Quest Blog
How to Vote as an Act of Prayer
2012-11-04 We’d love to cast a vote for compassion, freedom, justice. But they’re not on the ballot. So we can’t let the ballot reflect the extent we allow ourselves to envision the world we want to create. Hold that bigger vision in prayer or meditation before turning to the act of voting: a land where…
Read MoreMasks — A Poem for Halloween
2012-10-31 Masks What will you wear for Halloween? The trees are changing faces, and the rough chins of chestnut burrs grimace and break to show their sleek brown centers. The hills have lost their mask of green and grain, settled into a firmer geometry of uncolored line and curve. Which face will you…
Read MoreVoting as Spiritual Practice, as a Neighborly Act…
2012-11-02 Every day you have less reason not to give yourself away. ~ Wendell Berry ~ On this eve of a national election, so many conversations begin with “well, depending on who wins the election, …” In our representative democracy, a lot does depend on who wins elections. Because of how the presidential election is…
Read MoreDemocracy and faith
2012-11-03 Religious faith consists of our most deeply held values. It is the summation of what is of greatest importance to us, our ultimate commitments. But those commitments are expressed in many different ways, through many different aspects of our lives; they have to be if those commitments really are ultimate commitments. So of course,…
Read MoreMoving On
2012-11-15 In a way, it feels like a magnified version of Christmas – the election, I mean. All of that lead-up, all the wishes and hopes for what you might get this year, all of that investment in trying to get just the right outcome…and then it’s done. The big reveal is complete. And we…
Read MoreDrama
2012-11-17 For months, we were barraged with a national narrative of a “razor tight” presidential race. (What kind of mixed metaphor is “razor tight” anyway?) But it turned out to be not so close after all. Indeed, some paid attention to voices that were saying all along it would be close, but not so very…
Read MoreGrateful, even so
2012-11-18 The universe, she is laughing at me. This is my third attempt to write a blog about gratitude. The first two times got eaten my by computer. I saved them wrong. I know, you think, what are the odds? That’s why I think the universe is having a good laugh. The first time, I…
Read MoreSpiritual Lessons from the Passenger’s Seat
2012-11-26 Though she took the book learning part of Drivers Ed this summer, my 16 year old did not get her temporary license until last Monday. That’s because on Tuesday, we were leaving for a 1500 mile roadtrip for a family Thanksgiving, and it seemed like an ideal time to teach her to drive. When…
Read MoreAll’s Fair
2012-08-26 Here in Minnesota, where I live, the State Fair is the main thing going on. It upstages even the dreaded back-to-school days which are also dominant in hearts and minds. In other places where I have lived, State Fairs are about as central to life as, say, roller coasters, or ferret ownership, or balloon…
Read MoreFriends: The Spice of Life
2012-09-02 If most of our life consists of basic repetitive tasks that are simple and predictable—some would say boring—it’s the people we interact with who make our days interesting. If our life were a soup, the people we know would be the spices. Some people, like salt and pepper, are always nearby, always present at…
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