On Good Friday, we stand in silence before the cross. We stand before the harsh reality of death. It is a legal death, but one that is deeply unjust—a death imposed by those who cling to power, those who protect their political positions, and those whose self-centeredness blinds them to… Read More »Standing Before the Cross and Finding Life
The cycle is around us. Are we aware that life, death, and new life characterize existence? How can we tend to this cycle in ways that enable us to live more consonantly with the rhythms of life? Perhaps our awareness of the spring season and the Easter holiday will give… Read More »Cycles of Living, Dying, and Rising
The cycle is all around us. Life, death, and new life characterize existence as we know it. Perhaps by being more attentive to this cycle we can learn to flow with the changing rhythms of life and embrace life’s richness in each moment. The following is a text version of… Read More »Cycles of Living, Dying, and Rising
It’s a memory that’s stayed with me. I was perhaps 20 years old. A priest stood in front of the class lecturing. I remember him as being old. He was probably about the age I am now. While I had already taken a couple of courses on the Bible before… Read More »Rhythms of Death and Life
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
As I waited for the coffee to brew this morning, I stood at the back door of my kitchen looking at the trees of the wood behind my home. While many leaves remain green, some branches were fiery red, some yellow, and a few were even brown. I opened the… Read More »Love Is Stronger than Death
Sometimes I attend services in an Episcopal Church. Before people share the bread and wine known as communion, the priest makes a dramatic gesture. Holding the circular bread-wafer so that all can see, the priest exclaims: “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” In unison, the response comes from the… Read More »A Progressive Christian Minister Reconsiders Atonement
As I scroll through the postings made by friends on Facebook, I see familiar kinds of postings — status updates, as they are called. One may comment about a parent’s death, another on the passing of a cousin, another on the anniversary of a loved one’s home-going. While people often… Read More »The Tapestry of Life and Death
