Note: This article appeared concurrently at ABPNews Blog. My last sermon of 2013 was named after a Pete Seeger song – “Turn! Turn! Turn!” Based on a Ecclesiastes 3, it is a text that I’ve mostly used for funerals. I wanted an opportunity to use the song in a non-funeral...
In honor of the people who, because of today’s snow storm, had to spend a good bit of time doing nothing, I thought I’d post this entry that originally appeared at the Religious Herald. In times when we are not able to do what we wish to be able to...
I just wanted to take a moment today and thank all the Liams in my life. Not that I know any personally, but my life has certainly been shaped by some Liams. And so, without much further ado, I present the top three Liams in my life and the lessons...
Note: This article originally appeared in the Religious Herald and on my former blog. However, in honor of the yoga class that meets at my church and the awesome way in which I just rocked my hip hop inspired cardio workout, I thought it an appropriate time for this post...
When my son first started attending his preschool, he would spend the car ride on the way “naming” friends. If he knew someone’s name, it meant that they were friends. For him there were two healthy categories: friends and people who aren’t yet friends. Those are two categories with which...
I’ve always loved the story of Jonah. I’ve found it to mean different things to me over the years, and I have no doubt to believe that it will mean different things to me in the future. It is an amazing story because it is one that has a very...
If you’ve never taken the opportunity to read any Wendell Berry, I highly suggest that you do so. His agrarian, contrarian ways are often the antidote for what ails us as overly-consumerized human beings caught in the cattle chute of modern productivity. In particular, I’m thinking about his poem “Manifesto:...
***Note: The poem and accompanying thoughts below are the very first blog post I ever wrote. I wrote it about three and half years ago and a few blogging attempts ago. I came across it as I was trying to clean up some files and decided to share it here....
***Note: This article appeared under the simpler title “Thoughts leading into MLK Day” at the ABPNews Blog.*** “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King Jr. I’ve always loved Batman. He wasn’t my first love, that was Supes, but early...
With little statistical data, I’ll argue that the most powerful word in the English language is the word “yet”. It is by no means the most featured conjunction; it doesn’t even garner a mention in the song by which all conjunctions claim their fame, “Conjunction Junction”. Nor is it an...