These next four weeks of Advent build a sense of anticipation for the birth of our Lord. We prepare every week with grand themes: Hope, Peace, Love, Joy. We light candles to symbolize these themes of anticipation and preparation. It…
Lessons in grieving the loss of a child: From ‘maybe so‘ to ‘it is so’
It was my last conversation with, let’s say, Tim, a close friend for six decades. Our stockpile of trust built a sturdy container strong enough to hold honest end-of-life conversations. Tim is dying and he knows it. Each telephone conversation…
Looking for hope in a time of abandonment
Surely I am not the only person in the land of the free and the home of the classified documents who keeps wishing, even hoping, that the innumerable issues, actions and ideas that divide us as a people have finally…
Advice from a sunflower
In the early morning, I watch their golden faces from my kitchen window. Often, I whisper a prayer for those in Ukraine. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost six months. “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot…
Brian Dawkins says he’s blessed
Brian Dawkins wants to be known for more than his 16-season football career with the Philadelphia Eagles. In his new book, Blessed by the Best, Dawkins gives readers an inside look at his football career and the journey he believes…
Subterranean hope in Ukraine
The stories, morning after morning, of the horrific war in Ukraine overwhelm us. For self-defense, I look away at something else in the news. Yet in the back of my mind the images still play, pictures of destruction, death. We…
The Atlanta Braves and the window of hope
The voice of James Earl Jones — as Terrance Mann in The Field of Dreams — touches a nerve of spirit for millions of baseball fans. Since 1989 the words nearly have become sacred: “The one constant through all the…
Lessons in hate and hopelessness
One of the compelling parts of the story telling of the TV series “The Chosen” is the reverent sharing of back stories that could have tied these scriptural people together. One of the best has emerged in Season 2, episode…
Finding our way out of the rubble
Lent isn’t over just yet, and we could do with a bit more reflection and repentance as a church and a nation. But spring is arriving. I can see it dawning over the horizon, pinkish yellow as it seeps into…