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The pace of nature
What do you do when you’re unable to make sense of life – when its pieces lie before you like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle with no box-top picture to help you assemble them? Are there pieces, you may wonder, that were never meant to be part of the picture you’re working on? Is there… Continue reading
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This one short life
When writer Annie Dillard was a young child, she would hide a precious penny of her own for someone else to find. She’d cradle it in the roots of a tree or a crack in the sidewalk, then with a piece of chalk she’d draw huge arrows leading up to the penny from both directions… Continue reading
Abraham Joshua Heschel, Annie Dillard, doors of perception, gaining life, Gospel of Thomas, hidden in plain sight, in a mirror dimly, Joseph Campbell, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, life, losing life, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, reign of God, Richard Rohr, search for truth, shortness of life, through a glass darkly, two halves of life, William Blake, wisdom of heart -
Start with compassion
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36).” A revolution in business is quietly taking place today, and it has the potential – if it roots and spreads – to transform the economic and social world in which we live.… Continue reading
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Sing!
“God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31a). Today is Trinity Sunday. It celebrates an idea Jesus never taught; that wasn’t mentioned in scripture until fifty years or more after his resurrection; that took another 300 years of debate and coalition building to become doctrine; that wasn’t observed… Continue reading
a slight sound at evening, Aldous Huxley, As You Like It, books in running brooks, creation, doctrine, Duke Senior, God in three persons, God's first scripture, good in everything, Holy Trinity, Leaves of Grass, music of the spheres, persona, sermons in stone, Shakespeare, sing a song, The Carpenters, Thomas Merton, Thoreau, tongues in trees, Trinity Sunday, Walt Whitman -
On a confirmation Sunday
“More than at any other time in history,” Woody Allen said in a commencement address years ago, from a viewpoint that was typically his own, “mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.” Sometimes a choice… Continue reading
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When the day begins
Last Sunday, on the anniversary of the Tops Market killings, Pastor Kwame Pitts, of Community of Good Neighbors Buffalo, spoke of the need to live out our faith through action, and she challenged us to consider our collective purpose as church, what our role is in all that led up to and now follows the… Continue reading
African descent, Christian love, eternal life, greatest commandment, how to eat an elephant, Jeremiah, knowledge of God, love of God, love of neighbor, Mark Twain, ministry of reconciliation, namaste, peace, people of color, racism, reconciliation, salaam, shalom, to know God, Tops Market killings, white privilege -
The abundant life
Several weeks ago I asked you three questions: what is your greatest need, what is your greatest hope, and what is your most urgent question? Last weekend the Church Council sifted through those responses and found they contained several common themes, themes that will help inspire and guide our ministries at Holy Trinity. Soon you’ll… Continue reading
abundant life, attention, authenticity, devotion, Ecclesiastes, finding God, good shepherd, greatest hope, greatest need, greatness, human connection, intimacy, kingdom of God, land flowing with milk and honey, Mary Oliver, meaning, most urgent question, searching for God, security, the Teacher, wisdom
