This past Friday the NCAA soccer season began. You know, what the rest of the world calls “football.” I have had the great privilege to take pictures of our PSU teams on the sidelines and starting today I will be the PA announcer for a handful of the women’s games. This community has been an incredible support and encouragement to us since Mack’s death and, as most readers will know, Penn State Men’s goalkeepers all […]
Mack
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Elizabeth shared this daily email from the writings of Henri Nouwen that happens to be about parents who have lost a child. We have discussed this often and my view continues to be firm; we must live. If we collapse, if we “die” metaphorically if not literally, because of Mack’s death then we not only rob our daughter of all she deserves, but we also erase the memory of Mack. People will remember only how […]
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WARNING: This post will not be encouraging and might even frustrate you a good bit. It did me. As is often the case lately, I want to write this morning, but I am struggling to find the words or, more accurately, words that I think would be acceptable. Then I turned to today’s Morning Prayer and came upon the Gospel reading. Mark 11:12ff is one of the most troubling Gospel passages I know. Mark 11:12-26 […]
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I have mentioned before that Mack and I would read comics together every night. For a while it was hard to read comics again because of that fact. But at the same time comics and cartoonists have also helped me cope. So last week when Dan Piraro posted this comic I knew two things: (1) he would get vilified by some for tasteless humor and (2) Mack would find it hysterical. So I do too. […]
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Jim West posted this response to an AP tweet: From the twitter- @AP: Rick Warren gives 1st sermon since son’s suicide, saying “God knows what it’s like to lose a son”: http://t.co/FwRc10ASFf -SS But does he? Does God, in infinite knowledge, experience reality just like we do? Such a god seems to be crushed down to little more than a man. Such a god is made in the image of man. The sentiment of the statement is […]
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I am reading some science fiction for distraction, The Fall of Hyperion, recommended by my friend Rick. This is the second in trilogy and, as seems so often the case now, the themes are far more relevant to my immediate life than I expected. One character, a Jewish Philosopher named Sol, is mourning his daughter and quotes a portion of Yeats’s A Prayer for My Daughter. “All Sol wanted, he realized now, was the same possibility […]
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It is so very odd that we have the terms “widow” and “widower” and we have “orphan,” but we have no term for those who have lost their children. Other than words like the bereft, those who mourn and weep, the wounded….
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From last Sunday. As with most sermons, I wrote sparingly and then in the preaching the sermon expands, but I think this captures my primary thoughts. Proper 5, Year C, RCL 1 Kings 17:17-24 Luke 7:11-17 The Widows’ Sons – Why Not Mine? When I came back to services one of the things I promised myself was that I would not bring our personal loss into every sermon. Our recent readings, particularly today’s make it […]
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Last night Chelsea beat Benfico 2-1 in the UEFA Europa League Final. I watched it from a hotel room in Utrecht and the game was played just a short train ride away in Amsterdam Arena, where just 10 months ago Mack and I watched Ajax beat the Celtics 4-0. Needless to say, I got choked up, quite a bit. Not because I was rooting for Chelsea to win (I was, Torres scored the first goal […]
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I don’t usually post the speech I give at the Medals Ceremony, but this time the message was a bit different. Good afternoon scholars, Parents, and friends, trustees, President Erickson and Provost Pangborn. Congratulations to you all! Each one of you has played a significant role in getting to this moment. Mrs. Schreyer and DrueAnne it is a particular honor to have you with us. Thank you for being here and thank you for all […]
