It’s the cutting edge of making choices, splitting what you choose from what you don’t choose. And making your choices will set you apart from others, even friends and family. This is the work of becoming your own self. When your choices upset those around you it may be because you’re being foolish. But it may be because you’re making your choices instead of letting them. It will be like this. Abandon that owned self, and find your own self.... Read more

Weeds.  They have my attention.   Grass rooting into in my flowerbeds. Clover. Acorn sprouts.  The indefatigable dandelion.  The skulking, nameless stalks that mimic zinnias and daisies till they suddenly loom large.   My vigilant eye scans for them continually.  My experienced hand is ready to pull with just the right twist to bring up the root, too.  I bend my back to the task,  muscles from hand to arm to shoulder to waist all responding in the War of the Weeds.   ... Read more

. . . . So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it. Denounce the government and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands. . . As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it. Leave it as a sign to mark... Read more

Crazy Christians, Bishop Michael Curry’s reflections on faith, includes his zany sense of humor, and his profound gift for story telling.  Curry is African American and grew up during the Civil Rights era, so he tells a lot of stories of soaking this all in as a child, surrounded by adults who were practicing hope and resurrection in hard times.  He uses these experiences to understand many facets of American culture, from the despair and degradation of poverty and racism... Read more

‘Purity of heart is to will one thing,’ wrote the melancholy Danish theologian, Soren Kierkegaard.  And his wisdom is  importantly different from that other idea of purity:  sin-free;  unsullied; guiltless;  perfect. Perhaps we are able, at times, to will only one thing.  But it seems to be impossible for most of us to maintain a single-minded focus for even one year, let alone all our years. Jesus, according to Matthew, insists on this kind of pure will, this heart that... Read more

Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.  These were Jesus’ words, according to Matthew.   Most folks have got a few things they would not like proclaimed from the housetops.  So these are scary words. But  God who brought the whole creation out of darkness, has a few more things to... Read more

Trinity. St. Patrick’s hymn to it, written on his death bed, sings of images of earth and heaven, sea and wind, Christ in all: I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One, the One in Three. I bind unto myself today, the virtues of the starlit heaven, the glorious sun’s life-giving ray,  the whiteness of the moon at even, the flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind’s... Read more

And this is eternal life, that they may know you . . . . These words are in Jesus’ parting prayer at his ascension, according to John. The Ascension is a door closing, it is when the Easter sightings of him, the surprising visions, and the conversations came to an close. There will be no more of this. The familiar face, the voice, the renewing of his acquaintance, are over – forever. Ascension is the second step of the three... Read more

“Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French Jesuit and paleontologist. The rising of Jesus occurs in stages, so the gospels say.  Easter is the first step in the journey, the step in which Jesus rises from death and into the astonishment... Read more

In mid-May I spent some days in Philadelphia, with four friends, each of whom has lost a spouse within the last two years. They did not all know each other, and though I knew all four, I had met one only at the funeral of his dear friend and my former mentor, who was ill for years. Then, six months later, his own wife died suddenly, and now he and the widow of my mentor have begun a loving relationship,... Read more