Retreat

July 9, 2025

Avaunt!

Stepping back for a few days from my normal routine with its occupations and preoccupations left me unguarded and vulnerable. Plenty of distractions lay waiting to fill the void, including Ozzie (i.e., Ozymandias, from Shelley’s poem of the same name, [aka Trump]), and in they rushed. Abetted by a growing number of history lessons illuminating Continue reading

Ruminations

Lewis Mumford, Ozymandias, Retreat, sabbath time, Trump, vacation
August 11, 2024

Under the broom tree

It’s an ancient and deeply human question, as relevant today as when the psalmist put it into words three millennia ago. “When the world falls apart, what can the good hope to do” (Ps. 11:3 ICEL)? Or as Eugene Peterson paraphrased it in The Message, “The bottom’s dropped out of the country” and it seems Continue reading

Ruminations

bible, bread of life, broom tree, crisis, dream, Edgar A. Guest, faith, God, God’s whispers, Jeremiah, quietness, renewal, rest, Retreat, returning and rest, sabbath, sacred places, sacred time, sleep, Thoreau, trust, Wendell Berry, When Things Go Wrong, wilderness
February 11, 2024

To see and be seen

Some of you remember a television game show from the 1960s called To Tell the Truth. A guest with some unusual occupation or experience would appear with two impostors to be interviewed by four celebrities who tried to identify the authentic guest. After some questioning, the host would say, “Would the real [guest’s name] please Continue reading

Ruminations

a quiet place, Annie Dillard, describing a mystery, Francis Bacon, Jesus, Listening, memorable conversations, mystery, PhilipGlass, quiet, reign of God, Retreat, seven veils, Solitude, spiritual communion, the problem with listening, To Tell the Truth, who am I
June 12, 2022

Listening to the Spirit

The best place to start if you’re serious about living a Christian life is in a relationship with a spiritual guide or companion, someone who can listen deeply to you and help you explore your relationship with God. And the first and best spiritual guide we have is the Holy Spirit. Briefly, there are two Continue reading

Ruminations

action as spiritual practice, Christian life, discipleship, divisions, drawing water, Holy Spirit, hostility, Listening, living the gospel, reconciliation, Retreat, scripture, silence, spiritual companion, spiritual guide

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.

Retreat

Avaunt!

Under the broom tree

To see and be seen

Listening to the Spirit