Browse the blog posts going back to 2014 – and we also have a Watchwords archive.
- The Haircut and Other Memories (8/16/2016) - Recently I re-published an essay about my mother that I had written some two years before. I had as hard time getting started with that essay because of my relationship with her was difficult on occasion, but then resistance faded away and there was my essay, my tribute to my mother.... Continue reading
- Is It Me? Is It You? (8/11/2016) - For more than ten years my church has struggled, mostly trying to catch up to and match those halcyon years of the past that we seem to hold out as the “golden age”, a time when everything seemed to be going right. It is hard to realize that those specific years, and... Continue reading
- Deception (8/4/2016) - I can hardly wait for the polls to come out! Are we gaining on “them”? Are they gaining on “us”? Last time we gained a whole point, now we are only 17 points behind. Is that a trend? I can hardly wait for the polls to be announced! Silly? Have... Continue reading
- Apolitical Fantasy (7/22/2016) - For those of us who have binged on the speeches and talking heads of the Republican Convention, my sympathies go out to all of us. Maybe it was fatigue, maybe it was a little outrage, maybe it was a carryover from my study of Revelation, but last night, at some... Continue reading
- A Grief Experienced (6/5/2016) - Many years ago, as a college dean, I sought to comfort an older student who had witnessed the accidental death of her 7 year-old son. As I stood in line at the funeral home, I wondered what could I possibly say to this grieving mother? In front of me was... Continue reading
- God’s Purpose, God’s Church (4/3/2016) - I’ve been a member of the same men’s Bible study group for over 30 years. During that time someone will, on occasion, raise the question of studying the Book of Revelation? Just this spring we committed ourselves to that study, trying to be thorough, taking one verse at a time,... Continue reading
- Our Verses Rhyme (3/26/2016) - Why do I not deeply grieve? Why am I not inconsolable? Why am I at peace with the passing of my dearly loved wife? Why do I not have a deep sense of emptiness, a constant awareness of a hole in my heart? Why am I able to carry on... Continue reading
- Annoying Grace? (2/29/2016) - Not long ago, Philip Gulley, author and theologian, spoke in our church on the topic of grace, God’s grace. His talk was engaging, humourous, and filled with both current and ancient examples of grace in action. While I will not quote specifics of Gulley’s talk, I did have a visceral reaction... Continue reading
- Life as It Comes (12/25/2015) - Sir William Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) in his treatise on “Patience” offers this bit of advice: “Life’s a pudding full of plums; Care’s a canker that benumbs, therefore waste our elocution on impossible solution? Let us take it as it comes!” Take it as it comes, bumps, bruises and... Continue reading
- Simple Generosity! (12/18/2015) - Soon a new year will begin, full of hope and opportunities. As my wife and I put a difficult year behind us, our thoughts turn with gratitude to what it really means to be generous, for the giver and receiver. I believe it takes a certain amount of grace to be... Continue reading
- Talking Prayers with My Dog (12/3/2015) - We all go through rough times in our lives, times when it is hard to imagine how to handle a problem, or work through grief, or make an extremely difficult and painful decision. As a much younger man my strategy, often, was to deny or ignore, but, most of the time, I would... Continue reading
- Pray Without Ceasing? (9/7/2015) - Pray without ceasing? Hmm. A number of years ago, I ran a little experiment. I was teaching a course in Adolescent Psychology at a midwest college, and because of circumstances in my life and in the classroom, I decided to explore the power of prayer through a very simple exercise. ... Continue reading
