Melanie Rigney, Interview #177

Name: Melanie Rigney

Where you live: Arlington, VA

What you do as a vocation or avocation?
By day, I work in marketing for the federal government; at night and on the weekends, I write, primarily in the Catholic space for Living Faith and Your Daily Tripod. I’m also the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics (23rd Publications), a book for parish leaders, and am working on a sequel for people who have been away from Catholicism.

Your two favorite books: 
In Search of Belief by Joan Chittister and The Spiritual Life by Evelyn Underhill in the spiritual realm; secular, Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner and A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.

Your two favorite songs: 
Mysterious Ways by U2; The Servant Song.

Why you are interested in spirituality? 
I was away from the Catholic Church and a relationship with God for most of my adult life, from shortly before I turned 16 until I was 49. I’ve tried life without a lot of God and faith community, and it wasn’t miserable, but it’s so much easier when you have both. The value of faith in some form cannot be overestimated in our lives. Allowing a higher power to love us and move within us and change us can’t be beat.

Your favorite quote: 
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well” from Julian of Norwich.

Your favorite web sites: 
I’m at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (www.usccb.org) Web site daily, as well as www.yourdailytripod.blogspot.com, for which I’m a columnist. Also enjoy www.sacredspace.ie.

Your hero? 
My great-grandmother Johanna Swierbut Organist. She left Poland when she was 22 with little command of the English language and became a domestic in an iron mining/lumbering town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Within two years of her arrival, she had married my great-grandfather, gave birth to my grandmother, and with her husband had bought a farm about 12 miles from the town where she’d been working. She didn’t see any of her Polish family for nearly 20 years after she left, and never saw her parents again. She was feisty and hard working and didn’t take a lot of time to feel sorry for herself when things went wrong. I think about her when I feel overwhelmed or challenged.

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn? That God loves us just the way we are, flaws and all.

A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?"
The Oahe Dam near Pierre, South Dakota. I’m a South Dakota native and lived in the Pierre area for a couple years. You drive up some lonely roads, filled with beautiful bluffs, and come upon the winding Missouri River. It’s a peaceful place; sometimes, the only noises you’ll hear for an hour or more are the chirping of the birds and the sound of the turbine. It’s a moving example of how we as people at times harness nature… and yet, at the end of the day, we can’t control it or permanently change it.

Leslie Leyland Fields, Interview #176

Name:  Leslie Leyland Fields

Where you live: Kodiak Island, Alaska

What you do as vocation or avocation: 
 I’m the author of seven books; a columnist and contributor to Christianity Today magazine; a speaker; a mother of six; and I work in commercial salmon fishing.

Two favorite books:  Frederick Buechner’s novel Godric and Eugene Peterson’s five-book series on spiritual theology: Tell it Slant, Eat This Book, Christ Plays in a Thousand Places, The Jesus Way, Practice Resurrection

Two favorite songs:
Joan Baez singing The Byrds “Turn, Turn, Turn” [To everything there is a season...]
and  Bach’s Double Violin concerto (I know. No lyrics to this “song”---yet!)

Why are you interested in spirituality?
For the same reason I am intensely interested in science and beauty and the intricate workings of all this world. I see the presence of spirit in all things, and know that everything good has somehow come from God. If I am to begin to understand anything of human existence, I must pursue the visible and invisible. If I am to begin to understand anything of God, I must pursue the visible and invisible. When we divide and dissect the world, separating spirit from body and spirit from matter, we do violence to what is real. Wholeness is possible; healing and reconciliation between people, between people and God, between people and the earth---all this is possible, at least in part.

Favorite quote:
He who learns must suffer
And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget
Falls drop by drop upon the heart,
And in our own despite, against our will,
Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
                             ---Aeschylus (from Agamemnon)

Favorite websites:
http://www.utne.com/ (The Utne Reader)
www.christianitytoday.com
www.rottentomatoes.com
And, my new blog, Far a-Field Notes, because I’m having so much fun with it

Your heroes?  
 My brother Todd, William Wilberforce, Flannery O’Connor.

