When I visit parishioners in a rehabilitation center or nursing home, there is often a roommate in the bed next to theirs. (Not in hospitals – these days, almost all hospital rooms are for one person.) These double rooms always have two televisions and usually, both televisions are on. On different channels! Still, the two […]
Vigils, or Lying Awake in The Middle of The Night
February 18, 2014 by
Dedicated to all the adults I know who, especially as they grow older, struggle to sleep through the night, including myself. Vigils, from the Latin vigilia, “wakefulness”: a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, the monastic night office. Part of adulthood, it seems is waking up at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. and […]
Subdivision Winter Wonderland 
February 14, 2014 by
Ducks! Rabbit and dog tracks in the yard, and lots of scattered bird seed. View from my church office window. (Cross-shaped w/ little cross prism on the ledge)
On Clergy Health 
February 3, 2014 by
A piece I wrote for a seminary blog about clergy health, that knowing the answer to the question: “What kind of pastor/priest are you?” is important for wellness. Click here to read.
XC Skiing in the Park
February 3, 2014 by
I bought these skis when I lived in Massachusetts, fifteen years ago. I used to cross country ski in the Berkshires where I lived all the time each winter. Up and down the gentle hills, around trees, in the big quiet of the New England woods. Not so many hills or woods around here. But the […]
A Cuppa Spiritual Direction
January 19, 2014 by
My friend, Art, once complained about spiritual direction: “There’s a lot of weak tea out there.” When I was in my twenties, I went through three spiritual directors before finding a sensible Jesuit brother. The first three were lay women who were either too nice to ask good questions or had very particular ideas about […]
Mentors: The Christian Century
January 19, 2014 by
The Christian Century accepted a piece I wrote about “Mentors” and it was published in the January 22 issue. I wrote about my time as a pastor in rural western Massachusetts. The other pieces are interesting, too – my favorite is the one about the unwelcome pastor in South Africa. My piece is about halfway […]
Beast of the Suburban Wild
December 31, 2013 by
Who knew? Bolingbrook has its own Mastodon! Construction workers dug up this enormous jawbone when I-55 was under construction in the early 1960s. It’s now at the Field Museum. One of my readers – my friend Emily – brought this to my attention and took these photos for me. The Bolingbrook Mastodon Jaw sits under […]
Theology at Target
December 27, 2013 by
“Word art” has become popular. You can buy some at your local big box store. But sometimes I wonder if the “wisdom” peddled by some of these things is really all that helpful for people. Here are some examples from Target and Meijer: some I thought were good, others pretty bad. For some reason this […]
