News & Articles
Shifting The Focus
The challenge of the ancient prophets isn’t that they seem out of date, but rather that they speak so forcefully to our current situation. I was reminded of this earlier this week when a group I belong to directed me for my morning reading to Isaiah 58: 1-12 in the Hebrew Bible. If I was…
On The Road To The Center
I was saddened to hear about the one thousand, three hundred Muslim pilgrims who died while on the Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, because of the heat, but I was not completely surprised. Modern travel has lessened the sacrifices demanded of pilgrims, but over the centuries, men and women have always faced danger, sickness, and…
Listen Up
Before I spoke at a church last weekend, an elderly man on a walker approached me for a short conversation. Learning that I would be talking about interviews that I had conducted for a book, this ninety-six-year-old shared some of his stories—beginning with his experiences in the Great Depression. It was a brief encounter, but,…
Is Joy Possible?
On a spiritual retreat last week, I expected to be inspired by the speaker. While I was not disappointed, the two moments that made the deepest impression on me over the weekend were spontaneous comments that, in retrospect, I believe I needed to hear. The first came from Mother Hilary, a nun, who shared that…
The Rising Tide
A conversation with my son lined up with what I recently read about home insurance. Home insurance is not a subject that I have given much thought to. I have home insurance, I trust my local insurance agent, and then I tend to forget about it. Our son and his family live along the Atlantic…
It’s Not Either-or
A trait that seems to be steeped in the human brain is “either-or” thinking. I was reminded of this when numerous university campuses ended this spring semester not with calm graduation celebrations but with protests about the war in Gaza. The majority of student protesters is decrying the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza at the…