Reflexion, A Spiritual Community

Some time ago, I took a course in speed-reading We were required to practice every day for at least an hour - the only drawback–I chose to read books that didn’t interest me, so I wouldn't get distracted by their content • but going fast, I got nothing at all from them – I wasn’t reading, but just looking at words - later on I was exposed to a method of slow-reading • the purpose: to get as much as possible from what I read ◦ this applied specifically to reading the Scriptures ◦ the benefit i...

Friday morning, near the end of a long walk,I passed by a mother and her toddler son - he was on a small four-wheel bike, perfectly fitted to him • he was poised to move from asphalt to a dirt slope ◦ I said, “Looks like you’re about to go off-roading,” ◦ more for his mom’s sake than his • he looked at me with the most engaging smile ◦ it was the loveliest moment of my morning - I kept walking, but he didn’t take his eyes off of me • he turned his head as I passed, ◦ so I had to walk backward...

Imagine you're walking through an art gallery, and standing nearby is the artist whose work you admiring. So you point to an object in one corner of an especially beautiful painting, and ask the artist, "Why did you put this right here? What does it mean?" The artist--if a true artist answers, "Well, if I could explain it, I would not have had to paint it." You would get a similar answer from a poet, a composer, a sculpture, and most any other artist. "If I could explain it, I would not have ...

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read 1 and 2 Timothy Still, it was only a few years ago that two words snagged me - here in this passage, Paul refers to the Hebrew Scriptures as “the sacred writings” • I had always believed this regarding the Bible, but never in those precise words • the effect they had was to motivate me to meditate on them ◦ eventually, I spent nine weeks sharing with you what I learned - I’ve decided to tell you what these have done worked in my life since then • wh...

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Luke 2:10 Intro: So here we are again, with the angels and the shepherds I chose to read only these three verses, because the story is so well known - but w...