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To Love As GOD Loves

  Approx. read time: 1:40 min. Looming large on my calendar is the start of Lent, a season that looms large on the soul. I think I should prepare, establish a rhythm or some practice to give me entry into this time of reflection and conversion of heart. And a phrase comes to me, which… Read more »

Enough, already: My letter to President Biden

  Approx. read time: 1.5 min Dear President Biden: The people of Gaza have endured over 100 days of ongoing genocide, with named victims exceeding 25,000. Over ten thousand children have been wantonly sacrificed, and those who survive undergo surgeries without anesthesia. Pregnant women lack necessary safety and support as they give birth. Gazan civilians… Read more »

Light in Darkness: An Advent meditation

Light in Darkness presented at Oregon Interfaith Hub’s Interfaith Winter Service, December 5, 2023 Approx. read time: 1:30 min. Winter comes. Days grow short. Sunlight is precious, and fleeting. The dormancy within mirrors the dormancy of Creation. For Christians, this is the season of Advent, a season of invitation to come close, to approach, to… Read more »

Wake up—from the sleep of inhumanity

  Approx. read time: 1:00 min. “Wake up!” Jesus says repeatedly, of the socially and politically fraught times he lived in.  “Be constantly on the watch!” he urges. “Stay awake!” If we’re paying attention, these words are the cue for this Advent season. But in our times, we resist being woke. There’s always a reason… Read more »

My inheritance

  Approx. read time: 2:30 min In the midst of my senior year of college my father dies, a man shriveled from thirteen years of multiple surgeries to relieve the pressure of a slow-growing inoperable brain tumor. Being away at school, separated from family, I don’t really know how to grieve my way beyond his… Read more »

Which side am I on?

  Approx. read time: 1:45 min. The question rises with each new war, each new armoring up, each new political twist of fate: Which side am I on? The question is unhelpful and, frankly, exhausting.  Taking sides has never solved anything. It only leads to entrenched warfare—verbal, emotional, ideological, or in devastating displays of power… Read more »

King Mammon and me … or, not

  Approx. read time: 2:40 min. After my Saturday morning talk, my hosts take me to lunch at a local breakfast spot. It has the vibe of “locally owned.”  It turns out, it’s a franchise. The young waiter is thoughtful, courteous. Afterward, they drop me off at a restaurant a block from the transit platform… Read more »

Cultivating a nonviolent heart

  Read time: approx. 1:45 min. I am beginning to share publicly a commitment I have made privately. It’s this: In every dimension of my life I choose to live nonviolently. Why? Because violence and trauma saturate every dimension of life on this planet. Twenty-two years ago this month, people in my town responded to… Read more »

How shall I think about fire?

Approx. read time: 1:30 min. The late afternoon bus rumbles west on Hwy. 126 through the center of the little town of McKenzie Bridge. I look to the north, beyond the two roads that intersect with the highway. Residents have been evacuated from their homes.  The backdrop just beyond is Lookout Mountain that eases down… Read more »

I speak from my heart

Approx. read time: 1:45 min. As a writer I understand the literary function of Jesus’ often spoken words: “Amen, I say to you,” or “Truly, I say to you,” or the quaint “Verily, verily, I say to you.” I’ll be honest with you: Never in my life have I used this word verily in a… Read more »

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