Grace Talks by Philip Gulley

My husband just sent me the link to Philip Gulley's new website, Grace Talks. He's using it as a platform to talk about a "new Christianity" that he envisions. By the way, for any Gulley fans, he is currently co-writing a third book in the If Grace is True and If God is Love "series". The working title is something like If the Church was Christian.

If you've visited my blog before, you may remember that we've started attending Pastor Gulley's Quaker meeting this year. I just love his vision of Christianity.

I've been "off religion" lately

I received email today that someone left a comment on this blog yesterday. When I came to check it out, I realized I haven't posted since we got back from our last camping trip. And that was June 21. I haven't posted much for several months now and I fear some of my previously regular readers have fallen by the wayside.

For one thing, running two blogs is challenging. And frankly, right now, gardening has been my major focus. I started off the garden thinking it would be a preventative measure to ward off the depression that always hits me in the summer. (Long-time readers will remember my whining from last summer.) It has worked wonderfully. I have been so excited about working in the garden. Every day, first thing in the morning I go out to check on my garden and see how things are doing. It has been a terrific spiritual experience reminding me of the persistence of life, the balance of good and evil (particularly where insects are concerned), patience and acceptance. I have begun harvesting my summer garden and am in the process of planning my fall crops. If anyone wants to see what I've been up to, just visit my gardening blog for much more frequent posts with lots of pictures.

I have to admit, too, that another reason I haven't posted much here is that I've kind of been "off religion". I think the whole church split thing hit me harder than I thought. I am still grieving the loss of my UU church home while not yet feeling quite at home at the Friends meeting we'd begun attending. To be honest, we haven't been attending much this summer. With summer camps and family camping trips, we had scheduling conflicts. And then even on the weeks when we've been home, we've had trouble getting motivated to get up for the earlier (in summer) service. So we've stayed home. And I have kind of pushed religious matters from my mind.

But I am being called back in my own way. For quite a while now I've been interested in Contemplative Prayer. Basically, for those unfamiliar with it, contemplative prayer is Christian meditation - a practice of resting in God. Right now I'm reading a book by Thomas Keating called Open Mind, Open Heart about the process of centering or contemplative prayer. I believe I can re-enter religion through the personal experience of contemplation. Then I'll go where the spirit leads me.