Psalm 23 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” Or in the words of today’s text: “I may walk through valleys as bleak as death, but I won’t be afraid.” I have been meditating on these words this week. What do they mean? What do […]
John 21:1-19 This week the words of Peter, Jesus’ disciple and good friend, have been floating through my mind. The night before Jesus dies, Peter says to Jesus, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” Jesus replies, “Truly, I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” Peter […]
John 20:1-18 Walk in beauty. I heard that phrase this week, and have been wondering what it means. How do we walk in beauty? Most importantly: How do we walk in beauty when we feel like giving up? I have been thinking about this painting this week. Do you know what it is of? … It’s a painting by a […]
Luke 6:27-38 Water changes everything. This truth washed over me with the summer rainfall as Matt and I trekked ever upward, determined to reach the top of the mountain peaks that beckoned us. We had been working on a patch to hike the highest 46 mountain peaks in the Adirondacks – and time was of the essence. These were some […]
Poet Jean Valentine writes: My words to you are the stitches in a scarf I don’t want to finish maybe it will come to be a blanket or a net to hold you here love not gone anywhere. — I am drawn in by her first line: My words to you are the stitches in a scarf I don’t want […]
Matthew 2:1-12 Poet Wendell Berry writes: “It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.” — I am […]
Luke 1:39-46 There is a man who lives in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas named Kirby Brown. When the holidays come around, Brown says he feels adrift. (1) His parent split up when he was young and there is been no solidified Christmas plans from year to year. I have learned, he says, to treat Christmas, just like the day […]
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 Mark 12:28-34 I have told you several stories about Jesuit priest Greg Boyle who lives in LA and employs and rehabilitates gang members at a place called Homeboy Industries . One day, at Homeboy Industries, Greg has been dealing with a particularly exasperating homie, so he decides to change up his strategy and catch the homie in the act of do something right. Greg sees that he has been too harsh and that the homie, in fact, had been doing the best they could. Greg tells the homie how heroic he is and how the courage he exhibits now in transforming his life far surpasses the hollow bravery of his gang-related past. Greg tells him he is a giant among men. The homie is thrown off balance by all this and silently stares at Greg, whom the homies call G. Then he says, “Wow, G … I’m gonna tattoo that on my heart.” This story reminds me that: there are things worth tattooing on our hearts in permanent ink. The Hebrew Scripture today tells us to write the words, love God, on our hearts, to repeat them constantly as we wake up and sleep, and to post the words on our doorways and houses. For the greatest commandments on this: love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Love God. Love neighbor. Write this everywhere. Scribble it on post-its and stick it everywhere in your house. Why do […]
Psalm 25:1-10 “I lay open my whole life to you.” This is one translation of the beginning of today’s psalm. “I lay open my whole life to you, trusting you O Holy One.” The words struck me when I read them this week. It sounds a bit daunting, our lives are full and nuanced. How do we lay open our […]
Scripture: Mark 10:35-45 I have been pondering the poem “The Place Where We Are Right” this week by Yehuda Amichai. It reads: “From the place where we are right flowers will never grow in the spring. The place where we are right is hard and trampled like a yard. But doubts and loves dig up the world, like a mole, […]
