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July 2025

July 20, 2025

Anna’s Promise and the Power of Love

In spite of my love of and occasional success with flowers and plants, I have...

July 15, 2025

Finding the Thing with Feathers

Anyone who has ever stepped inside a Catholic church more than once for a mass...

July 11, 2025

Death is Inevitable

One of my most effective attention-getters in any given class is to point out to...

June 2025

June 19, 2025

There Is No One But Us

As I continue to work through my next book project that has been on the...

June 15, 2025

How to be Good

I'm re-working a full draft of my next book project--Nice Work If You Can Get...

May 2025

May 04, 2025

Finding Hope on the Road to Emmaus

One of the downsides of the liturgical calendar is that, since it runs in a...

April 2025

April 13, 2025

Palm Sunday and the Tongue of a Teacher

Today is Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. This year Holy Week is...

January 2025

January 26, 2025

You are Not Alone

The pastor of the Lutheran church Jeanne attends sends out a scripture verse or passage...

December 2024

December 31, 2024

Hope for the New Year

Iin his end-of-the-year op-ed in the Washington Post at the end of 2021 Michael Gerson...

December 13, 2024

How to be Hopeful

Herodotus is considered to be the first true historian in the contemporary sense of the...

October 2024

October 06, 2024

Teach Us to Sit Still

In one month the most consequential Presidential election of our lifetimes will take place. People...

August 2024

August 27, 2024

You have Permission to be Joyful

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:...

March 2024

March 21, 2024

Growing Tomatoes on Death Row

In my various courses this semester we have spent a good deal of time developing...

February 2024

February 04, 2024

Can We Trust Each Other? A Reflection on Human Nature

The other day upon returning from her early morning visit to the gym, the first...

February 01, 2024

Is Religion a Virus?

The last time I was a member of a search committee for a new tenure...

December 2023

December 17, 2023

Light is Born of Darkness

During Advent season, John the Baptist gets a lot of play. This makes sense, since...

September 2023

September 19, 2023

Abortion and Faith Discussions: Part Two

Except for those who deliberately and religiously stay disconnected from current events and those who...

July 2023

July 05, 2023

Is There Life Before Death?

A few years ago I had the opportunity to hear one of my heroes give...

April 2023

April 23, 2023

Jesus, Cleopas, and Bob have a Conversation about Hope

“Now abide faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.” These words...

April 11, 2023

A Very Reluctant Rose

A few days ago on campus I detected a familiar, seasonal odor wafting on the...

January 2023

January 10, 2023

Are You the One?

During both the Advent and the Epiphany liturgical seasons, John the Baptist gets a lot...

January 03, 2023

Blessing The Crap Out Of Each Other

There are eight to ten movies that Jeanne and I watch religiously during the Christmas...

January 01, 2023

Hope in Unexpected Form—A New Year’s Day Reflection

Every New Year’s Day for the past decade—the amount of time I have been writing...

November 2022

November 27, 2022

Happy Advent–Stay Awake!

Happy New Year! Today is the First Sunday of Advent, the first day of the...

July 2022

July 18, 2022

Time, Like an Ever-Rolling Stream

I’ve been thinking a lot about end of life issues lately. Really. They seem to...

May 2022

May 21, 2022

Some Advice for the Graduating Seniors: Don’t Forget About the Room at the Back of your Shop

Today is Commencement Day for the Class of 2022 at my college. Commencement is always...

November 2021

November 28, 2021

What Advent is Saying to Us: Stay Awake!

Today is the first day of the new Christian liturgical year--the First Sunday of Advent....

October 2021

October 10, 2021

An Appropriate Level of Outrage

As we have been selecting the required texts over the past couple of weeks for...

July 2021

July 16, 2021

How to Defund the Police

I don't often post an essay on this blog that has no discernable connection to...

November 2020

November 28, 2020

The Message of Advent: Stay Awake!

I have the privilege of giving the sermon for the First Sunday of Advent, at...

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