A Spiritual lesson you hope to learn:
I hope to see God’s radiance and goodness in all things and in all people, and to write about it in the most beautiful language I can find. This is not easy for me—either the seeing or the writing! I have a  naturally critical spirit that needs to be humbled and poisoned—by love and by the truth. Here is the truth: so much mercy has been shown to me, I am a debtor to all.

A Place I feel spiritually connected: 
Among the lovely sinners and saints in my new church and out at our fish camp, Harvester Island, a small one-mountain island off Kodiak Island, inhabited by just my family and I.  There we are intensely alone, together, among ocean, whales, falcons, mountains, storms, sea lions; among grandeur and loneliness I sometimes glance the visage of God.

Editor's Note: Leslie is author of numerous books, she's also a speaker, a professional editor, and a columnist for Christianity Today. You can see her memoir Surviving the Island of Grace: Life on the Edge of Wild America here.

Her sites are: www.leslieleylandfields.com and www.leslieleylandfields.blogspot.com

Katherine Willis Pershey, Interview #175

Name: Katherine Willis Pershey

Where you live: Western Springs, Illinois

What you do as a vocation or avocation? 
I’m the associate minister of First Congregational Church of Western Springs and a writer. I just published my first book, Any Day a Beautiful Change: A Story of Faith and Family.

Your two favorite books: 
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson and Sensual Orthodoxy by Debbie Blue.

Your two favorite songs: 
“Beautiful Change” by The Innocence Mission and “Jesus in New Orleans” by Over the Rhine.

Why you are interested in spirituality? 
The biblical witness that we “live and move and have our being” in God resonates with me. In the same way that I try to pay attention to my daughters’ growth and the turning of the seasons, I also long to pay attention to this God who is love and home and radical presence.

Your favorite quote:
“Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand of it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.” Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.

Your favorite web sites: 
GoodReads (GoodReads.com) and The Young Clergy Women Project  (www.youngclergywomen.org).

Your hero?: 
I haven’t really thought of her as a hero, but I’ll say Fidelia Gillette, who was one of the first women ordained to serve as a minister. She’s the inspiration for Fidelia’s Sisters, the publication of The Young Clergy Women Project. I am deeply grateful to all the women who had the courage and vision to hear and respond to God’s call. I have it incredibly easy as an ordained female minister, but this has not always been the case.  

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn? 
How to pray. I’m a beginner, always a beginner, when it comes to prayer.

A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?" 
I have felt spiritually connected in the sanctuaries of the congregations I’ve served as a minister. There’s no place I’d rather be on a Sunday morning but in church, worshipping God with my community of faith.

Jamie Moffett, Interview #174

Name: Jamie Moffett

Where you live: Philadelphia, PA USA

What you do as a vocation or avocation? Documentary film director

Your two favorite books:

 Life of Pi, Brave New World

Your two favorite songs:

"Everlasting Light" by The Black Keys, "Airbag" by Radiohead

Why you are interested in spirituality? 

As someone who identifies as Agnostic & a documentary filmmaker, I'm interested in those kinds of things you "just can't put your finger on". Faith & politics are tough topics, but important to keep talking about in the hopes of an increased understanding.

Your favorite quote: "Imagination is more important than knowledge" Albert Einstein

Your favorite web sites: netflix, hulu

Your hero? Too many to count

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn?

How to communicate the similarities of faith perspectives to groups who have trouble seeing anything other than their perspective is "the right perspective".

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

Editor's Note: Jamie's website, where you can learn more about his independent films is: http://www.jamiemoffett.com/

Charles Cannon, Interview #173

Name:  Master Charles Cannon

Where you live:  Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia

What you do as a vocation or avocation?  Modern Spiritual Teacher

Your two favorite books:  

The Play of Consciousness by Swami Muktananda

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

Your two favorite songs:  

Ave Maria

Blessed Mother… A Thousand Names. 

