UPDATE: Over on CT Kay has a longer form discussion of the pain of Christmas and her plea that people “Stop Sending Cheery Christmas Cards.” Again, I understand her suffering all too well and appreciate that many feel as she does. Her advice can be helpful and healing and […]
Grief
I enjoy Christmas music, from the sacred to the silly (give Rudy Red a listen), and I am always looking for something new each season. One of my all time favorite albums is “A Broken Christmas” from 1988. The name comes from the now defunct(?) CCM label “Broken Records” and […]
There are lots of reasons for me to be sad, depressed, or even angry right now and at this time of the year. I am sure that is true for every one of us. American Thanksgiving Day is wonderful for a number of reasons, not least of which is the […]
I still miss Mack so very much. It has been almost two years and I try to imagine how big he would be, what he would be doing now, would he be struggling in school? or be sailing along like his sister at that age. Would he even still like […]
Today is All Souls’ Day, not celebrated by most Protestants, but as my wife noted this morning, when you have lost someone very close and dear you begin to view such things differently. I still do not believe in Purgatory and recognize that much of the traditions of All Souls or […]
Of the Daily Offices I have always appreciated most Compline. It is the prayers at the end of the day and were written at a time when people were far more conscious of the fact that any day might be the end of this worldly life for them. Most of […]
Psalm 88 Psa. 88:10-13 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise you? Selah Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness? […]
Last Sunday I was driving home from Altoona, about a 40 minute drive, after having served as a supply priest for a small parish. It was a glorious afternoon and I had the topdown all the way. That calls for music and U2 was at hand. I set it all […]
[pullquote]When you die that does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and the manner in which you live.[/pullquote]Wonderful, wonderful speech that is making the rounds, as it should. Perhaps one of the most important things he said is that we […]
In the late 80s early 90s I read a bunch of Chaim Potok’s works, his famous books about young Jewish men growing up in a modernizing world. He came to speak at Wheaton College when I was there as a grad student. For those who do not know, Potok was […]