Friday, October 25, 2013

Amos Smith, Interview #202

   
Name: Amos Smith

Where you live: Tucson, Arizona 

What you do as a vocation or avocation?
I have been a United Church of Christ minister of progressive churches for over 14 years. I am currently serving Church of the Painted Hills, UCC in Tucson.

I am also an retreat leader and author. My new book is entitled Healing the Divide: Recovering Christianity's Mystic Roots.

Your two favorite books:
There are so many that narrowing it to two is challenging. Yet, I could probably settle for A Hidden Wholeness by Parker J. Palmer and volume 2 or The Philokalia compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth, published by Faber and Faber.

Your two favorite songs:
"40" by U2 and "Mary" by Patti Griffin

Why you are interested in spirituality?
Spirituality is ultimately about intimacy with God. I believe we are all hardwired for intimacy with God and that mysticism is more common than many think. We were all mystics as children and have lost touch. When intimacy with God returns, usually through diligent spiritual practice, it brings abiding peace, joy, and fulfillment, beyond what transitory sensory experiences can bring.

Your favorite quote:
"It is in the paradox itself, the paradox which was and is still a source of insecurity, that I have come to find the greatest security." --Thomas Merton
  
Your favorite web sites:
Your hero?
Anthony of Egypt

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn?
Letting go

A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?" 
the Sonoran desert

Pictured above is Amos with author Father Richard Rohr, who writes the foreword for Amos' book.


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