I struggle with what it means to be an American. I am grateful for the opportunities I have been give because of my nationality, and I am troubled that much of my privilege has been on the backs of those who never had a chance to make the choices I have made. I can’t say…
I was inspired by Sarah Bessey’s wonderful post on how we tell the Nativity story and this is where her words took me. incarnativity when I turn in my dictionary to define what pageant means there’s nothing revolutionary: a loosely connected set of scenes our pageant is the Christmas Story an acted-out Nativity performed by…
something was in the air today weather waiting to happen more than once we asked each other do you think it’s going to snow? the forecasters on television cover multiple micro-climates so they say things like two to twelve inches when it comes to snowfall and we start postponing and cancelling and hoping it happens…
I started the day thinking about joy. It is, after all, the Third Sunday in Advent, the Pink Candle Sunday, and that means the candle stands for joy. Sunday also means I start my day across the street for coffee at Blazing Fresh Donuts, which is one of the addresses joy inhabits, at least for…
I woke up about three minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off–or at least I thought I did. After I had showered, shaved, and dressed, I realized I had woken an hour and three minutes before the alarm. Instead of going back to bed, I made coffee and kept reading David Whyte. Today’s…
I’ve had a full day. It’s Wednesday, so it’s my day to go to New York. The trip was made a bit more adventurous by early morning snow fall in Connecticut, but there was none in the city. I left a little early to get back to meet Ginger, Rachel, and Jake and Gerhard to…
I started ninth grade in September of 1970, a little over a year after Woodstock, which meant there was time for the soundtrack album to make its way to Nairobi just as I got my first guitar that Christmas. A new world opened up: Canned Heat singing “Going Up the Country,” Crosby, Stills, and Nash…
I guess it is safe to say that my making soup for the carolers before they go out to sing on the Second Sunday of Advent is a tradition, since I have now done it for three Advents. I had recipes for two of the soups I made: Pumpkin Corn Chowder and Uncle Milty’s Guinness…
This summer, Blazing Fresh Donuts opened across the street from our house. They make the donuts to order. They drop the batter when you get to the counter and then you get to choose a glaze and any number of toppings and drizzles. The maple-bacon-pretzel donut is one of my creations, along with the chocolate-graham…
As we finish the first week of Advent, it feels like a good time to offer some music for the journey. All of the songs are covers, that is they are songs recorded by someone other than the songwriter. I hope these songs offer some warmth and light for the journey. The first is Sara…