I went to high school at a small private Christian school. As with any school, there were budget constraints that meant that some textbooks were not updated very often. One of these was ninth grade geography – I think it was assumed that geography didn’t change much and so it was usually passed over when…
There is a movie that came out about ten years ago called August Rush. In it, August is a musical prodigy living in an orphanage, who the other boys taunt, telling him he has been abandoned and will never be adopted because no one would want him; they say that he is not only unloved…
The first time I proclaimed the Gospel as a deacon, it was in Spanish. In worship, proclaiming the Gospel is the most visible role of a deacon. Carrying out the Gospel book and reading it among the people symbolizes the call to the church to carry out into the world the good news that the…
I was reminded this week of the first time I ever came to Chicago. I was in seminary and I had come out for a symposium on science and spirituality put on by McCormick seminary and the University of Chicago. I was presenting a paper on mental illness and the image of God – and…
That which we dare invoke to bless; Our dearest faith; our ghastliest doubt; He, They, One, All; within, without; The Power in darkness whom we guess; This is how Alfred, Lord Tennyson begins a section of In Memoriam (124) in which he wrestles with the seeming silence of God during tragedy, a struggle that seems…
When I was young I lived across the street from my grandparents and together they were one of the most important influences on the development of my life and character. My grandmother was a great grower of all things, and their yard was full of all sorts of beautiful flowering shrubs, fruit trees, grape vines,…
O God, take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, and take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Growing up, I do not remember a time when I was told that my older sister was adopted and I was my parents’ biological child. It was just a…
In the church calendar, today is known as Trinity Sunday. After Epiphany, in which we recognize the all the ways in which God the Father has been manifest in our world throughout history, and Easter when we celebrate the salvific action of Jesus rising from the dead to offer life to the world, and Pentecost,…