The Path Ministry

  Topic: Giving Money to Broke People I am, by nature, a very generous person. Some of you already know this. Not only do I give and lend money to my friends and family, I also donate to charities and even give money to people begging on the sidewalk. Now, there is a school of thought that you should never give money to broke people, because they might spend it on something you disapprove of. I have been advised instead to go buy them food. Let me explain the problems with that, and why I will continue to give money to poor people. First of all, there are very few things of which I genuinely disapprove, and then only mildly. I would never judge or condemn somebody for doing those things, even though I personally find them distasteful and would prefer not to do them myself. Opiate painkillers are a good example: I know they are addictive and can be dangerous, so I turn to other pain relief methods. But if others are suffering such pain that they need those drugs, it is not my pl...

For those who follow my weblog but not my Facebook page, the Book of the Path is now published on Amazon:.  The Book of the Path

  Topic: Recommended Reading: The Stand Before we get into today’s sermon, I want to offer a brief explanation as to why most of the books on the recommended reading list are works of fiction. I believe that the stories we tell one another can contain valuable lessons. I also believe that, because they are hidden inside stories, those lessons will often make their way past our ordinary defenses against unfamiliar ideas. We learn from reading stories, whether we realize it at the time or not, and the stories we read can have an affect on our worldview. They also give us the opportunity to imagine what it may be like to be a different person, which is good for our Compassion and Patience. As I read and learn, I will add books to the next year’s list of Recommended Reading. Some of them will be fiction, some will be nonfiction. None of them will be required reading, but we will be talking about them and the ideas they inspire. We will talk about some books more than once, includ...

  Topic: Recommended Reading: Rose Madder Today we will be discussing the Stephen King novel Rose Madder, published in 1995, and its message of female empowerment. Rose Madder is one of the few King novels never adapted to film, which is a shame, because it would make a great movie. It is about Rose McClendon, a woman ensnared in an abusive marriage who finally makes her escape, travelling to a new city and taking back her maiden name. But she is being hunted by her husband, Norman, a police officer who also happens to be a savage brute intent on punishing her for daring to leave him. Rosie discovers within herself the power to be free of him in the end, in a way I will not spoil for you. This book is also one of a handful of King novels with a rational rather than supernatural antagonist. Although he ends up going through his own transformation at the end, Norman is, for the most part, just a man. A dangerous man, yes, and a kind of monster, but not in any supernatural sense...

We will be discussing the following books during the indicated Path meetings. You do not have to read the books in order for the sermons to make sense, as I will be offering a summary of the story and key details about the characters. Book Discussion Schedule, 2023 March 5, 2023: The Dark Tower series, by Stephen King March 12, 2023: Rose Madder, by Stephen King March 19, 2023: The Stand, by Stephen King April 2, 2023: Wicked, by Gregory Maguire April 23, 2023: Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein April 30, 2023: A Creed for the Third Millennium, by Colleen McCullough May 7, 2023: Imajica, by Clive Barker May 21, 2023: The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood May 28, 2023: Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett June 4, 2023: Thud!, by Terry Pratchett June 11, 2023: On Compassion, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama June 18, 2023: How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi This list is not intended to be all-inclusive. As I read and learn, new books will be adde...

  Topic: Recommended Reading: The Dark Tower Series Now that we have gone over the Eight Virtues and the Core Tenets and explored those ideas in depth, next we are going to be talking about the books that are recommended reading for followers of the Path. Because some of you may not have read the books, I will be offering summaries of their stories and important details about the primary characters. We will begin with the Dark Tower series. The Dark Tower is an eight-book series by Stephen King, chronicling the epic saga of the last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, and his quest toward the titular Tower. It is a powerful retelling of the Hero’s Journey, as so many good stories are, and you find yourself compelled to urge Roland on, to see this Dark Tower that very well may be the nexus of all the worlds in the multi-verse. Despite the many who fall beneath the Gunslinger’s skilled and lethal hands, he becomes a sympathetic and relatable character, with endearing human flaws of his ...