Yesterday morning marked the first time in several days that I had to answer my five o’clock alarm telling me it was time to get ready for school. Gracie, our middle Schnauzer, was grateful for the return to routine because it meant she got to eat earlier and it was a return to routine, which…

I left my notes for my post sitting on my desk at school this afternoon as I was heading for the second shift at the computer store. I came home tonight to discover these words from Nate Klug, a new poet to me and a fellow UCCer. AdventIn the middle of Decemberto start overto assume…

As I sat down tonight to begin writing this Advent Journal, I decided to go back and read what I had written as my first Advent entry over the previous five years. In my 2006 post, I found this poem by Barbara Crooker: In the Middle of a life that’s as complicated as everyone else’s,struggling…

Ben and Scott Cunningham are wonderful songwriters and musicians, and awesome people as well. They are also my nephews. As a band, they call themselves The Olive Tree and they have just released a new collection (am I still allowed to call it an album?) that they offer as a free download at bandcamp.com. Here…

in all our living and in all our dyingwe belong to God, we belong to God             “Pues Si Vivimos,” Mexican folk hymnif the night didn’t lie in the darknessthen the daylight will be hard to find                Lyle Lovett there are few things . . . . . . as large as emptiness. . ….

there is no place where I walkwhere someone has not walkedno conversation I might havethat’s not already talked what is new in my big worldis mostly new to me that those who have come beforehave kindly let me see as if it were the first timeand then underneath the newa sacred sense a heart shinea…

there’s a difference between a loss and an absencein the same way a deep cut is notan amputation we are not mourning one who is lost but one who has died he is not missinghe is gone Peace,Milton

I’ve been quiet here for the last several days because we have been saying goodbye to my father-in-law, Reuben Brasher, who has been living with us for the last fourteen months as his Alzheimer’s made him disappear and who crossed over Wednesday afternoon. We are in Birmingham with family and friends to bury him today….

on nights like thisI gaze into the night-skyto see a sky filled with desk lamps in the darkcasting light for one tired poet after anothermilky ways of metaphorssupernovas of near missesswirling star-cloudsof what matters most Peace,Milton

A couple of Sundays have passed since Ginger preached on the parable about the workers who get hired at various times during the day and then all get paid the same at quitting time (Matthew 20:1-16). It’s a bothersome parable on its own terms, made even more difficult when heard in American congregations filled with…