The Place Where We Are Right by Yehuda Amichai From the place where we are right flowers will never grow in the Spring. The place where we are right is hard and trampled like a yard. But doubts and loves dig up the world like a mole, a plough. And a whisper will be heard in the place where the ruined house once stood. I often think about deleting my Facebook account. I like to keep up with my friends,... Read more
In his song, “Anthem” Leonard Cohen sings, “Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” For many of us, perfectionism is an ongoing struggle. I would like to think that being a person with a disability forces me to relate to what’s true: an imperfect body carrying, being the home of, a loved and loving being. The fact is that for many years, I struggled with something else beneath the surface. I... Read more
I recently had the opportunity to go on a trip to Disneyland and some of the other parks in Southern California. It was my first visit to a Disney/Disney-type park. Going to Disney was an eye opening experience because all of a sudden I was thrust into a world where everyone was there for the same reason. We all came to see the park and to appreciate the wonders that were set before us. This uniting purpose, this sense of being... Read more
Soren Kierkegaard Series (Part Two) Disclaimer: This article will be significantly concise as the topic could fill volumes. I ask only one thing from my reader: check your presuppositions in at the door. Many that hold to the modernist worldview often cringe (I’m being very gracious here) at the idea that truth can be subjective. Many conversations over the years have taught me there are three main reasons for this: first, most have no idea what subjectivity really means... Read more
It’s colder now. The stars look brighter. The air is crisp and tastes clean. I’ve started wearing a coat when I go out to walk and pray at night. Orion, my bow tie friend, is no longer hugging the edge of the sky. He’s ascended high overhead, because it’s his time now. And I have begun to let this in. Tonight, I saw a new starry face, low toward the horizon, in the east. Bright, despite the light of the... Read more
I was worried about Nanny and Paw because they didn’t attend church. As a 7 year old, I thought there were three kinds of people. 1. Folks who were saved, 2. Folks who went to weird churches (at 7 that meant anything other than Baptist, Methodist, Church of God or Assembly of God) and probably were n’t saved, 3. and folks who did n’t go to church and must not be saved. That’s what the preacher said. We did n’t... Read more
The world is not an evil place to be. It’s beautiful. Sure, what is beauty is strictly a subjective definition. For some, beauty is in a sunrise. For others, its in a poem. Or a kiss. Or a Tim Burton movie. Evil is itself also subjective. Yes, what this means is that certain things that have become evil are actually not evil. Homosexuality is not evil. Anger is not evil. Some acts of Abortion are not evil; my claim... Read more
The Old Testament practice of jubilee is perhaps so radical that it is not only inconceivable to imagine its practice in the present time, it was apparently impossible to legislate as a part of the ancient Israelite legal code. The prescription of leveling every gain achieved at the expense of others (land gains or human servitude) every 50th year was designed to specifically prevent the formation of a permanent, multi-generational impoverished class in Israel. Historical evidence generally affirms that the... Read more
I’m at an age when thinking about age is something I do often. I reached my Medicare year, age 65, in March. Little did I or my fellow boomers think we would be cheering this milestone, because it means qualifying for medical insurance when many of us had lost any health insurance coverage a few anxious years ago. The age-old saw is that “aging is not for the timid.” I have to marshal my courage to face physical activities that... Read more
You really can’t go back home again. Or at least if you do, it’s best to bite your tongue and sit on your hands. One of the running jokes among my friends who are experimenting with emergence ways of doing church is the ongoing aggravation we have with sermons. There is nothing inherently wrong with sermons, of course, and we all appreciate the inspiring elocution of a good homiletician who has something important to say and is saying it with flourish... Read more
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