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Everything has become new
You may have seen artist Charles Allan Gilbert’s depiction of an elegant young woman seated at a vanity, admiring herself in the mirror. With a slight shift of perspective, the image becomes one of a human skull. Gilbert’s art is more than a trick for our eyes or a comment on vanity. It’s also a… Continue reading
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Have you eaten from the tree?
Picture the parent, arms akimbo, confronting the young child. “Have you been eating chocolate?” The child, face covered with chocolate and a “Who, me?” expression, answers, “No, not me!” Now intensify that scene several hundred times, and imagine God calling to Adam in the garden, “Where are you?” and Adam, knowing he’d been caught, trying… Continue reading
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Raising Ebenezers
The question Nicodemus asked was only slightly different from the one you and I might have asked. “How can anyone be born after having grown old?” (John 3:4). Another version might be, “Once I’m settled in the familiar ways of the world, how can I give everything up and begin a whole new life?” Or… Continue reading
a new life, abundant life, blessing of small things, blessings of the ordinary, born again, born from above, choice, choices, Duke Elllington, Ebenezer, experiences of grace, flow of life, goodness and mercy, great visions, Holy Spirit, Isaiah’s call, life as a river, life-changing experience, life-changing experiences, marker stones, Mary Oliver, meandering in life, Nicodemus, obstacles in life, Pentecost, starting over, The River, Thoreau -
Grounded in love
“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Isa. 30:15). For as long as I can remember, those words from Isaiah have spoken to me at some deep level, and my appreciation of them continues to grow and deepen. Mind you, I don’t yet fully understand… Continue reading
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God and the comma
Some of the wisest advice I’ve heard came from comedienne Gracie Allen. Toward the end of her life, in her final love letter to her husband, George Burns, she wrote, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma.” After every mountaintop experience, there’s a comma and the hard return to the ordinary. And… Continue reading
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You got anything to eat?
I’m not sure the resurrection appearances of Jesus are all that helpful. It’s not that they’re unimportant; on the contrary, they’re central to Christian faith. But sometimes they pull us into such a rarefied frame of mind that we risk losing touch with what the resurrection is about. The mythical giant Antaeus was invincible as… Continue reading
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A Letter to Thomas
For several years, for the Sunday after Easter Day, I’ve written a letter to the disciple Thomas. Some of them I’ve made public. This is one of them. Dear Thomas — For more than forty years I’ve been trying to say something intelligible about the Resurrection, and while I always start with the risen Christ,… Continue reading
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Easter Day: Hidden in Plain Sight
The story is told among preachers, about one pastor and his daughter who were on their way to an Easter service when the young girl asked, “Dad, are you going to try to explain Easter again this year, or will you just let people enjoy it?” St. Paul tried to explain it (cf. 1 Cor.… Continue reading
The Sauntering Pilgrim 