Getting your hands dirty in God’s good earth is good for your spirit! There is nothing like planting a garden and watching new life sprout forth. As a child, my mom would start flower seeds in the house in preparation for planting them outside once the weather warmed up. I attempted a garden when my […]
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What’s in a name? Shakespeare tell us, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” The author of Psalm 20 would beg to differ with this statement. Psalm 20 The psalm for this week, Psalm 20, is a royal psalm (other royal psalms include 2, 28, 45, 72, 101, 132, 144). The format […]
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Acts of the Apostles rocks! Full of adventure with fearless heroes with magical powers! During the Easter season, readings from the Old Testament are replaced by readings from Acts of the Apostles as we focus on the early church. In my youth, inspired by the Acts of the Apostles, I had participated in peaceful protests […]
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The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork! (1) We, here in Michigan, are finally getting some days of sunshine and the promise of spring after late April snowstorms. While sunshine is not absent the majority of days, we are not a sunshine state. And so, we appreciate those days […]
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I didn’t know a lot about Barbara Bush outside of being the wife of former president George H.W. Bush and mother of former president George W. Bush. I have this recollection of this grandmotherly figure wearing pearls in the white house. I appreciated her work in promoting literacy. But, perhaps her greatest role was one […]
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Before Jesus went to his death, at his last supper, he prayed, “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” (John 17:11b) He prayed for his church, for all of us who would come after him in faith. His is a […]
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This week Barbara Bush valiantly decided to forego active treatment and only receive comfort care during her last days. With this choice she has brought end of life decisions to the forefront of the public eye. As a chaplain at a retirement community for twelve years and teaching death and dying courses, talking about such […]
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“Don’t tell God how big your storm is, tell the storm how big your God is,” my friend, Marcy Keefe-Slager, once said. And well she knew about storms in her life. She survived breast cancer only to die from lung cancer many years later. Here in Michigan, we have been hit by some late winter […]
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When I was growing up, each Easter, the Easter bunny hid candies in our basement. This meant we kids had to clean the basement because the Easter bunny wouldn’t leave candy in a dirty basement. Thus my mom got her basement cleaned every year and a jump on her spring cleaning. I was not as […]
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“Keep me as the apple of the eye,” our psalmist asks God today. It is a beautiful prayer for protection, calling upon God to save the writer from evil, slanderous men who had brought charges against him in court. The writer has taken refuge in the temple and calls upon God to protect him. It […]
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