Uncategorized

Appreciating creation and then thanking the Creator is a beautiful way to know and love God. A waterfall reminds us of the God of Life. A newborn reveals the God of Tender Love. Flowers, insects, and animals are an endless source of amazement in the God of Infinite Creativity. When appreciating nature leads to thanking…

Regardless of the manner used in prayer, prayer gradually makes our lives more a prayer. At some point prayerful living and living prayer fuse. A person facing long weeks of bone marrow transplants or chemotherapy prays, and their struggle for life is their prayer. Such a patient reaches for the hand of God. Whether God…

We speak of a “day of reckoning” when our deserved rewards and punishments will be meted out, sometimes in the context of death. The reward will be due in part to our response on “the day of beckoning,” when we were asked to follow Christ. The day of beckoning began at the first instance of…

Recently I took a two-mile wagon ride through Rolling Ridge Ranch in the Amish country in eastern Ohio. Beefalo, zebu cattle, yak, Brahma cattle, Nigai, antelope, emus, ostriches, llamas, alpacas, and many other animals gathered at the wagon whenever it stopped. They knew they would be fed from our buckets. Feeding animals with wide antlers…

Pentecost is coming (June 8), so it’s time to pray “Come, Holy Spirit” often—perhaps while mowing the grass or walking the dog. Will the Holy Spirit really come?  Of course it will! The Spirit may even strengthen our personal spiritual journey. Wouldn’t it be great if we all considered Pentecost this year as a time…

In a church where the custom is to ring bells at the consecration, a small child quite loudly said “Ding-dong!” imitating the bells. “Ding-dong”: the sound of a doorbell indicating someone wants admittance. Today listen for the “ding-dongs” of those persons who seek some admittance into our lives, and remember that everyone and everything is…

Where did the expression “Holy Mackerel” come from?  Was it the surprise catch of 153 fish by the apostles a few days after the resurrection of Jesus? You’d think that these fisher-apostles would instinctively try to prevent torn nets and a capsized boat. Instead their attention was on the man on the shore. They said,…

Except for the time Jesus was asleep in the boat during the storm, Jesus always seems on the go. Even after a long day of teaching, he managed to feed five thousand. Wearied by his itinerant preaching, he still had the energy to bless children. Perhaps his work ethic came from his foster father. We…

If Jesus were to ask me, as he asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?  Who do you say that I am?” I know one thing for sure: Whatever I say will miss the Reality. I’m conditioned by pictures, early education, Scripture studies, life experience, cosmology and its impact of theological expression, and…

Today is my youngest sister’s birthday. She and her husband have great plans to celebrate together without other family members, but she is very much in my thought and prayer. Sometimes people think that Sisters have given up their families.  In some ways that’s true. We do place our religious community first in many ways;…