Attempts and desires to predict the future are likely as ancient as the human brain itself. Wonderings or anxieties about potential good or bad fortunes heading our way arouse within us a desire to know now what will happen tomorrow, next week, or te…
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There’s another Santos in the news right now besides George, the congressman from Long Island who’s making headlines for his lies. Laurie Santos is a popular professor of psychology at Yale University. We should say very popular. Her 2018 course, “Ps…
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Dear Moms/Daughters, Fathers/Sons, Parents/Children, I am not one of you, but I see you. Technically speaking, you “sandwichers” are adults, likely in your forties and fifties, who find yourselves caring for both your aging parents and your own chil…
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There’s likely no place where people are in more of a hurry to get out than at the grocery store. Most of us, I’d guess, arrive at the store with list in hand (or at least some idea of what needs to be purchased). We grab a cart—or possibly tempt fat…
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Near the end of our annual Blue Christmas service, people come forward to light little votive candles. As they come, the sparkling lights on the Christmas tree and blue lights provide the barest of illumination in the darkness of the sanctuary. At ta…
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One of the things I love most about this time of year is hearing the details of others’ varied Christmas traditions. Between the shuffling in and out of the church on Christmas Eve last Saturday, I chatted with all sorts of people—some attending alon…
Many of us who have plans to travel this Christmas maybe haven’t seen our loved ones in person for quite some time, or at least some of them. Maybe you crossed paths with a cousin, uncle, or some siblings for a quick Thanksgiving gathering last month…
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Advent arrives each year close on the heels of the change from Daylight Saving Time. That brings a somewhat sudden awareness of lights on the streets as we drive home from work or off to activities in the late afternoon. The red of taillights and sto…
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In case you haven’t noticed, our society holds great affection for the prefix “pre.” I’m sure this fondness for this little word is keeping you awake at night. What was designed to be a handy prefix for connoting sequence, as in that which comes befo…
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A couple of weeks ago, the 129 House went through a mass exodus of sorts. Thousands of the House’s longest-standing occupants made their final journey out the door. Oh yes…we purged our bookshelves. As generations of pastors have come and gone from S…
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I am not sure when it happened, but sometime in the last dozen years, I began enjoying pumpkin pie. I don’t care where it’s made, though I am partial to the pie my mom makes, topped with real, freshly whipped cream. I spent most of my life detesting…
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I am sure we all remember Thursday, November 10th. It was the day when the temperature rose to 75 degrees in the afternoon, only to fall dramatically into the 30s that evening. That evening, I saw that the weather forecast for the foreseeable future…