On the Brink of Everything
Spiritualities for the Ages and Stages of Life
On the Brink of Dying
February 19, 2023
We live in a society that does what it can to distract us from the inevitable: that our lives are limited and we will one day die. Yet in remembering our mortality, we are invited to truly live, to begin our eternal life now. In living, we are, each of us, on the brink of dying.
On the Brink of Being
February 12, 2023
We live in a culture that favors action and production. The very way we define our success or failure as an economy is by measuring our “gross domestic product.” As we approach the brink of everything, we might become less able or less interested in doing. What might it mean for ourselves and for our society to value being as much as doing?
On the Brink of a Legacy
February 5, 2023
As we get closer to the brink of everything, we might start to ponder what we will leave behind once our earthly story is done. How will we be remembered? Will we have moved the needle toward what we long for the world to be? Like the people of Israel, we want to leave behind a monument of stones to let those behind us know that we, and God, have been here.
On the Brink of New Generations
January 29, 2023
Psalm 145 proclaims “One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.” We so often view generations besides our own as suspect, yet each generation has wisdom to share with those who come after and those who come before. How might we share our wisdom with one another?
On the Brink of New Horizons
January 22, 2023
Not only is the world changing fast, the rate of change is increasing. We wake up to headlines unimaginable just a few years ago. After decades of, for many, prosperity and security, the future seems uncertain. How can we prepare for what lies ahead? We lift up our hands with Ezekiel and cry out “O Lord you know!”
The View From the Brink
January 15, 2023
In the preface to his book, On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old, Parker Palmer writes: Every day, I get closer to the brink of everything. We’re all headed that way, of course, even when we’re young, though most of us are too busy with Important Matters to ponder our mortality. But when a serious illness or accident strikes, or someone dear to us dies—or we go to the class reunion and wonder who all those old people are—it becomes harder to ignore the drop-off that lies just over the edge of our lives. Over the next few weeks, we will turn to wisdom ancient and contemporary and in between to take stock of and look out from the place in life we currently find ourselves and ponder what the future might hold.