Easter Sunday, Year C “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Twelve years ago we joined my parents for […]
Death
132 posts
“In the face of death, I realized that it was not love that kept me clinging to life but unresolved anger. Love, real love flowing from me or toward me, sets me free to die. Death would not undo that love. To the contrary, death would deepen it and strengthen […]
Elizabeth’s collection of essays by this title was published by Sunbury Press in November 2024. It is a beautiful and powerful set of reflections upon suffering and grace. She worked with the press to design a small book that can easily fit into a pocket or purse. The book is also available […]
Today’s your birthday. Just one day.Just one day. That’s all it is. Just one day. That’s all it took. Just one day. To take you from us. Just one day. And a lifetime is gone. In just one day. Today, 16 January 2025, is Mack’s 21st birthday. Or would be, if […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” Knowledge is a flexible term. In some languages, like German, you can have several different words which all track to a single, meager, “to know” in English. You might know a person at work, you can know a fact about the world, […]
Tying your dress shoes in a double knot,Like an eight-year-old. Running off the bus and flopping on the couch after school, Like an eight year old. Putting together your LEGO early in the morning (and late at night),Like an eight-year-old. Sledding down the hill at the back of your friend’s house,Like […]
I was humbled to be invited by Susan Hofer to offer the following sermon and reflection at Larry’s funeral on Saturday, June 15, 2024, at St. Peter’s Church. Lewes, DE. The readings were Isa. 61:1-6, Psalm 23, Rev. 21:2-7, and John 14:1-7. The obituary is below the sermon. Surely your […]
“I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief.” This quote, with the accompanying picture, came up in my FB feed and was attributed, as you can see, to C.S. Lewis and, more specifically, to A Grief Observed. Except Lewis did not write […]
A month or so ago, I had the privilege of being interviewed by David Capes, director of the Lanier Theological Library for the Stone Chapel Podcast. It was such a pleasure to talk with David about Beautiful and Terrible Things and especially about our boys. Both of us are bereaved […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” See “Nunc Dimittis” “…He will swallow up death forever.” Isa. 25:8a We do not like to talk about death. Never have. Any of us. Which is not to say we don’t talk about death, we can’t avoid it. And there are some, […]