Thanksgiving as a Verb
Poor Thanksgiving. Stuck between the two biggest retail holidays of the year, Halloween and Christmas, it’s become something of a time-out in the holiday season, like the Two Minute Warning in an NFL...
View ArticleStumps and Shoots: A Meditation on Isaiah 11:1-3
Isaiah 11.1-3 A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of...
View ArticleSandy Hook School: The Slaughter of the Innocents
Into this season of mangers, shepherds and angels comes the story of the slaughter of the innocents, the bloody horror of ancient time that now takes on a sickening relevance to our own—the Gospels’...
View ArticleChristmas: The Remodeling Job Begins
Many years ago, an acquaintance told me that the hardest thing to do, the first time you remodel a house, is to pick up a hammer and start tearing out your first wall. This is hard, he said, because...
View ArticlePastor, Going to a Conference Is Not the Same Thing as Going on a Retreat!
Pastors go to conferences and workshops to get information they can use. They go on personal retreats so that God can use them. Conferences give information about the way things should be or can be in...
View ArticleWoodstoves and the Spiritual Life
Learning how to use a woodstove isn’t all that complicated until you actually buy one. You would think that, once it’s installed, all you would have to do is put wood in it, light a match, and then...
View ArticleThe Sabbath: Life, Limits & The Pursuit of Happiness
If you would like a genuine spiritual experience, here’s a suggestion. Next time you’re out and about on a Sunday afternoon—let’s say you’re coming home from church—and you stop by the local...
View ArticleA Break in Our Routine: New York as a Sabbath Rest
So, if you host a retreat center in the hills and forests of New Hampshire, where do you go when you want a break? Answer: New York! And I’m not referring to the Catskills or Adirondacks, either. Jill...
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...
View ArticleThanksgiving 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 ArticleAlone with Good Luck? (A Thanksgiving Meditation)
It’s a simple point, really, but one that needs to be made often, and that is, there’s a huge difference between giving thanks and having a good lucky feeling about life. Having a good lucky feeling...
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...
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Thanksgiving Meditation, 2016
The inspiration for thanks-giving is outside of us. The One to whom we offer thanks is outside of us. In short, gratitude is not just a feeling to be conjured up in honor of Thanksgiving Day. Rather,...
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