2
This evening is the beginning of the Jewish festival of Purim (POOR-um); well, it is if you are reading this on the day it appears in the St. Paul e-news (Feb. 25, 2021). Our Jewish neighbors will be undertaking a long-standing and meaningful observa…
4
Recently a good friend of mine called to check-in. She happens to reside in a nursing home, and her recent months have been less than stellar. Actually, she never hesitates to tell me they have been awful. So I was glad to hear from her about a brigh…
12
We’re now just over a month into the year 2021. And for a lot of us, the start of the new year had us hoping things would be much different—especially after all that 2020 brought us. We were convinced that turning the page of the calendar might just…
14
The 90’s movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, is a brilliant romantic comedy, but my favorite part is not any of the jokes or the weddings, but the funeral. The friends gather to mourn the death of Gareth, a man of enthusiasm and unbridled joy. His par…
3
The snow we received on Tuesday was the most powdery I’d seen in a long time. It was nothing like the dense, icy precipitation that has stuck around underneath. The contrast reminded me of an old claim that Eskimos have more than 50 different words f…
9
Judging from the photographs taken on Inauguration Day, the Bible in Jill Biden’s hands for the swearing-in ceremony must have been at least 10 pounds. With a five-inch thick binding and metal clasps to hold the pages together, that was one big Bible…
2
Among the more wondrous moments of 2020 was the appearance of the “Christmas star” in the early evening southwestern sky. People from many walks of life and across the planet took note of that infrequent conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn – the solar…
2
On one of the bookshelves in my office sits a small piece of driftwood. I picked it up along the shores of northern Lake Michigan while on vacation several years ago. It was a beautiful long weekend at a cabin with good friends where we enjoyed lots…
11
I still use a paper planner. They’re filled with pencil written appointments, services, reminders, and to-do lists. While our family shares an online calendar to make sure we never abandon the kids at choir practice, I still use – and love – my paper…
I am a last-minute wrapper, I admit. If I used glue, it would still be damp when the person was opening the gift. Christmas Eve has usually included a late candlelight service, followed by cocoa and cookies at home, and then a final wrapping session…
4
“What’s the difference between a wish and a hope?” JP asked us this question, but he didn’t answer it. We didn’t answer it either that night. We shared some ideas, but the conversation remained unfinished. Youth group went on, but the question stuck…
4
A few years ago I met a friend for coffee. We ordered our drinks and sat down and my friend cut to the chase. “How are you?” she asked with a certain pointedness that suggested she wasn’t interested in small talk. “Work is hard,” I said. The church I…