This is the week of found poetry for me, or perhaps I should call it delivered poetry: words given to me. Here’s a comment from my friend, Mitch, on one of my recent blog posts. hey milt: up above, you wrote “the chards of the past” . . . just wanted to point out that…
Somewhere in the middle of my morning, Ginger sent me this text: sitting outside the doc listening to old school jazz watching the rain fall on the maroon and amber leaves and wishing we were together I couldn’t help but hear the poem already at work, so I set out to find it. Here’s what…
Some years ago, Ginger and I were walking along the sidewalk in Davis Square in Somerville, Mass. when we passed a homeless man sitting in a doorway. Just as we drew even with him, he barked, “Change!” loudly enough for the people across the street to hear him. “I’m sorry, I don’t have any,” Ginger…
The text today told the story of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus. And here’s where the story took me. When Zacchaeus hit the streets, he had to assumehe was down the list of who folks hoped to see;he might have done much better had he showed up in costume,but for all his faults, he had no…
This week’s parable was the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector who came to pray (Luke 18:9-14). I was struck, in the sermon, by the idea that both men missed the mark by clinging so tightly to their view of the world, rather than praying for eyes to see what God might have…
The text today was the parable of the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8). The story is not an easy one. One of the main things I took away from this morning was a big part of the call to live like Jesus lies in our persistence. The widow just wouldn’t give up until she got justice….
Today is Blog Action Day. The topic is WATER, namely the lack of safe and sanitary drinking water for a large part of our fellow human beings on the planet. Most of the stuff that has come my way in preparation for today has been overwhelming to me. The statistics are poignant, but also paralyzing….
T. S Eliot’s amazing poem The Waste Land has found me twice in the last few days. First, let me confess. I love the poem and I am moved by the poem, but I am far from understanding it. Still, it keeps coming after me. The first touch was at school, reading Robert Cormier’s novel,…
Today is National Coming Out Day. I thought I would mark the day by reposting something I wrote last year. Though my job has changed, my gratitude has not. Peace,Milton___________________________________________ Part of what makes working in a restaurant kitchen interesting is you never really know who is coming for dinner and when they are planning…
The sermon today was on the ten lepers whom Jesus healed and the one of them who returned to say, “Thanks.” As I thought about the story, I was struck by how much time we who are accustomed to comfort and privilege spend trying to explain pain and suffering, as though they were things other…