Questions in the Dark

My Lenten practice this year is to notice what questions arise in the dark, either in my dreams or wakeful times. Sleep seems to filter out the trivia, and I discover what my real questions are. Some arise from worries, of course. Others involve long-forgotten incidents, odd dream encounters, and shards of conversation that I […]

Bad News and Good News

Lately, the newspaper and the scripture readings seem to be interchangeable. When Jesus warns us* about wars and uprising, nations attacking one another, earthquakes, famines, and epidemics, I might as well be reading the front page of The Washington Post. War in Ukraine! Rising inflation! Political chaos! Police brutality! Racism! New strains of COVID! Half […]

Mystery of Hope – Sept. 28, 2022

“Vaclav Havel, former president of Czechoslovakia, put it this way: “Hope is an orientation of the heart… The more unpropitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is… [Without hope] it is impossible to live in dignity and meaning much less find the will for the ‘hopeless enterprise’ which stands at […]

A Lifestyle – Aug. 4, 2022

Christianity is a lifestyle — a way ofbeing in the world that is simple,non-violent, shared, and loving.However, we made it into anestablished “religion” (and all thatgoes with that) and avoided thelifestyle change itself. One could bewarlike, greedy, racist, selfish, andvain in most of Christian history, andstill believe that Jesus is one’s“personal Lord and Savior.”The world […]