Before church this morning, I turned again to Rock of Doubt to see what seeds might get planted on my way to worship. Sydney Carter was writing about the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, particularly about why we go to see movies more than once. I’ve made a point of return viewings of many movies,…
Yes, I realize there is still two weeks to go until Easter. That said, I would like to share an article I wrote for Christian Reflection, a quarterly published by the Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University. The piece is titled “On Beyond Easter.” Start here and follow the link. ___________________________________________ The morning my…
I spent the better part of the day writing, but not for this blog. I was working on a proposal for the next book. (I do love writing that sentence.) Tonight I have been staring at the screen for some time looking for the words that belong here. In the middle of writing, I took…
I spent today standing in kitchens then sitting around tables catering gig at lunch dinner with friends now I’m standing baking cookies like there is a tomorrow I love the flow from making to serving a tide of thankfulness going out and coming in offering and receiving listening and speaking trusting and risking like there…
on the road to the resurrection I will pass a marker tomorrow eight months since dad died they’ve planted grass now my mother goes to water it not so long after easter even with an empty tomb nine months will come and go soon we’ll be talking years for now I will find solace in…
It may be April Fools’ Day, but it is also the beginning of National Poetry Month. Tonight, I want to help kick it off with three of my favorites. How To Be a Poet by Wendell Berry (to remind myself) i Make a place to sit down. Sit down. Be quiet. You must depend upon…
Marcia Norman: a new name to me, as of last night when an excerpt from something she had written arrived in an email from a dear friend. He didn’t offer commentary; he just knew she had something to say that I needed to hear, which was true. Now I want to pass along some of…
I love it when a poem catches me by surprise. Most of the time, I do a pretty good job looking for them, but every so often (I’m happy to say) one shows up somewhere unexpectedly, ambushes me with alliteration or metaphor, and I am the better for it. Today was one of those days….
We’ve had a grey and somehow hopeful day here in Durham. As the rain stopped, people seemed ready to wipe off benches and chairs and fill the sidewalks and patios for supper. Ginger and I met friends for coffee that turned into dinner and I came home humming, ready to add to my on going…
a breeze blows across the front porch of the heart — the song settles like an old dog circling until it’s just right the sadness hangs like the ferns we will put up once it gets warmer the last aromas of dinner have followed us out and will find their way into the darkness once…