John 3:1-17 was the lectionary passage today: Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. One phrase in their conversation, which was translated in the King James as “born again,” has been a dividing qualifier of sorts in Christianity, unfortunately. Besides being born again (as in “one more time”), it can also
After I finished writing what follows here, I decided I needed to write a brief preface. I don’t usually do so, but I also don’t get specifically political very often. I am troubled by the bombings that began today because of what it says about who we think
I came across this post by Tim Suttle tonight over at The Huffington Post and, as I read down, found one of my favorite Annie Dillard quotes : God asks nothing, and demands nothing, like the stars. It is a life with God which demands these things. You do not have
“Works of art are not born in flashes of the imagination, but in daily fidelity.”-- Albert Camus (quoted in Stephen Dunn’s Walking Light) The beginning of pollen season is killing me here. I found the above quote as I was reading Dunn's book and waiting until it
the lingering light of spring loses to the descending dark despite our best efforts to hold the night at bay (there’s no way around it) the only way to daylight is to live through till dawn which all works fine until I tell you this is metaphor (it is
One of the photographs of Jesus I keep in the wallet of my mind is of him looking out over Jerusalem. The sun is burning the last bits of blue out of the Palestinian sky as it sets, making room for the night. There is enough light to see the
Today was a long day. I watched as one of our students learned the very hard way that actions have consequences. Big consequences. In this case, they will have to find another school. The details are not my to tell, for both personal and professional reasons, other than to say
The lectionary passage today was Matthew's account of Jesus being tempted in the desert. In Reading Jesus, Mary Gordon talks about Jesus' experience in the desert demonstrating how he was growing into who he was becoming, which stuck with me. sunday sonnet #21 He had been forty
When I was youth minister at University Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas many years ago, I started thinking about Youth Camp around this time of year, beginning to work on a theme for the week and to recruit adults who wanted to go hang out with the kids for
“It is finished,” Jesus said, and then (according to old King James) he gave up the ghost. I know I’m getting ahead of myself, as far as Lent goes, but unfinished things have been on my mind and I find myself looking at that sentence once again. Like any
One of the informal rituals of our marriage is Ginger asking me, usually apropos of nothing, “Give me three reasons why you love me.” And I do. I have a long list; this is not a difficult challenge. Sometimes, she rephrases the question: “Why did you want to marry me?
Ash Wednesday showed up early for me this year because I was given the chance, thanks to my friends Lori and Terry, to hear Garrison Keillor tell stories. Though I have listened to him on the radio for thirty years, I’ve never heard him live. Monday, he showed up