Intersect

I’ve always loved jazz. I’m sure it started with my obsession with the Art Deco era and Big Band music. But the swing music of the Big Band Era was still pretty strict, from a jazz point of view. The arrangements were complicated, so everyone pretty much stuck to the music on the page, with an improvised solo thrown in here and there.   Improvisation is the heart of jazz.   Improvisation is what happens when a musician stops looking at the music on the page and starts playing with her or his heart.  It’s when, if you are a spiritual person, you let go of your ego and open your mind to the endless creativity of God. When the flow is on, it’s a supremely worshipful and transcendent experience.   Improv is what makes us curious and creative, whether we’re playing jazz or inventing something to protect us from being eaten by wild animals. Improv reminds us we are One with God in profoundly meaningful and creative ways. Improv isn’t easy. This underlying jazz concept is difficult because it

I close my eyes and a tunnel of light envelops me. The light is warm and tender, alive with awareness. My mind is opened to a larger reality. I float through the tunnel, lifted high into a state of reverie. I am suddenly aware of all beings, all places, and all times right here and now, within, yet also beyond, me. My senses explode. I smell the ocean and the Redwood forests; I feel the rush of the wind against my face as I soar high above snow-capped mountains, purple-glistening. I dive into a lake and close my eyes as I crash through its idyllic, glassy surface. My body tingles with the bracing snap of winter’s chill on my skin. I am awakened. When I open my eyes I see pinpoints of light surrounding me. Stars, winking at me, as if they know my secret. I float through the universe and see it pouring out from my fingertips and I am suddenly— nothing. And everything. I am no longer physical, yet I feel. I feel love and hate; hope an

I’d like to take a moment today to offer a prayer for all the people who have been affected by natural disasters recently: People in Japan, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Oklahoma, and Houston, in particular our Houston friends Pastor Bruce, Donna and Zach Frogge. Please forgive me if I have left a place off this list and perhaps add names of countries, cities and people in the comments section. Graceful and comforting God, bring hope and peace to the thousands of people around the world who have lost loved ones. Let everyone displaced by these disasters find shelter, nourishment, and a nurturing touch while their homes, cities, and lives are rebuilt. Touch our hearts and inspire us to come together in support of one another— emotionally, materially, and spiritually. Make those who still have much, generous and willing to provide aid to those who have lost everything. Protect all the aid workers as they work in dangerous conditions to rescue people and animals. Help our governments and leaders b

Dearest and most Holy God, it is almost impossible for us to describe our deep and abiding love for you. Our hearts burst when we think about you. When we are faithfully tuned into your presence, we act like schoolchildren whose first crush fills every waking thought and every lucid dream. You make us giddy, sweet God. [pause and feel God vibrating throughout your being]   We long to be with you every moment, daydreaming of you, yet so often never really touching you, never acutely aware of your nearness. We often grow frustrated because we yearn for your presence, and fail to realize you are already right here with us, as near as our own breath. We forget that you constantly smile at us and through us, from within our hearts and the glistening eyes of others. If we could only remember to pause from our busy lives and allow your smile to break through the walls we build around ourselves; if we could only remember to smile your sweet smile at everyone we meet, then we would feel yo

As we continue our Easter journey, I think it’s important for us to take a look at one of the most important figures in Christian history: Augustine of Hippo, or as I like to call him, the guy that ruined Christianity for 1500 years. Augustine’s ideas have nothing to do with Jesus Christ, yet they have formed the basis for almost all Christian thinking since the late 4 th Century. Augustine’s hypothesis is that humans are worthless pieces of garbage. Augustine made the doctrine of Original Sin foundational to his theology (what we think about the nature of God) and Christology (what we think about the nature of Jesus). The doctrine existed before Augustine—the first mention is probably by Irenaeus in the 2 nd Century, but nobody had ever taken it to such lengths as Augustine. His thinking is along the lines of the following: Adam committed a horrible crime against God by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for which humans were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. We can

God of glorious manifestation, we are eternally thankful for your constant presence in our lives. We are especially thankful for the way you provide us hope for tomorrow; for the enjoyment of friends; the joy of families; the wonders of universes too numerous to fathom; for those who have gone before us; love from our parents, sisters and brothers; love from our spouses and children; our faith and our church. [pause and make space for the quiet presence of God] In the quietness of this moment, matchless God, speak to our hearts. We long to know you completely and fully, so we might be carriers of light and love to the world. Give us the vision and faith we so desperately yearn for to trust your greatness and know, beyond doubt, that we are One. [pause and make space for the quiet presence of God] Human words and thoughts cannot explain you, fully understand you or limit you, but we strive to understand our understanding, and then we say in faith, "We believe." Honor us in

I’ve always found it useful to look for common threads weaving throughout the world’s religions. It seems that if a spiritual idea is common to a multitude of belief systems, then there is probably some great wisdom there. At the very least, religious commonalities reveal that in our quest to understand our place in the universe , we quite often come to the same conclusions. One such common thread is “The Golden Rule.” Every religion, theistic or not, includes some variation of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Check out the chart below ( click for a larger version ): If most religious systems agree that we should be good and fair to each other, why then do we so often attempt to annihilate each other, ostensibly in the name of our religions? I have two theories about that: First, many of the wars fought for “religious” reasons were (and perhaps are) political wars. On the ancient world stage, many of the states were theocracies. Emperors and kings were seen to be