Singing Along the Journey

identity

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

March 20, 2020: Strike Up the Band

One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa...hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving...if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn't give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained…
Read More

I had a plan this weekend…

I had a plan this weekend.  My experience is that these are dangerous words, and this weekend's result was no different. I thought that the plan was simple.  For weeks, I have been culling my closet for items that could have  a better, more useful home.  This was not a general pull and pitch -- I was gathering clothing to go to the group Suited for Change, an organization of women who lift up other women by providing them with office-suitable clothing at the moment they most need it, the moment when they take that step from recovery of any kind into the world of work.  I knew that I…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Fire, the Great Creator

There's been a lot of talk about fire lately.  First, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when, in the tradition of the church, the period of transition between the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ and the moment when the Holy Spirit descended as the flame of ministry and carried the apostles into the world to tell what we Christians call the Good News, or the Gospel (Acts 2:1-21). And then there were the great words from Presiding Bishop Curry's wedding sermon heard round the world, quoting the work of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin when he said:  "Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one…
Read More

Holding and being held…with God’s help

Apparently, May is a milestone month for me.   It was in May, too long ago to mention the date, that I was first baptized and confirmed at the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church. I was 12 years old. And then, it was in May of 2010, that I was, as the Baptists say, licensed to the Gospel ministry, something more akin to becoming an elder in the Presbyterian Church or a Deacon in other traditions, a type of recognition of ministry without the necessary academic degrees. So you will not be surprised when I say that it was in May 2014, after a decision to pursue a seminary education (a decision…
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

March 20, 2020: Strike Up the Band

One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa...hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving...if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn't give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained…
Read More

I had a plan this weekend…

I had a plan this weekend.  My experience is that these are dangerous words, and this weekend's result was no different. I thought that the plan was simple.  For weeks, I have been culling my closet for items that could have  a better, more useful home.  This was not a general pull and pitch -- I was gathering clothing to go to the group Suited for Change, an organization of women who lift up other women by providing them with office-suitable clothing at the moment they most need it, the moment when they take that step from recovery of any kind into the world of work.  I knew that I…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Fire, the Great Creator

There's been a lot of talk about fire lately.  First, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when, in the tradition of the church, the period of transition between the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ and the moment when the Holy Spirit descended as the flame of ministry and carried the apostles into the world to tell what we Christians call the Good News, or the Gospel (Acts 2:1-21). And then there were the great words from Presiding Bishop Curry's wedding sermon heard round the world, quoting the work of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin when he said:  "Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one…
Read More

Holding and being held…with God’s help

Apparently, May is a milestone month for me.   It was in May, too long ago to mention the date, that I was first baptized and confirmed at the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church. I was 12 years old. And then, it was in May of 2010, that I was, as the Baptists say, licensed to the Gospel ministry, something more akin to becoming an elder in the Presbyterian Church or a Deacon in other traditions, a type of recognition of ministry without the necessary academic degrees. So you will not be surprised when I say that it was in May 2014, after a decision to pursue a seminary education (a decision…
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

March 20, 2020: Strike Up the Band

One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa...hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving...if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn't give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained…
Read More

I had a plan this weekend…

I had a plan this weekend.  My experience is that these are dangerous words, and this weekend's result was no different. I thought that the plan was simple.  For weeks, I have been culling my closet for items that could have  a better, more useful home.  This was not a general pull and pitch -- I was gathering clothing to go to the group Suited for Change, an organization of women who lift up other women by providing them with office-suitable clothing at the moment they most need it, the moment when they take that step from recovery of any kind into the world of work.  I knew that I…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Fire, the Great Creator

There's been a lot of talk about fire lately.  First, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when, in the tradition of the church, the period of transition between the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ and the moment when the Holy Spirit descended as the flame of ministry and carried the apostles into the world to tell what we Christians call the Good News, or the Gospel (Acts 2:1-21). And then there were the great words from Presiding Bishop Curry's wedding sermon heard round the world, quoting the work of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin when he said:  "Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one…
Read More

