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Monthly Archives: October 2008
On (Almost) Not Voting
United Methodist Bishop Will Willimon tempted me not to vote this year. In the latest issue of The Christian Century, he reviews Electing Not to Vote: Christian Reflections on Reasons for Not Voting. He finds the essays in this volume … Continue reading
Posted in Reflect, Struggle
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Unmarked Graves
Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without … Continue reading
Wisdom From Failure
Psalm 51 asks God for mercy, forgiveness and spiritual cleansing. It’s words and images are a staple of prayers of confession. In my prayer book it’s one of the regular morning psalms, along with 95, 100, and 63. Reciting Psalm … Continue reading
Fall Leaves
This picture dates from two weeks ago. The changing of the leaves has continued all around. Some trees are already bare now, and others have just begun to turn. Even in the same species there are trees who throw their leaves … Continue reading
I’m a Kitty
The local CROP Hunger Walk took place today, leaving from the athletic center at a college up the street from our home. Hundreds of participants, including the freshman class at the college, registered to walk and gathered sponsors to raise … Continue reading
A Simple Way to Pray
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 11.1-13, the disciples watch Jesus praying and afterward ask him to teach them to pray. He gives them a model prayer, which has come down in different versions as the Lord’s Prayer, and he … Continue reading
A Faith For the Latter Half of Life
I need a new faith for the latter half of life because the faith that supported me in the first half has broken down, or at least become insufficient. “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy … Continue reading
Age Spots
I led an evening worship service at a retirement center yesterday. We sang Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, which includes the line, ‘We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree, and wither and perish, but nought changeth thee.’ The … Continue reading
Last Sunday’s Sermon
Image created on Wordle.net.
The Moral Understanding of a Bean
Our dog Jazz, whom we also call ‘Bean’, once scrounged for her food on the streets of New Orleans. Picked up after Hurrican Katrina, she came to us from an animal shelter as a rescue dog. Her scrounging habits remain, though, … Continue reading
The Other Side
Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him, declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 31.20 TNIV) … Continue reading
Looking For a Sign
I performed a wedding today at a local golf course. Bride, groom and I stood on a bridge at edge of the 16th green. The congregation sat in golf carts before us, and a stand of trees rose behind us. The … Continue reading
Sun and Moon
This morning when I looked east there was the rising sun, and to the west the fading full moon. I can’t remember what I last saw the sun and moon in the sky at the same time. Maybe I haven’t … Continue reading
Anxiety
A phone call came yesterday, telling us an elder member had died early in the morning. She rose, put on her slippers and slumped over in her bed. A peaceful death — we should all be so fortunate. Her death … Continue reading
Alien Terrain
“And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and all shall eat the flesh of their neighbors in the siege, and in the distress with which their enemies and those who … Continue reading
At the Edge of the Village
Chad Hall at Out of Ur advocates a middle way between left and right. He notes its problems: middle grounders open themselves up to criticism from both sides, they may create new ‘dysfunctional systems’ themselves, and their hungers may be … Continue reading
Stumbling On
A local minister’s wife left him last year. He recently resigned his small country church, moved to another state and left behind his library — which implies he’s left the ministry too. His books ended up at a religious bookstore, where I … Continue reading
Abstract Expressionism
This reminds me of the abstract expressionist paintings in art museums.
Plain Donuts and Toast
At the donut shop, the woman behind the counter was amused because someone had asked for “a plain donut with chocolate frosting on it.” Once the chocolate is on it, she noted, it’s not a plain donut anymore. Also, Kathleen … Continue reading
Number Envy
Tom Steagald, a United Methodist pastor in North Carolina, wonders if his small church ministry is enough: Just today I read about a 27-year-old pastor who started a church two years ago and now has 4,000 per Sunday. Critics fume, but … Continue reading →