Ordinary Life Archived Talks
Ordinary Life Talk for
November 30, 2025
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Questions and Answers
Dear Ones -
I understand that there was some difficulty with the live-stream server this week. When these kinds of things arise there is usually nothing the technicians can do at the time to correct them. They did so about twenty minutes into our time. If you missed it, you can click on the YouTube video link on the left side of this page and watch the talk in it’s entirety.
After we finished this time together Dr. Holly Hudley, who co-taught with me, turned to me and said, “That was like drinking out of a fire hose.” Indeed. We tried to cover a LOT of territory.
This time in Ordinary Life was given to our responding to the questions, some of them at least, that we got from our request the week before. Both of us strayed from our prepared text so there is the audio and video available and as always the presentation slides we are very helpful to enhance understanding what we offered. It was fun to do and I hope helpful as well.
That’s a brief summary. You can find a link to the text of the talk by clicking here.
If you are interested in making a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here.
If you would like to subscribe to my Substack, click here.
Be well and much love,
Bill Kerley
In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.
Ordinary Life Talk for
November 23, 2025
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Teachers. Teachings. Teaching
Dear Ones -
Thanksgiving is this week and I hope that, wherever you are, you and the people you are with experience a time of gratitude and grace. Practicing gratitude is a vital spiritual practice.
At the beginning of class I invited people to write down questions that they might have and that these would provide structure for our time together next week. If you are a “distant learner” and would like to submit a question, you can do so by responding to this e-mail.
I called the teaching offered in Ordinary Life this week -
Teachers. Teachings. Teaching.
This was a continuation of and an amplification on the teaching offered the week before - Being Custodians of Consciousness.
We know what we know because we have been, in some form or fashion, taught. The content of the teachings we receive needs to match the highest standards of current knowledge and understanding. We ourselves teach by embodying the qualities of humility, justice and peace.
That’s a brief summary. The audio/video version of the talk has some differences from the text from which I spoke. I left out a beautiful poem from Wendell Berry that you can read in the text of the talk. You can find a link to the text of the talk by clicking here. On the Ordinary Life website you can also find links to the audio and video of the time.
If you are interested in making a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here.
If you would like to subscribe to my Substack, click here.
Be well and much love,
Bill Kerley
Ordinary Life Talk for
November 16, 2025
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Spiritual Improvisations; Custodians of Consciousness
Dear Ones -
Custodians of Consciousness
This is the title I gave to the teaching I offered this week in Ordinary Life. We have within us what we need to live in and through these times. We do need to do the inner work to access this.
One helpful contributor to our understanding of what this inner work is like is Rudolf Otto and his understanding of the “holy” as being both “awesome” and “alluring” at the same time.
I also speak to the fact that much of adult America functions at an illiterate level.
People who are custodians of consciousness are constantly questioning both their assumptions and their intentions. What is required of us is practice.
That’s a brief summary. The audio/video version of the talk has some differences from the text from which I spoke. You can find a link to the text of the talk by clicking here. On the Ordinary Life website you can also find links to the audio and video of the time.
If you are interested in making a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here.
If you would like to subscribe to my Substack, click here.
Be well and much love,
Bill Kerley
In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.
Ordinary Life Talk for
November 9, 2025
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Video coming soon!
“The Sun and the Umbrella”
Dear Ones -
The teaching I offered in Ordinary Life this week I called, “The Sun and the Umbrella”.
I took that title from a book by Nels Ferre. The book is a parable about how religion, wrongly used, can hide the light we are supposed to be/come and to bring into a dark world. Light is a powerful symbol in all spiritual traditions. In Jewish theology it is God’s dream that we live in the light rather than be in bondage to the dark. In the dark we become either fearful of full of false bravado.
That’s a brief summary. The audio/video versions of the talk has some differences from the text from which I spoke. You can find a link to the text of the talk by clicking here.
If you are interested in making a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here.
If you would like to subscribe to my Substack, click here.
Be well and much love,
Bill Kerley
In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.
Ordinary Life Talk for
November 2, 2025
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“Pillow Talk”
Dear Ones -
What does it mean to be a peacemaker? Theologian Dorothee Sole says that “Christianity is fundamentally a political and communal project.” Peace is a deep state of wholeness and well-being that goes far beyond the absence of conflict. When it comes to how to deal with our anger I tell the story of how Thich Nhat Hanh suggests we do. This is what led to the title of the teaching -
Pillow Talk
Thich Nhat Hanh is famously known for saying: “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way to be.” In addition to offering his teaching on how to deal with anger we also showed the video about “the grapefruit ladies from Ireland.” (On YouTube look up Irish comedian who does a bit about “Never Judge a Book by Its Cover” by David Nihill.) When we have the chance to put ourselves between violence and its victim, we are peacemaking.
That’s a brief summary. The audio/video versions of the talk has some differences from the text from which we spoke. You can find a link to the text of the talk by clicking here.
If you are interested in making a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here.
If you would like to subscribe to my Substack, click here.
Be well and much love,
Bill Kerley
In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.
