Richard W. shared a stream on April 26, 2022

Fr. John Heinemeier, Rest in Peace

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In several of my longer posts and some streams, I refer to Fr. John and my time working out of St. John the Evangelist Lutheran Church in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

I worked as VISTA Volunteer, a formative time in my life, and Fr. John was my work supervisor.

He co-officiated our marriage and provided me with both professional and personal guidance.

A few days ago, he passed away. It was less than a year after Jan’s death.

Fr. John lived a life of meaning and impact as Jan did. My life is but a shadow compared to their lives.

Read Pastor Heinemeier’s memoir.

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Richard

Finding Life’s Meaning in Williamsburg

Fifty years ago, I stood on the northwest corner of Maujer Street and Graham Avenue with five new friends. We had taken a cab from NYC and were unsure which way to the rectory. I suggested we go east on Maujer Street and thus began a journey to find meaning and purpose in my life. […]

Richard W. Brown February 20, 2022

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Richard W. Brown January 10, 2019

Sí, Se Puede: Reflections on 50 Years in Ministry

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My random thoughts on love, grief, life and all things considered.

Reading is Vital to My Conscientious Resilience!
Reading has become an essential part of my personal growth and resilience. Each book I've read has influenced me differently, with some leaving a more lasting impact than others. What are you currently reading? Would you like a book recommendation? I have a variety of books to suggest. […]
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Service Award
On January 16th, the Cranford Clergy Council awarded Richard W. Brown the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Service Award for his leadership with Monarch Housing and Bridges Outreach, aiding Union County's housing-insecure and homeless individuals, and for his commitment to social action at Temple Sha'arey Shalom. […]
Half-Birthday Cataclysm
My half-birthday health crisis isn't the same as what my wife experienced; it's a reminder of our mortality. I will recover, and as I grow older, I will learn to accept the limitations of age. I need to listen to my body instead of the fantasies in my head. […]
My Midnight Lifeline Call
We can navigate life's unexpected twists and turns with courage and wisdom, even when traveling alone. However, there's no denying that the support of friends makes us even more vital as we face the inevitable ups and downs of life. […]
Twelve Hundred Days
I promise not to accept aging gracefully but to face it with an unwavering determination to make the most of the opportunities in my life. I will listen attentively, embrace wholeheartedly, and courageously step into the future! […]

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The Way of Integrity

Read: February 2025

The Way of Integrity

by Martha Beck

Today, I started reading Martha Beck‘s “The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self,” a book recommended by my friend Mark. I always appreciate receiving book recommendations from friends and readers of my blog. In her self-help book, Ms. Beck asserts, “Integrity is the cure for psychological suffering. Period.” This book will be invaluable during my early period of grief. I purchased the eBook from Bookshop and plan to do so.

Bestselling author, life coach, and sociologist Martha Beck explains why “integrity”—needed now more than ever in these tumultuous times—is the key to a meaningful and joyful life. As she writes,

This book, as you may have gleaned from the title, is all about integrity. But I don’t mean this in a moralizing sense. The word integrity has taken on a slightly prim, judgmental nuance in modern English, but the word comes from the Latin integer, meaning “intact.” To be in integrity is to be one thing, whole and undivided. When a plane is in integrity, all its millions of parts work together smoothly and cooperatively. If it loses integrity, it may stall, falter, or crash. There’s no judgment here. Just physics.

In The Way of Integrity, Beck presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering. Many issues, such as people-pleasing, staying in stale relationships, and maintaining unhealthy habits, arise from a disconnection from what truly makes us feel complete.

Inspired by The Divine Comedy, Beck uses Dante’s classic hero’s journey as a framework to break down the process of attaining personal integrity into small, manageable steps. She shows how to read the internal signals that lead us toward our true path and recognize what we yearn for versus what our culture sells us.

With techniques tested on hundreds of her clients, Beck brings her expertise as a social scientist, life coach, and human being to help readers uncover what integrity looks like in their lives. She takes us on a spiritual adventure that will change the direction of our lives and bring us to a place of genuine happiness.

Other books I have read with a similar theme, which I also recommend, include Man’s Search for Meaning, Climbing the Second Mountain, and The Pursuit of Happiness.

When you purchase a book through one of my links, I earn a small commission that helps support my passion for reading. This contribution allows me to buy even more books to share with you, creating an incredible cycle of discovering great reads together! Your support truly makes a difference!

Something About Living

Read: November 2024

Something About Living

by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

I recently read “Something About Living” by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, a poet and essayist whose work resonates deeply. The book of poems won the 2024 National Book Award for Poetry and delved into Palestinian life through the lens of the American language, revealing a legacy of obfuscation and erasure. It questions what happens when language packages ongoing disasters for consumption and disposal.

As a Jew supporting a two-state solution, I initially hesitated to read this collection of poems. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the lyrical beauty of the verses, which explore love not just as an emotion but as a transformative force and “a radical act.” Every poem that genuinely resonated with me. “Something About Living” is a book I highly recommend for its depth and insight!

Ms. Khalaf Tuffaha has an incredible literary repertoire; her previous work, “Water & Salt,” earned the esteemed 2018 Washington State Book Award, while “Kaan & Her Sisters” was a finalist for the Firecracker Award. In addition, “Something About Living” also received the 2022 Akron Prize for Poetry. I’m excited to explore her profound insights and lyrical mastery!

Adrian Matejka, the author of “Somebody Else Sold the World,” has written about “Something About Living,”

“It’s nearly impossible to write poetry that holds the human desire for joy and the insistent agitations of protest at the same time, but Lena Khalaf Tuffaha‘s gorgeous and wide-ranging new collection Something About Living does just that. Her poems interweave Palestine’s historic suffering, the challenges of living in this world full of violence and ill will, and the gentle delights we embrace to survive that violence. Khalaf Tuffaha’s elegant poems sing the fractured songs of Diaspora while remaining clear-eyed to the cause of the fracturing: the multinational hubris of colonialism and greed. This collection is her witness to our collective unraveling, vowel by vowel, syllable by syllable. “Let the plural be a return of us,” the speaker of “On the Thirtieth Friday We Consider Plurals” says and this plurality is our tenuous humanity and the deep need to hang on to kindness in our communities. In these poems Khalaf Tuffaha reminds us that love isn’t an idea; it is a radical act. Especially for those who, like this poet, travel through the world vigilantly, but steadfastly remain heart first.