Holding and being held…with God’s help

Apparently, May is a milestone month for me.   It was in May, too long ago to mention the date, that I was first baptized and confirmed at the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church. I was 12 years old. And then, it was in May of 2010, that I was, as the Baptists say, licensed to the Gospel ministry, something more akin to becoming an elder in the Presbyterian Church or a Deacon in other traditions, a type of recognition of ministry without the necessary academic degrees. So you will not be surprised when I say that it was in May 2014, after a decision to pursue a seminary education (a decision…
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

March 20, 2020: Strike Up the Band

One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa...hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving...if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn't give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained…
Read More

I had a plan this weekend…

I had a plan this weekend.  My experience is that these are dangerous words, and this weekend's result was no different. I thought that the plan was simple.  For weeks, I have been culling my closet for items that could have  a better, more useful home.  This was not a general pull and pitch -- I was gathering clothing to go to the group Suited for Change, an organization of women who lift up other women by providing them with office-suitable clothing at the moment they most need it, the moment when they take that step from recovery of any kind into the world of work.  I knew that I…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Fire, the Great Creator

There's been a lot of talk about fire lately.  First, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when, in the tradition of the church, the period of transition between the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ and the moment when the Holy Spirit descended as the flame of ministry and carried the apostles into the world to tell what we Christians call the Good News, or the Gospel (Acts 2:1-21). And then there were the great words from Presiding Bishop Curry's wedding sermon heard round the world, quoting the work of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin when he said:  "Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one…
Read More

Holding and being held…with God’s help

Apparently, May is a milestone month for me.   It was in May, too long ago to mention the date, that I was first baptized and confirmed at the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church. I was 12 years old. And then, it was in May of 2010, that I was, as the Baptists say, licensed to the Gospel ministry, something more akin to becoming an elder in the Presbyterian Church or a Deacon in other traditions, a type of recognition of ministry without the necessary academic degrees. So you will not be surprised when I say that it was in May 2014, after a decision to pursue a seminary education (a decision…
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

March 20, 2020: Strike Up the Band

One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa...hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving...if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn't give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained…
Read More

I had a plan this weekend…

I had a plan this weekend.  My experience is that these are dangerous words, and this weekend's result was no different. I thought that the plan was simple.  For weeks, I have been culling my closet for items that could have  a better, more useful home.  This was not a general pull and pitch -- I was gathering clothing to go to the group Suited for Change, an organization of women who lift up other women by providing them with office-suitable clothing at the moment they most need it, the moment when they take that step from recovery of any kind into the world of work.  I knew that I…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Fire, the Great Creator

There's been a lot of talk about fire lately.  First, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when, in the tradition of the church, the period of transition between the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ and the moment when the Holy Spirit descended as the flame of ministry and carried the apostles into the world to tell what we Christians call the Good News, or the Gospel (Acts 2:1-21). And then there were the great words from Presiding Bishop Curry's wedding sermon heard round the world, quoting the work of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin when he said:  "Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one…
Read More

Holding and being held…with God’s help

Apparently, May is a milestone month for me.   It was in May, too long ago to mention the date, that I was first baptized and confirmed at the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church. I was 12 years old. And then, it was in May of 2010, that I was, as the Baptists say, licensed to the Gospel ministry, something more akin to becoming an elder in the Presbyterian Church or a Deacon in other traditions, a type of recognition of ministry without the necessary academic degrees. So you will not be surprised when I say that it was in May 2014, after a decision to pursue a seminary education (a decision…
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

March 20, 2020: Strike Up the Band

One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa...hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving...if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn't give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained…
Read More

I had a plan this weekend…

I had a plan this weekend.  My experience is that these are dangerous words, and this weekend's result was no different. I thought that the plan was simple.  For weeks, I have been culling my closet for items that could have  a better, more useful home.  This was not a general pull and pitch -- I was gathering clothing to go to the group Suited for Change, an organization of women who lift up other women by providing them with office-suitable clothing at the moment they most need it, the moment when they take that step from recovery of any kind into the world of work.  I knew that I…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Fire, the Great Creator

