Choosing light over darkness

Awhile back, I told my optometrist that it’s getting harder for me to read and to do things around the house. She said, “You may need more light.” She was correct. Better lighting helps. Sometimes, when I get discouraged, the whole world seems dark. But, darkness has always been a problem.

In 1944, Reinhold Niebuhr wrote The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. Our biblical ancestors believed the first words of the Creator were, “Let there be light.” The early followers of Jesus saw him as, “the light of the world.”  Advent reminds us to look for light when it’s dark.

A bishop’s grandchild wanted a globe for Christmas. The bishop bought one and was there on Christmas morning to see the grandchild excited to find a globe under the tree. But, the child seemed sad and the bishop asked, “What’s wrong?”  The child said, “I was hoping it would have a light inside.” 

The bishop learned that a lighted world costs more–the light of hope, peace, joy and love.

Our visit to Selma on Friday to meet the Buddhist monks on their Walk for Peace reminded me that the Christian monk Thomas Merton (1915-1968) worked for Buddhist/Christian dialogue, including conversations between monastic communities within the two traditions.

I’ve met some Foot-Washing Baptists, and now I’ve met a Foot-Washing Buddhist. The water must have felt good to Aloka’s tired paws. The joy on the monks faces tell me they understand how Aloka feels. (Photo posted yesterday, December 20, 2025, on The Walk for Peace Facebook page.)

Selma crossing

On December 19th, the Buddhist monks’ midday stop in Selma included a walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where the crowd paused to pray for peace and to toss flowers into the Alabama River.

Signs of foot care by a barefoot monk and a “Walk for Peace” sign held by a monk wearing walking shoes. The tent was at downtown Selma’s Riverfront Park near the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Aloka keeps a watchful eye on the crowd and Selma’s mayor as the monks and friends move from Riverfront Park to the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the Mayor’s proclamation, as the monks continued their journey across the bridge toward Montgomery.

Below is a brief video of the Walk for Peace monks leaving downtown Selma via the Edmund Pettus Bridge after receiving a proclamation of welcome and blessing from Mayor Johnny “Skip” Moss, III.

Vehicle traffic was stopped on the eastbound lane to make room for the walkers.

Back home, Cathey and I showed Friar the strings tied to our wrists by the monks as we pondered our solidarity with their journey. Their reception has been warm, as has the response to news coverage. One dissenter was negative, saying the walk took attention away from Jesus. I don’t think Jesus would have criticized the monks. Most of his criticism was toward those in power. I think Jesus would have welcomed and encouraged the monks. I think he would have shared a meal with them and walked with them.

A trip to Selma

Cathey has been tracking two dozen Buddhist monks making a Walk for Peace from Ft. Worth to DC. Today (Friday) we drove 80 miles south to Selma’s Riverfront Park, near the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

When we joined the festive gathering, the first member of the entourage I spotted was Aloka. To avoid any potential disruption, Cathey kept Friar in the back of the crowd.

Soon, the monks tied string bracelets on the wrists of those who desired as a symbol of solidarity with the monks’ journey.. 

The monks and Selma’s Mayor Moss led the crowd to the west entrance of the bridge. Cathey’s caution was confirmed as Aloka began barking at another dog that ventured too near his venerable pack.

At the foot of the bridge, Mayor Moss read a proclamation of welcome and blessing for a peaceful walk. Brewster LeNoir, who had driven to Selma from Bolivar, Tennessee, inquired about my Lambuth University baseball cap (now Lambuth Campus of the University of Memphis), and said, “Do you know Frank Lawrence?” As we exchanged stories about our mutual friend, we noticed some in the crowd looking at us. We realized we had been a bit too exuberant, so we adopted a more reverent tone.

The monks offered a prayer and blessing and proceeded across the bridge for the next leg of their eastward journey. I took my last photo of the bridge by the tent of a friendly vendor named Columbus, who welcomed me to Selma and sold me a John Lewis tee shirt.

Our Selma excursion ended with dinner at the Valle Grande Mexican Grill, just north of Selma.

More photos and reflections tomorrow.

A reverential critique

Last night I watched the Presidential Address. This morning, several critiques of the speech and related events of the day were fair and accurate, providing: the historical context (Heather Cox Richardson), the immediate relevance (Robert Hubbell), and the long-term implications (Heather Delaney Reese).

