Instead of writing up a lengthy overview of my last year, I decided to work through my flickr account – something I update regularly – and pull out photos that remind me of last year. Here are some of my favorite memories and photos from the last 12 months. (Maybe next time
Continue reading →We must always be attentive to the edges of our own storytelling. Attractive as it may be to children, and lodged as it may be upon the portrayed scenes of religious Christmas cards, it is simply incorrect to think that Mary and Joseph were forced into a stable. They found
Continue reading →Magnificat The magnificat is beautiful and celebratory song. It is known as the magnificat, because that is the opening word of Mary’s famous song in Latin. In Greek it is Megalunei, which means to magnify, grow, enlarge! It is thought to be one of the earliest Christian hymns ever
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I am a big fan of Moleskine – and Moleskine-like – notebooks. High-quality “analog” ways of note-taking, planning and sketching are where it is at for me. So you can imagine my delight when I learned about Jesse Philips NeuYear Calendars. After receiving mine for review I can say it truly is
Continue reading →A Christian community is evangelized in order to evangelize. A light is lit in order to give light. A candle is not lit to be put under a bushel, said Christ. It is lit and put up high in order to give light. That is what a true community is
Continue reading →This is the message I gave at meeting for worship this morning: And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ Even tax-collectors came to
Continue reading →No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need even of God–for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to
Continue reading →This is the message I gave today at Camas Friends during meeting for worship. It is based on Luke 3:1-6. The Parking Lots When I was in high school I did what many people my age have done for generations and that was work as a grocery store carry-out:
Continue reading →I love, love, love Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over).” I always have and always will. It reminds me of growing up, I love the emotion of the song, and I share his optimism for a better world. Polyphonic Spree recently covered it and did a stellar job. From
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This is the message I gave two weeks ago at Camas Friends Church on Mark 13:1-8. Life Transitions This past summer I found myself feeling drained, exhausted, uninspired and generally not myself. I felt like everything was slipping through my fingers, time was moving too quickly, things felt lifeless
Continue reading →O God, we thank you for this earth, our home; For the wide sky and the blessed sun, For the salt sea and the running water, For the everlasting hills And the never-resting winds, For trees and the common grass underfoot. We thank you for our senses By which we
Continue reading →Gratitude … goes beyond the “mine” and “thine” and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline.
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