Alleluia for February 27, 2022 Shine like lights in the world as you hold on to the word of life (Phil. 2:15–16). Walking along the dark path through the campground, I kept looking for the next fire, hoping it would signal that I’d found where my group had pitched their tents for the youth jamboree our church had sponsored. But there were no more campfires, it was pitch dark, and the dirt path led deeper into the mountain forest.... Read more
“G-d hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him” I am buried in job applications at the moment, cursing them even as I am grateful to be able to fill them in, so when Marybeth asked if I could do this week’s Dark Devotional, I leapt at the chance. “Please,” I thought, “after weeks of tweaking my CV, using words like ‘managed,’ ‘monitored,’ ‘evaluated,’ and ‘specification,’ give me a chance to do... Read more
Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am lost; I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts! -Isaiah 6:5 This is the translation of Isaiah that I’m most familiar with – I am lost, ruined, defiled, doomed – but I froze in my tracks when I saw Young’s Literal Translation: Woe to me, for I have been silent I stared at that... Read more
When I was asked and gladly assented to do this week’s Dark Devotional, I thought I would do my usual thing and try to connect all three readings, and I will do that briefly. But writing this on International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 77th anniversary of the liberation pulls me to focus on love. Love does run through all the readings. Jeremiah says, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you. Being... Read more
I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received. (Luke 1:3–4). Lawyers like to say that if the facts of a case are in your favor, pound the facts. If the legal precedents are in your favor, pound the law. If you don’t have either facts or law on which to pound?... Read more
I’ve been trying to write an inspiring MLK Day post. For days. The problem is that I am white woman from the suburbs who only manages to sound alternately whiney and sanctimonious. Nobody needs to hear me preach at them about civil rights or racial history, and you definitely should not be coming to me to hear about the lived experiences of black people. If you are looking to learn more about the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther... Read more
Weddings are stressful, even when everyone is behaving themselves. When people start misbehaving, weddings can be hell. The first time I was involved in a wedding, the bride cheerfully announced at the outset that she planned to be a bridezilla. I laughed because I thought she was joking. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. By the day of the wedding, I had spent far beyond my projected budget, in part because of attire changes the bride demanded; I was stuffed into... Read more
I’ve had a cold ever since returning from my Christmas holiday extravaganza with family in Iowa. Unclear on if it’s a cold from a nephew or something more, I’ve taken somewhere near 10 covid tests, determined not to harm those closest to me, while also being cognizant of the impossibility of perfect safety in these times. Looking to the wisdom of the disabled and chronically-ill community, many of whom have no choice in staying home, I often wonder what... Read more
I have spent much of the past year reflecting upon what it means for me to be created in the Almighty Creator’s image. I am sure that my writer friends and my family and the dog are sick to death of hearing me blather on about it. The one thing I know for sure is that like our heavenly maker, we are born to make. Creators create. It’s what we do. We aren’t all DaVinci or Shakespeare or even... Read more
We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage (Matt. 2:2). What does your faith move you to do? During a train trip, a religious sister, who had spent nearly twenty years living the fairly privileged life as a teacher of the daughters of wealthy families in India, saw a destitute man sitting alone and abandoned. He reached out to her, saying, “I’m thirsty.” In his desperate plea, Mother Teresa of Kolkata heard the... Read more
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