About Daniel J. Miller

Dan Miller is the founder of thesacredbraid.com

With Liberty and Justice for All

Posted on August 24, 2024 by Daniel J. Miller

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. ~ Maya Angelou On January 18, 2016, Donald Trump was in Lynchburg, Virginia to deliver the opening convocation at Liberty University, that bastion of Christian fundamentalism founded Read more [...]

To Be or Not to Be—in Awe

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Daniel J. Miller

When before the beauty of a sunset or a mountain, you pause and exclaim, "Ah," you are participating in divinity. ~ Joseph Campbell "The sense of wonder, that is our sixth sense. And it is the natural religious sense." ~ D. H. Lawrence A moment Read more [...]

Facing a Hint of the Holy

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Daniel J. Miller

According to French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas, in the access to the human face there is also an access to the idea of God: “To my mind,” he writes, “the Infinite comes in the signifyingness of the face. The face signifies the Infinite. BROTHER Read more [...]

Out of the Depths — A Contemporary Lament

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Daniel J. Miller

CAUTIONARY NOTE: The second part of this reflection deals with a traumatic incident (suicide, death, parental loss) and the aftermath. It is emotionally charged and some people may find it potentially retraumatizing. Be sure to use good judgment. When Read more [...]

Cummings Continued

Posted on May 19, 2024 by Daniel J. Miller

Following the previous post of E.E. Cummings' poem-prayer "i thank You God for most," I thought I'd post another poem I mentioned there. I do so in the spirit of Dostoevsky's Prince Myshkin's by-now famous statement, "I believe the world will be saved Read more [...]

Lectio Poetica No. 12 i thank You God for most

Posted on May 16, 2024 by Daniel J. Miller

I first encountered E.E. Cummings' poetry during my freshman or sophomore year in college. I must have been exposed to Cummings in high school though I have no recollection of it. One of the few books I have on my shelf from back in the Paleolithic Read more [...]

Undergoing God

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Daniel J. Miller

[ uhn-der-goh ] undergo — to experience, go through, endure, bear, withstand, sustain, suffer In his book The Shattered Lantern, Ronald Rolheiser asserts that one essential task of contemplation is not to make of God “something to be studied, Read more [...]

What Kind of Gospel — A Life-Line

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Daniel J. Miller

Today's Life-Line is: A church that does not provoke any crisis, preach a gospel that does not unsettle, proclaim a word of God that does not get under anyone's skin or a word of God that does not touch the real sin of the society in which it Read more [...]

The Fragile State of Our Union & the Fragile State of Donald Trump

Posted on April 13, 2024 by Daniel J. Miller

Nota Bene! Anyone is welcome to read and weigh in on these comments. Given that I am not a political commentator, journalist, or pundit, but rather someone who has been involved in spiritual formation, guidance, pastoral ministry, and leadership for Read more [...]

Musica Memento 12 ~ Walk and Talk Like Angels

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Daniel J. Miller

Music is the GPS of memory. It can take us back immediately to a place, relationship, or experience—painful, exhilarating, transformative—to a moment, month, or year of our lives. Toni Child's UNION brings me back to 1988, to her song "Walk and Talk Read more [...]

The Sacred Braid

Helping Persons and Communities Weave Lives of Spiritual Depth.

Author Archives: Daniel J. Miller