The Sauntering Pilgrim

Notes, Ruminations, and Seeds of Contemplation

August 2022

August 29, 2022

Coming down to earth

Appearances are almost always deceptive. You need to look at a person very closely, with full attention and sometimes for a long time, to see the truth hidden below the surface. And a person’s truth is not found so much as it is revealed. In a congregation I served several years ago, there was a… Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, Antaeus, Bronnie Ware, confession, down to earth, downward mobility, expressing feelings, Five Top Regrets of the Dying, friends, God-nature, happiness, Hercules, humble, humility, mother earth, second half of life, spiritual birth, staying in touch, true to yourself, upward mobility, working hard
August 21, 2022

The call to stand tall

Today’s gospel (Luke 13:10-17) begins as a story about the healing of “a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years” (v. 11). It’s also a story about the need to look clearly at what’s happening in our lives, and about raising our vision so we might see something greater and live… Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, authentic self, church attendance decline, church is dying, church membership decline, civic engagement, dancing with God, dancing with the Spirit, dependence, disrupting normal, dreams, falling short, full potential, healing, hope, making all things new, possibility, prevenient grace, priorities, seeing clearly, self-awareness, social action, spirituality, woman in the synagogue
August 14, 2022

With the eye of the heart

After reading today’s gospel (Luke 12:49-56), I have a bone to pick with Jesus. I understand he might have felt frustrated with those who didn’t see what he saw, who didn’t understand what he understood. I imagine he might have wondered if he’d ever get through to the knuckleheads who wanted to be his disciples… Continue reading

Ruminations

born of the Spirit, hypocrites, identity, in a glass darkly, integrity, kingdom of God, mask, new birth, seeing, self-deception, spiritual blindness, Thomas Merton, transformation, what are you living for?, William Stafford

About Me

Rich Neal is, in no particular order, a wordsmith and graphic designer; lover of typography, books, and publishing; photographer; contemplative; saunterer; and a retired and still-active pastor. He claims neither special wisdom nor particularly deep insight into life, only occasional glimpses of what lies behind the veil along the way. He shares them here in the hope of connecting the pieces of life’s puzzle that come to him in the journey and would consider it a gift if sharing them also connected him with others who travel an unmarked path toward the same unknown end.

August 2022

Coming down to earth

The call to stand tall

With the eye of the heart