You may have seen me at the center. I come down from Green Bay on occasion and offer a class here or there. Last summer Kelly was cleaning and preparing the center for guests, for the opening of A Place To Be Spirituality Center. One day I came to give her a hand. Walking into that home, now the center, I felt a sense of safety and a sense that love resided there. I was put at ease. I feel that same sense of comfort each and every time I enter that sacred place. The center has become my home away from home.
 
This Saturday, May 11th from noon till 2pm, I am coming down with a group of drummers.  We are not professionals. When I first joined the group, I knew nothing about drumming, was afraid to try, and couldn’t hold a beat to save my life. The group welcomed me in and taught me a few simple beats. It didn’t take long and I was drumming along with the rest of them. Our drum circle is made up of people from all walks of life and diverse talents.
 
On Saturday we will teach you a few beats if you are not familiar and invite you to join in at your comfort level. And, if you feel comfortable, you can teach us a few beats! If you have a drum, a flute, a ukulele, a singing bowl, or whatever, you can bring it along. If you don’t, we will have lots of drums and percussion instruments for you to try out. This is a light-hearted group with no agenda except to have fun together.
 
Drumming is another way to communicate with each other, a sacred song. As we drum our hearts begin to beat together. We naturally join together in community. There are no mistakes or off-beat drummers. Every tap, every breath, every heartbeat contributes to the song! 

Every once in a while, I get asked to tell my story – folks want to know how it is that I came into this ministry.  Though the question seems straightforward enough, the telling of that story has been an evolving process.
 
The stories we receive from our family, faith traditions, culture & society become the lens through which we view our lives; they have tremendous power over us, both consciously and unconsciously.  Mine was one of broken family relationships, abusive situations and painful rejections.  I saw my life through the lens of my anger and pain, and the tale I told reflected that.
 
I began to heal from the wounds of my childhood and grow in emotional and spiritual maturity (thanks be to God!), but the narrative stayed the same.  One day, I started listening and found I didn’t like the story being told.  I was stuck, imprisoned by the negative feelings and memories.  I wanted to be free; I wanted to share my journey in a new, more positive way.  The facts of my life hadn’t changed - the bad things that happened were still bad and the wounds hadn’t gone away - but I realized that I wanted to tell it in a way that was healing and restoration. 
 
With the help of friends, I began reframing and retelling until my story went from a tale of brokenness and abuse to one of transformation and redemption.  The facts and events, once the main theme, became part of a bigger story, a bigger narrative that led me here, to this ministry.  I find that I really like this version of my story.
 
What is your story?  How well does that story suit you?  What is the story you desire to grow into? On Saturday, May 5th, join us for a day of reflection.  Step into the Story of Your Life is an opportunity to reflect on, share, and vision the next step in your story.  Join us as we attend to “the story that holds us” then move to construct “the story we hold,” then awaken to the realization that “we are being held.”  I hope to see you there!

You can learn more and register here.

​Last night at the Center, we watched the movie With One Voice, a documentary that explores the unity of humanity, reveals our essential oneness and spreads the single message that binds all faiths together.  Spiritual leaders from 15 different religious traditions were invited to share their experiences of the Divine and how their particular religious tradition taught about peace and love, especially in relation to our world.  One overarching theme was spoken over and over again:  we are all part of the same oneness.  Regardless of your skin color or religious affiliation, we all experience anger, shame, frustration and stress.  We all feel love, compassion, gratitude and awe.  These experiences and feelings are universal among all human beings and transcend differences that really exist only at the surface level.
 
This message resonated deep within me – it seems every book I read or speaker I listen to or webinar I watch lately alludes to this same message – we are one.  We are one.  We are all spirits seeking connection to something bigger than our small selves and the small world we confine ourselves to.  We are all seekers mining for meaning in a senseless world of consumerism, rampant tribalism, and runaway abuses where we are battered by both natural and man-made disasters and acts of violence.  We are all yearning for the same peace in our lives.
 
When I reflect on things this way, I can very easily tire of how our religious institutions, including the Catholic Church, spend an enormous amount of time and resources defining our separate identities and separating ourselves from each other.  Just as division and tribalism are the addiction of our society, our religious institutions thrive on defining identity and narrowly focusing in on praxis unique to our specific traditions as if that alone defines who we are as Catholic, Lutheran, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.  If Jesus’ teaching is so countercultural (as we believe and teach), why do we fall prey to the cultural tendencies of division and separateness?
 
Because of my recent reading, viewing, and watching, I believe that a different dialogue is taking place beyond the borders of our churches.  I see a movement toward embracing the one universal truth as a starting point for inter-spiritual relationship. By focusing on what we all have in common and how to nurture and cultivate that awareness rather than that which separates us, we grow relationships and community.  The very energy around this more accepting and inclusive spirituality feels softer, gentler, more loving than the energy in our faith communities today. 
 
Make no mistake, I love my Catholic faith and community.  My spiritual identity and experience of the Divine is deeply rooted in the Catholic traditional.  But as we, like most religious traditions, grapple with our struggling communities, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we shifted our focus away from solidifying our Catholic identity toward recognizing our universal identity as children of the Creator.  I wonder what would happen if, instead of the us-versus-them approach to evangelization, we banded together as believers of one Divine being with one voice, worked together to bring more love into the world.  Now that truly would be countercultural.