Creative Meaning Maker
I suppose my Maine stories will eventually dwindle. Apparently not yet. My friends and I had been gifted with one glorious day after another, but, for me, there was one thing yet lacking as our week drew to a close. I really wanted to see a storm. I was in the little island village on… Continue reading Storm
Four hundred years. In the particular span between Malachi and the birth of Jesus, there was a great deal of land conquering and dominating afoot. The vast conquest by Alexander the Great was followed a century or so later by the domination of Julius Caesar. In the east, China began to build its Great Wall. Virgil, Dante’s literary companion… Continue reading Stranded In Time (Zechariah Part 3)
Our new home in Florida faces west, with a bog between our patio and the tops of these trees. I looked up from reading one evening and the sky was on fire. I grabbed my phone and snapped away. I was not prepared for the explosive beauty I captured so effortlessly in that moment. I… Continue reading Sunset Spirituality
If God just made a "mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all" kind of selection in choosing Jesus' mother, then Mary is so far beyond our experience that there is no point in pondering her response to God. She was just a superior sort of being. But if it is God's… Continue reading Supreme Activity
I can't find the taste I remember. For several months my colleagues and I would gather at a mentor's home where she served us her favorite tea. It was the cleanest, deepest flavor I had ever tasted. I drank my first and last cup of this tea over twenty-five years ago. I've been looking for… Continue reading Tasting and Longing (Psalm 84)
This fall I am teaching a study from Labor Day to Thanksgiving on Christian wisdom. I have been intrigued by various reactions to this topic as it has come up in the recent past. “I am teaching a class on Christian wisdom... “ “So, you are going to teach on Proverbs?” “No, I am going to teach on wisdom.… Continue reading Tasting Wisdom
I got on the plane after another gloriously intense session of the Institute for Worship Studies. IPod and book in hand, I sat down next to a strong, muscular guy in his early 30’s. His earbuds were dangling from the collar of his t-shirt. Thought: This is going to be a quiet ride. Reality: It was a voyage on the… Continue reading Tattooed
"I must be the unluckiest boy in the world." So thought Shasta, as he found himself walking next to yet another lion. He was lost in the darkness, alone on a lonely path, and accompanied only by the rhythmic breathing of a large lion. "Tell me your sorrows," said the Lion. And so Shasta told… Continue reading Tell Me Your Sorrows
Temptations are not independent agents in our souls. They do not gain access, sweep aside all reason, all good desires and hold a hostile take-over. There is no such thing as “the devil made me do it.” “I allowed to the devil to get his way” is much more accurate. Whether temptations come from familiar places within our… Continue reading Temptation and Imagination
In the whole story of our lives, it is good to visit the desert once a year in Lent as a spiritual discipline that cleanses and opens us to receive again the wonder of Christ’s cross and resurrection for us. But sometimes the desert doesn’t wait for the church calendar. Our life circumstances change: I lose a… Continue reading The Desert Under Our Feet
Carla Waterman 