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March 2026

March 22, 2026

Can These Bones Live?

Today is Lent 5--the gospel text is John 11, John's account of the raising of...

February 2026

February 11, 2026

The National Prayer Breakfast Gets an Unexpected Visitor

The annual National Prayer Breakfast happened last week. I don't know what happened or what...

February 08, 2026

La Bella Luna: A Lunar Spirituality

Shortly before the 2013 conclave that would elect him as Pope Francis I, then Cardinal...

October 2025

October 26, 2025

Be Merciful to Me, A Sinner . . .

Today's gospel reading reminds me of an August day several years ago when the small...

June 2025

June 03, 2025

The Terrain of the Sacred

In her spiritual memoir Still, Lauren Winner tells the story of a conversation between poet...

April 2025

April 06, 2025

A Poem for the Broken, Searching, and Human

In The Name I often describe myself as "poetry challenged." I usually need someone else...

February 2025

February 23, 2025

What Happens When We Pray?

In her spiritual memoir Still, Lauren Winner begins a brief chapter on prayer by noting...

February 09, 2025

An Unexpected Speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast

The annual National Prayer Breakfast happened last Thursday. I don't know what happened or what...

November 2024

November 12, 2024

Darkness, Silence, and Prayer

One Sunday some time ago as I was listening to our local NPR station in...

January 2024

January 18, 2024

Real Wives of the Ancient Middle East

Last Sunday's lectionary reading from the Hebrew Scriptures is the story of God's call of...

December 2023

December 31, 2023

A Prayer for the New Year

So here we are at the end of yet another year. Kate Bowler, who all...

November 2023

November 07, 2023

Disability Theology

One of the speakers at the Evolving Faith 2023 conference that Jeanne and I attended...

June 2023

June 20, 2023

Loving Your Life

I have a good friend and teaching colleague who told me the other day that...

January 2023

January 15, 2023

Mansplaining in the Bible

At a department meeting not long ago, our department chair wondered whether it might be...

October 2022

October 22, 2022

What is Prayer Supposed to Accomplish?

Today's gospel lectionary reading reminds me of an August day several years ago when the...

October 01, 2022

Having the Faith of a Weed

In today's gospel reading from Luke, Jesus' disciples make a very simple request: "Increase our...

September 2022

September 20, 2022

Some Stories are Not Redemptive. But They All are Important

The first reading assignment in my General Ethics class this semester was Kate Jennings’ 2002...

August 2022

August 20, 2022

Something More Powerful than Our Virtues

One of the habits that having a puppy in the house for the past ten...

August 07, 2022

This Book Changed My Life: Marilynne Robinson’s “Gilead”

I asked my Facebook friends a while ago to list three or four books that...

July 2022

July 27, 2022

The Shy Deer-Soul Inside of You

As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O...

June 2022

June 19, 2022

What To Do When It Isn’t Working

What do you do when it just isn’t working? In the life of a teacher,...

May 2022

May 19, 2022

Making Darkness and Silence your Friends

Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again. “The Sound of Silence”...

May 14, 2022

A Story About Learning to See Things Differently

In a comment on last Thursday’s blog post—“God is Not a Vending Machine”—a Facebook friend...

May 11, 2022

God is Not a Vending Machine

My most recent blog post included some reflections from a recent student on what she...

April 2022

April 16, 2022

Taking Death for a Walk: A Holy Saturday Reflection

A thing about dying is that you can't consult anyone who has done it. Peter...

April 02, 2022

Martha or Mary? Type A or Type not-A?

The stereotype of the Type A personality has become an entrenched part of cultural lore....

March 2022

March 01, 2022

An Assignment for Lent: Learn the Difference Between Solitude and Being Alone

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to yourself. Michel...

November 2021

November 20, 2021

Mansplaining in the Bible, and a Woman Who Overcame It

At a recent department meeting, our department chair wondered whether it might be good for...

October 2021

October 12, 2021

Looking for God in All the Wrong Places

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

September 2021

September 26, 2021

Sometimes, it just doesn’t matter

One day, Jeanne said “I want a fish.” This was a rather random request, but...

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