Well no matter how much we plan or hope or buy, Christmas this year—in 2020—is destined to be a Christmas like no other. We’ve already had 10 months of unexpected and trying circumstances, and now, as Christmas grows close, the pandemic is impacting even our best-loved traditions. The family events that are such a big […]
Read more "A New Chance to Love"This week, as we travel together through the Advent season, getting continually closer to the stable in Bethlehem, we lit the pink candle in our Advent wreath. It represents Mary’s important part in the unfolding of grace in our world. The message is one of hope—hope that lifts our eyes when all seems dark, hope […]
Read more "Mary’s Miraculous Hope"Today is the second Sunday of the Advent season, a time of holy waiting as we pray and watch for the rebirth of Christ’s light in a world that so sorely needs it. Our responsive reading today—written so beautifully by Bill Medlin many years ago—points us toward God’s desire that we live in peace in […]
Read more "A Humble Quiet"Yesterday was such a beautiful gift of a day. After so many days of rain this week, yesterday dawned cloudless as the sun rose in a clear blue sky. As morning moved toward afternoon, the sunlight just poured in all the windows along the southern side of my house—I love that!–it floods the sunroom, spreads […]
Read more "The Work of the Light"I think it’s safe to say that this year is unfolding in ways none of us expected. Each New Year’s Eve—I may have told you this before—I have a tradition of doing a kind of prayerful vision board for the coming year, an exercise in opening to the blessing and adventure that God is sure […]
Read more "Thankful Anyway"You probably already know this about me, but I can be a pretty wordy person. Give me a topic and I’ll have something to say or write about it: some thought, some perspective, some possibility, some plan. During my recovery time these last couple of weeks, I’m surprised to report that my inner world got […]
Read more "Ready, Set, Rest!"Here in central Indiana, we are having one of the most beautiful falls I can remember. And that follows an unusually perfect and balanced summer in which we experienced no drought, only short stretches of humidity, and surprisingly few storms and tornado warnings. How kind of God to turn up the dial on beauty and […]
Read more "Unique and Precious"Those of you on our Wednesday night Zoom call heard me describe the events of last Sunday—Christopher and Ashley’s wedding—as one of the five best days of my life. All week I feel I’ve been floating along, buoyed by the love and magic of that day. There really is something to the idea that moments […]
Read more "A Simple Love"If someone had told you last fall that by the end of the first week of October in 2020, you would have been in your house for roughly eight months, missed out on all your favorite events, like festivals and fairs and sporting events and concerts, that you’d would be sitting at home this morning […]
Read more "Doing the Best We Can"Has anyone ever told you to “get real”? Usually this phrase gets tossed into a conversation when one person thinks the other is being unrealistic, perhaps hoping for an outcome that is unlikely to happen. Getting real means opening our eyes to the truth and being willing to see what’s really there. The Cambridge Dictionary […]
Read more "Getting Real"