Approx. read time: 1:05 min. Jesus, with his unexpected and frankly unsettling pronouncements, must have startled folks in his time. He instructs his Twelve (hey, that would be us): “As you tour the towns and villages, announce this: The reign of God is at hand!” Do any of us get what he’s really saying?… Read more »
Approx. read time: 2:15 min. From my bus window I take in a sweeping view of the verdant Willamette Valley—wheat fields, vineyards, the sheep—as I travel to be with family. I have nearly two hours to do nothing but be present to this freedom of unstructured time. So I find myself recalling the words… Read more »
Approx. read time: 1:30 min. Honestly, I don’t understand this crazy world, its smash-and-grab ethos, greed without guardrails; human and creational suffering as the cost (borne by the sufferers) of doing business the way we do. Honestly, I can’t wrap my mind around the daily wash of tragedies—the forces of Nature, the works of human… Read more »
Approx. read time: 3:15 min The prophetic and divinely subversive season of Advent slips in, I notice, while shoppers’ attention is fixed on nabbing a parking spot, a deal, and the dream of abundant merch on every shelf. A prophetic season, I say, because we can’t say we didn’t get the warning: The reign… Read more »
Approx. read time: 2:30 min. A friend shares a phrase, which I hear differently from the way she presents it. Her phrase is, Love what’s right in front of you. Well, the word right can mean so many things. It can mean a direction, like when another friend says: Turn right at the corner. When… Read more »
Approx. read time: 2:30 min. In these last, precious days of Advent my thoughts, and creative energies, are deep into the Scriptures of the Lenten season. And I notice that this Lenten immersion jolts my understanding of what I celebrate at Christmas. This is a good thing. Jesus, even in his infancy, has power… Read more »
Approx. read time: 2:40 min. I am in awe of the mammoth 12-story student housing complex going up a block and a half from my living room windows. I am in awe of the bright-orange safety-vest-clad worker who appears to have no physical supports, laboring away on the outer rim of what will be… Read more »
Approx. read time: 2:20 min. I recently taught an Intro to Catholic Theology class to first-year college students on Catholic Social Teaching. It was the crop-duster version, but at least an introduction. These young people are also first-time voters. So I called my talk “Live, Work, Vote for the Land of the Rightside Up”—my… Read more »
Approx. read time: 3:30 min. I just did something I’m not supposed to do. I shook the hand of a stranger. It’s not that he’s a stranger. But physical contact with just about anyone these days is, well, not encouraged. I’m walking out of my little downtown market with fresh produce in my backpack, and… Read more »
Approx. read time: 2:55 min. My windows face only east. Expansive windows, with views stretching to the north and to the south. My horizon is the crest of the Coburg Hills, which merge south with other hills to enclose this upper end of my beloved Willamette Valley. So I live nestled in a three-sided bowl,… Read more »
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