Meditations 4 Misfits

This is the fifth chapter of "What the Dying have Taught Me about Living." Blessings, Fred

This is the fourth chapter of "What the Dying have Taught Me about Living." Blessings, Fred

This is the third chapter of "What the Dying have Taught Me about Living." Blessings, Fred

This is the second chapter of "What the Dying have Taught Me about Living." Blessings, Fred

This is the first chapter of "What the Dying have Taught Me about Living."

This podcast is a lecture Fred gave on February 19, 2025 at Southern Oregon University. It was part of a series for the campus theme of "Unveiling Reality." This presentation was titled, "Peeking Behind the Veil: Some Random Thoughts on How Religion Helps Shape Our Experience of Reality."

This is Fred's last Sunday Sermon as interim pastor. The theme is how should we live? "What is your life? You are a mist, a vapor, that appears for a little while and then disappears." - James 4:14

In this podcast we reflect on the message of John the Baptist as recorded in St. Luke's Gospel, chapter 3:1-6. In our consideration of these words, we run into religion's dirty little secret. "If you have forgiven yourself for being imperfect and falling, you can now do it for just about everybody else." - Richard Rohr

This reflection explores an apocalyptic saying of Jesus found in St. Luke's Gospel, 21:25-26. Apocalyptic is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE). But as the poet Christian Wiman reminds us, "The revelation we need is not ultimate but intimate.”

This podcast offers a reflection for the Christian Feast of Christ the King. As we consider what kind of King Jesus is, and what his Kingdom might be like, we are confronted with our concepts of real power. “This is the mystery of love. Power kills. Weakness creates.” – Henri Nouwen

In this reflection we follow up on a theme introduced in last week's reading from Hebrews 11 and consider what it means to feel like "exiles." Our passage this week is Psalm 137, a very dark psalm, in fact it is a song of lament. “The true Good News is that God works in bad news.” – Robert Farrar Capon

In this meditation based on the Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 11, we consider the impact others have on shaping who we are and who we become. When asked what the inspiration for his unique approach to sculpting was, Michelangelo stated that he looked to find the beauty already inside the stone, and he wanted to set it free. His work with chisel and hammer was one of liberation. He didn’t create masterpieces—he set them free.

This meditation is based on the words of Jesus found in the Gospel of Mark 10:35-45, where Jesus shares with his friends the criteria for greatness. “It is standing in the world with head erect, solidly rooted in the knowledge of who we are, facing the reality that surrounds us, and responding to it from our hearts.” - Henri Nouwen

This podcast offers a reflection on the episode with the rich young ruler recorded in Mark 10:17-31. In this passage Jesus teaches that for us to live a fully engaged and robust life, now, we may have to let go of what currently brings us security in an insecure world. "Die before you die, so that when you die, you won't die." - an Arabic saying

This podcast offers a reflection on the last question we will explore in our series of The Questions Jesus Asked. This one comes from Matthew 6:27, "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" In this passage we may even discover an antidote to our preoccupation with worry. "What worries you, masters you." - John Locke

This reflection on the question Jesus asked in John 21:15, "Do you love me?" offers an insight into how God works to help us re-write our life-limiting stories. What if God doesn't want to rub it in, but rather, rub it out?

This podcast offers a reflection on the famous story of the woman caught in adultery as recorded in the 8th Chapter of St. John's Gospel. We suggest there is nothing that brings God greater happiness than helping us re-write our life-limiting stories. "Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover, or drunk. It doesn't matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again , come , come, to hope." - Rumi

This podcast offers a reflection on the question Jesus cried out in Matthew 27:46, "My God my God, why have you forsaken me?" Instead of trying to figure out why this happened, maybe it is better to see this question as an aid to answering how we should navigate our own times of suffering.

This podcast offers a reflection of the encounter Jesus had with the Gadarene Demoniac as recorded in Luke chapter 8. Jesus asked him and us, "What is your name?" "The soul wants to tell us the truth about ourselves." - Parker Palmer

“My idea of God is not a Divine Idea. It has to be shattered time after time. God shatters it Godself. God is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of God’s presence?” - Clive Staples Lewis