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
It was a difficult year for me. It’s not easy to convey what it was like. To begin with, I’m one of those people who started working in high school with part-time odd jobs. I always had something going on. Then, unexpectedly, I lost my job and was receiving unemployment… Read More »My Experience with Transformation: A Surprising Re-Orientation
As a child, I was fascinated by caterpillars. Living in rural Western Pennsylvania, there was a variety of caterpillars to be found in the back yard on plants and climbing on the stone wall of my family’s home. I was a bit older when I learned that these caterpillars would… Read More »Transformation: An Evolving Process
The sermon was high energy. The congregation followed the preacher closely. They laughed at humorous stories, applauded emphatically when she made poignant points, and shouted “Amen!” more frequently than most congregations in my predominantly white denomination. The preacher was a woman considered to be one of the most inspiring in… Read More »Spiritual Transformation: Sounds Great, But….
With the 4th of July holiday here, we tend to look at the things that make us proud as a nation. We are particularly proud of the way we mobilize and help groups of people when they are in trouble. It’s the American way. Farmers, who play a vital role… Read More »The American Way
“The Bible says it; I believe it; that settles it!” That sounds like something from a bumper sticker. It’s a claim I find to be shocking whenever an Evangelical or Fundamentalist Christian makes. it. The statement reflects a belief that the Bible is the Word of God: words spoken by… Read More »The Bible: The Word of God? No.
Resumes are very deceptive. They are meant to tell a story – a story of success. If you read my resume, you’d be impressed. That’s the idea. Resumes capture life’s accomplishments. But accomplishments just don’t magically happen. There’s work involved … and there’s failure … sometimes a lot of… Read More »Resumes: They Don’t Tell the Truth
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