Ordinary Life Talk for
October 19, 2025
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“The Stranger at the Door”
Dear Ones -
The title we gave to the teaching offered in Ordinary Life this week was -
The Stranger At The Door
I began by sharing an invitation to engage in an active imagination where Justice comes to see me for a counseling session. What is on Justice’s mind? Why is he seeking therapy? Dr. Holly Hudley, who co-taught with me, offers her responses. Her explanation of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, especially its origins, is enlightening.
“Justice” means that which is right or equitable.
I tell of our visit to see the Magna Carta in Lincoln, England and its use in the founding documents of this country - as well as how far in this present time we have drifted from it. When checks and balances no longer check or balance, something other than justice is being done.
That’s a brief summary. The audio/video versions of the talk has some differences from the text from which we spoke. You can find a link to the text of the talk by clicking here. On the Ordinary Life website you can also find links to the audio and video of the time.
If you are interested in making a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here.
If you would like to subscribe to my Substack, click here.
Be well and much love,
Bill Kerley
In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.
Ordinary Life Talk for
October 5, 2025
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“Nothing. Nobody. Nowhere”
This is a reflection on the first three Beatitudes. They are about having humility. The Beatitudes represent a cosmological shift in human consciousness toppling the patriarchy, social hierarchies, and divided political systems; they are about an inner transformation and not some future reward. We are called to live by faith and to have the poverty of spirit that opens us up to grace. The teaching ends with the Zen story of the stone cutter.
In order to read or to download the text of the talk, click here.
In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.
Ordinary Life Talk for
September 28, 2025
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“A Theological Earthquake”
This is the beginning of a series on verses that are known as “the Beatitudes.” These teachings tell us that even in this crazy, complicated world; with all its blatant dishonesty, injustice, fear, and horrors, we can nonetheless find and experience the Sacred. These teachings constitute a radical vision for blessing and belonging. The world Jesus envisioned was not one based on violence, dominance, or merit; but, one based on grace, humility, and a deep longing for peace.
That’s a brief summary. The audio/video versions of the talk has some differences from the text from which we spoke.
You can find a link to the text of the talk by clicking here. On the Ordinary Life website you can also find links to the audio and video of the time.
If you are interested in making a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here.
If you would like to subscribe to my Substack, click here.
Be well and much love,
Bill Kerley
In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.
“Thinking With Our Hearts”
Ordinary Life Talk for
September 21, 2025
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Dear Ones -
It is based on one of the most powerful and provocative of parables told about Jesus by his early followers. It is the story of four people who took a man for healing to a place where Jesus was. Not able to get through to Jesus because of the crowd, they took the man up to the roof, opened a hole in the roof and let the man down. No one was upset by any of this except the “religious elites.” In the story Jesus could sense what they were thinking and asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?”
The story is so applicable to our time and culture. Not only are we not thinking clearly with our minds, we seem - at the leadership level - not to be using our hearts at all. Those of us who see to walk the “Wayless Way” can offer a different model.
In order to read or download the text version of the talk, click here.
In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.
“Walking on Water”
Ordinary Life Talk for
September 14, 2025
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Dear Ones -
For those of you in the Houston area be aware that our Ordinary Life Happy Hours resume this Saturday evening. See the events page for details.
The title I gave the teaching I offered in Ordinary Life this week is
Walking on Water
This was a continuation of what I began last week of our being in a “Calvary Moment” in our country and globally. Our situation is hopeless and there is a solution. The solution is to do the work of recovery which, paradoxically, is both work and a gift. People in recovery frequently say that it is a miracle that they survived their addiction. So, too, for us collectively. Because we are living at a level where we do not have the emotional intelligence skills to live. Augustine says, “God is always trying to give good things to us but our hands are too full to receive them.”
That’s a brief summary. The audio/video versions of the talk has some significant differences from the text from which I spoke. You can find a link to the text of the talk by clicking here. On the Ordinary Life website you can also find links to the audio and video of the time.
If you are interested in making a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here.
If you would like to subscribe to my Substack, click here.
Be well and much love,
Bill Kerley
In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.
“Breathing Underwater”
Ordinary Life Talk for September 7, 2025
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Dear Ones -
We are in the process of transitioning to a “new look” for our website. Patience, please.
The title I gave the teaching I offered in Ordinary Life this week is
Breathing Under Water
In our current culture we seek to survive in an environment that seems impossible for human flourishing. The way we learn to breathe under water is by transcending religion and reclaiming spirituality. To do this we need to know about and willingly participate in the process of deconstruction and confront the reality that ours is an addicted society.
That’s a brief summary. The audio/video versions of the talk has some significant differences from the text from which I spoke. You can find a link to the text of the talk by clicking here.
Just to the left of this column you’ll find links to the audio file, a video player link, and the link to the Ordinary Life Podcasts.
If you are interested in making a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here. There is an option to scroll to “Ordinary Life” as the option for how to designation your gift. Thank you! https://my.stpaulshouston.org/Give/ordinary-life
Be well and much love,
Bill Kerley