News From New Mexico
Learning How to See Nature | Season 7 Wrap-Up of “Learning How to See”
How do you connect to Divine wisdom through the natural world?
In season 7 of Learning How to See, Brian McLaren invites listeners into a transformative experience, exploring ways to help our hurting planet and offering hope for a more balanced future. This season is a continuation of the themes explored in season
Carmen Acevedo Butcher Ph.D. Joins CAC’s Core Faculty!
July 23rd, 2025
We're honored to announce our newest member of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC)'s core faculty — Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Ph.D.!
Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Ph.D., is an award-winning translator, author, educator, and poet. She teaches in the College Writing Programs at UC Berkeley and is our newest
Deepen Your Spiritual Practice this Summer | The News from New Mexico
Expand your spiritual practice this summer with these resources from the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC)! Our monthly newsletter, the News from New Mexico, shares details about offerings designed to deepen prayer practice and strengthen compassionate engagement in the world.
These upcoming experiences
A Home for My Loving Action
July 18th, 2025
For most of my adult life, I’ve struggled to find a political home where my faith is welcome and a faith community where my politics are welcome. In recent years, however, I’ve found a home for my loving action in the faith-based anti-war movement, specifically the Palestinian solidarity organization Jewish Voice
The Storm
July 18th, 2025
And he arose, and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, ‘Peace, be still.’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” —Mark 4:39
As I was giving a talk earlier this year on my book Chasing Peace, I was asked what advice it offered for coping with a political crisis.
The question was
Allowing the Work to Be Done
July 18th, 2025
These days, loving action looks like scribbling phrases and images on receipts and colored index cards. It looks like wearing pink earplugs while mining old journals, writing in multiple notebooks, and studying the flow chart on my bulletin board. It looks like dancing to upbeat songs to shift my energy to writing
Following Divine Guidance
July 18th, 2025
In August 2020, I received an email from a close friend and mentor asking me why I was retiring in the midst of the COVID lockdown. A good mentor always knows how and when to poke you. I called him and listened as he shared a suggestion for me—to apply to become the executive director of a soup kitchen. A
The Compassion Tree
July 18th, 2025
“The canyon is burning. Evacuating now. Please send prayers,” wrote a friend over text during the start of the LA fires.
Los Angeles is my home, and the LA fires destroyed over 10,000 of them. They also burned up almost 100,000 acres of land, ruining the homes of the coastal live oak and palm, raccoon and
James Finley on Being Salt and Light
July 11th, 2025
In this video — which includes a poetic reflection on Jesus as the light of the world — James Finley offers up a new perspective on our 2025 Daily Meditations theme Being Salt and Light.
“You are the generosity of God, the song that God sings.”
—JAMES FINLEY
This teaching from James
Meister Eckhart | Season 7 Wrap-Up of “Turning to the Mystics”
How do you access the innermost chambers of your heart?
In season 7 of “Turning to the Mystics” James Finley and Kirsten Oates turn to 15th-century German mystic Meister Eckhart for spiritual guidance. Throughout this season, James works with Eckhart's sermons, discovering how one might integrate his mysticism