Spirituality

Matters of Spirit

The Objectification of God

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We humans run into a great deal of trouble when we try to turn God into an objective reality. When we try to say, “This is what God looks like, and feels like, and sounds like, and says. This is what the experience of God should be like for everyone. If your experience of God is not like this, then you are not experiencing God.” This is a lethal game. Ever since people started trying to turn God into an objective reality (and I wonder if there was ever a time when we did not try to do this) we have constantly suffered in the throes of religious wars, crusades, inquisitions, holocausts, ethnic cleansings, and terror campaigns. That is exactly where objectifying God takes us. This lethal game is one that we humans, in our unquenchable thirst for full comprehension, and in our aversion to mystery, continue to play, year after year, civilization after civilization.

An Open Letter to the Congregation and Leadership of East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis

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And, yeah, I’m a little stirred up. Because you aren’t being honest with yourselves when you say you are “a church that loves all people.” I can’t help but think if you were actually honest, and said, “We are a church that loves all people, except gay people,” it wouldn’t feel right coming from your lips and you would try to love better.

Surrender

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In May, 2013, Studio Ninety-Six, Christian Theological Seminary, and St. Luke’s UMC staged a multi-media exhibition exploring the theme, “Risk of Faith.” They graciously included my piece, “Surrender” in the exhibition. I was happy to be afforded the opportunity to try and put into words the very real risk I feel as I attempt to live into what I am learning in my life.

Two Anti-Gay Christian Groups at IndyPride – This Is Only a Test

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Let’s make sure our reaction to this is not about our own anxious projections of danger. Let’s make sure we are reacting two to little booths and a few annoying people at IndyPride, and not reacting to years of spiritual wounding at the hands of other Christians.

the next marker

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So eventually I stopped. I looked around and realized that I must have been wrong about something, where I was, where the trail was, something. Then I started back the way I had come. When I hadn’t gotten back to the access road in twenty minutes I stopped again. Looked around. Realized that I was good and lost, and I may have been following the deer trails in circles, for all I knew, and I was now in a part of the woods I was unfamiliar with.

The Infinite Moment of Now

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I recently finished work on the soundtrack for Stephanie Lewis Robertson’s fabric art installation, The Infinite Moment of Now, that will be on display at the Indianapolis Art Center from Friday, June 10 until Sunday, July 31, 2011.  Click here to watch an introductory video about the installation. Fabric panel by Stephanie Lewis Robertson   … Read more

rolling your own

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The other day I had lunch with a woman whose mom is a resident of the nursing home where I work.  Laura is a kind and gentle gal.  Her mom has experienced a big decline recently and Laura’s taken FMLA from work to spend more time with her.  She’s been busy for a couple weeks … Read more

about heaven

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As a rule, the people I’ve known who spend all their time talking about heaven, thinking about heaven, straining toward heaven, are people who are sure I’m not going there. Apparently, heaven is someplace only people who believe exactly as they do end up. I bet their heaven sounds really nice to them. Once they … Read more

how sure are you?

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Okay, let me put in in your terminology. Let’s just suppose for a minute that God doesn’t hate gay and lesbian people.  Just for a minute.  Let’s just suppose that God made gay and lesbian people on purpose.  Let’s just suppose that God is pleased with this aspect of creation.  Let’s just suppose that God … Read more

quiverfull

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On the morning of Wednesday, March 25, 2009, NPR aired a story about a Christian group, referred to as the Quiverfull Movement.  Here’s the link to the story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102005062 NPR summarizes, “The movement, called Quiverfull, is based on Psalm 127, which says, ‘Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one’s … Read more