I’ve struggled with it. I sometimes suspect that the word peace is used to shush rightful responses to real harm. I’m tempted to think peace is for reality deniers. And besides, being a broken human, I certainly can’t live peace. Can I? This month as I pondered a word for the year, “peace” kept rising … Continue reading Why Peace is my Word of the Year
When I speak to pretty much anyone these days, we share a litany of worries: rising prices, Covid variants, the nation’s angry political divide, “wars and rumors of wars.” “But there’s not much we can do about it,” a friend remarked the other day. “Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.” Truly … Continue reading How to Offer Hope in Advent’s Exile
Preparing for Thanksgiving this week, I notice heaviness in my heart, yet I want to be thankful for a life rich with good gifts. I turn to Tomie de Paola's golden-toned Look and Be Grateful and find the grace I'm seeking. De Paola's children's books have a lovely simplicity. His images transport the reader to … Continue reading Become a Child Again with Tomie de Paola’s Book of Everyday Thanksgiving
In these divisive days it’s hard to imagine anything that could get Democrats and Republicans to go for a walk together. But apparently, once a month on Capitol Hill, it happens. I learned this wondrous fact by listening to Bring Birds Back, and if you’d like to know more, I hope you’ll listen to Season … Continue reading Can Birds Rehumanize Red & Blue Politics?
A couple of weeks back, a friend in an online writing group I'm in gave us a quick haiku challenge. Mine wasn't perfect, but it was straight from the heart: When autumn leaves twirl/ Like cowgirl ballerinas/ I miss you, Rich Mullins. He died 25 years ago today. I've written about Rich Mullins' contribution to … Continue reading 25 Years after his Death, I Still Miss Rich Mullins
The kingdom of God, Christ said, “is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how” (Mark 4:26-29). The phrase “he knows not how” troubles me; I want results. I long to see my loved ones … Continue reading When Faith Seems Fruitless: A Lesson from Frog and Toad
It’s time to worry about my “school clothes” again. Don’t get me wrong; I’m blessed to work at a school and I know it. Nobody needs to tell me that it “must be nice” to have a couple of months off in the summer, a week at Thanksgiving, two for Christmas and a spring break … Continue reading Picking out my Back to School Outfit with Help from King Solomon and a Zen Cowboy
As the Supreme Court was pondering the landmark case Roe v. Wade, my generation came of age. "Abortion? What's that?" I asked my dad, who seemed to always have an informed opinion on the news. After explaining the basics of abortion to me, my father sent me to the high school library to research the … Continue reading Toward Better Abortion Conversations: A Play, a Poem and a Fragile Forward Path
In 1933, a 29-year-old French social worker moved to a communist suburb southeast of Paris to begin a remarkable undertaking. Madeleine Delbrêl and the women who joined her would live Gospel-infused lives in a working-class city dominated by Marxist ideology. Madeleine's life witnesses to the grace God can grant when souls commit themselves to love … Continue reading Engagement and Love: Madeleine Delbrêl’s Mission to Marxists and the “Ordinary People of the Streets”
A weekly current events Jeopardy! competition hooked me on the news when I was a teenager. As all good teachers do in varied ways, my high school American history teacher opened a way of life to his students by helping them develop a positive habit. In his case it was the habit of keeping up … Continue reading Loving our Neighbors while Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Contemplation on the News
