Tending the Flame Within

Richard Brendan • August 29, 2025

Your flame is your truth. Keep it burning

The realities of our life today are often a result of the choices we made yesterday, three months ago or a year ago. Our relationships don't fall apart overnight because of one decision. Nor do we gain thirty unwanted pounds as a result of a few decadent meals. If we want to understand why and how we created our present-day reality, all we need to do is look at the choices we made in the past.

Each of us has an inner flame (spirit) that is the keeper of our life force. Each choice we make either adds to this life force, making it stronger, igniting and feeding our flame, or diminishes the force, dampening our inner flame, reducing its power.

When our inner flame roars, we feel strong, powerful and confident. We have the courage/strength to speak truthfully and ask for what we need. A strong flame propels us into higher states of consciousness, where self-love and emotional freedom reside.

When our flames are low, we are vulnerable, weak, feel scared and apprehensive. When our flames have not been cared for and fed, we hunger for things outside of ourselves to make us feel better. The size and health of our flame also affects those around us. Your only job in life is tending to that inner flame, keeping it vital and roaring. It alone can give you the security and peace of mind you desire.

Choices That Dim Your Light

Being around people that criticize you and can't see your magnificence.
Trying to get others' approval.
Lying to yourself.
Gossiping.
Being late.
Judging yourself or others.
Not enjoying what you already have.
Looking to others to make you happy.
Living in fear.
Ignoring your inner voice.

Choices That Make Your Fire Roar

Taking time for yourself.
Investing time with those you love.
Appreciating what you already have.
Rest.
Play.
Spending money wisely.
Planning for the future.
Hanging out with people who inspire you.
Being compassionate.
Doing what you love.
Going after your dreams.
Creating a powerful support system.

Before you make any decisions in your life (big or small), here are ten questions spiritual teacher Debbie Ford shares in her book The Right Questions that will assist you in making the right one:

Will this choice propel me towards an inspiring future or will it keep me stuck in the past?
Will this choice bring me long-term fulfillment or will it bring me short-term gratification?
Am I standing in my power or am I trying to please another?
In this situation, am I looking for what's right or am I looking for what's wrong?
Will this choice add to my life force or will it rob me of my energy?
Will I use this situation as a catalyst to grow and evolve or will I use it to beat myself up?
Does this choice empower me or disempower me?
Is this an act of self-love or is it an act of self-sabotage?
Is this an act of faith or is it an act of fear?
Am I choosing from my divinity or from my humanity?

Creative therapist Bradford Keeney, Ph.D., reminds us that "There is a wick within you that is waiting to become the light of your soul. When this inner flame burns brightly you will feel a magnificent awakening in your life."

Rev. Richard Brendan has been an ordained minister in the Indianapolis area for decades. During that time he has served as a pastor, hospice chaplain, founder and president of JourneysFire International, co-founder and emcee of the Walk the Talk speaker series, executive producer of a CD with Cathy Morris titled Sacred Romance (featuring the music of Cathy Morris and Richard giving voice to the mystic poetry of Rumi and Hafiz), and host and producer of a weekly talk radio show for over twenty years on 88.7fm, WICR at the University of Indianapolis. The show, JourneysFire with Richard Brendan, featured a full hour of conversation with leading visionaries and social change artists. Learn more at RichardBrendan.net.

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Easter Sunday | Choose to Belong

By Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes • March 31, 2026

This Sunday we conclude our Lenten series with a heartfelt message, “Choose to Belong.” We’ll celebrate Easter—both as a remembrance of the resurrection and as a celebration of new beginnings, including welcoming new Gardner members into our inclusive community. Easter's beautiful expression of love and hope represents a tradition that calls us to notice the ways love rises again in our lives, dispelling darkness. Whether you interpret the resurrection story literally or embrace it as a metaphor of love overcoming despair, there is a place for you here. This weekend we’ll explore what it means to belong, and how our faith deepens through our connections with one another and with the sacred. Come experience the joy of community and discover how we can embody the transformative love of Christ together. Join us as we celebrate this meaningful day. Let’s embrace new beginnings and growth as one community. We can’t wait to see you.

