8
Laughter is really great for the soul. It may be the perfect antidote to a life soaked with anxiety. When pieces of our world as we’ve known it appear to be slipping away – some of them forever? – why shy away from humor? It may be that thread to san…
10
In these days of social distancing and spending lots of time in my house, I have looked to people in our congregation to teach me how to do this. For some of our community, having to stay home is nothing new. For months, sometimes years, they have “s…
2
This particular April 9th – in the year 2020 – enjoys a remarkable confluence of religious moments. For Western Christians, it is Maundy Thursday, the beginning of the great Three Days that culminate on Easter. For our Jewish neighbors, it is the fir…
3
This week I received a message from a friend of mine from seminary. Her work, pre-Coronavirus and now, involves some solitary, repetitive tasks, and so she’s gotten into the habit of reciting some simple prayers from memory as she works: the Lord’s p…
3
A couple Sundays ago, we did something as a congregation that is highly unusual for St. Paul Lutheran: we canceled worship. In its place, an online service was produced and the day we would have gathered collectively, an assortment of building and mi…
16
Several weeks ago, I had an hour or so at home before needing to head out to my next activity. I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV, thinking I’d watch a mindless show for awhile after a busy day at work. Grabbing the remote, I flipped throug…
10
I saw something amazing happen in the hospital lobby this week. It started with a young man in scrubs. I’m not sure if he was just having a great day or if every day he encountered people with radiant eyes and huge smile. But that afternoon he greete…
4
When we moved into our new home in Davenport last summer, one of the things we “inherited” from the former owners was a burned-out light bulb. That should not be a big deal. When it’s a small indoor floodlight in a track lighting fixture on a cathedr…
4
It is only February, but already baseball season is right around the corner. Every spring I long for the smell of the fresh cut grass, the sound of the ball hitting the glove, the crack of the bat. Most of us, though, still have to wait for all of th…
1
“There are some days I wonder if I even matter.” That’s the sentence I remember most from the lips of the woman in my office reflecting on her post-retirement life. I didn’t spot any classic signs of depression that day. There was some expected lonel…
One of my favorite phrases I learned in seminary is that “God’s economy is not about scarcity.” For the life of me, I could not remember the theologian who first penned these words. And so, curiosity led me to the internet, and Google produced a thou…
13
There is a lot about middle school I have, admittedly, forgotten. But some of my most vivid remaining memories come from Mrs. Johnson’s sixth-grade choir class. At Edison Middle School in Champaign, Illinois, every student was required to take a seme…