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 […]
Grief
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, […]
It is our nature to mark specific dates and times, not just the annual remembrance, but particularly those that seem somehow significant, whether numerically (5, 10, and so on) or personally, as when we passed the threshold when Mack had been gone from this world longer than he had been […]
“Put the apocalypse back into Advent” is a phrase that has been making the rounds of the internet for the last few years, a riff on the “kept Christ in Christmas,” no doubt. For many Christians it is a curious concept, what can the apocalypse possible have to do with […]
This afternoon, 15 August 2022, the Frederick Buechner society posted the announcement below. This is a loss that I and thousands others will feel deeply. His writings and reflections led me to examine and express my faith more clearly than ever and I am forever thankful that I accidentally discovered […]
First reading and Psalm• 1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a• Psalm 42 and 43 Second reading• Galatians 3:23-29 Gospel• Luke 8:26-39
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Memory is a fraught and fickle thing. What may seem certain and fixed in our minds as fact may be, to another rememberer, something entirely different. Something we may desperately […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” “Our Father, who art in heaven…” Fatherhood is a term referring to the state of being a father, not the biological fact of “fathering” a child, but rather the lived experience of being a father, engaged with and a part of rearing […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” (Not coincidentally, this post is delayed due to the events recounted in the opening paragraph.) ex·haus·tion | \ ig-ˈzȯs-chən \ a state of extreme physical or mental fatigue. the action or state of using something up or of being used up completely. […]
My back was sore as I scrambled off the floor and the pile of wrapped presents to slide onto the couch and pick up my glass of port. I stretched and observed to Elizabeth that it has been a really challenging fall. There were three main challenges that I had […]