Awake to Life

by | Aug 27, 2014 | Uncategorized

The narrator of one of Alice Munro’s short stories described a middle aged woman this way: “Here she sat and saw her day as hurdles got through.  Not much to her credit to go through her life thinking, Well, good, now that’s over, that’s over.  What was she...

Prayers from the River and Waterfall

by | Aug 12, 2014 | Uncategorized

In her memoir, The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day said: “Joy and sorrow, life and death, always so close together!”  My experience mirrors hers. I remember the first time Amanda performed in a little preschool choir—how happy I was to watch her stand with her...

The River Says

by | Jul 18, 2014 | Uncategorized

I got to the river today.  I didn’t, as I often enjoy doing, head to Madison County and hike the mountain trails which ring the French Broad near Hot Springs.  Instead, I parked my Subaru at the old “transfer station” and ambled along the path to the “Race...

Random Thoughts About Love

by | Jul 12, 2014 | Uncategorized

Love is not so much the opposite of hate or indifference as it is the opposite of fear.  It is fear which gives rise to hate, indifference, and insensitivity, and also to isolation, loneliness, and uncertainty.  “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18)....

Making a Home in Exile

by | Jul 7, 2014 | Uncategorized

Here’s a paradox about human nature: we look for home in a world where we never feel fully and restfully at home.  That paradox explains why even the most settled and contented people have moments when they wonder if they will ever arrive where they most want to...

Benediction of Powerlessness

by | Jun 30, 2014 | Uncategorized

Imagine how you would feel if, at the end of worship, the minister asked you to receive a benediction which began like this:             May all your expectations be frustrated....

Choosing a Better Way

by | Jun 16, 2014 | Uncategorized

Day by day, in the decisions we make and the actions we take, we are choosing whether to live in the desert of division or in the promised land of peace; in the wilderness of exclusion or the paradise of acceptance; in the far country of fear or the home of...

Hey, Man, Can You Spare a Job?

by | Jun 13, 2014 | Uncategorized

Walking around downtown this past Monday night, a cool breeze freshening the air and the approach of sunset causing a dance of light and shadow around the buildings, I had a brief conversation with a group of street musicians who were moving from one “stand”—one high...

The One Point

by | Jun 9, 2014 | Uncategorized

Someone once asked the brilliant African-American preacher Gardner Taylor how many points a sermon should have.  He said, “At least one.”  As I understand it now, at age 57, having preached hundreds of sermons across thirty years, I really only have one...