Thanksgiving 2014: A Mid-November Meditation
It is truly sad that Thanksgiving has become little more than the opening act for a season of spendthrift Christmas shopping. Gratitude for what we have has too often given way to a quest for more of...
View ArticleWarm Hearted Waiting in a Cold Season
Advent dates back to the mid-sixth century. By the 13th century, the whole church recognized the four Sundays leading up to Christmas as a period of preparation for Christ’s coming. If Christmas is a...
View ArticleReligious Virtuosity: The Spiritual Life on Automatic Pilot
Growing up is, among other possibilities, a process of learning how to do things. We learn to walk and talk, to tie our shoes, and to tell the difference between the men’s room and the ladies’ room....
View ArticleThe Bloody God and the Bleeding God
I’ve been reading the Old Testament. It’s a great story, despite Leviticus’ by-laws and Numbers’ numbers. However, reading it is an unsettling experience. As I started to note the body count, it seemed...
View ArticleThanksgiving: You Can’t Sell Gratitude
As I write, the Halloween decorations are being taken down and the Christmas decorations are going up. Halloween candy is selling at half price to clear the way for Christmas candy. Yet again, the...
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A Late Autumn Walk at Dusk
(Note: this first appeared on the Internet Monk, February 5, 2016.) Dusk is my favorite time for walking, when the sun has just set over the western hills so that the last light of the day slowly dims...
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The Spirituality of Taking a Vacation
We just returned from a trip to Nova Scotia, and I realized something important about vacations: you cannot arrive at relaxation until you leave behind your normal routine. In other words, changing...
View ArticleFollowing the Horses in the American Parade
Protestant churches follow American culture much like the man with the broom and shovel follows the horses in a parade. Liberal Protestants can be counted on to fit their ever shrinking theology into...
View ArticleA November Meditation: Thanksgiving, 2013
New Hampshire’s leaves are pretty much down now, and though the color has dimmed, they still exude a copper or even golden glow in the late afternoon sun as the wind swirls them over the ground. The...
View ArticlePart of God’s Family or Just an Employee?
While working my way through Romans 8 recently, I was struck by how Paul described the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of adoption” (Romans 8:13-17). I got to thinking about this because I realized that I...
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