I had an early exposure to idols, really enormous ones in a land far, far away where my parents were missionaries. These images were formidable, and people thronged to see them, to light candles and incense in front of them, repeat words of petition and panic. The instruction to me as a child by my [...]

This past week seemed vacant, with few dates in my Day-Runner (Luddite that I continue to be!), just lots of hurrying up and waiting. I was called for jury duty downtown. It is formidable enough to take on-line orientation, to get through rush hour traffic, to find the correct courthouse, to go through security without [...]

This past week, as so many weeks,  have been full of headline frenzy: the killing of Osama bin Laden , floods in the South, the change in the Constitution of my own denomination. Loud proclamations and spins  careen around the networks and blogospheres.  In my own groups of contemplatives, we were asked to pray with [...]

The unseen presence at the British Royal Wedding this past week was the mother whose untimely death and whose colorful persona shaped the choices and character of her son, William, second in line to the throne. As if there were not merely a  physical resemblance in her son, Diana was represented there, tacitly, by selections [...]

It is Holy Saturday and I am quietly resting in the turn of the season, finished with the tensions of Lent and Holy Week, awaiting the dawn of Eastertide in the morning. Something shifted in me yesterday when I heard the words of Jesus: “Into your hands, I commit my spirit…it is finished.” I realized [...]

I feel very resistant to the drama at the start of this Holy Week! There is too much drama all around: last minute budget compromises; last-minute plans for coups and/or saving face by political leaders; people crying “wolf, wolf” when there is no wolf. So Palm Sunday doesn’t feel very auspicious for me as it [...]

Lent 5:                                                                                                           [...]