Category Archives: Spiritual life
More Than Colored Eggs and Chocolate Bunnies
The Easter circulars came out last week, and they were full of little girls’ dresses and little boys’ suits. Pastel colors were everywhere, dyed eggs and chocolate bunnies ubiquitous. Every kind of ham you can imagine, and some you’ve never … Continue reading
Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide?
The U.S. Department of the Treasury maintains three gift funds, one of which is known as the “Conscience Fund,” established in 1811. The name stuck after the Civil War when a former Army quartermaster who had misappropriated funds sent a … Continue reading
Why Do New Year’s Resolutions Fail?
People who make New Year’s resolutions overwhelmingly fail to keep them. Dan Diamond, writing in Forbes, reports that researchers at the University of Scranton found that only 8 percent of people actually keep their resolutions. A failure rate that exceeds … Continue reading
Find Your Place in the Divine Comedy
Christians sometimes say that it is important to “think biblically.” That is, in fact, the title of a book by a well-known American Christian leader. But how does one do that? Does one try to fill one’s thoughts with passages … Continue reading
If I Could Change One Thing, It Would Be Me
My wife and I recently traveled to Texas to visit our son and daughter-in-law and to do a little hiking in the Hill Country. For many weeks before our trip, I researched flights, car rentals, lodging and hiking trails. I … Continue reading
Lost and Found: The Joy of Losing Oneself
It was an iconic moment in sports history or, rather, an iconic eighteen seconds. It was the first round of the 1995 NBA Eastern Conference semifinals. The Indiana Pacers were playing the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. With … Continue reading
A Little Exercise in Talking to Oneself
Please share in the comment section what advise you would give to your younger self – we’d appreciate hearing it. In his 1972 short story, The Other, Jorge Luis Borges pictures himself in Cambridge, MA, sitting on a bench overlooking … Continue reading
Our Church Is Better Than Your Church
I’ve been surprised by people who, in conversation with me, refer to the church I pastor as “your church.” I’m surprised because they’ve been attending for years. Why are they still saying “you” instead of “we” and “your church” instead … Continue reading
Hard Hearts, Closed Minds, and Blind Eyes
If a pastor wants to start a row, he needn’t preach heresy. All he needs to do is change the color of the carpet in the church nursery or bring a drum set onto the platform. People might not notice … Continue reading
The Spiritual Myopia Pandemic
There are about 97 million myopic people in the U.S., according to the American Optometric Association. I’m one of them. I was fitted for my first pair of corrective lenses in second grade. Because my vision continued to deteriorate (and … Continue reading
