Category Archives: Faith
Better Off Dead: Life Beyond the Grave
Death has always been hard to understand – just try explaining it to a child. How strange it is to be speaking to a person you know one minute and find them absent the next. Their body is still present … Continue reading
The Tie That Binds Can Also Tear Us Apart
Most Christian churches include a ritual meal in their worship liturgy. They refer to it in different ways – participating in the Lord’s Supper, taking Holy Communion, celebrating the Eucharist – and they take part in it with varying frequency. … Continue reading
If Today’s Media Had Reported on Jesus
Everything the President of the United States says is news. If he belches, international stock markets drop. If he bellows, nations flinch. If his speech is aggressive – and how often this president sounds aggressive – ambassadors phone home. It … Continue reading
The Banality of Evil and the Creativity of Good
One of the remarkable moments in the history of the twentieth century occurred near its close: the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. South Africa had been embroiled in decades of horrific racial violence. The Commission’s mandate … Continue reading
The Number One Rule in Great Story-Writing
A great storyteller can bring a character to life, metaphorically speaking. There’s no one who does it better than the novelist and poet Wendell Berry. His Port William “membership” is replete with memorable characters, and his Burley Coulter is one … Continue reading
The Virtue We Wish We Could Do Without
When the Tribune Chronicle stopped carrying Sydney Harris’s column, I abruptly cancelled my subscription. It was my habit to turn first to “Strictly Personal,” and only after that to check out the rest of the paper. Harris’s famous aphorisms and … Continue reading
Acquire Inward Peace, Change the World
Before “Wayne’s World” was a movie with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, it was a Saturday Night Live comedy staple. The sketches were frequently based on some daydream fantasy of the stars – things that did not, and perhaps could … Continue reading
