John 9 tells the story of a man born blind whom Jesus healed by spreading mud on his face and telling him to and wash. Though Jesus is clear that the man was not the cause of his blindness, I was struck by the unwillingness of others to see him as anything other than blind,…

Tomorrow, April 3, marks the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech to the Memphis sanitation workers in 1968 — his last speech before he was assassinated. After spending the morning talking with some church friends about what it means to be a peacemaker, I offer his words tonight, which read as strikingly current in…

As I drove to work this morning, I heard a story on NPR about advances in 3-D technology that would make it possible to watch without “those ridiculous glasses.” They interviewed an ophthalmologist, Dr. Samuel Marsh, who has pioneered a surgical procedure that alters the eye so glasses are no longer needed to watch TV….

for David Gentiles it’s not the anniversaryof anything other than the second March without you herestill you showed up unexpectedly at a meetingI had with some people to talk about a dream and then again tonight in Nathan’s new bookthough I had a hunch you might be in therebut you snuck up on me when…

I spent the day packing boxes, loading them into the U-Haul, and unpacking them in their new location. In this year when I’m not going to have to move to a new house, my school decided to move to a new building. We’ve anticipated the move since the beginning of the school year, but permitting…

the reason we don’t go spinning into space as the world turnsthey say is gravityas though being weighed down is what does it we sat around thedinner table withone who wrote a bookthat mattered to Gingerand was held in placeby the power of words we helped serve dinnerat the shelter with friendsfor folks weighed downbut…

the eighth grader who wants to knowif I’ve graded the paper he turned in yesterday.the neighbor ranting on the listservtaking out his frustration on the rest of us. the guy at the shelter who helped mecarry in the chicken for tomorrow night’s meal.the woman in front of me at Costcowho didn’t seem prepared for the…

The passage for today was Jesus meeting the woman at the well. My sonnet was particularly affected by the following video. Thanks to my friend Down Under, Simon, for posting it. sunday sonnet #23 a woman of no distinction, shecame alone to the well at noon;engaged her in conversation, hecame her reputation to impugn –…

I spent the better part of the morning with some friends from church as a part of a Lenten Bible study. We are focusing on the Beatitudes. As I was preparing to lead the group, I was struck by the fact that Matthew takes just four chapters to move from Jesus’ genealogy to his birth…

Here’s more of Stephen Dunn, once again, from my reading today. These are the opening words to a chapter titled, “The Hand Reaching Into the Crowd.” We live in a graceless age. Accordingly the word grace (in its various parts of speech) has lost power and significance, though it is frequently used. We have our…