Jesus

January 18, 2026

What are you looking for?

No one knows who he was, the uncredited actor who played the huge, gaseous, disembodied head given to imperious, bellowing pronouncements in The Wizard of Oz. It was not Frank Morgan, who played the real-life wizard in the movie. Speculation centers on Henry Hull, an actor who worked with Morgan during that time, but studio Continue reading

Ruminations

Advent, Bronnie Ware, calling, Christmas, Epiphany, following Jesus, Frank Morgan, Great and Powerful Oz, Henry Hull, Identify me, identity, illusion of self, Jesus, man behind the curtain, occupation of life, regrets of the dying, Thomas Merton, wizard, Wizard of Oz
December 21, 2025

Waiting for a messiah

“What happens to a dream deferred?” The question Langston Hughes posed in his poem “Harlem” at the threshold of the civil rights movement is as relevant during this season of expectation as it was 2,000 years ago when the Jewish expectation of a messiah was reaching a climax. Every year during Advent we rehearse our Continue reading

Ruminations

a dream deferred, Advent, are you the one, Bondi Beach, Brown University, Christmas, Gaudete Sunday, immigrants, Jesus, Messiah, music of Christmas, Prince of Peace, reconciliation, Sandy Hook Elementary School, sojourners
September 7, 2025

Letter to Philemon, on the defining choice

Forgive me, Philemon, for the impertinence of intruding into your correspondence with Paul, but something he wrote in his letter to you struck a chord that seems relevant to all of us who try to live a life of faith in Christ. It’s not about your relationship with your slave Onesimus, who became such a Continue reading

Ruminations

authority, center of values, choice, critical moment, defining choice, discipleship, doing what’s right, Jesus, maturity in faith, Onesimus, Philemon, slavery, spiritual hunger, spiritual yearning, What Would Jesus Do, WWJD
August 10, 2025

On being tired of waiting

I am so tired of waiting.Aren’t you,for the world to become goodand beautiful and kind?Let us take a knifeand cut the world in two—and see what worms are eatingat the rind.—Langston Hughes I’ve been tired of waiting – haven’t you? – for the world to become good and beautiful and kind, tired of waiting for Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, affordable healthcare, destination addiction, God’s will, Godot, heaven, homelessness, hospitality, hunger, injustice, Isaiah, Jesus, Julius Caesar, kingdom of God, Langston Hughes, livable wages, oppression, reign of God, rich and poor, social justice, Vladimir and Estragon, waiting, Waiting for Godot, what are you living for?
June 22, 2025

On why we are here at Holy Trinity

What would you say if you were asked why you are here at Holy Trinity this morning? For the last six months, several groups of congregation leaders and members have been asking why any of us are here. We’ve been developing a Why Statement to say as realistically and clearly as possible why we are Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, christianity, community, faith, family, God, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, home, Jesus, living abundantly, love, nurturing relationships, peace, quality of life, relationships, sanctuary, togetherness, welcoming, Why Statement
May 25, 2025

If you will

Sometimes the most effective healing Jesus offered was no healing at all. Take the story of the man at the pool of Beth-zatha, for example (John 5:2-9). For thirty-eight years he had been there, most of his life, waiting to be healed of whatever ailed him. And for thirty-eight years he had seen others healed Continue reading

Ruminations

Abba Joseph, Abba Lot, authority, be made well, become all fire, bible, change, dependency, desert fathers, discovery, faith, God, healing, health and wholeness, Jesus, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, letting go, new life, paralytic, risking change, risking growth, the pool of Beth-zatha, the unknown, unanswered prayer, unknown world
May 18, 2025

The mark of the Christian

Love is more than a commandment of Jesus (see John 13:31-35). Love is an invitation and a promise. It’s the condition in which we experience the abundant life into which Jesus invites us (John 10:10). It’s the land flowing with milk and honey into which God promises to deliver us (Exod. 3:7f). It’s the house Continue reading

Ruminations

bible, Christian love, christianity, commandment to love, debt of love, God, Jesus, love, promise of God
March 16, 2025

Remember who you are

“How often I have desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing” (Luke 13:34)! Traditionally during Lent, we share vicariously in Jesus’ forty days of being tested in the wilderness to see what he was made of and who he would be. But Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, Dorothy, faith, gathered, Gawain, God, Ishmael, Jesus, Joseph Campbell, Lent, Mufasa, my heart’s desire, prodigal son, rapture of being alive, Simba, testing Jesus, The Lion King, the Mariner, Ulysses, what are you living for?, who am I?, wilderness
December 29, 2024

Intention at the year’s turning

Decades ago I stopped making new year’s resolutions. Now, rather than make resolutions, every year I renew just one intention, and I start with Jesus’ words to Martha. You remember Martha, the one who was worried and distracted by so many things. Jesus cut through all her worries and distractions and said to her – Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, Be still and know, distracted, Eugene Peterson, Jesus, learning, life, life that really is life, Listening, Martha, more and better life, New Year, new year’s intentions, New Year’s resolutions, one thing necessary, Parker Palmer, Psalm 46, silence, Thomas Merton, vocational advice
October 13, 2024

Swimming in life

It may be the question behind every other meaningful question we ask. One nameless man – a John Doe who could have been any one of us – put it this way when he ran up to Jesus and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). How do I Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, Anthony de Mello, attitude of gratitude, banquet of heaven, before it’s too late, blessings and burdens, blessings of life, eternal life, faith, give thanks in all circumstances, God, Good Teacher, Gospel of Thomas, hard-knock life, heaven, Jesus, kingdom of God, now or never, Orphan Annie, perfect life, the future, the gospel, the Great Banquet, the ocean, two ocean fish

About Me

Rich Neal is, in no particular order, a wordsmith and graphic designer; lover of typography, books, and publishing; photographer; contemplative; saunterer; and a retired and still-active pastor. He claims neither special wisdom nor particularly deep insight into life, only occasional glimpses of what lies behind the veil along the way. He shares them here in the hope of connecting the pieces of life’s puzzle that come to him in the journey and would consider it a gift if sharing them also connected him with others who travel an unmarked path toward the same unknown end.