Genesis 19, selected verses Imagine two strangers show up at your door, and the rules about hospitality command you to let them in. In the course of their stay, they are threatened by xenophobic townsmen, and then they tell you to flee or else you will die. You don’t really know if you should listen … read
What does it mean for you to step forward in the shadow of trauma and grief? We have spent a lot of the last year stuck inside and waiting. It’s been a lot. Do you remember the first time you realized this COVID-19 pandemic was going to be unlike anything you ever experienced in your … read
There’s an old Far Side cartoon in which the devil is welcoming a new resident of hell. Before them are two doors. One is labeled, “Damned if you do” and the other, “Damned if you don’t.” The Prince of Evil is urging the new guy, saying, “C’mon, c’mon, it’s either one or the other.” Some … read
Last Friday was a day designated “Friendship Day.” That made me think about various friends that I’ve had, including one friend who cared for me on one of the most difficult days of my life. She showed her love not through words but through her actions. My husband, Daniel, was in his last hours of … read
In his 1973 poem “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” Wendell Berry admonishes us with these words: “So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute.Love the Lord.Love the world. Work for nothing.Take all that you have and be poor.Love someone who does not deserve it.…Practice resurrection.” That last line stuck with me from the … read
For many of us, one of the hardest or worst things about this pandemic shutdown has been not being able to say goodbye to those who have died. It still feels a bit unreal that I’ll not see Dick Hensley again in that pew where he always sat, or see Kris Wolf ringing bells or … read