Ninety-three-year-old Magalia resident Margaret Newsum feared for her life, watching the Paradise fire bearing down. She was quite immobile, still recovering from a broken back, and she stood in front of her house, waiting to die. Then she saw, out…
This past week, I watched real-time TV images of devastation. Houses and businesses and lives and dreams, decimated. All the while, in awe of the absolute power and unpredictability of nature. And it hits me that we are, every single…
We walked along the shore of Lake Michigan, on the campus of Northwestern University, our backdrop the straight-edge line of a powder-blue horizon toward the east, and the Chicago skyline to the south. My friend and I had nowhere to go, and weren't in…
“I hate people. I hate life. I hate the world.” Lucy is apoplectic. “I thought you had inner peace,” Charlie Brown says to her. “I do,” Lucy responds. “But I have a lot of outer obnoxiousness.” Speaking of life’s…
I spent last Wednesday with an animated group of teachers—St. Augustine’s in Vancouver, BC. Their retreat, before a new school year. Our topic, an invitation to create sanctuary, allowing us to honor habits that sustain our wellbeing. We began the…
Today, I’m in New Mexico, in rare air, one and a half miles higher than my garden on Vashon Island. This morning I preached at United Church of Angel Fire. Our text is from John’s Gospel. Our topic is bread…
A father knocks on his son’s bedroom door. "Jaime," he says, "wake up!" "I don’t want to get up, Papa," Jaime answers. “You need to get up,” his father shouts, "you have to go to school." “I don’t want to…
The shot is true, a low laser, past an outstretched goalie, into the corner of the net. After he scores, Mr. Parker performs a joy-unrestrained airborne jig, and bumps torsos with another teammate as the fans dance and cheer, GOOOOOOAL! What makes this story so special? Mr. Parker has only one leg. The other was amputated during…
I was raised Baptist, which meant I went to Sunday School. Every Sunday. No exceptions. And in Sunday School, you absorbed Bible stories. The Tower of Babel story always captivated me, perfect for a child's imagination with graphics of a…
New to both the town and the church, Ellen wanted to be involved, to give of herself, to share her gifts. As it happened, the parish needed a new tapestry for one of the smaller chapels. And as a seamstress, Ellen considered…
