On Sunday January the 14th I'll travel to the Midlands, North of Columbia to speak in Newberry, SC . This is my first venue of 2018 and I am in the process of arranging as many talks as I can through October to raise awareness of our work and promote the upcoming Parliament of the World's Religions in Toronto this November. If your congregation or other organization would like me to speak please send an email to [email protected]. 

First off, I need to say that my wife Chris, my 99 year old mother-in-law Robina and I are deeply grateful to all those with IPSC who so generously offered us shelter from hurricane Matthew. Of the six offers, we accepted the one that we did for reasons related to mom’s difficulty with stairs, etc. I did not realize until after we had arrived at the home of our hosts that I was within walking distance of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia where I was to speak the following Sunday. And that allowed me to make a poor joke “As I live in Bluffton, ordinarily I would have left at 5 am to drive here, but since it was a nice sunny day, I decided to walk.” Wonderful, welcoming and engaged congregation and I want thank Rebecca Drennan and Cheryl Soehl for the invitation to speak there.
 
But back to our accommodations. Our hosts fed, sheltered and entertained in the most gracious manner. My mother-in law-was as comfortable and as well taken care of as we could have hoped for. Our hosts were LDS, commonly known as Mormons, and as I grew up in that culture in Utah we had a lot to discuss. I was quite happy to find LDS participation in our organization and I must say that our hostess Deborah represents this faith in exemplary fashion. The LDS religion has a creed encoded in their 13 Articles of Faith, the 11th of which is “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” As open and willing to discuss religion as they were there was no proselytizing. All in all a most enjoyable visit and a kindness my family will long remember.
 
When Chris, mom and I returned home on Monday afternoon there was massive damage in our neighborhood, apparently a tornado cut a swath through as well as the destruction wrought by the howling winds of the hurricane. Our home was untouched, water and power working for which we are deeply grateful. Several days later we found that although the Port Royal Plantation of Hilton Head Island, where Chris' mom lives, sustained significant damage but her home suffered no damage either.

As Oprah and others often have said, there is no more important prayer than that of gratitude. Thank you!

This presentation arose out discussions I had with Franciscan Sister Annie whom I met at the Eldering retreat offered through Mepkin Abbey's Contemplative Aging Institute, under the direction of Father Guerric Heckel. The video and book were produced by Sister Annie's colleague Sister Kathleen Warren, OSF. I had the pleasure of meeting her at the Parliament of the World's Religions 10/18/15. The beautiful icon is the work of Franciscan Iconographer Br. Robert Lentz.

In the Footprints of Francis and the Sultan
Since September 11, 2001, violence between Muslims and Christians, who together make up more than 50 percent of the world’s population, has escalated radically. More than ever we need models for peacemaking and ways to educate one another on our common ground. Pope Frances took his name in honor of St. Francis and he has done a great deal to live up to that name. The Vatican’s Treaty with the Palestinian state is the most recent evidence of his efforts. This class will present a 44 minute video In the Footprints of Francis and the Sultan: A Model of Peacemaking and will be followed by a group discussion. This video shares the story of St. Francis and Sultan Malek al-Kamil and a little-known thirteenth-century peace initiative in the Middle East. In 1219 during the Fifth Crusade, Francis took it upon himself to cross battle lines and reach out to the enemy. These countercultural efforts of Francis, a simple friar, and Malek al-Kamil, the leader of the Muslim forces of the Levant, made these men most unusual in their time. This video examines their efforts on behalf of peace in order to help us, in our time, negotiate inter-religious misunderstanding and hostility, and other difficult encounters between conflicting peoples.

A presentation I developed out of a retreat I did at Mepkin Abbey on Contemplative Aging.

Love and gratitude to the awesome Rev. Jimmy Dale Worley for the opportunity to premier this talk at his HOUSE, where my many limitations are overlooked by loving and supportive friends... my talk has improved a bit since then. It was a great blessing to roll this talk out on my mother Colleen's birthday as she introduced me to Buddhism, Hinduism and various metaphysical topics before I was ten!

Thank you to Kimberly Heck, the Spiritual leader at Unity of Mt. Pleasant for the opportunity to spend some time with her little flock!

Thank you to my gracious friends at Unity Christ Church of Myrtle Beach for allowing me to speak before a dyn-o-mite SEE week! The lavender of the poster was to match their great website: http://unitymyrtlebeach.org/

It was a pleasure to speak at my home church, Unity of Hilton Head 05/15/16

Thanks to Naomi Frost-Hewitt to speak at her warm and engaged congregation 06/26/16.