Choose to Belong

By Matthew Vire • March 25, 2026

The experience of exclusion tempts us to blame ourselves, to think that we're falling short, that we are somehow wrong, damaged, unacceptable, or unworthy. To fix these perceived shortcomings, we may seek to fit in. There's nothing inherently wrong with fitting in — it can feel great — but it may come at the cost of our authenticity. In Letter to My Daughter , Maya Angelou writes, “You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all.” She does not mean that we are rootless, but speaks of abandoning the chase for approval so we can be free to show up authentically. We do not need to change who we are to belong. Brené Brown eloquently unpacks Angelou's profound statement in this video. May it offer you reassurance, comfort, and courage as we continue exploring what belonging means.

The Labyrinth Called Life

By Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes • March 24, 2026

Have you noticed it? If you’ve been with us at The Garden over the past six weeks, you’ve likely walked right over it—the Labyrinth just outside the sanctuary doors. It’s easy to miss when we’re rushing in or out, but it’s there quietly inviting us to slow down, breathe, and pay attention to the path beneath our feet. As we move toward Easter, that invitation feels especially timely. This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the moment in the story when Jesus enters Jerusalem to cheers, branches waving, and a sense of possibility in the air. But that joyful procession is only the threshold of a much deeper journey. In the days that follow, Jesus moves through experiences that are profoundly human—sharing meals with friends, seeking quiet in a garden, wrestling with uncertainty, facing conflict, and ultimately walking a path that leads to the cross. The story does not shy away from suffering or loss, yet it also doesn’t end there. It moves through death into the promise of new life, renewal, and hope. Whether you connect with this story as history, metaphor, or a mirror for your own life, it offers a pattern many of us recognize: how celebration and struggle often sit side by side, how a single week can hold both joy and heaviness, and how transformation sometimes emerges from places we would never choose. As we enter this meaningful week, I invite you to consider your own path. What are you carrying right now? Where are you seeking connection, clarity, or courage? What parts of your journey are asking for attention, and what new life might be waiting just beyond what you can see? Let this be a week to walk with intention—to notice the twists and turns, the companions along the way, and the quiet hope that can rise even in uncertain places.

Be You. (What Does THAT Mean?)

By Matthew Vire • March 17, 2026

"Be you" is common advice. But what does it mean? The exhortation to "be you" is an invitation to relax into yourself and let go of worries that you don't measure up to someone else's idea of who you are or should be. "Be you" means be honest––to yourself first and then with the world––about your thoughts, feelings, insecurities, passions, interests, and inclinations. It means you're more than worthy. It means you are enough. It means you're worth knowing, seeing, and loving. Our resistance to be ourselves comes from fear, judgement, and insecurity. Fear tells us "hide." Judgment says, "you're not good enough, so you better pretend." Insecurity warns, "people won't like you if they really see you." But it can be easy to Be You. You don't have to do anything; you can just be. The only barrier is self-acceptance. Love can break through that. May this week give you space to breathe, to soften, and to trust that who you are is already held in love.

Paths to Belonging

By Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes • March 16, 2026

This Sunday, we continue our Lenten journey with the theme of belonging. The National Institutes of Health recognizes belonging as a fundamental human need that shapes our mental, physical, and social well-being. One of the insights from our Greenhouse Challenge was the recognition that many people in the U.S. are experiencing loneliness. In response, The Garden has been exploring what it means to belong—not just socially, but spiritually and communally. During worship, we’ll check in with Scott Semester to hear how our grant initiative may help us create spaces of sanctuary—places where people feel seen, safe, and truly at home. Our Scripture this week, Ecclesiastes 4:12, reminds us that “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Belonging is not just about individual strength—it’s about the resilience we find in connection. When we walk together, support one another, and share our lives, we become stronger than we ever could be alone. May we continue to weave lives of compassion, curiosity, and courage—threads that bind us to one another and to the sacred truth that we belong.