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At some point in the course of February, check out a challenging and important online exhibition entitled, Without Sanctuary: Photographs and Postcards of Lynching in America. Make this an intentional personal assignment for Black History Month. (I recommend you include the short video as you scroll the site.) I first came in contact with these photographs⦠Read More
The United Methodist Council of Bishops has called a special session of the General Conference to be held February 23-26 in St. Louis, Missouri. (General Conference is the top policy-making body of The United Methodist Church and normally meets every 4 years. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held in May of 2020 in⦠Read More
Mary Oliver died yesterday. A poet of consummate grace and depth, I returned often to her work as an aid in my own meditation and spiritual devotion. She had a special capacity for interweaving her questing faith with keen observation of the natural world. She spoke simply, but truly, and in this way aroused deep spiritual⦠Read More
Was it birth or death, great sorrow or great joy that filled the hospital room? It was surely at least all of those things. That Robert would soon die was a fact. That his father was recently reborn was another. This pastoral encounter happened early in my ministry. Robert had been diagnosed with AIDS long⦠Read More
Several decades ago I was involved in a musical comedy production at my children’s school. I played the male romantic lead, which required me to kiss the ingenue with some passionate intensity. This prompted an interesting conversation with my kids, who were then six and eight years old. More than once they witnessed me practicing⦠Read More
Among the popular New Year’s resolutions that are proffered every January by well-meaning persons are those pertaining to work. These run the gamut from desiring a different job, spending more time at home, or being more competent. Although these intentions most often are rarely implemented, they do point to a very important series of considerations.⦠Read More
Psalm 96:11-12 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound; let the plains be joyful and all that is in them! Then shall all the trees of the forest exult. Joy—unmitigated gift! We can’t conjure it or manufacture it or fake it. When it comes to⦠Read More
Listening to an NPR podcast about a growing movement for “gift-less Christmas” (releasing the consumerist addiction to focus attention on more humane, compassionate and loving opportunities), one mother reported this: she was consumed with providing for her children “a perfect Christmas.” By that she meant the whole megillah—gifts, decorations, parties, whatnot and hoo-ha. A very⦠Read More
Psalm 80:4 Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved. Distraction is the great 21st century spiritual adversity. We are bedazzled by sensory overload, addicted to chronic interface with ephemera masquerading as Important! Consequential! Friend! Liked! Must have! Intentional habits of the heart necessary for the up-building⦠Read More
I turned the corner on Fifth Avenue from Fifty-eighth Street when I heard the woman scream, “Donald!” A man several yards in front of me stopped and turned around. The woman yelled, “Don’t you dare walk away from me!” and took several long, angry strides to catch up. When she got within range of steaming⦠Read More