Reflection from DC

Lord, I am amazed at the diversity you’ve placed around us. I walk down the street in NYC and hear more languages than I can understand or name. Everywhere is a sea of faces no two of whom are alike. Even in suburban DC, a Korean woman is studying Chemistry at a table next to me. People outside greet by kissing each other’s cheeks three times. There is so much diversity in this world. So much I do not know or understand.

It is amazing to think of where we have been; from Rochester to Boston to New Haven to NYC. Each seminary we visited has its own distinct character, as does each individual on the street outside. Here we are people as different as can be and trying to make meaning out of our lives. Searching, loving, and crying along the way.

Kent and I have done a lot of reflection over these last ten days. I guess living next to someone for virtually every moment naturally leads to conversation and questions. I’ve realized (or had it pointed out to me) that I have a hard time admitting my mistakes. I have made a few I suppose. Seems human enough.

Yet admitting I was wrong is hard, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. We have this free gift called Grace. I find it easy to admit having stepped off the path in a global sense. Yet, when someone calls me out on a specific event, I shuffle my feet a bit. I feel like I’m not alone in this. My challenge is to really level with God, and to grab Grace with both hands.

Grace and Peace to you, Eric :p

It’s tragic that extremists co-opt the notion of God, and that hipsters and artists reject spirituality out of hand. I don’t have a fixed idea of God. But I feel that it’s us – the messed up, the half-crazy, the burning, the questioning – that need God, a lot more than the goody-two-shoes do. – Mike Doughty (from a Starbucks coffee cup – ironic huh?)