by Guy Sayles | Jan 30, 2012 |
At a critical point in The Lord of the Rings, Frodo, the Hobbit whose burden it was to carry the Ring toward its destruction—the destruction that would save Middle Earth—has grown weary and disheartened. He’s afraid and uncertain. He says to the wise wizard, Gandalf...
by Guy Sayles | Jan 16, 2012 |
I grew up in Atlanta—Martin Luther King, Jr.’s hometown—during the most intense days of the civil rights movement. The center of the movement was in Atlanta’s “Sweet Auburn” district, a vibrant African-American business and professional district, where the Ebenezer...
by Guy Sayles | Jan 10, 2012 |
I surely understand the opening lines of Edward Hirsch’s poem, “Self Portrait”: I lived between my heart and my head, like a married couple who can’t get along. . . My head says: “I think.” My heart says, “I feel.” Head says, “I’ve concluded”; heart says, “I wonder.”...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 31, 2011 |
Thresholds can be frightening. Our ancient ancestors felt that thresholds were dwelling places for evil spirits. They believed that stepping on a threshold made them vulnerable to the spirits which lurked there, so they were careful to avoid them. Often, they posted...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 26, 2011 |
Some Christmas music, like Rutter’s and Vivaldi’s magnificent Glorias and Handel’s “Hallelujah” from Messiah, is transcendent and transfiguring. It takes us to places we could never otherwise go and changes us in ways we could not otherwise be changed. Some Christmas...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 22, 2011 |
In It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty and her friend Marcie argue about who will play the role of Mary in the annual Christmas pageant. Since their teacher already asked Marcie, she’s sure it will be her. But such trivial facts never bother...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 15, 2011 |
Love is in the details. The God made known to us in Jesus takes delight in our individuality, is lavishly attentive to our hurts and hopes, and is involved in the everyday, mundane details of our lives. God embraces all time and space, but God also holds each of us in...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 8, 2011 |
The Advent season puts us in touch with our yearning for peace. Sometimes, when I think about peace, my mind goes global. I consider large-scale and long-boiling cauldrons of conflict. When I do, I often go numb, because there doesn’t seem to be much I can do to make...
by Guy Sayles | Nov 27, 2011 |
Famously, when Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy stepped through the wardrobe in the old professor’s house, they entered the fantastic land of Narnia. It was winter. In fact, Mr. Tumnus, the Faun, said to the children: “It is winter in Narnia, and has been ever so long.”...
by Guy Sayles | Nov 22, 2011 |
Hope is always paradoxical. It offers tender comfort and stirs restless protest. It embraces those who suffer and insists that suffering will not have the last word. Theologian Jurgen Moltmann said that: “Hope finds in Christ not only a consolation in suffering, but...
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