There is another who wears our face. He rises before us in the morning and Speaks before we have a thought. He keeps our appointments, Answers to our names, and Carries around our favorite sins like relics. The old Germanic tales said that To see your double was to see your death. Perhaps they were right. Perhaps he is the death we have been living. Saint Paul called him the old man, The self we must put off, Forged from ten thousand small consents. He is a distorted copy of

Written on the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001 I. The morning the words ran out I made my living with words. I was trained as a journalist. I spent years in public affairs and crisis communication for energy and chemical companies, writing the sentences that get said when something has gone badly wrong. I studied how disputes are negotiated and how public arguments are framed. By the autumn of 2001 I was in Houston, teaching and advising at a graduate school of theolog

He was drawn from the water, and then Drawn into fire. We remember Moses, Who fled to Midian and Found on Horeb A bush that burned Without being consumed. Light without heat, Presence without possession. He led Israel through the sea As though it were dry ground, and Climbed Nebo To die within sight of a Promised Land he would not enter. Yet he entered. On Tabor he stood beside Elias In the uncreated light, His long waiting was fulfilled in Christ, Glorified and Transfigured.

Today, on Tabor, the Light that has no night, breaks forth. And just as the disciples fell on their faces in its presence (Matt. 17:6), our eyes are opened wide to the source and summit of our hope. You see, Tabor (Transfiguration) and the Upper Room (Pentecost) are ultimately two parts of one movement. On the mountain, the mystical Light shines on, and through, the Body. In the upper room, the Fire descends within it. Moses and Elijah reveal themselves as the confluence of f

Freedom is transfiguration The self ... Opened ... Illumined ... Indwelt by the ineffable God. On Tabor ... The veil between Heaven and earth thinned ... Christ was transfigured ... Apostles beheld uncreated light. The mystery's promise? Humanity's destiny ... Radiant with uncreated glory! Tabor's end and Upper room's beginning! Freedom is Pentecost(al) Winds blow while Hidden chains disappear Tongues of fire ... Set people ablaze. Contemplation stills the heart Confession un

Intercede for me and pray for my spiritual sons and daughters so that we may have a stable foundation of deep prayer and a ministry of healing the afflicted. Please keep me close so that I may have strength to walk with everyone who comes for confession and spiritual guidance. Thank you for teaching me about essence, energies, uncreated light, and the Jesus Prayer. I am especially grateful for your wise and holy counsel because it gave me a pathway to explain the divinely ins