Memory is a funny thing. Some events in my life stand out very clearly. Others…. well, let’s just say they’ve faded into the recesses of my mind. There is one memory that stands out after more than forty years: the day I met Fred Rogers. I was 19 or 20… Read More »Meeting Fred in the Neighborhood
It was early morning. I lit the first candle and began to sing an ancient hymn: O Come, Emmanuel. The ritual is familiar to me. It’s something I do each year as the Christian period known as Advent begins. Advent: it’s a word derived from Latin. It means the arrival… Read More »We Are Meant to be Mothers of God
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
