I got back in the saddle at Hillhurst United in Calgary. These folks have made me their “Theologian In Residence” for the next little while. We’re not sure what that means exactly, but we’re going to figure it out together. I offered a reflection on Pentecost Sunday, and came up (rather arbitrarily with seven marks…
Spirituality can be summoned as a substitute for trauma work. When this happens we develop a spiritual ego, little more than another defence against suffering what is ours to suffer. It’s a little harder to spot because it can present as calm, equanimous, wise, unflappable, smart, compassionate, etc. On the other hand, when we run…
While I was writing a chapter for my forthcoming book, Bone on Bone: A Clergyman Leaves the Church, Finds Psychedelics and Get His Life Back, it came to me that a human being’s core addiction is to the traumatized self. Trauma, along with our early childhood patterns of compensating for these failures of love give…
As We Forgive I attended Yom Kippur this past year, with my Jewish wife, Mia. It’s the holiest day of the year for Jews. My wife is Jewish. The theme is repentance and atonement for sin. These folks know how to do repentance. Three hours of singing about how they have hurt others through acts…
The Lakota chants are a summons to the warrior within. I am being recruited to walk the path of integrity, humility, and compassion. The medicine that is ayahuasca tea first brought me to my knees revealing the posturing of a false self, constructed to survive repeated failures of love in my early years. Now, in…