by Susan McCaslin “What is this Joy? That no animal falters, but knows what it must do?” from Come into animal presence, Denise Levertov (Poems: 1960-1967) On Dec. 27, 2015 our five-year old mini-Australian shepherd Penny was brutally and instantly killed by a truck before my husband’s and my eyes. The incident was an accident, […]

 by Susan McCaslin This posting originally appeared on the Cascadia Poetry Festival’s website. “You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will be as one.” – John Lennon from “Imagine” The Cascadia Poetry Festival in Nanaimo, British Columbia (April 30-May 3, 2015) […]

 by Susan McCaslin This posting originally appeared on the blog of Inanna Publications at http://www.inanna.ca. The word “religion” can generate more hostility than the other words embedded in the title of this piece, and perhaps rightly so. People mistrustful of religion examine history and notice how many of the major religions have been and continue […]

By Michael Schwartzentruber I was walking to a party that was being held at the saloon as part of the recent Faith Forward 2014 Conference, in Nashville. I had just crossed an intersection about three blocks from the front door when a homeless guy who had been crouching by the side of a building asked […]

by Robert V. Thompson Several months ago, the school clerk at the McNair School in Decatur, Georgia, was unexpectedly greeted by a gunman who approached her desk.  The first words out of his mouth were, “I don’t have any reason to live and I know I am going to die today.” Antoinette Tuff admits feeling […]

by Bruce Sanguin This posting originally appeared on Bruce Sanguin’s blog IfDarwinPrayed.com. Visit his blog for more postings, webinars, and podcasts on Evolutionary Christianity. When I was in seminary during a year long internship in Milton, Ontario, I’d slip over to the Acorn Cafe for an egg salad sandwich.  On one occasion I was reading […]

by Susan McCaslin Today I want to reclaim the use of the word transcendence. I also want to reclaim my love of the sensual world. Transcendence for me used to signify above, away, outside, Spirit, separation from matter. To transcend was to move beyond tawdry things like compost, fights with annoying neighbours, or family turmoil. […]

by Susan McCaslin From the moment I heard poet Robin Blaser lecture in my first graduate course at Simon Fraser University in 1969, I was drawn like a moth to the strings of a piano, to borrow a metaphor from his well-loved “The Moth Poem”: The moth in the piano will play on frightened wings […]

by Robert V. Thompson It’s no overstatement to say that children love magic. Kids love to see rabbits pulled out of hats, people being sawed in half, and birds flying out of the magician’s sleeves. When I was a kid I loved magic too. My parents gave me a magic kit one Christmas. In it was a […]

by Robert V. Thompson A number of years ago I had an opportunity to do something I had always been curious about – go to a psychic and get a reading. After a friend sang the praises of a psychic named Tomeiko, I decided to go. As I entered her house, Tomeiko instructed me to […]