‘Tis the season for the Tour de France. This is the legendary bicycle race throughout some of Europe’s most dramatically beautiful countryside. And just as the scenery is breathtaking, so is the riding. About 100 cyclists, at peak athletic ability, ride for twenty-one days, averaging around 100 miles each day, at speeds of 30 to 40 miles per hour. For the uninitiated, these are jaw dropping statistics, only achievable by the best of the best....
Some of you know I like to ride bicycles. And the people in this diocese may have heard a sermon or two from me in the past that has to do with the subject. For me, biking is about more than just transportation, and I’m sure the same is true for those of you with whom I share the hobby. It’s about exercise. It’s about being outside. It’s about personal challenge....
A couple summers ago my wife and I piled the kids into the minivan and headed West. It was to be our big vacation of the year – all the way to California coast. Why fly when the classic “road trip” offers so much more? More sites to see; more local cuisines to sample; more time together – the latter, of course, adding some emotional depth to the experience, one might say....
This week I gave a morning chapel talk to the student body at a local Episcopal school. It had been awhile since I had been in front of a large group of discerning teens, challenged not only to say something meaningful, but also to merely keep their attention as they groggily awoke to the day. I chose to tell the story of a recent winter fat biking expedition I had undertaken in the mountains near Yellowstone....
I first encountered Cynthia Bourgeault through her book, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening. I found it to be surprisingly rich, delving into the practice in detail, offering not only advice for practitioners of centering prayer but also nuanced commentary on the spiritual life in general. Her book, Wisdom Jesus, which I just finished, did not disappoint. Bourgeault once again discusses practices but spends more time building the case for a larger concept—drawn largely from apocryphal, early Christian texts and Eastern religious philosophy—that she feels ought to overlay one’s understanding of Jesus and the spiritual life....