Tag Archives: Howard Thurman
Purity of Heart, Singleness of Focus
Simplicity Purity of Heart, Singleness of Focus Sunday, June 28, 2020 My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. —John 4:34 I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own… Continue Reading Purity of Heart, Singleness of Focus
Contemplation and Racism: Weekly Summary
Contemplation and Racism Saturday, June 13, 2020 Summary, Sunday, June 7—Friday, June 12, 2020 We are witnessing the results of centuries of unresolved racial violence in our collective body today. (Sunday) We largely do not recognize the structural access we enjoy, the trust we think we deserve, the assumption that we always belong and do… Continue Reading Contemplation and Racism: Weekly Summary
Devotion at the Center
Alternative Community Devotion at the Center Wednesday, June 3, 2020 As Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) observed, one of the most segregated hours in the United States still occurs on Sunday mornings when we attend church services. [1] Yet as early as the 1940s, African-American writer and mystic Howard Thurman (1899–1981) was seeking to build… Continue Reading Devotion at the Center
The Universal Pattern: Weekly Summary
The Universal Pattern Summary: Sunday, April 12 — Friday, April 17, 2020 Christianity can help us realize that death and resurrection are part of the evolutionary path toward wholeness; letting go of isolated existence for the sake of deeper union. –Ilia Delio (Sunday) It is largely after the fact that faith is formed—and gloriously transmuted… Continue Reading The Universal Pattern: Weekly Summary
Action and Contemplation: Part Three: Weekly Summary
Action and Contemplation: Part Three Summary: Sunday, January 19—Friday, January 25, 2020 The desert mystics’ primary quest was for God, for Love; everything else was secondary. (Sunday) This describes many Desert Fathers and Mothers: high states of union but low levels of cultural, historic, or intellectual exposure to coherent thinking. (Monday) The desert mystics saw solitude, in… Continue Reading Action and Contemplation: Part Three: Weekly Summary
Listening for the Genuine
Interspiritual Mystics Listening for the Genuine Friday, August 9, 2019 Anniversary of the Bombing of Nagasaki I’m encouraged by the rediscovery of the broad and deep contemplative mind, which for the first two thousand years of Christianity had largely been limited to monks, women religious, and mystics. It is not our metaphysics (“what is real”)… Continue Reading Listening for the Genuine
Being Christian
Mystic: Howard Thurman Being Christian Friday, July 26, 2019 Today I invite you to reflect on your own sense of identity—both as an individual and as part of a collective—as you read Howard Thurman’s thoughts on race and relationships: The burden of being black and the burden of being white is so heavy that it… Continue Reading Being Christian
Why Are You Here?
Mystic: Howard Thurman Why Are You Here? Thursday, July 25, 2019 Today, as you read this second excerpt from Howard Thurman’s book Jesus and the Disinherited, hold an open heart and mind. In other words, read with a contemplative stance. The meditation ends with a question that I’ll hope you’ll sit with—as Thurman and his… Continue Reading Why Are You Here?
A Subtle Peril
Mystic: Howard Thurman A Subtle Peril Wednesday, July 24, 2019 Howard Thurman lovingly critiqued Christianity, which has often ignored the direct teaching and witness of Jesus in relationship with those who are oppressed. This excerpt is from one of Thurman’s most well-known books, Jesus and the Disinherited. I think this message is important today and… Continue Reading A Subtle Peril
