Thoughts on a Contemplative Reformation
At the Intersection of Contemplative Practice, Poetic Imagination, and Congregational Ministry
Fresh ink Oh to be alive now and keep my eyes open-- and my beating heart-- to what is being written like marks on a scroll, unfurled all around us, with words and images in bold, fresh ink that try to describe what we are sharing in these days, struggling to keep up with... Continue Reading →
Something has shifted Something has shifted, slipped suddenly into a new position, a new angle within my soul and the soul of all of us-- maybe we’re beginning to remember that this is real? Something has shifted as I walked today with my wife and we looked ahead of us and we... Continue Reading →
Intimate Things Happen in the Darkness A Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent 2020 The Rev. Dr. Stuart Higginbotham For a long time now, I have kept a practice of having paper and pen on the shelf by my side of the bed. Very often, I wake up in the middle of... Continue Reading →
Contemplation and Resilience: Deepening Awareness to Embrace Transformation Invitation: A guided retreat for clergy and parish/community spiritual leaders from diverse denominations and ministry contexts seeking insights and tools for vocational balance and transformative next steps in the midst of anxiety, fear, and fatigue. This conversation is shaped for those in leadership roles who yearn for... Continue Reading →
The Transfiguration A Mirror of the Soul The Rev. Dr. Stuart Higginbotham And Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. From the outset, the story grips us, and we know something significant is going on. If we’re paying attention, our hearts... Continue Reading →
Mepkin Abbey On the Feast of St. Agatha I finished my boiled egg and toast and slipped out the refectory door for Communion, walking purposefully slow to give my eyes a chance to fall where they would fall, on the ancient oaks and Spanish moss draped like memories over every available branch. At... Continue Reading →
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. ― Rumi Given the anxious and confusing times we find ourselves in, how can we, as people of faith, engage on the level of our hearts? How can we foster... Continue Reading →
To compost is to pray To compost is to pray, a coming-together of things: To see, to understand where things return is to see, to understand, where things come from. The earthy wisdom in the awareness of the connection of all things can transform our hearts--and thus the world. SH 1/20/2020
That holy void If I can so empty myself of myself-- that smallness constructed around my fears of never being understood of never being enough of never being-- if I can so empty myself of that self perhaps when others encounter--me?-- they will meet not that edifice, that construction, against which they may clash,... Continue Reading →
At the Right Angle: A Photo Essay on Light and Refraction Stuart Higginbotham “Dad, go out the front door and look to your left.” Evelyn and Lisa had not been in the car for two minutes, heading to school, when they called on the phone. At first I thought Evelyn had forgotten her shoes again. ... Continue Reading →
Thoughts on a Contemplative Reformation 