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Earlier this month, as my daughter and I were hurrying out after Sunday services together, the rain started to fall and our trusty golf cart driver Dana pulled up and offered us a ride. We were in a hurry after receiving a phone call that our dog had…
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The topic of sin doesn’t have a very high place in our conversation and society anymore. When is the last time you heard anyone denounce something as “sinful” or, more importantly, acknowledge their own sin? The recollection of moralistic fire-and-br…
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It’s like an afterthought at the tail end of a conversation. A side note. A parenthetical remark. Oh, by the way … A couple that just spent an hour with me in a pre-marriage session, has the woman saying to me upon leaving: “Oh, by the way, have we t…
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My brother and sister-in-law are ultra-cyclists. They ride in long-distance self-supported races around the world with their bikes carrying everything they need. While they ride these races, cycling for twenty-some hours a day, the rest of us watch t…
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last several months, you’ve likely heard of the wildly popular game Wordle. In case you’re not one of some 500,000 people who play it daily, I’ll give you a quick summary. With each puzzle, you have six…
Adults are not often captivated by talking puppets, 60 seconds of silence, and the simple act of tying one’s shoe, but those at the St. Paul Movie Night were mesmerized. A couple of weeks ago, some St. Paul folks gathered in the sanctuary with bags…
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Today begins the “Three Days” that bring Lent to a close. They lead the Christian community to the doorstep of Easter. From Jesus’ final meal with the disciples, through what Scripture and the liturgy call his being “handed over to death,” to his cru…
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Last night, I sat in the very front row during our Wednesday Lent evening prayer service. As we listened to the scripture reading, I heard a little ping of metal on concrete. Then, right past my feet rolled a beautiful silver ring, with a cross on it…
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While driving in the car last week my 7-year-old, thoroughly unprompted, happily announced that the longest game of Monopoly played in a bathtub lasted more than 99 hours. Wow. She’s taken an interest in a Weird but True fact book at school and, as i…
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Perhaps you’ve struggled to understand those words of Jesus about losing or gaining your life (Mark 8:35). Welcome to the party, I say. “Gaining the whole world and forfeiting one’s life” sounds pretty bad; like dying an awful death of suffocation in…
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It’s easy to be discouraged and sad about the state of our world right now. Most days, I force myself to watch the news because I want to know what’s going on in the world. But I can’t bear to take in more than a few minutes before wanting to turn th…
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To comment or not to comment? That is the question we all face countless times a day, be that in the digital world or the physical one. Things like comment sections on websites, chat boxes on social media, letters to the editor, and, of course, text…