Paying Attention on Purpose My favorite definition of mindfulness comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn, professor emeritus of medicine and creator of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn says that mindfulness is: “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally … ...

Moving Into Covenant I want to send a big “thank you” to all of you who took time out to participate in one of our Covenant Team’s small group listening circles. These groups were an opportunity for the team and I to get a snapshot of the congregation’s attitudes about and readiness for a covenanting process. ...

(Reverse) Resolutions Happy New Year! It’s an arbitrary arrangement of time, but much like the winter solstice it arrives with a promise of renewal and return, an opportunity to try something new, or break patterns and habits we’d rather leave behind – what I like to call “the Great Cosmic Do-Over.” Historically, these intentions for growth and change ...

STALKING THE WILD CHRISTMAS TREE Confession time: I don’t like autumn. There’s less daylight. The garden is naked. My mood seems to worsen as the air chills. By daylight savings time, just getting out of bed has become an Olympic event. I am not always a gold medalist. Some days, I don’t even pass the qualifying ...

Saying Grace Growing up in a Catholic family, my parents did what they could to instill a sense of reverence and a prayer life in us. We had a bedtime prayer routine, and we said grace at any meal we sat down together for at home. When my brother and I were youngest, the grace before ...