The Sauntering Pilgrim

Notes, Ruminations, and Seeds of Contemplation

Antaeus

August 23, 2026

The best part of us

What is the best part of you—the part that feels most like who you really are? What is the truest, strongest, most alive part of you? When life falls apart, what is the part of you that keeps going—the part you and others can count on? Eugene Peterson paraphrased one of today’s readings this way:… Continue reading

Ruminations

Antaeus, Babylon, Babylonian exile, community, David Steindl-Rast, faith, God, Isaiah, Israel’s exile, Jesus, love, reconciliation, relationships, Saint Paul, Why Statement
November 10, 2024

After the election, what next?

Regardless of how you voted Tuesday, and no matter how energetically we may disagree with each other about the issues at stake in the election, I believe there are at least two things about which we can agree. First, we still need to live with our neighbors in a healthy relationship, no matter how they… Continue reading

Ruminations

Antaeus, community, conflict between God and Satan, cosmic forces, creative engagement, divisiveness, dualism, feeling powerless, good and evil, healthy relationships, Hercules, leaving the country, listening to those who disagree, living in harmony, love your enemies, national integrity, new creation, paradise restored, political strife, post-election opportunity, post-election stress disorder, post-election wisdom, presidential election, reconciliation, right and wrong, Trump’s election, unmet expectations
May 5, 2024

Grounded in love

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Isa. 30:15). For as long as I can remember, those words from Isaiah have spoken to me at some deep level, and my appreciation of them continues to grow and deepen. Mind you, I don’t yet fully understand… Continue reading

Ruminations

abide in my love, Antaeus, come home, Dorothy, golden future, golden past, Hercules, homecoming, love one another, my heart’s desire, New Jerusalem, parable of the great banquet, prodigal son, returning and rest, Trip to Bountiful
April 14, 2024

You got anything to eat?

I’m not sure the resurrection appearances of Jesus are all that helpful. It’s not that they’re unimportant; on the contrary, they’re central to Christian faith. But sometimes they pull us into such a rarefied frame of mind that we risk losing touch with what the resurrection is about. The mythical giant Antaeus was invincible as… Continue reading

Ruminations

Antaeus, doubt, greatest hope, greatest need, Hercules, Jesus, most urgent question, resurrection appearances, resurrrection, the risen Christ
August 20, 2023

God beyond our sanctuary

When despair for the world grows in meand I wake in the night at the least soundin fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,I go and lie down where the wood drakerests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.I come into the peace of wild thingswho do… Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, amazing faith, Antaeus, Canaanite woman, change, comfort zone, favorite place, heritage, home, how to be church, peace, safe place, sanctuary, The Bear, The Peace of Wild Things, Wendell Berry
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
May 22, 2022

First the silence

“For everything there is a season,” the Teacher wrote, “and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccles. 3:1, 7b). Following the murders at Tops Market last Saturday, it still feels to me like a time to keep silence – a time to “‘be still,… Continue reading

Ruminations

a time to keep silence, advice for children, after religion, Antaeus, carpe diem, Elijah, Fred Rogers, God in community, God works for good, God's purpose, God’s temple, God’s will, Hercules, How Firm a Foundation, listening to God, look for the helpers, memento mori, mystery, New Jerusalem, number our days, perspective on life, seize the day, shooting at Tops Market, silence, tempus fugit, the shortness of life, why bad things happen, William Alexander Percy

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.