Oddly, an extraordinarily relevant companion to these critiques was a Daily Meditation (written long before last night’s speech) that provided an unintended reverential critique that helped me understand the speaker and myself. Barbara Brown Taylor quoted Paul Woodruff:

Reverence stands in awe of something—something that dwarfs the self, that allows human beings to sense the full extent of our limits—so that we can begin to see one another more reverently as well. An irreverent soul who is unable to feel awe in the presence of things higher than the self is also unable to feel respect in the presence of things it sees as lower than the self.

From “Reverence for Reality,” a Daily Meditation, Center for Action and Contemplation, drawn from several sources (Victoria Loorz, John O’Donohue, Barbara Brown Taylor and Paul Woodruff), December 18, 2025

A Walk for Peace

Our friend Rita Clagett told us Buddhist monks would walk through Alabama on the way from Texas to Washington, DC. In Jackson, Mississippi on December 10th, they walk 20 miles a day. Last night (the 16th), they slept at Essex House South (formerly John Essex High School) in Demopolis, Alabama.

The photo above is from their Facebook page, which includes daily updates. Their path covers some holy ground of earlier walks, including Selma, Lowndesboro and Montgomery. Their reception has been peaceful and gracious. We plan to be part of Alabama’s hospitality later this week.

Their journey conveys a simple blessing: “May you and all beings be happy and at peace.” The Huong Dao Center/Temple has served a largely Vietnamese American community for 26 years. The photo below is from an article about the October 19 send-off in Fort Worth.

From “Buddhist Monks Begin Pilgrimage for Peace from Texas to Washington, DC,” by Justin Whitaker, BuddhistDoor Global, October 28, 2025

Awe and wonder

From Richard Rohr:

I believe the … foundational spiritual intuition is … awe and wonder. ... When awe and wonder are absent from our life, we build our religion on laws and rituals, trying to manufacture some moment of awe. It works occasionally, I guess. …

… The Western mind almost refuses to be in awe anymore. It’s only aware of what is wrong, and seemingly incapable of rejoicing in what is still good and true and beautiful. The surest way out of that trap is through a new imagination and new cosmology….

… Healthy religion, which always makes space for Mystery, gives us a foundational sense of awe. It re-enchants an otherwise empty universe. It gives people a universal reverence toward all things. Only with such reverence do we find confidence and coherence. Only then does the world become a safe home.

From “Are We Open to Awe?“, by Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, Center for Action and Contemplation, December 14, 2025 (Photo by Mieke Campbell, 2021).

Finding our way

Does this era of rapid change on many fronts–such as technology, communications, geopolitics, US governance, business trends, religion, and social relationships–leave you feeling confused, angry, fearful or hopeful? Maybe some of each?

Many folks in my world find today’s rapid change to be confusing, exhausting, sometimes terrifying and sometimes exhilarating. There’s a monk inside me that wants to withdraw from the news and from engaging political or social issues. But there’s another monk inside me ready to take action.

Gordon Cosby (1917-2013) tried to balance the journey inward (of prayer, meditation, contemplation, mindfulness or quiet time) with the outward journey (of engaging the world for the better). Cosby believed our best outward engagement comes from the depths of our journey inward.

In case you missed it:

A gentle flow of news intake is easier to digest than a firehose. Trusted sources help me be more focused and less confused. Yesterday’s post by Heather Delaney Reese about gun violence helped me ponder the Second Amendment in light of the word “musket.”

From “Gordon Cosby: Pastor, Mentor, Social Activist, and Visionary,” Jubilee Housing, December 11, 2024 (a reflection on the 50th anniversary of Jubilee’s founding).

Even After Everything

On the third Sunday of Advent many congregations light a “Candle of Joy.” Advent is a “pause button” amid a long business season called “Holiday” that includes Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year, etc. We begin hearing Christmas music long before Christmas Day.

Advent reminds us not to hurry through pain, conflict, difficulty, doubt. Advent encourages us to take whatever time is necessary to sit with our hurt, to be with the hurting, to let healing happen.

Stephanie Duncan Smith (editor, mentor for writers, author of Even After Everything: The Spiritual Practice of Knowing the Risks and Loving Anyway) contributed Friday’s Daily Meditation at the Center for Action and Contemplation, entitled Advent Heals the Hurt. She describes the grief of her miscarriage, which happened a few days before Christmas:

For the first time in my life, I did not go to the Christmas Eve service. I couldn’t stomach that kind of joy…. I couldn’t participate straight-faced in this remembrance of the ultimate pregnancy narrative, this birth story to end all birth stories, in which God made it from embryo to first howling breath—but my daughter did not.

