Weekly Messages
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...
The Ancient Practice of Watchfulness (2)
About 1000 years ago, the Christian Church split into the Eastern Orthodox church and the Western, Latin church. There were a lot of political squabbles behind the split (called The Great Schism), but the main reason had to do with two fundamentally different...
The Ancient Practice of Watchfulness (1)
We're still on the lesson "Defying the Crazy-Making Power of Money," but we're moving now to the practices the ancients have given us to defy that crazy-making power. Today we begin looking at the ancient discipline of "watchfulness of thoughts." It's the means by...
Defying the Crazy-Making Power of Money (3)
During these introductory lessons in our "Crazy-Money" lesson, we've seen sometimes amusing examples of how money-troubles are usually heart-troubles, and how money-obsessions are a portals into the condition of the soul. Today, we finish looking at the variants of...
Defying the Crazy-Making Power of Money (2)
We continue looking at how our quirky ways about money can act as a portals into an understanding of our hearts. For a long time our nation's economic situation allowed us to satisfy our thing-obsessions when they came up. We didn't call them "obsessions," we called...
Defying the Crazy-Making Power of Money (1)
We begin a new lesson today about how money makes us crazy... or how it reveals the crazy we already are. If you've been following the news, you realize that anxiety is in the air during these economically troubled times. We're afraid. We're angry. We're churning and...
9/11: The 10-Year Anniversary
Today, we revisit a lesson given 10 years ago, in the raw aftermath of the terrorist attacks on our nation. In it, we conclude that in a world of transience and trouble, the question before us is how we shall live. Nobly. Honestly. Graciously. From our Divine...
The Power of Our Words
Words are more powerful than we often consider day to day. We use them, the ancient proverb teaches us, to bless, or to curse. In this lesson, we look at some of the ways our words can bless, and stir ourselves to use our words to better the lives of those around...