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April 2018

April 22, 2018

How Do I Get There?–A Reflection for Good Shepherd Sunday

Tomorrow is "Good Shepherd Sunday," including the 23rd Psalm--a text so familiar that it is...

March 2018

March 04, 2018

On Being Made of Meat

“What’s the difference between chili con carne and chili con queso?” I ask my freshman...

February 2018

February 13, 2018

Lent is for Lovers

This year, for the first time since 1945, Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day fall on...

January 2018

January 15, 2018

A S**thole Town Like Nazareth

My father was a Baptist minister who was a voracious and eclectic reader. Often his...

December 2017

December 26, 2017

When God Doesn’t Meet Our Expectations

What would you call a friend who is as unpredictable as the weather, who shows...

December 24, 2017

Grace and Peace

Grace means suddenly you’re in a different universe from the one where you were stuck,...

June 2017

June 23, 2017

Spiritual Plagiarism

God often operates according to entirely different rules than those to which we are accustomed....

June 03, 2017

The Confusion of Babel and the Clarity of Pentecost

The voices of spirituality, religion, secularism, materialism, power, and greed often are speaking languages so...

May 2017

May 31, 2017

When a Coincidence is more than a Coincidence

Frederick Buechner suggests that coincidences may be more than chance occurrences. They may be trying...

May 17, 2017

Fast and Slow

My college's commencement is this coming Sunday; Pentecost is two weeks after that. How might...

April 2017

April 09, 2017

To Die For

What is bothering me incessantly is the question of what Christianity really is, or indeed...

September 2016

September 30, 2016

It’s Not a Holy Relic!

In Milos Forman’s 1984 Academy Award winning film Amadeus, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, played...

September 16, 2016

The Fruit of the Blackberry

A few years ago, Jeanne returned from a weekend with a friend in Vermont with...

August 2016

August 31, 2016

The Joyful Owl

Just about seven years ago, on a beautiful summer morning very similar to the ones we...

July 2016

July 09, 2016

Welfare in my Back Yard

Although I am a very liberal guy, I occasionally worry about the welfare state. I...

April 2016

April 01, 2016

Jesus, Moe, and Curly

IT'S APRIL FOOL'S DAY--A PERFECT TIME FOR SOME IRREVERENCE! One of my unexpected reading delights...

January 2016

January 29, 2016

We Are More Than We Are

Although it often caused trouble and brought me grief during my primary and secondary education...

September 2015

September 21, 2015

Is the Pope Catholic?

He wants to be a modern pope. All he needs is dreadlocks and a dog...

July 2015

July 30, 2015

Pope Ivan–Remembering a Mennonite Catholic

Monday morning--early. The 30th Street Amtrak station in Philadelphia is not the sort of place...

May 2015

May 11, 2015

There It Is

I did something a couple of weeks ago that I have not done in four years—present...

April 2015

April 17, 2015

We Are the Champions!

I admit it—hockey has never been my number one sport. That in itself is odd,...

November 2014

November 19, 2014

Celebrating Life

I recently submitted two grant proposals related to my sabbatical that will begin next July....

October 2014

October 24, 2014

I Am Not Your Friend

If it’s Friday, it’s time to think once again about interactions between various constituencies in...

July 2014

July 27, 2014

Love Will Win

Picture the favorite vehicle that you have ever owned. Did it look like this? Or...

May 2013

May 02, 2013

A Visit from Big Bird

My text to Jeanne at 6:37 AM, Thursday April 25: This is promising to be...

April 2013

April 10, 2013

A Glorious Looniness

I went to Minnesota five years ago to begin sabbatical in the middle of January....

November 2012

November 08, 2012

Crows I Have Known

My childhood was filled with unusual characters, all products of my father’s fertile imagination. A...

October 2012

October 25, 2012

Big Bird

This is the first election cycle in my remembrance that, at least for a week...

September 2012

September 15, 2012

I Don’t Like It

A baptism was part of the morning service a few Sundays ago. Actually, there were...

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