Frank Schaeffer In Conversation with Ordained Unitarian Universalist Pastor Roger Butts, exploring his book, Seeds of Devotion: Weekly Contemplations on Faith.
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Roger Butts serves All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Colorado Springs as Transitional Pastoral Minister. He has served as a hospital chaplain and has been both a Senior Minister and an Associate Minister. He has been ordained for close to 20 years in the Unitarian Universalist tradition. He is author of Seeds of Devotion: Weekly Contemplations on Faith (GraceLight, 2021), which is his first book. He is editing the forthcoming book, Praying the Poets.
Begin your day with a meaningful, meditative spiritual practice.
In Seeds of Devotion, Roger Butts delivers evocative and lyrical prose while sharing wisdom from some of the most powerful figures in spirituality today. Tidbits from Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and contemporaries like Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton are sprinkled in this devotional as he reflects on life’s deepest mysteries.
Written with an open heart and years of purposeful practice as a chaplain, Roger Butts offers immersive passages with Reflection questions allowing for further spiritual exploration at the end of each devotion.
This book invites you to ask bigger questions of yourself and your life while immersed in meditative silence. These prayers and reflections are meant to guide you to a place of peace and spirituality but also challenge you to delve further into your grace.
But most importantly, they are all designed to help you listen and connect with the deep wisdom of your heart.
ENDORSEMENTS FOR SEEDS OF DEVOTION…
Yes, this a book you are holding. But it is also a conversation you are invited to enter. Along with you, Roger Butts has invited many voices, voices from the Bible and Sufi poets, from civil rights leaders and contemplatives, from Toni Morrison to Merton and Nouwen and some folks you’ve never met before. Roger is there as a capable facilitator of the encounters that ensue, but it is never about him. It is about the joy of discovery, of friendship, of beauty, and about waking up, once again, to the astounding realization that the One in whom we live and move and have our being is much larger than previously imagined. Don’t read this book. Rather, enter it as if pulling up a chair at a table filled with people like and unlike you, all curious to see what will unfold.
Rev. Dr. Benjamin Broadbent, United Church of Christ minister
In Seeds of Devotion, Roger Butts masterfully weaves together dramatic stories and prayers born out of a career as a front line hospital chaplain, pastor and community organizer. The stories are poignant, insightful and down right inspiring. But he also combines them with the timeless wisdom of both the Hebrew and New Testament texts, and guidance from the Buddha, Rumi, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen and many others. Seeds is written in language that is casual yet personal enough to feel you are hearing the advice of a friend. The prayers that help frame each chapter are both original and worthy of reflection. The prayers themselves are a treasure.
And the questions posed after each chapter left me haunted. When I felt exiled, what brought me back to center? How have I accompanied the frail and the weak? What is my relationship to silence? How have I been put through fire? How do I see myself as a healing presence?
Seeds of Devotion is written to guide each of us to face these challenging times by holding fast to the goodness already present within each of us. That is exactly what Roger reveals for so many people day after day.
Martin Doblmeier - Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker (The Power of Forgiveness, Bonhoeffer, and Chaplains among others)
This book is a breath of fresh air. Through fresh, compelling questions, thought provoking reflections and centering prayers, Butts transports his readers. In our busy world, these brief reflections get right to the heart of things. They’ve helped me carve out time to connect with myself, my neighbor, and the Holy and I can’t wait to return to them again and again.
Rev. Jenny Peek
Associate University Chaplain, Yale University
Roger Butts' new book, Seeds of Devotion, is an invitation to begin or deepen a meditative, mindful stance in the reader's daily life. Consisting of 52 meditations which conclude with a prayer and reflective questions, it provides an encounter of the Spirit with the spirit of Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddha, as well as the spirit of wisdom figures such as Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day. Writing in evocative prose that borders on the poetic, Roger Butts unites ancient wisdom with contemporary insights, encouraging a devotion that is profoundly inclusive of many cultures and ages in time. His book is rich for the spirit in all of us that waits to be awakened.
Ed Sellner is professor emeritus of theology and spirituality at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota where he taught for 35 years, and is a spiritual writer and guide. Author of numerous books, his most recent are Celtic Saints and Animal Stories: A Spiritual Kinship and Pilgrimage: Exploring a Great Spiritual Practice.
In this book, readers will find a wise companion for the journey of life. Drawing on stories of courageous faith, scripture, and his own life as a pastor and chaplain, Roger Butts shares and invites deep reflection on life’s primary questions and hopes.
Jake Morrill, Executive Director, Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship
Roger Butts has an incredible capacity for weaving goodness and beauty together against the cold, hard reality of human suffering. He brings ancient truth to life in a tapestry that rides on the cutting edge of tomorrow, taking us from where we've been to right where we need to be. He is an impeccable guide pointing the way to life in all its messiness and wonder. Relax. You're in good hands now.
Kim Holman,
Founder, Contemplative Light
In these pages you will find the beautiful wisdom of an open-heart. Honest and vulnerable, Roger Butts puts words to the life of prayer and helps us see the divine in the changes and chances of life.
The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson
Rector, Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
Colorado Springs
A few years ago, Rev. Roger Butts gifted me with a devotional he created, much like this one. By reading the reflections, immersing myself in the poems, and praying the prayers, I was able to open and heal my exhausted heart. I am so excited that he has created this devotional for the world to share. Roger has a unique perspective on life that allows him to both gather and bring forth profound wisdom and make it accessible. In order to compile such a collection of thoughts, invocations and adorations as you will find in this book, a person must first successfully traverse many of life’s most challenging circumstances. Roger has walked the path of love, courage and forgiveness. The value of what he learned along the way blesses every page.This is a book to be loved, treasured and revisited for many years to come. I am so pleased to recommend it!
Rev. Dr. Ahriana Platten
Unity Spiritual Center
A beautifully powerful book of stories and journeys, personal and universal and timeless, punctuated with generous offerings of prayers and reflections, providing encouragement and enrichment for all who journey. Roger has a true gift for speaking from the heart—vulnerable, raw and real—and in doing so, you find he’s right by your side, meeting you where you are, speaking directly into your heart, as a genuine friend and spiritual companion.
Andrew Palmer, Sensei - teacher in The Open Source Zen tradition