After church service yesterday I went to a play called Silent, a one man 80 minute show depicting a homeless man. It was remarkable in both its performance and in its refraining from providing the answer. There was no call for services and no suggestion that “if only we did this or that” homelessness would … Continue reading Refined
Category: Faith and Culture
Loneliness and Solitude
From the book, The Eternal Now, sermons of Paul Tillich written for college aged young people: "Our lanugage has wisely sensed two sides of man's being alone. It has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone." On … Continue reading Loneliness and Solitude
Speaking Jesus
Christianity certainly has a rich back story found in the Hebrew scriptures. But today I’m more interested in the “after story,” what happens when the final scene has ended. The gospel of John tells the story of Jesus but is written long after Jesus died; long after the resurrection encounters. Yet, despite John being the … Continue reading Speaking Jesus
An Easter Call
Easter morning—He is Risen!—He is Risen, Indeed! Sin and Salvation Jonathan Edwards shouts out We are sinners in the hands of an angry God Look what we have done To ourselves Our neighbors Our nation Our world Our God Look at what we haven’t done For ourselves Our neighbors Our nation Our world Our God … Continue reading An Easter Call
Samosas and Pi
I listened to a film critic’s debate about whether current cinema has become too easy for us to watch. Films like The Help or the Shawshank Redemption were criticized as being too sentimental, too satisfying to watch--providing no deep insight into humanity, moving us nowhere. A few of the critics lamented how movie viewers need … Continue reading Samosas and Pi
Far and Wide
In seminary at Yale Divinity School I was awed to find myself in a vast landscape--that of the Christian witness spoken through the centuries. My perspective, having grown up in the Southern California United Church of Christ, was limited by comparison. I realized I had only seen faith from one small corner of scholarship in … Continue reading Far and Wide
If
My daughter’s school assigned her fifth grade class to create a poetry notebook, to contain both poems she wrote and those she found and enjoyed. To further this I read a poetry anthology from my childhood with her, and we came upon Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If—.“ On revisiting this poem for the first time in … Continue reading If
In the Care of Angels
I’ve always been skeptical about talk of angels. When the popular television show “Touched by an Angel” aired some time ago, I found myself avoiding it. Angels are too often used to sentimentalize Christianity. The Way becomes a set of grandmotherly clichés about how to live a wholesome life. And yet, as I read scripture, … Continue reading In the Care of Angels
Life-giving Transformation
Before Jesus begins his ministry, people from all over Judea go out to the wilderness to John the Baptist. There they hear John’s message to “repent,” to turn toward a new direction, and receive a baptism for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 3: 1- 6, Mark 1: 2 -6, Luke 3: 1-6, John 1: 19-23). … Continue reading Life-giving Transformation
The One Voice that Matters
We Christians are a strange lot. In my mail the other day, on top of the advertisements was one of an unhappy man and an unhappy woman sleeping in the same bed but turned away from one another. A friend of my husband's, shown this flyer, thought it was probably advertising a linen sale. Closer … Continue reading The One Voice that Matters
