Madeleine loves cell phones despite my husband and me trying to prevent her from using them at this young age. She already has figured out swiping and if I am not careful she will grab my phone hide behind the couch and swipe away all my notifications and then lock me out. She has gotten … [Read more…]
When I was in seminary, the first on campus job I had was with maintenance. It was my job to handle night watch. My basic duties were to be the on-call person on campus during none business hours. This meant opening doors to rooms for people when they locked themselves out, handling maintenance calls from … [Read more…]
Life can be so difficult. Humanity in general is not always compassionate, caring, generous, or just plain kind. In a world where people call each other names, bully one another online, and where there seems to be so much violence and war, it can be hard to feel hopeful. Yet this is what the season … [Read more…]
So in my experience rules can be good at setting appropriate and needed boundaries and at other times rules can be little more than a way to hinder progress and good works. Rules can save lives and rules can prevent the help of another person. I read a book called The Power of Habit by … [Read more…]
This morning, I would like to invite you to think about what makes a place inviting as I describe what I have experienced when it comes to an inviting place. When I was new to the Danbury area I was looking for a place to worship during Holy Week, as I did not yet have … [Read more…]
Today’s scriptures are all about God’s call in the lives of humanity. We all experience some kind of call or draw to God in our lives. So we all can relate to these accounts. I remember when I first became aware of my call. I was a young child of 12 years old. I remember … [Read more…]
Today we celebrate Epiphany. Most westerns know Epiphany to be a celebration of the Wise men coming to honor Jesus for the first time. But this is not what Epiphany originally celebrated. The Epiphany tradition originates out of the Eastern Orthodox traditions and celebrates not the wise men but rather Christ’s baptism and it was … [Read more…]
Light is such an important part of the Christmas season, even in our scriptures. God and Christ are portrayed as light illuminating the paths of righteousness for those who seek. Christ was born into a world that was run by violence. The Jewish people were subjugated by the Romans and a violent unstable despot was … [Read more…]
Have you ever watched the tele-evangelists? When I was in graduate school there were many nights where I couldn’t sleep. So I would get up put on a coat and walk to the student lounge and watch TV. I had the keys to everything on the campus so I could let myself in anywhere I … [Read more…]
When I was in college, I was a member of a 50 person African American Gospel choir, where I learn so much more than about how to sing. I learned about myself and about God. Many of the members came from the more evangelical and Pentecostal faith traditions and so every practice morphed into spontaneous … [Read more…]
