I remember being in 7th or 8th grade of our public school music class learning the song “Let There Be Peace On Earth”. You may remember the second phrase of this song, “…and let it begin with me”…
Worship. Serve. Grow.
Worship. Serve. Grow.
Homilies (Page 73)
Do you hate to clean house? You’re not alone. But every so often it needs to be done. Maybe something you need is buried under the morass of paper or clothes tossed carelessly aside as you run in and out, day after day, and you just have to find that thing. Or you might have received word that dear old Aunt Tillie, and her white glove is due for a visit…
“Breathe!” Did you ever have someone say that to you? “Breathe!” It usualy comes at a time when you’re not breathing too well. You’re stressed out, you’re worried about something, your anxiety level is rising, you’re actually breathless, and someone says, “breathe!” I’ve heard that said a few times to me, “breathe!”
At one point in his book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell describes the state of heightened awareness that police officers feel in moments when they have to burst through a door into a hallway or a building or a house where they feel like their life is going to be in danger…
My homily this morning has two interrelated and somewhat overlapping components: a teaching component and a preaching component. Since today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year, I want to begin my message by saying a few words about the church calendar…
Jesus was definitely a person of wisdom. And part of that wisdom had to do, I think, with Jesus’ ability to not think in kind of a dualistic way. In other words, Jesus was not someone who saw the world in either ors: either this or that. But Jesus was much more able to see the world in terms of this and that…
This morning is the one year (exact to the date) anniversary of Care n Share’s Hand Blessing Service. And therefore this is going to be the second annual day of thanksgiving for the Care n Share ministry. It is indeed a day of thanksgiving for all of you, for all of our volunteers who care so well for one another…
The Jesuit theologian and paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin did a lot writing during the twentieth century. Some of his writings are complex to read, but what he is trying to convey is worth the complexity. One of the thoughts that comes to mind comes from our reading from Revelations. Teilhard has this sense that all of creation has been created and is moving toward its fulfillment…
About ten years ago, I was up early one Saturday morning trying to get an early start on preparations for a wedding shower I was hosting that afternoon. When the phone rang around 7:00 AM, I didn’t think too much of it, since my mind was already projecting ahead of what food I had to prepare. The call was from one of our daughters-in-law, Christie…
It is great to see your faces! And I am delighted to be back with you. I’ve already worked a few days in the office but I still feel like I’m on “sabbatical time” in my mind. And I am hoping that I can hold on to that sense for awhile. Some of you may have heard me talk about or may have read something I wrote about spending time during my sabbatical using my hands more than my head and hoping to s-l-o-w down the pace of my life…