There's been a lot of talk about fire lately.  First, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when, in the tradition of the church, the period of transition between the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ and the moment when the Holy Spirit descended as the flame of ministry and carried the apostles into the world to tell what we Christians call the Good News, or the Gospel (Acts 2:1-21). And then there were the great words from Presiding Bishop Curry's wedding sermon heard round the world, quoting the work of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin when he said:  "Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one…
Read More

Holding and being held…with God’s help

Apparently, May is a milestone month for me.   It was in May, too long ago to mention the date, that I was first baptized and confirmed at the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church. I was 12 years old. And then, it was in May of 2010, that I was, as the Baptists say, licensed to the Gospel ministry, something more akin to becoming an elder in the Presbyterian Church or a Deacon in other traditions, a type of recognition of ministry without the necessary academic degrees. So you will not be surprised when I say that it was in May 2014, after a decision to pursue a seminary education (a decision…
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

March 20, 2020: Strike Up the Band

One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa...hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving...if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn't give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained…
Read More

I had a plan this weekend…

I had a plan this weekend.  My experience is that these are dangerous words, and this weekend's result was no different. I thought that the plan was simple.  For weeks, I have been culling my closet for items that could have  a better, more useful home.  This was not a general pull and pitch -- I was gathering clothing to go to the group Suited for Change, an organization of women who lift up other women by providing them with office-suitable clothing at the moment they most need it, the moment when they take that step from recovery of any kind into the world of work.  I knew that I…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Fire, the Great Creator

There's been a lot of talk about fire lately.  First, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when, in the tradition of the church, the period of transition between the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ and the moment when the Holy Spirit descended as the flame of ministry and carried the apostles into the world to tell what we Christians call the Good News, or the Gospel (Acts 2:1-21). And then there were the great words from Presiding Bishop Curry's wedding sermon heard round the world, quoting the work of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin when he said:  "Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one…
Read More

Holding and being held…with God’s help

Apparently, May is a milestone month for me.   It was in May, too long ago to mention the date, that I was first baptized and confirmed at the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church. I was 12 years old. And then, it was in May of 2010, that I was, as the Baptists say, licensed to the Gospel ministry, something more akin to becoming an elder in the Presbyterian Church or a Deacon in other traditions, a type of recognition of ministry without the necessary academic degrees. So you will not be surprised when I say that it was in May 2014, after a decision to pursue a seminary education (a decision…
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

March 20, 2020: Strike Up the Band

One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa...hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving...if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn't give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained…
Read More

I had a plan this weekend…

I had a plan this weekend.  My experience is that these are dangerous words, and this weekend's result was no different. I thought that the plan was simple.  For weeks, I have been culling my closet for items that could have  a better, more useful home.  This was not a general pull and pitch -- I was gathering clothing to go to the group Suited for Change, an organization of women who lift up other women by providing them with office-suitable clothing at the moment they most need it, the moment when they take that step from recovery of any kind into the world of work.  I knew that I…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Fire, the Great Creator

There's been a lot of talk about fire lately.  First, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when, in the tradition of the church, the period of transition between the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ and the moment when the Holy Spirit descended as the flame of ministry and carried the apostles into the world to tell what we Christians call the Good News, or the Gospel (Acts 2:1-21). And then there were the great words from Presiding Bishop Curry's wedding sermon heard round the world, quoting the work of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin when he said:  "Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one…
Read More

Holding and being held…with God’s help

Apparently, May is a milestone month for me.   It was in May, too long ago to mention the date, that I was first baptized and confirmed at the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church. I was 12 years old. And then, it was in May of 2010, that I was, as the Baptists say, licensed to the Gospel ministry, something more akin to becoming an elder in the Presbyterian Church or a Deacon in other traditions, a type of recognition of ministry without the necessary academic degrees. So you will not be surprised when I say that it was in May 2014, after a decision to pursue a seminary education (a decision…
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

