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A Blessing for the End of the Year

Here is my benediction from the last Sunday of the year. The idea (and phrase) to “bless the year” came from John O’Donnohue. His blessing of the year is different from mine, but there are echoes of his here, especially in the phrase “bless the year for all you have...

The Year Ahead: Becoming Childlike

Increasingly, I think that “growing up” means moving from childishness to childlikeness.   So, one of my hopes and intentions for the New Year is to become more childlike.  I want to live with more wonder, openness, playfulness and, most of all,...

The Word Became Flesh

The Gospel of John compressed the Christmas story into a single and shimmering sentence: “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s unique son, full of grace and truth.”’ No peasant parents, singing angels,...

The Light of Advent

Jesus is the bright dawn of hope toward which we rise from nights of despair; the searchlight of justice, which leads us to peace; the candle of joy which even  the high winds of sorrow and gusts of grief cannot extinguish; and the blazing fire of love which...

Joy is Why We are Here

Many years ago, my family bought me a sweatshirt that pictured a grim and sour-looking man who stood, arms folded tightly against his chest, in a shadowy corner at a Christmas party.  Below the picture was this caption: “Mr. Bah-Humbug.”  It’s not a good...

Walking in Circles

I was hiking in the Pisgah National Forest on a trail which was new to me.  I had an old trail guide, and, after I had been walking for a long while, I realized that that map didn’t match the territory.  Markers on the trail were scarce, and they weren’t as...