Wednesday, July 4, 2018 | Reflections
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told that a decision I made as a teacher wasn’t “fair.” Maybe I let a student turn in work a little late or asked the entire class to give an assignment another shot. Often the complaints about my unfairness come from...
Tuesday, July 3, 2018 | Reflections
“Isn’t it wonderful that we live where we can see these kinds of things?” I said to my young daughter as I drove her to school. Her father had come to breakfast talking about the possum he discovered in the shed. Such encounters are one of the joys of rural life, I...
Tuesday, July 3, 2018 | Reflections
The energy filled the air. Some nerves too. Some uncertainty. Some wondering. A group of high schoolers and leaders were packing the vans to leave for a week-long gathering. Many churches take part in service trips, camps, gatherings, and other ways to engage in faith...
Monday, July 2, 2018 | Reflections
The issue in this passage is not that Jesus is capable of anger; it’s that sometimes anger is what’s called for. The tradition of the day is that pilgrims are required to make offerings using Jewish currency, not Roman. The moneychangers take advantage of the...
Monday, July 2, 2018 | Reflections
Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you;...
Sunday, July 1, 2018 | Reflections
Easier said than done, of course. That’s always my first reaction when I read one of the many biblical passages urging someone—urging me—to be not afraid. Given that his daughter is near death, Jairus has every right to be afraid. And so does the woman...
Sunday, July 1, 2018 | Reflections
Mark 5:21-43 The title of my essay last week was We Don’t Need Another Hero, and in this morning’s lectionary readings Jesus went around the Sea of Galilee healing people like a superhero. On the surface, it seems like I need to make a retraction....
Saturday, June 30, 2018 | Reflections
Every person I’ve ever met—every one of them—wants to be in control of something. Emotions, career, life’s course—you name it, we want to control it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but in a culture obsessed with harnessing and controlling literally every single...
Saturday, June 30, 2018 | Reflections
It’s always interesting to read back things that you’ve written in a diary or a blog or just on a piece of paper somewhere that you run across and it starts to make you think. It seems that subjects seem to have a span of time in which they are talked...
Friday, June 29, 2018 | Reflections
“I hate you!” The words pierced the young mother’s heart with cruel force. Her five-year-old son couldn’t comprehend the sharpness of his speech. She sat down next to him on the floor on the first day of camp, hugged and kissed him, whispering, “Well, that’s too bad,...
Friday, June 29, 2018 | Reflections
The idea I took away from my Sunday school days, was the idea the saints Peter and Paul were very much like brothers. The fought like cats and dogs about the fundamentals of the nascent Christian faith but both passionately believed in what they were building. That...
Thursday, June 28, 2018 | Reflections
As I write this essay, the news media is obsessing over which billionaire is currently the richest person in the world. One day, the market performs better in one category, so it’s billionaire A, while the next, the market performs better in another category, so it’s...
Thursday, June 28, 2018 | Reflections
Matthew 20:17-28 When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but...
Wednesday, June 27, 2018 | Reflections
My brother is five years younger. As children, we were quite concerned with fairness. “Fair” meant my brother could never have more than I did, and I could never have less than he. Ever. Mercifully—and to the delight of our parents—we left that phase behind…for...
Tuesday, June 26, 2018 | Reflections
It is common wisdom that dogs think we are gods, while cats know that they are gods. However, it is my experience that cats possess uncommon wisdom, and therefore rarely underestimate our influence upon their lives. I think that, for the most part, my cats have faith...
