Weekly Messages
Confession: It’s Good for the Soul (2)
We continue our introduction to the ancient practice of confession; rooted in the ancient virtue of humility. (Next week we'll get to the practical how-to's.) We human beings are in a protracted struggle with existential shame, and before we even get to the issue we...
Confession: It’s Good for the Soul (1)
For those present on Sunday, I didn't use the word "confession" until the last few sentences of the lesson. We have such a limited, skewed, and religiously ritualized idea of what it means, I wanted to tell a story first. I told the community about one of my own...
Easter 2012
Today, we celebrate this seminal day in our tradition. As always, we take some dimension of our Story, and rehearse it together. Today, we talk about what our early ancestors; those first to experience live-beyond-life. Have a listen, Doug
A God Big Enough Not to Bore Us (3)
We conclude this application of the ancient virtue of humility by thinking about God in a way that has less potential to bore us. As we've said, as soon as we reduce the un-reducible God to an image in our minds, we inevitably create a God that is not worthy of our...
A God Big Enough Not to Bore Us (2)
Continuing from last week... Humility is a precursor to awe and wonder which in turn, awaken us to a God too big to be reduced into a mental construct. This, it turns out, is a recipe for a religion that inspires us, surprises us, and draws us into the Way, Truth, and...
A God Big Enough Not to Bore Us (1)
Humility, it turns out, is a precursor to awe and wonder. Awe and wonder, it turns out, awakens us to a God too big to be reduced into a mental construct. This, it turns out, is a recipe for a religion that inspires us, surprises us, and draws us into the Way, Truth,...
The Art of Humility (2)
The word "humility" comes from the Latin word "humus," which means "dirt," or "earth." To be humble is to be connected to the earth; to our earthiness and creatureliness. Absent this, we end up carrying a load we cannot carry; it all! Rather than expanding our...
The Art of Humility (1)
If our souls were gardens, we just finished a lesson on weeding them. Today we turn to a lesson on fertilizing them. How do we nurture the true-self? I hesitate to use the word "humility" (as you'll hear), because of how it militates against our American...
Toxic Hurry: The High Price of the Unexamined Life (6)
As we conclude this part of our lesson on toxic hurry, we look again at how our American culture makes us vulnerable to the temptation Jesus warned us about in the parable we're unpacking. We conclude by a bit of review of these six weeks, but some concluding remarks...
Toxic Hurry: The High Price of the Unexamined Life (5)
Avarice... Impatience... Un-chastity... These words describe spiritual illness. We know that. What we often don't know is how our own history and society as Americans embeds these character flaws deep in our national psyche. We don't see how they drive us to the...
Toxic Hurry: The High Price of the Unexamined Life (4)
As we're unpacking Jesus' parable about people who missed Divine Life because they were in a hurry, we're looking at several ways our own culture trips us into unexamined hurry. There's a powerful economic engine vested in making you want things, and making sure you...
Toxic Hurry: The High Price of the Unexamined Life (3)
Philosophical pragmatism was hammered out by a bunch of really smart guys in Cambridge, Mass. in the late 1800's. It has become such a successful, American philosophy that it often bleeds out of the area in which it is so fruitful and effective, into other areas of...
Toxic Hurry: The High Price of the Unexamined Life (2)
Pragmatism: if it works, it must be good. Who would argue with that? However, when we think about making it the central organizing value in our lives (as many Americans do), there are some pretty negative, unintended consequences. If we want to not miss the party...
Toxic Hurry: The High Price of the Unexamined Life (1)
We begin a new lesson today that will take several weeks. We begin with Jesus' parable about a man who invited a bunch of people to the party of their lives, only to have them miss this golden opportunity because of pragmatic concerns in their lives. Unexamined lives...
What Kind of God Do We Have? (2)
Last week, we looked at how our different views of God affect the kind of Christianity we live. Today we take a deeper look at the implications for spiritual fervor in the emerging worldview. Have a listen, Doug
What Kind of God Do We Have? (1)
Scripture gives us mixed messages about God. On the one hand, it tells us stories of a God who is knowable and known. On the other, it tells us God is beyond our capacity to know, contain, or comprehend. For centuries, we Christians have given our focus to the...
What Has Made NRCC Precious
We've had an influx of newcomers this year, so I'm spending a bit of time recounting the things that have made the experience of our community precious to us so we can continue to share those things together as more people become part of us. Have a listen. Doug...
Examen of Consciousness
This is such an important practice. I hope you have a listen. When our view of God changes, our view of prayer changes. Many simply stop praying... stop having a devotional habit. But that's just not good for our souls. Better is to go back through history and...
Stirring Up Gratitude: Thanksgiving 2011
Gratitude changes us. It makes us happier, healthier, and better people. In this lesson we cite both the ancient wisdom, and current double-blind studies. You'll be convinced that gratitude will make your life better. However, it's not easy work. It's tough! So,...
Our "Identities" and How We Look at Scripture – Robin Camu
A special message by Robin Camu Our personal stories influence how we interpret scripture. We need to get rid of our first (false) identity, good or bad. In fact, our "good identity" may be more detrimental because it takes us longer to get to the end of ourselves...
Community Making (2)
1 Timothy 6: 7-10
Community Making (1)
The third ancient practice that helps us defy the crazy-making power of money is community making. The link between community-making and being free of money's crazy-making power is not immediately obvious, so it requires some background. This lesson may stretch your...
The Ancient Practice of Giving (2)
Giving as a means to receiving... Sounds like it misses the point, doesn't it? But that's what we're saying in this lesson. The proscription of the ancients to be givers has a way of rewiring our instincts; breeding humility and self-forgetfulness, and guiding us,...
The Ancient Practice of Giving (1)
I've heard sermons all my life about giving. It's one of the better-known spiritual practices. However, I usually heard the sermon in pretty concrete terms. Give and you will receive... in kind. Give money, and you'll see how God or the universe is generous with your...