April 24, 2024

God covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills. … God gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens when they cry.

~ Psalm 147

Somewhere John Muir wrote “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was going in.” As I write, I’m just in from a trail run up to Mt. Oglethorpe on a day of cerulean blues skies and spring breezes. The view from Eagle Rock was lovely, and reminded me of an annual trail run with friends in Colorado, near the confluence of Rocky Mountain National Park and the Roosevelt/Comanche Wilderness Area. An alpine start and half day’s climb to Comanche Peak (12,700’) reveals the crenellated waves of mountains from Wyoming to the north, and the San Juan’s to the south and west. Last year, an unusually heavy snowpack remained well into July. Daily visitations from moose, deer, raven and peregrine falcons—and, based on tracks around the cabin, brown bear enlivened and blessed our sojourn here in the lovely Pingree Valley. And indeed, in going out, I found myself going in, both here in the lovely Southern Appalachians, and in the Colorado Rockies. But what might “going out and going in” mean? Why did Muir find such inward solace outdoors?

Each year for 30 years I have gathered in wilderness settings with friends from Vanderbilt,

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April 17, 2024

“The physical structure of the Universe is love. It draws together and unites; in uniting, it differentiates. Love is the core energy of evolution and its goal.”

~ Teilhard de Chardin, Human Energy

One of my favorite professors at Vanderbilt University was Dr. John Compton, who taught courses in the philosophy of science, hermeneutics, and phenomenology. He was a brilliant teacher whose father, Arthur Compton, was a Nobel Laureate who worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, where John attended High School.

John encouraged us to engage in the dialogue between science and religion, ask tough questions, and enjoy and explore the ambiguous spaces in between. We read Thomas Kuhn’s book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) which challenged the view of scientific discovery in which progress is generated and accelerated by a particular great scientist. Rather, Kuhn suggested, new discoveries depend on shared theoretical beliefs, values, and techniques of the larger scientific community—what he called the “disciplinary matrix” or “paradigm.”

Building upon this, feminist scholars identified attitudes towards gender and race as among those shared values and beliefs, and suggested that we need to question the way in which histories of science recount who does what, and who gets credit. Evelyn Fox Keller, writing in her book Reflections on Gender and Science, suggested that science is neither as impersonal nor as cognitive as we thought.

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April 10, 2024

Lent and Easter arrived early this year, and so this “liminal” in-between, threshold season came at a time of transition for us at Holy Family as well. The sequence between Christmas and Lent was compressed and, in some ways, seemed hurried. I was grateful for spiritual disciplines and restorative niches not necessarily dependent upon the liturgical calendar, as these can nurture and sustain us no matter what the lunar cycle (on which the Easter schedule depends) may tell us!* 

Truth told however, I felt a bit disoriented myself, juggling a busy clinical practice, family and teaching commitments, and turning my attention to serving Holy Family as part-time, interim priest in charge. And so, when I arrived at Grandview Nursing facility in Jasper last Wednesday, it seemed as though only a few days ago we were there for the wonderful Christmas sing-along and gift distribution we offered last December. 

And what a joyful day that was! Thanks to the hard work of the choir and outreach committee—and others like me who tagged along—we sang Christmas carols, provided cookies, punch, and assorted other goodies, and distributed gift bags to each resident. As I made my way down the halls to take gifts to those room-bound souls unable to sing with us in the cafeteria, I was so very grateful for the privilege of being among those representing Holy Family as the Body of Christ in the community. Some of the residents in those halls were asleep, and it gave me a grin to think that when they awoke,

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April3, 2024

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” ~Meister Eckhart

Grace and peace to each of you, in this Eastertide season, and a deep bow of gratitude to each of you for a wonderful Holy Week! Easter Sunday was simply magnificent. Thank you, Holy Family, for the grace and hospitality extended by everyone!

Over the past 8-10 days, I’ve enjoyed a kind of “second autumn” while running on the local trails. The lovely Beech groves deep in the forests of our neighborhood, especially on longer runs where I reach the spot pictured below, are an opportunity to pause, and pay attention. And this in turn is an occasion to attempt what I’ve learned from many on from my journey in Christian centering prayer and Buddhist mindfulness practice: show up; pay attention; speak my truth (and this can be a deepened, inner self-awareness); and let go of attachment to things I cannot control. The last step, as we know, can be in relation to an infinite variety of issues, including addictive behavior of various kinds, and is at the heart of any 12-step journey. It is at the heart of the Serenity Prayer.

Trail running in the woods near our mountain home continues to teach me to let go of attachment to things I cannot control, and this has in turn had application in many areas of life.

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