Honesty alert! It would be a challenge for me to try to write a Lenten blog from anything other than a Christian perspective, since I have been a Christian my entire life. Yet my hope is that this blog will resonate with anyone who has felt like it is time to rise from the ashesContinueContinue reading “Lent 2021: From Ashes to Hope”
Author Archives: remcmahan
Groundhog Day Prayers
February 2, 2021 If you watched Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day in 1993 (can it really be that long ago?), then you know the premise—Murray’s character, Phil, awakens to the same day again and again and again. That is how my prayer life–not to mention my actual life–has felt during these long monthsContinueContinue reading “Groundhog Day Prayers”
Asking for Guides
Stand at the crossroads and look; and ask for the ancient paths where the good ways lies and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. Jer. 6:16 I enrolled in an online course this past fall that explored the interplay between contemplative practices, such as meditation and prayer, and the creative arts. WeContinueContinue reading “Asking for Guides”
Thoughts on the 2021 Presidential Inauguration
Yesterday, Inauguration Day here in the States, was, for me, a great release. I felt I was able to let go a burden of fear and anxiety and disbelief and confusion and hurt that I have been shouldering for the last four years. I recognize that many, many others feel very differently, and my heart holdsContinueContinue reading “Thoughts on the 2021 Presidential Inauguration”
When the Light Goes Out
For the first time in my life, I have a “Winter Tree” in my home. After removing the Christmas ornaments, I felt a deep yearning for light and more light and was resistant to taking down the tree. A friend of mine suggested that I replace the ornaments with snowflakes to make the tree seasonal,ContinueContinue reading “When the Light Goes Out”
When There are No Words
As we continue our journey, it seems, in a way, like a lifetime ago that Jan. 6, 2021, happened, instead of five short days. Perhaps that is how time manages nightmares. Yet each and every image haunts me, much like two burning skyscrapers on Sept. 9, 2001, still haunt me almost twenty years later. IContinueContinue reading “When There are No Words”
A New Year’s Litany for Light
Journeying forward together, we rely on the wisdom of ancient practices and guides. For those not familiar with the word, a litany is an ancient prayer form composed of a series of petitions/requests usually followed by a communal repeated refrain. As we cross the threshold into the unknowns of 2021 and leave behind what, forContinueContinue reading “A New Year’s Litany for Light”
Miltose and the Light
Some fifteen or so years ago, I was fortunate to travel to the island of Lefkada, off the mainland of Greece, with a group of good friends. Lefkada, then, was still a mostly rural part of Greece where the village women wore black shawls and carried firewood on the backs of donkeys and the menContinueContinue reading “Miltose and the Light”
Communal Light
An old, old story goes like this: Once upon a time, a young king desired to build the biggest, most magnificent, cathedral in all of Europe. He spared no cost in workmanship and in construction, and people came from far and near to watch the progress. Gold, marble, frescoes, mosaics, silver, the finest woods—all ofContinueContinue reading “Communal Light”
The Vespers and a Poem for Advent
Many of us are familiar with the Advent hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, composed as we know it in 1861 but with roots sunk as far back as the Roman Catholic monastic life of the 8th century. Not as many of us are familiar with the ancient O Antiphons, on which the hymn isContinueContinue reading “The Vespers and a Poem for Advent”
Spirit Reflections 