I’ve experienced many different kinds of transitions in my life. I’ve lived in Johnstown, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Morgantown, WV; Miami Beach, FL; Tucson, AZ; St. Louis, MO; and Atlanta, GA. Movements from city to city represent one kind of transition I’ve experienced. I’ve held many different jobs: hospital chaplain, pastor,… Read More »Transitions and Transfigurations
If you’re a user of social media, you’ve likely seen a meme frequently shared in recent weeks. It contains an image of an Amish man with a caption something like this: “A tourist asked an Amish man if he was Christian. The Amish man responded, ‘I don’t know. You’ll have… Read More »Ask My Neighbor
Belief in a deity: it’s a debate that’s often framed in predictable ways. Either a person believes in God or is an atheist. Or a person believes in the Christian God or a Muslim God or a Hindu God.. Or perhaps one has made money, power, or prestige a deity.… Read More »What God do You Believe In?
It’s an age-old question … one that people continue to ask. Why is this happening? Things happen to us that we view as bad. We look for a reason. We ask these questions when we don’t get the job we want, when a relationship doesn’t work out, or when a… Read More »Jesus, God’s Glory, and the Law of Attraction
He was sweet and full of energy: a blond-haired, blue-eyed six-year-old boy. He had a smile and laugh that conveyed joy to others. His name was Chris. I met him when on the pediatric unit of the hospital I served as a chaplain in the early 1980s. Over the next… Read More »Faith in the Midst of Tragedy
Faith. It’s trust and confidence in someone or something. It’s a conviction about something that’s not based on objective evidence. While we usually think about faith in terms of religious beliefs or the existence of a deity, we actually have faith about a great number of things in life. For… Read More »Faith: Moving Beyond Dogma
Have you ever questioned your faith or wondered if what you were taught was true for you? As a child, I learned about faith and religion from a catechism: a summary of principles of the Christian religion in the form of questions and answers. Catechisms were viewed as foundational among… Read More »Living the Questions
It was a bright, sunny day. The sky was blue without a cloud to be found. As I walked for a mid-afternoon break in my neighborhood, there was a bit of chill in the breeze. The leaves have begun to turn from deep green to shades of yellow and brown.… Read More »Life’s Transitions: All Things Are Passing