March 20, 2020: Strike Up the Band

One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa...hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving...if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn't give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained…
Read More

I had a plan this weekend…

I had a plan this weekend.  My experience is that these are dangerous words, and this weekend's result was no different. I thought that the plan was simple.  For weeks, I have been culling my closet for items that could have  a better, more useful home.  This was not a general pull and pitch -- I was gathering clothing to go to the group Suited for Change, an organization of women who lift up other women by providing them with office-suitable clothing at the moment they most need it, the moment when they take that step from recovery of any kind into the world of work.  I knew that I…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Fire, the Great Creator

There's been a lot of talk about fire lately.  First, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when, in the tradition of the church, the period of transition between the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ and the moment when the Holy Spirit descended as the flame of ministry and carried the apostles into the world to tell what we Christians call the Good News, or the Gospel (Acts 2:1-21). And then there were the great words from Presiding Bishop Curry's wedding sermon heard round the world, quoting the work of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin when he said:  "Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one…
Read More

Holding and being held…with God’s help

Apparently, May is a milestone month for me.   It was in May, too long ago to mention the date, that I was first baptized and confirmed at the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church. I was 12 years old. And then, it was in May of 2010, that I was, as the Baptists say, licensed to the Gospel ministry, something more akin to becoming an elder in the Presbyterian Church or a Deacon in other traditions, a type of recognition of ministry without the necessary academic degrees. So you will not be surprised when I say that it was in May 2014, after a decision to pursue a seminary education (a decision…
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

March 20, 2020: Strike Up the Band

One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa...hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving...if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn't give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained…
Read More

I had a plan this weekend…

I had a plan this weekend.  My experience is that these are dangerous words, and this weekend's result was no different. I thought that the plan was simple.  For weeks, I have been culling my closet for items that could have  a better, more useful home.  This was not a general pull and pitch -- I was gathering clothing to go to the group Suited for Change, an organization of women who lift up other women by providing them with office-suitable clothing at the moment they most need it, the moment when they take that step from recovery of any kind into the world of work.  I knew that I…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

September, days of heat and remembrance…

The sun is just barely showing pink between the buildings across the street, so I don't know yet if the sky will be that frightening clear blue color today.  It was, that day, and the day after. It is a color and a clarity that I apparently cannot forget.  That kind of blue, to this day, makes me shudder with remembrance. And just like another day long ago, I am up early, suited in my workout clothes, ready to head to the gym, because I have a long list of things to "accomplish" today.  I do not need to drive to Baltimore as then; today it is emails and getting…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

This time is ours whether we want it or not…

Indulge me for a moment, because, the following words express my own struggle with the times in which we live. I, like Flannery O'Connor**, only know clearly what I believe when I write about it.  So this is my own wake-up call, offered to myself, and to anyone who, like me, is watching with pain and sorrow the events unfolding in our world. Yesterday was World Refugee Day.  The day before, the current administration withdrew our country's participation from the one place in the world where governments come together and struggle with issues of humanity, the UNHCR, an imperfect, human institution, but the best we have been able to assemble…
Read More

Fire, the Great Creator

There's been a lot of talk about fire lately.  First, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when, in the tradition of the church, the period of transition between the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ and the moment when the Holy Spirit descended as the flame of ministry and carried the apostles into the world to tell what we Christians call the Good News, or the Gospel (Acts 2:1-21). And then there were the great words from Presiding Bishop Curry's wedding sermon heard round the world, quoting the work of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin when he said:  "Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one…
Read More

Holding and being held…with God’s help

Apparently, May is a milestone month for me.   It was in May, too long ago to mention the date, that I was first baptized and confirmed at the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church. I was 12 years old. And then, it was in May of 2010, that I was, as the Baptists say, licensed to the Gospel ministry, something more akin to becoming an elder in the Presbyterian Church or a Deacon in other traditions, a type of recognition of ministry without the necessary academic degrees. So you will not be surprised when I say that it was in May 2014, after a decision to pursue a seminary education (a decision…
Read More