How Long Does it Take to Grow Up?
Mommy, when you are a hundred, will you be as tall as the clouds? This, my little daughter asks me from her seat on the swing in our backyard. Her sweet up-turned face looks past me to the billowing clouds overhead. To her, growing up means growing taller so she can reach the monkey bars […]
The Message Our Body Brings to Life
Does it surprise you to look at these two photos, side by side? The one on the left is among the tiniest of miracles, a cell in the brain. The one on the right is perhaps the grandest of miracles, the universe. Their similarity is striking. It’s all a matter of scale… and perspective. One wonders […]
Is God Good All the Time?
“God is good …All the time!And all the time …God is Good!” Ah, the call and response of a faithful people. We like knowing how to respond. But do we believe it? Is God really good all the time? for the parent who’s just lost a child? for the man who’s just received a dire diagnosis? […]
What is Truth?… Amen
Amen. It is so. So be it. Assent. Truth. In this sanctuary, offering prayers, reciting creeds, listening and responding, to words which make no demands of me. They are simply true. No doubt. At the end, we agree. God and me. I say Amen. It is so. So be it. Assent. Truth. This is truth […]
Blest be the Tie that Binds
Yes, blest. That’s the way they spelt it in the hymnal I had extracted from its place in the next-to-last pew, at the Church of the Palms, Presbyterian. I am hidden in the back, scrunched behind a pillar in a nearly empty pew the older folks have difficulty accessing. There are a lot of older folks […]
Finding Calm in Stormy Seas
“All hands on deck!” the captain hollered, as another towering wave crashed over the bow. The cabin of our barely sea-going vessel was already knee-deep with water. We were bailing as fast as we could, but the storm was beating us down. How do you make headway in a blinding rain when every wave threatens to throw you overboard? “Cap’n, […]
There’s a place for you
“That house is new, but it looks like it’s been there all along,” we observe on our way by. That lot has been vacant for some time, but now it has a house on it. And it’s a beauty! Fits right in with the other houses on the street — quiet, residential, tasteful, landscaped, cared […]
Thank you for letting us sing to you: Confessions of a choir crasher
You’ve heard of party crashers and wedding crashers, but perhaps you have never heard of a choir crasher. That’s me, the person who, back in the doldrums of September as election campaigns were still in full swing, shorter days and longer nights were just beginning to descend, and when Christmas trees were not yet at […]
A curious thing happened to Joseph on the way to divorce
So much. So much casting shame and guilt. So much accusing of conspiracy and falsehood. So much indicting for behaviors unbecoming and deeds unwelcome. So much righteous indignation. So much misunderstanding. And yet… This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but […]
Provision is Constant
We fill our lives with what we believe will make us happy, when all we really need is an open path to what God has already laid before us.