My thoughts on Ukraine Day Seven: “You arrogant ass. You’ve killed us.” I keep thinking of this scene near the end of the fascinating movie, “The Hunt For Red October” made off the book written by Tom Clancy. It’s one of my favorite movies ever, and the scene above has stayed with me. The captain of the Russian pursuit submarine is sure he’s got the renegade Red October, with plans to defect, set for the kill. But canny moves by... Read more
On this Ukraine Day Six, I stay glued to news feeds. I awaken early to see, “Are Kharkiv and Lviv still standing?” I read of women, children, and the elderly necessarily fleeing Ukraine while others, many of whom know zero about fighting wars, make their way back to do whatever they can to stand for freedom. And what do too many “Christian” people here in the US do? They cheer on Putin because they think this is the next big... Read more
As the world knows, Ukraine was invaded on Thursday, Feb. 24, as Russia made the move to topple its young and somewhat fragile democracy and install a Russian puppet government loyal to Vladimir Putin. I can no longer pray, only beg. Everyone expected Ukraine to fall quickly, likely within 24 hours, 48 at the most. Now, more than a hundred hours in, Ukraine has, by virtue of guts and grit and the amazing leadership shown by their young and... Read more
My idealist vision of the hope of life after death? We acknowledge and act on the reality that the prophetic word of God emerges more from the uncomfortably marginalized than from the comfortably centered. After a recent frost laid waste to a fair number of plants, I began the necessary clean-up. As I ripped up and discarded, my thoughts, as they almost always do when I am on my knees working in the dirt, turned to the nature of the... Read more
Abortion in Texas: SB-8 is an immoral law that encourages spying into the most intimate actions of another for financial gain. Time for clergy to speak out against it. This law targets girls as well as women I do not think it is fair to categorize as unthinking or downright cruel all of those who feel that embryos and fetuses have the same right to life as females. They simply don’t want abortions. I understand that. I sympathize with the... Read more
Am I woke? Well, I do know this much: Any pronouncement diminishing the need to be woke, i.e., be aware and actively seeking to deal with the “isms” embedded in the system, by any person or institution holding power where increased wokeness will lead to a decrease in that power must automatically be suspect. Am I woke? Well, I was awakened at 4 am this morning by my dog, Remy, climbing on top of me, his signal for “let me... Read more
And so here I sit, considering our cracked world with the tea in my cracked cup long-grown cold. I breathe my prayers, find my balance, and re-affirm my determination to live with integrity and generosity. Daily, I choose the same cup for my morning pot of English Breakfast tea. It is always the one with the chip around the edge. I do so to remind myself that, just as is this cup, I, too am a cracked vessel, one that... Read more
I wrote this piece on female anger and sadness nearly 30 years ago and recently uncovered it while going through some old files. What breaks my heart today? Even with the stronger #metoo awareness, which includes a growing #churchtoo movement, most in the Evangelical world, as well as the Roman Catholic world, refuse to disavow the theology that keeps women functionally powerless and inherently inferior to men. Each scenario below reflected a recent experience for people I knew at the... Read more
Beth Moore loves the Bible. But it ain’t that easy to interpret it properly. Quoting from Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words won’t do the trick. Somewhere around 25 or 30 years ago, I was in Houston on a Sunday morning and decided to go to the Sunday School class at Second Baptist Church where the increasingly famous Beth Moore would be teaching. I saw a cute, perky blond, her trendy chunky jewelry making its noisy presence... Read more
The messiness of spring hits me as I survey the aftermath of winter death. It also offers insight, filling me with longing for the Resurrection. My soul longs for the magic of the resurrection, but I am faced with the mystery and messiness of spring, of the birth process, instead. The photo above displays a distylium myricoides, a seldom-used but quite lovely shrub that graces my front yard. Normally, yet green leaves should be slowly falling off, gently pushed out... Read more
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