by Guy Sayles | Jul 21, 2016 | Uncategorized
“It’s a binary choice.” That’s how a lot of people account for the vote they plan to cast for Trump or Clinton. Given the vast ideological differences between the “bases” of the two major parties, it was inevitable that the choice would present itself as a stark...
by Guy Sayles | Jul 15, 2016 | Uncategorized
As many readers of my reflections know, 2½ years ago, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and began a treatment journey from which there wasn’t a pause until very recently. I’m grateful for the reprieve, because it’s giving my body a chance to...
by Guy Sayles | Jul 8, 2016 | Uncategorized
Recent news, as so often, has brought images and descriptions of young black men shot by police officers. The narrative is sickeningly familiar: a young person dies; protests take place; authorities promise a full and fair investigation and, if warranted, consequences...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 30, 2016 | Uncategorized
“Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.”Like most children raised by Christian parents in the south, I learned that song before I learned to sing my ABCs. It’s true that the Bible tells us that Jesus loves us, but it wasn’t from the Bible that I first...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 28, 2016 | Uncategorized
Two Sundays ago, at the Sheetz convenience store in the west end of Huntington, I stood in a longish line, waiting to pay for a cup of coffee and anticipating the drive back to Asheville. Behind me was a middle-aged man who had a giant soda (“pop” as they say in...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 28, 2016 | Uncategorized
One of the projects I had the opportunity to work on last year came to fruition with the publication, this month, of Exemplars: Deacons as Servant and Spiritual Leaders (Smyth and Helwys). Elizabeth Allen and Daniel Vestal, of Mercer University’s Baugh Center for...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 23, 2016 | Uncategorized
An enduring symbol of medical practice is the physician’s caduceus; it’s a winged staff, with two serpents twined around it.Robertson Davies reminded me that the Greek myth of Hermes is this symbol’s origin. Hermes came upon two warring snakes, “who writhed and fought...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 16, 2016 | Uncategorized
It’s tempting to remain silent in in the wake of the violence in Orlando. It’s also wrong.We need the kind of silence which makes room for prayer and grief. Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan was right to call for a moment of silence when the House...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 9, 2016 | Uncategorized
Music is everywhere. The creation itself pulses with pizzazz and praise; the universe dances to the jazz of joy. We can hear the music in the trumpeting cry of an elephant, the playful greeting of a dolphin, and the upward call of a soaring hawk. It’s in the contented...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 5, 2016 | Uncategorized
Downtown Huntington was hopping yesterday. There were bike races on some of the city’s central streets, a festival in the river park, and Comic Con at the Big Sandy Arena.There were “civilian” pedestrians like me, dressed for the alternating hot sunshine and...
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