Back to School

It's September, and for us students and teachers, that means getting back to the work of teaching and learning.  For the past several years I have actively been and done both things, teaching in a small college as an adjunct assistant professor in Religious Studies, as well as crafting my doctoral dissertation on three texts that tell the stories of early medieval Celtic (and one Anglo-Saxon) saints.  Both endeavors are stimulating and inspiring, both get my intellectual juices flowing. And what's particularly fascinating is that in both settings I find, in Wesley's words, my heart strangely warmed.

Soul & Psyche 4: The New Sacred Awareness

David Tacey concludes his exploration of Jung, spirituality and religion with a short chapter which examines Jung's struggle over time to define his relationship with religion in general, and Christianity in particular.  It was in every way a vexed and painful relationship, covering two thirds of the twentieth century, a time in which religion and the life of the spirit were in great flux, certainly in the West, and arguably around the world.  We are living with the consequences of that flux today as the world writhes with the pain of racial, ethnic, and religious conflicts.  I think there are connections to be made, and I will attempt to make some of them here.

Learning Among Friends

As a lifelong committed Christian, one of the more fascinating aspects of my journey has been the time spent in conversation with persons of other religions, as well as with Christians who approach our common tradition with different perspectives.  Sometimes through books, sometimes face to face, I listen and share across beliefs. And almost always, the interaction has left me both richer as a human being, and more settled in my Christian path.

There was a time many years ago when I studied yoga with a teacher whose understanding of the spiritual underpinnings to yoga tradition was exceptionally wise.  I invited her to lunch one day and asked her to be my spiritual director, someone I could turn to when I needed wisdom and guidance. Turns out, that's not how she saw her role in other people's lives, so the arrangement didn't go forward, but I continue to cherish the experience of studying, and meditating, and chanting with her.

There was a long period of time in which I was closely connected to a Jewish man, one who took the historical and cultural dimensions of Jewish life very seriously. For a while he came to church with me quite regularly.  But much of the language in the New Testament struck him as anti-Semitic, and he seemed always to feel like an "outsider," even at our regular church. His discomfort made me very aware of the sensitive nature of religious language, and the need to be alert to meanings we may not always intend.

Introduction

Greetings, Friends and Companions on the road...

On a short walk in the woods this afternoon, I decided it was time to try my hand at blogging, and see if there's a way to fill in a hole.  The hole is this -- not enough women's voices reflecting theologically on the times we live in and how to live.  There are a few women whom I read and admire, and a few others that I know of and are happy they are out there, but not quite my cup of tea.  Overall, however, there just aren't enough women speaking up from a religious consciousness and commenting on, well, much of anything.

Who am I to start speaking?  A follower of Jesus the Christ, a wanderer among various denominations and communities, a student of the lives of Celtic saints of the 6th and 7th centuries, a teacher of world religions, a priest and (neo)monastic, a wife and sister and grandmother, one who is convinced that there is meaning to be found, and that one must seek diligently to find it. I pray and meditate, practice yoga and Reiki, and try to hold a bit of light out to others that they may find what it is they seek.