Anticipating Mysteries Rev. Dr. Jim Sherblom December 9, 2018 Good stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. They often begin by setting a context, tell what happened, and end by explaining what it means. However, what actually happened was probably chaotic, disjointed, and with many mixed meanings and messages; which is somewhat unfulfilling in the telling. An oft told story is polished over the years and decades of retelling, becoming far more interesting and meaningful in the process, even while departing further and further from what actually happened. For such stories we need not ask, is this how it actually happened, it’s not, but rather, ask what does it mean, is it in some sense true? It often is deeply true and can be life giving. Christianity began as mystery cult passing down oral traditions about Jesus and his teachings. Decades later, Christians wrote down gospels, not as history or biography, but rather to help initiates find salvation. This morning I’d like to take you on a magical mystery tour of the gospel …

Yesterday was a blustery day. I was driving in Concord on Thoreau street, approaching its intersection with Walden street, with a big yellow leafed maple tree in full bloom right before me. It was glorious in the afternoon sun and its leaves were ripe to fall. Just as I stopped at the stop sign, a sudden gust of wind sent its leaves flying, and a crosswind sent them scattering through the air like a large flock of yellow starlings, seemingly swooping and soaring on the afternoon crosswinds. I went on to Walden Pond for my transcendental afternoon walk, but nothing I experienced that afternoon was more transcendental then that now semi-naked tree having flung its leaves to the winds. Autumn has truly arrived in Concord.

SPIRITUAL PILGRIM: Awakening Journeys of a Twenty-First Century Transcendentalist continues to climb in its amazon ratings as the first two five star customer reviews of my book have been posted. Thank you all who have bought my book, and if you liked it, please add a customer review on amazon!

Please come join my author event this Wednesday Rev. Dr. Jim Sherblom, author of SPIRITUAL PILGRIM: Awakening Journeys of a Twenty-First Century Transcendentalist Wednesday, October 17 at 7 pm Main Library, 129 Main Street Jim’s spiritual memoir tells stories of his mystic travels on spiritual pilgrimages with Sufi’s, Taoists, shamans, Buddhists, Christians and Transcendentalists. “Equal parts memoir and guidebook, Spiritual Pilgrim entrances with stories that reveal Jim’s unabashedly open heart and deep well of knowledge.” Doug Stone and Sheila Heen, co-authors of New York Times bestselling book Difficult Conversations Rev. Dr. Jim Sherblom is a transcendentalist author, scholar, mystic, theologian, entrepreneur, and investor. He holds a BA in history from Yale, an MBA from Harvard, and Masters in Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Andover Newton Theological School. He lives a transcendentalist existence with his wife Loretta in Concord, MA where you will often find him ambling trails once loved by Emerson, Alcott, Hawthorne, Fuller and Thoreau. Come hear of one man’s universal spiritual journey. Register on the library’s online calendar of events at …

Come help me celebrate the launch of my second book: SPIRITUAL PILGRIM: Awakening Journeys of a Twenty-First Century Transcendentalist At First Parish in Concord at 7:30 pm on Friday September 28, 2018. The book is full of quotes from historical and contemporary mystics.  To test your knowledge of how mystics relate to the divine mystery, here is a short quiz: Mystic Quiz In my book SPIRITUAL PILGRIM: Awakening Journeys of a Twenty-First Century Transcendentalist I quote many mystics about the nature of divine mystery.  See if you can match each mystic with their words (at least five are Unitarian Universalist mystics): A: Teresa of Avila;   B: Buddha;   C: Bernard of Clairvaux;   D: Confucius;   E: St. John of the Cross;   F: Meister Eckhart;   G: Ralph Waldo Emerson;   H: Abhi Janamanchi    J: Jesus of Nazareth;   K:Kabir;   L: Lord Krishna;   M: Mirabai of Jodhpur;   N: Moses of Midian;   O:Om Prakash Gilmore;  P: Rabinadrath Tagore;   Q: Henry David Thoreau;   R: Jacob Trapp;   S: Lao Tzu   Loving yourself as a child of God unites you with God through love______ …

Approaching Concord’s wildness from the south or west is best done paddling on the rivers.  The Algonquin indigenous people called this ancient river system Musketaquid.  It is a land defined by its sandy esker ridges, left from the melting of the last ice age, and its plentiful waters.  My house is a half mile from egg rock, on a street that ends at the Assabet river.  I often paddle my kayak as a form of transcendental meditation there.   Once I’m on the river, with only bird sounds to distract me, my heart rate slows, and I paddle gently with the current. As we circumnavigate rocky shoals and fallen limbs, the edge of Barrett’s Mill Farm, the final destination of the British troops on April 19, 1775 appears on the river’s northern shore.  I am already drifting between Concord’s two revolutions, the eighteenth century civic fight for freedom and the nineteenth century transcendentalist reimagining of the role of reason and our senses in spirituality.  This tranquil final mile of the Assabet River is mentioned often in …