There are plenty of jokes about the song, Mary Did You Know? You've read them or watched them, possibly laughed at them. But I feel the need to add my voice to the clamor. Every time I hear the song, I think of the powerful and prophetic words that flowed from the brave heart of […]

"Prayer is not the place to be good, but the place to be honest." (John Coe) I don't know what has happened to us humans, but prayer these days often feels performative and kind of prissy. We are rarely honest. We try to sound better and more religious than we are. We talk to God […]

A brief thought or poem for the weekend, friends ... "There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is so self-conscious, so apparently moral, simply to step aside from the gaps where the creeks and winds pour […]

When I resigned from my job over a year ago, one thing that struck me was how few people were curious about my process, my learning, my sense of conviction that led to my resignation. It was a rare person who asked me a question that stemmed from a desire to understand me. What have […]

The great Swiss theologian Karl Barth said, "To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." I wish I actually believed that. Because if I did, I would never unclasp my hands. I am just being honest here. My heart jumps at the sentiment of Barth's […]

"Everything depends on how we read, on how we enter the magic circle of a text's meaning; on how we smuggle ourselves into its words, and all the texture of a text to weave its web around us." (Michael Fishbaine) May you enter the magic circle of today's Psalm, smuggle yourself into its words and […]