Names Matter
We post-enlightenment folks tend to believe that names are simply arbitrary collections of syllables, with no connection to the essential reality of the people or things that they point to. Just as it doesn’t change the taste or consistency or any other tangible quality if I call my breakfast porridge or oatmeal, it shouldn’t make […]
A Healing Faith
In today’s gospel* Jesus challenges a faith that is defined more by adherence to human constructed proprieties than by an ever-expanding heart of love. He calls us to deep inner reflection, to listen and understand where we are coming from in our individual and corporate desires and ways and where God might be calling us […]
When the Winds Come
I was out for a walk on a beautiful early summer day, listening to an episode of On Being with Barbara Brown Taylor, one of my favorite writers on matters of faith. She was talking about how, no matter whether we are “spiritual” or not, we have everyday opportunities to experience reverence – if we’re looking for it. […]
Walking on Water
As the deadline for this piece steadily approached, I struggled to find a fresh way into the familiar story of Jesus inviting Peter to join him on top of some stormy waves* and kept coming up with an empty net. One day, an idea floated out of the depths of memory, and I wrote, One […]
