The Sauntering Pilgrim

Notes, Ruminations, and Seeds of Contemplation

Isaiah

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
December 7, 2025

Hard choices

We live on the horns of a dilemma. On one hand is the opportunity and responsibility to cultivate the best of the past and continue to harvest its rich blessings. On the other hand is the opportunity and responsibility of God’s invitation through the prophet Isaiah, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the… Continue reading

Ruminations

Advent, change, choices, church finances, cost of ministry, doing a new thing, endowment funds, financial stewardship, Habakkuk, hard choices, hope, Isaiah, loss, trust in God, trust in the future, trust in the past
August 10, 2025

On being tired of waiting

I am so tired of waiting.Aren’t you,for the world to become goodand beautiful and kind?Let us take a knifeand cut the world in two—and see what worms are eatingat the rind.—Langston Hughes I’ve been tired of waiting – haven’t you? – for the world to become good and beautiful and kind, tired of waiting for… Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, affordable healthcare, destination addiction, God’s will, Godot, heaven, homelessness, hospitality, hunger, injustice, Isaiah, Jesus, Julius Caesar, kingdom of God, Langston Hughes, livable wages, oppression, reign of God, rich and poor, social justice, Vladimir and Estragon, waiting, Waiting for Godot, what are you living for?
March 17, 2024

Theophanies

Last Tuesday, Craig Muir had just left his house for a morning walk when he spotted in the distance, in the middle of nowhere, a silver monolith protruding from the ground. There was no clue how it got there or what it was doing in that spot. “To look at it,” Muir said, “you could… Continue reading

Ruminations

2001: A Space Odyssey, Abram, Annunciation, Come and find the quiet center, Damascus Road, distractions, Eli, Elijah, Gabriel, Isaiah, Jacob, Jesus’ baptism, Mary, messages from God, messenger from God, monolith, Moses, sabbath, Samuel, Shirley Murray, St. Paul, theophanies today, Tramsfiguration, whispers of God

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.

Isaiah

The best part of us

Hard choices

On being tired of waiting

Theophanies