Here's a thoughtful article, 20 Daily Practices that Changed My Life, that appeared in the Elephant Journal by Camille Willemain; a coconut-loving, barefoot, beach bum who finds bliss exploring the endless possibilities of the Earth. She aims to inspire people to release their fears, chase their dreams, and do...
Last Sunday, my sermon addressed our need to recognize both the objective and subjective aspects of our consciousness. We live in interesting times, when the objective or rational mode of knowing has displaced much of the old subjectivity. What we see emerging, however, are new...
Last Sunday I spoke a little about Presbyterian history. Did you know that Presbyterian polity influenced the rise of democracy and that many in England called the American Revolution the Presbyterian Rebellion? However we self-identify, our deeper self is without boundaries, without center or circumference,...
Our adult spiritual ed class has been discussing Reza Aslan's book "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth." Her words not only raises questions about the historical context of Jesus of Nazareth, they also point to the distinction between the Jesus of historical...
On Saturday, March 1, regional Presbyterians gathered for a series of TED Talk-styled presentations on the question Jesus asked his disciples "Who do you say that I am?" My sermon on March 2 featured my presentation from the previous day, when I offered an experiential...
In last Sunday's sermon, "From Garden to Ghetto to Giants," I discuss what Ken Wilber calls the two major views of human evil and how to overcome it: the recapture-goodness model and the growth-to-goodness model. I then ask which of these is most supported by...
Last Sunday I gave the second part of a two-part sermon, "I Am That." In the first part, I talked about the divine ground of our being, the "I Am," which is not separate from our own consciousness. In the second part, I talk about...
[caption id="attachment_12347" align="alignright" width="225"] Pastor Pat Bailey[/caption] The farther I go down this road of our spiritual development, the more I am convinced that the spiritual life is not so much about who God is as about who I am and who we are and that those...
How do we avoid letting our fears and frustrations control our thoughts and feelings and actions? How do we say "Yes!" to the various wonderful circumstances we encounter each day. To me, that is not a matter of submission to a supernatural entity that controls everything....
[caption id="attachment_12347" align="alignright" width="225"] Pastor Pat Bailey[/caption] A concept that I find in a variety of spiritual traditions, including Christianity, is mysticism. It is the assertion that what we most deeply seek in our spiritual lives is something that is already real and true and has...
