, being justified by faith, we may have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; that we may rejoice in God through Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement; that the love of God may be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Let us count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord; being ready for Him to suffer the loss of all things, and counting them but dung that we may win Christ.--I am

Your affectionate servant for Christ’s sake.

what the hell?!

One of us got a better deal than the other

I lucked out, but poor Lisa is stuck with Rummy!!

king of the jungle

I took Brant's challenge & soundly defeated him. Now I challenge you to beat me! Can your monkey defeat me??

Making it Big on Easter

Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed!

Our community concluded our celebration of the Easter Triduum last night with our Easter Vigil service. Today we'll gather for our annual Easter egg hunt and Resurrection celebration. Our community was also featured in a front page article in our local paper, The Lakeland Ledger, about "alternative" churches. Here's a link to the story. This is the photo from the front page:

Reflecting

Before I get to my thoughts about Thinspace last weekend I just have to share a quick story. Lisa, the girls and I went to a Lenten Fish Fry sponsored by the Church of the Resurrection Catholic church. As we were enjoying our dinner Lisa made a profound observation. Here we were, a new young family, not members of this church and nobody tried to talk us in to joining their church or coming to their service. Everyone was very friendly. Several people stopped by to comment on Clare. The pastor was there having dinner with some people. It was a church community event done for the sake of having a community event & not a covert outreach program. Imagine that.

It's been a week since my trip up north for the feast of St. Patrick. All week. So much was crammed into such a small time I'm still trying to unpack it all in my head (and unpack my suitcase). I think the the most powerful result has been a rekindling of some of the vision & passion that Lisa & I have had for the kind of church we want to build. Over the years we've been so buffeted and banged up by life that we slowly lost sight of the vision God gave us. Seeing the community at Vineyard Central living out a similar calling reminded us of what we once held so dear. Being able to taste & see what God is doing there jogged our memories.

The other big thing I took away from the weekend was a real sense of belonging. It's easy to feel alone & isolated sometimes when you don't have a connection with many others on the same journey going through the same experiences. It's one thing to rely on keeping up with blogs, but it's really something else to gather in one place with fellow sojuorners and share our stories.

The guys at VC recorded all of the sessions and made them available as podcasts. My personal favorite for the weekend was Todd Hunter on Friday night.

Others have had some time to blog about their experiences:

• Alan
• KRains
• Bishops
• Peter White

good weekend

I'm sitting in the living room at the Brownhouse in Cincy. We've wrapped up Thinspace and it was a great time. I've enjoyed meeting the people behind the blogs I read and reconnecting with other good friends. It's always refreshing to gather with other people who are traveling along the same journey. It'll take some time to digest the discussion we've had and I'll have to come back to those soon.

Please don't molest the gators!

Just got back from our community's camping trip at Hillsborough River State Park (click here for pictures). I think everyone had a really good time. I held up pretty well dispite some lingering back pain from my accident. Last night one of the adults took the kids on a flashlight hike. The went down to an overlook are by the river. My Mary noticed two glowing eyeballs in the water as she scanned the surface with her flashlight. Sooon they were all lighting up the gator & watching it swim back & forth as it moved closer to the shore. Then all of the sudden it made a loud splashing noise as if it was lunging out of the river. Everyone screamed & took off running. Fortunately, no one became a gator snack. I guess that's why they put up signs like this one...