Tag Archives: Hope

Words

Posted on July 19, 2017 by

Words are things of power. They create and they destroy. They exalt and cast down. They comfort and kill. They start war – but they can also end them. The right words, bold courageous words, can summon us to peace. Continue reading →

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“I kept that promise.”

Posted on July 10, 2017 by

It’s hard to describe what happened to me at the altar during the prayers of the church, yesterday. Typical Lutheran congregations don’t have a shared vocabulary for discussing personal spiritual experiences. Other communities of which I have been a part find it easier to say that God spoke to them. Continue reading →

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Surrounded with graces

Posted on June 29, 2017 by

We are surrounded by graces big and little. Every bit of beauty, every simple kindness, every child’s laughter, every kind word or sound silences the claims of fear and evil to rule the world. Continue reading →

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Tomorrow

Posted on May 12, 2017 by

Tomorrow would have been my daughter’s 36th birthday. It snuck up in me, busy as I’ve been. But a look at the calendar today, and that number 13 jumped out. Is it really May already? Are we here again? What … Continue reading →

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Thinking in stories

Posted on April 28, 2017 by

We are creatures who think in stories. Confusion and anxiety reign when we can’t figure out the story line. It locates us. It gives meaning to our past, shapes our understanding of the present and gives direction for the future. Continue reading →

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Lamb of God

Posted on April 14, 2017 by

A reflection on the death of Jesus, Good Friday, 2017 A liturgical chant from my childhood has been rattling through my mind the last few days: “O Christ, thou lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, … Continue reading →

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Praying Good Friday

Posted on March 31, 2017 by

O thou who art the voice in the eternal silence, the light in the spreading darkness the warmth in the growing cold, the peace in the rising fear, the truth in the crowded confusion: Wounded, you heal. Broken, you restore. … Continue reading →

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Let us pray for wisdom

Posted on March 18, 2017 by

It’s not possible to remember everything. With time memories slip away. Fragments remain. And the love remains. At least, that’s what should remain. I am heartened by those who turn their sorrow into kindness. I am saddened by those who turn it into bitterness. But I understand, most of us have stood at one time or another at that fork in the road where those two paths diverge Continue reading →

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An eternal kindness

Posted on February 19, 2017 by

There is room in the heart of God for us all. Continue reading →

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Where the heavens bend

Posted on February 2, 2017 by

It seems like we are marching again towards Good Friday, towards the death of kindness and mercy, to the triumph of naked power, to a paroxysm of the Father of Lies. And with what do we stand? Simply the promise that Christ is risen, that the darkness cannot prevail, that death itself yields to the author of life. Continue reading →

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