Why you are interested in spirituality? 

Because it’s the experience whose time has come for me. 

Your favorite quote:  “There is only one.” 

Your favorite web sites:  www.synchronicity.org

Your hero?  The fully enlightened Master.

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn?  To fully be.

A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?"  The shrine of my very own heart.

Master Charles Cannon is a modern spiritual teacher and founder of Synchronicity Foundation for Modern Spirituality. He is the author of the new book Forgiving the Unforgivable. 

www.forgivingtheunforgivable.com

James Heinritz, Interview #172

Name: James Heinritz

Where you live: Singapore

What is your vocation or avocation: 

Commodities trader by vocation, 

TCM doctor by avocation and training

Your two favorite books: 

     The only book I read on a regular basis is the Bible. After 19 years of dedicated Buddhist practice, I had an epiphany while attending my (now) wife’s church.  In that moment, I realized the Dalai Lama was right when he said in 2001 at a talk in Salt Lake City : “I do not encourage you to become Buddhist. In fact, I suggest against it.  Instead, you should follow the religion you grew up with.  I am Buddhist because that is the religion I grew up with.” I have studied with many great masters in the Far East, and to my amazement, I found my resting place back in the church. 

     For me, there is no conflict switching from one religion to another.  It’s like switching languages in a conversation; or climbing the same spiritual mountian, taking different paths to reach the same summit.  Each path has its own challenges and rewards.  The point is to be on the path that is right for you.

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

My book of the moment, and a great read on the power and value of ensuring the most essential steps are performed in times of danger, confusion and absent-mindedness.  The author is a surgeon who has spent the last 3 decades championing the use of checklists in surgical wards with remarkable results.  I’m studying this for application to rural clinics supported by the non-profit I run in China called Dorje Association.

Your favorite songs: 

Don’t Worry, Be Happy – The Secret of Life.  Spiritual masters the world over say the same thing. 

Somewhere Over the Rainbow – sung by Israel Kamakawiwo’

Amazing Grace

Why are you interested in spirituality: 

How else to make sense of life on planet earth?  We are spiritual beings inside physical bodies.  Accepting this unlocks our minds to understand that we are not of this world, but in this world.  We are not our bodies, we are not our minds, we are not our emotions, we are not our jobs.  We are something far greater.  What you do once you figure this out - that is the true dance of life.

Your favorite quote:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."   -  Mark Twain

Your favorite websites:

google.com

dorjenet.org - Dorje Association’s website

Your hero(es): 

Jesus – the light and the way

Dzogchen Rinpoche – leader of Dzogchen Monastery in eastern Tibet which has grown and thrived under incredibly difficult circumstances

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn:

To let go and let God.  Trust in His provision.

Where in the world do you feel "spiritually connected":

Primeval forest:  Big Sur.  Dzogchen Monastery, eastern Tibet.  The Ojibwa Indian reservation in Shawano, WI, the last significant stand of virgin forest in the United States.

Shauna Niequist, Interview #171

Name:  Shauna Niequist

Where you live: outside Chicago

What you do as a vocation or avocation?  Writer & mother

Your two favorite books: Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies & Hemingway's A Moveable Feast

Your two favorite songs:  Brandi Carlisle's The Story, Civil Wars' Poison & Wine

Why you are interested in spirituality?
Because I believe that the divine is apparent all throughout our daily lives--in the faces of people we love, in the broken and beautiful moments that make up our lives.

Your favorite quote:  
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no 'brief candle' for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."  --George Bernard Shaw

Your favorite web sites:  Ordinary Courage

Your hero?  My parents.

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn?  Rest.

A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?"
Around the table with people I love, or on the water.

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."--George Bernard Shaw

To read more of Shauna's writing, blog, and books, please visit her site: www.shaunaniequist.com