From “Stephanie Duncan Smith on Grief During Advent,” a 90-second video clip by Premier Christianity magazine, via Facebook. For more, see “An Evening with Stephanie Duncan Smith: Even After Everything,” a 52-minute conversation at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, Harrisburg, PA, via YouTube.

Friday morning

Thursday was busy, with limited time for the news. The headlines were discouraging, with Congress failing to take constructive action on health care. But, Friday morning began with an encouraging Daily Meditation, which I will share tomorrow. That meditation was followed by several encouraging summaries of significant Thursday events of national importance.

So, in case you missed it:

Heather Cox Richardson noted that after the disastrous start of a nationwide tour to assure Americans that the Republicans are focused on bringing down costs, (quoting Politico) “the White House is looking to send surrogates like Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the road … to carry the message of affordability to the American people….”

Robert Hubbell said, “On Thursday… swamped by the backwash from the GOP’s ‘flood the zone’ strategy…. the tide turned, and (the administration) was buffeted by a series of losses that had long been in the making and were sorely overdue.” He cited some of the day’s critical events around the country, concluding: “If we can increase the scale, volume, and passion of the resistance, we can help ensure that Democrats have a governable margin in the House beginning on January 3, 2027.”

Heather Delaney Reese ended a summary of Thursday’s events with her view of patriotism: It’s about shared purpose. Shared responsibility. Patriotism is about building something stronger together, not tearing each other down. We are the United States, not the divided ones. And no matter how loud the voices of hate become, they do not get to define us. Real patriotism isn’t isolationism. It’s showing up. It’s caring for your neighbor. It’s believing that this place can still be better than what it’s become. And that belief, even bruised, even tired, is how we carry hope forward.

From “Competing health care plans fail in the Senate as ACA premium hikes loom,” by Saige Miller, NPR, December 11, 2025.

Universal health care

Alabama doesn’t have party registration. On primary day, voters can take a Democratic or a Republican ballot. I resist being called a Democrat for the same reason Dorothy Day resisted being called a saint. She said, “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.”

Party affiliation aside, I get lots of email solicitations from various candidates and organizations within the Democratic Party. Political fundraising is a huge business. They seem to have the same basic scripts. My favorite: “Is there ANYTHING we can say to convince you to make a contribution?”

Yesterday, I received an unusually specific email about health care from Mark Warner, the Democratic candidate running for re-election to the US Senate from Virginia. He wrote, in part:

You couldn’t create a more opaque health care system than the one in the U.S. No one pays more for less than we do.

And when we’re facing an urgent affordability crisis, it’s unconscionable to me that 48 of my Republican colleagues just voted against the simplest and easiest way to ensure millions of Americans don’t face skyrocketing insurance costs next year.

But let me also say this: extending the Obamacare tax credits is at best a short-term solution to a larger problem.

It’s become obvious to me that in order to have a sustainable system, we have to have universal health care, so that we don’t focus only on who has coverage, but put our focus on bringing costs down for everyone.

Folks who have known me for a while understand that I haven’t always felt that we needed universal coverage – I thought the market would solve the coverage problem – but our economy and the way we work is changing. Most Americans no longer hold the same nine-to-five job for the majority of their careers, as they have in decades past. We have seen exponential growth in people starting or working at small businesses. Many people work as contractors. Many Americans have side hustles, gigs, and second jobs to cover their bills.

However, what I have seen is that it’s time to move past the unhelpful partisan fights over coverage and pieces of the Affordable Care Act and move towards a system that cuts out the middleman, guarantees health care coverage no matter your employer, and ensures Americans are not deciding between paying for food on the table or covering their monthly premiums.

The path forward won’t be easy. Huge systemic change like this doesn’t happen overnight. And frankly, it will require bipartisan leadership, deal-making, and consensus-building.

It’s a tough job – but one that I am ready to lead.

This is the kind of leadership I’ve been hoping to see from the Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, across the aisle, in case you missed it:

From “Concepts of Health Care Plans → Humiliation Trying to Pass Them,” by Joe Perticone, Press Pass (a newsletter from The Bulwark), December 11, 2025.