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Ryan Taylor

Denver

A spiritual activist... encouraging presence in hard places and a more honest way of spiritual formation.

Interests: Dreaming, Engaging poverty, Enneagram, Gardening, Spiritual Formation, Encouraging the Weary, Teaching, Writing, Guiding, Stirring the Pot for the good of the world...

Recent Activity

Dogmatism, Drunks, and Death

In March of this year I decided it was time for me to explore a space of abstinence from alcohol. Throughout the madness of 2020 I got to the point of offering myself an extravagant amount of permission to have... Continue reading

Posted Jun 8, 2021 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Everything is just fine

Zach is not alright and he may never be alright. Can I live with that? About every six weeks, Zach loses all sense of meaning or reasons to exist, so he leaves the planet via vodka or whiskey. A bender... Continue reading

Posted Feb 9, 2021 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Now's the time to waste your time

I’ll never forget my first encounter with civil rights icon Vincent Harding. I’m helping organize a conference and Dr. Harding was up next as our featured speaker. It was my role to welcome him, direct him to the stage, and... Continue reading

Posted Jan 19, 2021 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Letting go of slave holder religion

For those of us that grew up in the bubble of Christian Pleasantville, we experience a strange compulsion to divinize and Christianize everything we see. Everytime we experience something we feel the need to shoehorn our pre-conceived theological conditioning into... Continue reading

Posted Jun 23, 2020 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Symptoms & Systems

Symptoms make us nervous… He’s coughing! She has a runny nose or a fever! Stay away! They could be contagious! Behaviorial symptoms have always made us nervous. He looks at porn! She drinks too much! They over spend! He over... Continue reading

Posted Mar 25, 2020 at Tall Monastic Guy

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The Tao of Todd: the practice of reciprocal humiliation

As I prep our little sanctuary and prepare to preach, Todd arrives an hour early to charge his cell phone, grab some brief relief from the streets, and hustle me out of five bucks. He begins the hustle process by... Continue reading

Posted Feb 19, 2020 at Tall Monastic Guy

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deep water - When heroes, parents, and Jesus go away.

I recently lost a hero of mine to Parkinson’s Disease. I was introduced to John in 2008 during a vulnerable season when I was desperately seeking a guide to help me see the reality of God’s presence among the poor.... Continue reading

Posted Feb 11, 2020 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Lessons from Kobe

I loved young Kobe. Creative, curious, and relentlessly driven, he had that Ken Griffey Jr. smile and an infectious likeable energy. Kobe Bryant was a different type of athlete with an unusual intelligence and a pursuit of greatness that was... Continue reading

Posted Jan 27, 2020 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Re-Framing the Homelessness Crisis

When you drive through stretches of Denver and see mind numbing numbers of unhoused men and women sleeping on the street it’s not hard to see that we have a crisis on our hands. The question is what exactly do... Continue reading

Posted Jan 24, 2020 at Tall Monastic Guy

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the work of re-membering

“Hey Rodger! Welcome back!“ It had been 7 years since Rodger graced the coffee house with his presence. Appearing fit and fiddle Rodger’s first stop upon re-entering the world beyond the cold concrete cube of a jail cell was to... Continue reading

Posted Apr 4, 2017 at Tall Monastic Guy

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If there’s anything that 2016 has taught me it’s that I am a man who wants to see. In the ancient gospel story of blind Bartimaeus, Jesus was walking on crowded streets when a particular shout transcended the many and... Continue reading

Posted Dec 28, 2016 at Tall Monastic Guy

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my civil war (reflections on visiting Indiana during this election)

I can’t begin to understand or adequately articulate what exactly has transpired in my subconscious due to the rise of Donald Trump as the Republican presidential candidate. Nevertheless, like so many of my generation who grew up within traditionally Bible... Continue reading

Posted Nov 7, 2016 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Trusting your disgust

Last week I had the privilege of leading a group of students though a class in which I introduced them to a hero of mine named Silas Soule. The class was held at Riverside Cemetery where Captain Soule’s life is... Continue reading

Posted Sep 19, 2016 at Tall Monastic Guy

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(Re)awakening a contemplative culture

What is contemplation? I would expect the common response to the question to land somewhere in the realm of a glorified exercise in naval gazing. For many, contemplation conjures up images of Buddha rather than Jesus. It’s also understandable to... Continue reading

Posted Sep 8, 2016 at Tall Monastic Guy

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The divinity of vulnerability

Recently at Network a scene played out that is not exactly uncommon for our community. Lenny claimed to have his bike and his phone stolen. Lenny lets his anger fly marching around in a colorful rage proclaiming, “I’m gonna kill... Continue reading

Posted Jun 24, 2016 at Tall Monastic Guy

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the move toward irrelevance

For some years now I’ve been persistently drawn to the dichotomy and tension between relevance and irrelevance. About the time we moved to Denver 13 years ago I bought a subscription to a new Christian magazine called Relevant. The magazine... Continue reading

Posted Apr 29, 2016 at Tall Monastic Guy

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The integrity, abundant, joy-filled path of being alone.

In other words, emptiness is the prerequisite for beginning to see through the lens of abundance. Can you imagine if our politicians would speak from a platform of abundance rather than the rhetoric saturated with fear and scarcity? Calling out people and places of abundance certainly won't get you elected. Abundance is a foreign language within capitalism. Continue reading

Posted Mar 23, 2016 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Treasuring doesn’t make for a good American. Treasuring doesn’t blindly follow the leader. Mary paid attention to the questions her life was asking. Continue reading

Posted Mar 2, 2016 at Tall Monastic Guy

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disrupting the hustle

One thing this naïve country boy has learned over the years of ministry with folks on the street is the reality of the hustle. What’s the hustle? The hustle is the distinct bag of self preserving skills – deceptions, tricks,... Continue reading

Posted Feb 15, 2016 at Tall Monastic Guy

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The (irresponsible whimsical) Way

Last week I anxiously drafted a letter. It struck me as the responsible thing to do. Recently, the donations for one of the non-profits I lead took a dip in a season where expenses are on the rise. How inconvenient.... Continue reading

Posted Nov 6, 2015 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Straight Outta Nazareth (what Jesus shares in common with N.W.A.)

Maybe it's a stretch to place N.W.A. and Jesus in the same article. At the least, they share a common thread of breaking new ground through the element of disturbance. Continue reading

Posted Sep 10, 2015 at Tall Monastic Guy

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re-imagining God as friend

Is that ok? Is it orthodox & biblical to allow our primary image of God to be that of a friend? Continue reading

Posted Aug 20, 2015 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something... Continue reading

Posted Aug 3, 2015 at Tall Monastic Guy

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Refusing to be possessed

I’ve watched the haunting dashcam video of Sandra Bland’s arrest. For days I couldn't get the scene off my mind. I've watched the southern pleasantry “hello ma’am” escalate into threats and physical brutality ultimately resulting in the execution of yet... Continue reading

Posted Jul 29, 2015 at Tall Monastic Guy

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pastimes & exclusivity

How many big decisions (within churches, non-profits, businesses) get sorted out in pastime spaces like golf courses? And yet the contributions of the diverse body of Christ are often unconsciously left out of the process due to the nature of the pastimes that bond us. Continue reading

Posted May 22, 2015 at Tall Monastic Guy

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