Thanksgiving Dinner: friends and family gather; recipes are shared; people travel great distances to be with loved ones. There’s something unique and special about the American Thanksgiving holiday. I have fond memories of Thanksgiving from my childhood, with my mother making a unique stuffing for the turkey as well as… Read More »A Difficult Conversation for Thanksgiving Dinner
We were sitting over dinner as I shared pictures on my phone of the Bahai’ Temple north of Chicago. I spoke of the peace I experienced in the temple as I spent time with meditation. Something about the architecture helps to draw visitors to experiences that are both deep and… Read More »The Reasons I Remain a Christian
It was a lovely autumn day. I sat on the front porch swing and watched as squirrels continued their collection of items to store for winter. Birds from farther North arrived in the South, nesting in shrubs and on trees, or resting on the telephone wires overhead. Occasionally, a… Read More »Autumn Reflections from the Porch Swing
It’s a statement that resonated within me as soon as she said it. “I went into ministry to help people. Now that I’m retired, I realized that I spent most of my time trying to fix a broken institution which can’t be fixed.” I’ve known my friend for over twenty… Read More »The Church: A Broken Institution That Can’t Be Fixed
It’s a famous quote we usually attribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” King used this quote in 1958 in an article he wrote for a periodical called The Gospel Messenger. He was likely quoting… Read More »The Bending of the Arc of the Moral Universe
I’m a person of faith. But here’s the thing: while I believe deeply in some things, the beliefs I hold most firmly aren’t statements of religious dogma. Even with my theological education, when I think about dogmatic statements, I generally scratch my head and wonder, “What’s the point?” Among the… Read More »Living Faith
To be a Christian, a follower of the teachings of Jesus, is difficult. While living out the attitudes and values of Jesus has never been easy, in our era, there are significant challenges. The most obvious challenge is that the Christian Church today is characterized by egregious actions and statements… Read More »The Difficult Challenge of Being a Christian
Of the areas for personal growth that have been a challenge for me throughout my life, anger has been the most insidious. There are times when my anger flares and seems to take over who I am. I’ve also experienced attempting to not respond to the anger when I don’t… Read More »Anger: An Unexpected Blaze
