Quest Blog
For the Beauty of the Earth…
2013-12-17 I was walking in City Park with a community organizer this week when suddenly we were only the width of the boardwalk away from a Great Egret, its fancy fringe plumes fluttering in the morning breeze. We paused, taking in the beauty, marveling at the unexpected joy of such a close encounter. A few…
Read MoreSurvival Tips for Holidays with Difficult People, AKA, Home for the Holidays!
2013-12-21 I’m hearing from many folks these days about their fears of being with families of origin over the holidays. Fears of getting into fights about political differences. Fears of being expected to conform to religious language and practices that no longer fit. Fears of being ridiculed about life choices or decisions. Fears of family…
Read MoreComplicity: A Christmas Story
2013-12-25 One spring had me moonlighting on crisis response. I was far from an expert. Only shadowed whoever was on-call, to learn what to do when there’s nothing to be done. Mostly, the work took you out into homes where the children who are wanting to harm themselves live. But one Friday night, the call…
Read MoreEmpty Suitcase
2013-12-26 The cat snuggles down into my empty suitcase, out to fill for a trip. She knows something’s up. It’s a bed, she insists. A warm place, even an instrument of stasis. I let her nestle there, passing on to other bustling that needs doing, done. That I’ve lived out of a…
Read MoreWhat’s New This New Year?
2013-12-30 “The sun came up and five years gone. Life goes on…” – Brandi Carlile The older we get, a year becomes a smaller fraction of our life and therefore goes by faster. Or at least this seems to be the case. Brandi Carlile perfectly expresses what I’ve been feeling lately as I watch the…
Read MoreThe Eager Chaplain
2014-01-05 Early in ministry, there are skills to be learned. Preaching, counseling, the coffee-hour nod that says, “Yes, I’m listening,” even if it’s not true. Oh, and another one. Boredom. Overcoming it? No. Letting it pull you down below where you can breathe, and then holding you there. For hours. It’s important to know how…
Read MoreLearning Otherwise in Receiving
2014-01-02 There was a time I thought I was in hell. It was Texas. I had dropped out of school and worked stocking bulk at a grocery store. As part of the job, before dawn once a month, they made us show up to get our morale boosted, which was seen as directly related to…
Read MoreTornados, Typhoons, and Straw Dogs: Giving Thanks With Some Thinking
2013-11-28 Thanksgiving American style. The day declared a national holiday for the purpose of giving thanks. Despite the best efforts of those of a theocratic bent, who or what to thank remains open to interpretation. My thanks goes to the universe that just keeps cranking out good things. As the fifth chapter of the Daodejing…
Read MoreAnything I can do, We can do better…
2013-11-12 “We think that honesty and living in truth are better ways to live than propaganda and denial and comforting stories.” –Tom Schade, “Religious Community is Not Enough: Unitarian Universalism’s purpose is much bigger than gathering with like-minded people for mutual support,” UU World Winter 2013. Earlier this year the Board members of the Center…
Read MoreHow Sisyphus Got It Right
2013-11-14 I have participated in National Novel Writing Month three times now. I have never reached the goal of 50,000 words. Last year I came close, with 42,000. This year I’m not even close, having written only a bit over 10,000. The handy-dandy stats machine on the NaNoWriMo website tells me I’m averaging 760 words…
Read More