I’ve been working on ideas for a new book of devotions for Lent (not based on Narnia this time). I’ve received wonderful ideas from many of you – keep them coming! I’ve noticed as I make notes, do reading, research, and brainstorming, that it’s easier to come up with ridiculous titles for books than serious ones. Monty Python has a […]
Pretty Little Minister 
January 20, 2016 by
“Well, aren’t you a pretty little minister? How old are you?” The grey-haired piano tuner had met me on the steps of the church, in the small New England town where I was serving, so I could unlock the big wooden doors and he could tune our grand piano. Bristling, I told him: “Twenty-four.” Then […]
Book Review: Jeanne Bishop’s Memoir of Forgiveness 
January 18, 2016 by
Last spring, I missed the chance to tell you about a book I reviewed for The Christian Century. Jeanne Bishop’s sister was murdered at home by a stranger, but as the years passed, Jeanne felt called by God to forgive, pray for, and finally to meet, her sister’s killer. Her journey is almost unbelievable, but my Christian walk and […]
The Indian Boundary Line 
January 7, 2016 by
Old houses have always seemed to me like chapter books of rooms: full of stories about the past, if you have time to read them. There were plenty to explore or “read” in the old Chicago neighborhood where I grew up. The apartments and houses of my parents and friends had well-worn wood floors, carved […]
Evening Falls: Exurbia, December
December 15, 2015 by
The landscape between our church and our house, banal but somehow beautiful. (Dusk makes everything pretty.) Sky, warehouse, driveway. Sky, streetlight,warehouse, parking lot. Sky, warehouses, semitrailer, brush. Sky, warehouse, sunset reflection, trees, fire hydrant, handicapped parking. Warehouse lights, rearview mirror, sunset reflection. Sky, young trees, asphalt, signage. Sky, subdivision, wetlands, busy road, baby trees, sidewalk, lawn. Sky, warehouses, […]
The White Witch’s Hot Cocoa & Other Extras
December 1, 2015 by
This fall, while doing book events for Advent in Narnia, I’ve developed a few more activities for families, individuals, or churches that I want to share here since I’m too late to include them in the book (at least until the next – ?! – printing). Amazingly, the book has sold almost 2500 copies since it was released […]
Gratitude Lessons
November 25, 2015 by
Gratitude is dull because we always give thanks for the same things. For instance, going around the circle at Thanksgiving dinner, my various family circles always say: family, friends, health, home, a job, nature… Every November, people in my Facebook feed list things they are thankful for every day of the month. Again, like clockwork: family, friends, health, home, a job, […]
Fall in the Neighborhood
November 17, 2015 by
Fall photos, taken mostly while walking the dog around our neighborhood. The farm where our vegetables come from – Green Earth Institute, and the head farmer, Steve Tiwald, who greets us every other Tuesday when we come by for our pick-up. Arugula, having been inspired by its neighbor, mint, taking over a garden plot (this stuff has amazing […]
Keep Death Always Before Your Eyes
October 26, 2015 by
Today, at 9:39 a.m., someone shot an office worker and then shot themselves at a warehouse office between my house and my church, here in Bolingbrook. The news went out at about 11 a.m. I was at St. Benedict, meeting with a parishioner. I’m ashamed to say this, but I didn’t feel sad, or scared, […]
The Liesborn Prayer Wheel
October 16, 2015 by
This pen-and-ink drawing was found on the inside of a medieval Gospel book. The book dates from 980, when it was commissioned for a well-to-do convent in Germany. The drawing is probably not original – it seems to have been added later. It reminds me of a labyrinth but really it’s more like a puzzle or […]
