This summer challenged us in many ways. Aside from the ongoing worry and adjustments due to a global pandemic, every corner of our nation echoed with protests, calls for justice and confused sorrow in response to George Floyd’s murder. The subsequent media coverage of other black and brown Americans like Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery…
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” St. John’s Gospel (1:14 NRSV) A central message of the Christian faith is that God saves what God assumes. Or, rather, God makes holy that which…
The Episcopal Church in the United States was in crisis. Its leadership had strayed from the traditional and historic teachings of the Church, particularly those dealing with the authority of scripture. Simply put, it was a controversy about the Bible. At issue was not just a few individual passages, as is often alleged, but the…
Morning is the worst time of day for those in the grip of suffering. The nauseating jolt back into consciousness is accompanied by acute sensation: the foul odor and tinny taste of a too-parched mouth is complemented by the needling pain of dry eyelids on dryer eyes. Your body seems to want to participate in…
For me, this is a fractured time. Plans for exciting international travel are dashed. Visits with family in other cities on hold. The serendipity of seeing friends and meeting new people at church postponed. And now grief over the recent tragedies and current unrest. Yet, I’m extremely blessed. I thank our Father for a loving…
During this pandemic, God brought back to my mind something that he used a stranger to teach me years ago. When I was in my forties with a full-time job and two children, my widowed mother was hospitalized with complications from breast cancer. She was scheduled to be released from the hospital to our home.…
A few weeks ago, Dr. Harold Coble, a retired professor at NC State, brought our daughter Sarah Kate about 20 tiny monarch caterpillars. He provided a cage and needed food, the milkweed plant. Monarchs begin as eggs before turning into caterpillars and then butterflies. In case you don’t know much about monarchs, they must have…
“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” – Zephaniah 3:17 As this pandemic drags on, I’ve found myself drawn to unexpected places in my Bible reading. I’ve long loved…
While each day is feeling more and more like a scene out of the movie, Groundhog Day, navigating these days of unanticipated time with my immediate family has been endearing and unforgettable, peppered with some tense moments. Our college-aged girls moved out of their dorms for the semester and have filled their rooms with a lot of…
In 1902, columnist Finley Dunne was credited with saying that the job of the newspaper was to “comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.” Years later, theologian Reinhold Niebuhr would borrow that phrase to describe the role of the preacher. The more I think about it, the more that description resonates with me. Certainly,…