by Guy Sayles | Feb 26, 2016 | Uncategorized
When writer Rick Bragg was young and struggling to find his way in journalism, he won a prestigious fellowship to Harvard. While there, he felt out of place. He hadn’t finished college, and he was in classes with people who were pursuing graduate degrees. He was...
by Guy Sayles | Feb 19, 2016 | Uncategorized
This semester, I’m teaching “Christian Ethics in Engagement with U.S. Culture.” My students and I are exploring together the ways in which various approaches to Christian Ethics conflict and converge with the values of U.S. culture(s).One of our conversation partners...
by Guy Sayles | Feb 11, 2016 | Uncategorized
Last night, Anita and I went to All Souls Episcopal Cathedral for the Ash Wednesday service. It was a gift to be back in that faith-community which has been such a significant haven and home for us since my work at First Baptist Church of Asheville ended in...
by Guy Sayles | Jan 28, 2016 | Uncategorized
The heavy snow which recently fell in our area brought surprising gifts: the requirement (and permission) to step-away for a few days from routine busyness, to have longer stretches of uninterrupted time to read and to think, and to rest without irrational guilt over...
by Guy Sayles | Jan 22, 2016 | Uncategorized
We’ve gotten about six inches of snow at our house, and forecasts call for a lot more. Earlier in the week, since it was likely that the roads between Asheville and Huntington wouldn’t be safely passable this weekend, I reluctantly bowed-out of preaching at Fifth...
by Guy Sayles | Jan 14, 2016 | Uncategorized
Yesterday, I went to the first session of what I thought was my Introduction to the New Testament Class. For about 10 minutes, I gave a broad overview of the ways we’d approach our engagement with the scriptures. Then, a student spoke up and said: “I have you for New...
by Guy Sayles | Jan 8, 2016 | Uncategorized
This week, schoolchildren headed back to the classroom, the 12 Days of Christmas culminated in the Feast of Epiphany, and the reckoning with credit card bills from December’s shopping sprees has begun. College football fans, especially in the South, made plans...
by Guy Sayles | Jan 1, 2016 | Uncategorized
As the New Year begins, I am grateful for so much:Poetry, music, and “children’s books.”Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon.Restaurants where I don’t need a menu.Restaurants where I not only need a menu but a translator and guide.Our “puppy” (eight years old!),...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 31, 2015 | Uncategorized
“I wouldn’t give you a nickel for simplicity on this side of complexity, but I’d give you my life for simplicity on the far side of complexity.”In a lecture he gave when I was a seminary student, Ernest Campbell, then the preaching minister at the Riverside Church in...
Recent Comments