To offer a blog post this morning that does not lift up the recent tragedy in Florida seems unthinkable- social media has been flooded in the past three days with calls for prayer and action, outrage, despair, grief and sorrow. I have watched this week as posts on Facebook have exploded like land mines- a […]
Several times a week, I am asked if I will pray for someone or for some particular situation. Several times a week, I offer, in the course of conversation, that I will keep someone or something in my prayers. So what, exactly, does that mean? In the Episcopal/Anglican tradition, we have […]
I was listening to a meditation podcast the other day- it’s something new that I’ve been doing, receiving training in meditation to grow my practice- and the teacher was leading us through a “body scan.” A body scan is a common practice in which, body part by body part, you pay attention to […]
It took us a long time to find just the right house when we moved to Central Pennsylvania. Our poor realtor (the most patient man on earth) took me through at least 30 houses over a four or five-month period in no fewer than eight different towns and in all sorts of different neighborhoods. […]
I can’t read Mark 1: 14-20, the call of Peter and Andrew, James and John, without getting stuck on verse 20- the one that tells about poor old Zebedee, the father of James and John, who gets left in the boat while his sons run off, responding to Jesus’ direction: “Follow me.” It’s […]
Yesterday, I made my rounds from Gettysburg to Lancaster and back to Harrisburg, as I am wont to do on the second Thursday of each month. I visit clergy groups in the different regions of our diocese on Thursdays, and these meetings are some of the best moments of my month as I learn about […]
New Year’s Resolutions. 40% 0f Americans make them. (1) By the first week in February, 80 % of the resolutions have fallen by the wayside.(2) Lose weight. Go to the gym. Be nicer. Manage our time better. These are resolutions that require a change in outlook, attitude and behavior. Most behavioral changes […]
At this time of year, traditions run strong in families, congregations, villages and neighborhoods. We make the same cookies that our grandmothers and great grandmothers made, string the same red and white lights around the lamp post at the end of the front walk, sing the same favorite carols, and grace the top of […]
Every morning, I sit in the big comfy chair in the corner of the living room and light a small votive candle. I put the candle in the center of a porcelain bowl that has a wide reach and gently sloping sides, where the light of the small flame is illuminated and magnified […]
We are in John-the-Baptist-season again, otherwise known as Advent. This week’s gospel lesson (Mark 1: 1-8) has gotten me thinking and praying in all sorts of directions- and there’s one idea from a commentary by Gary Fisher that I can’t let go. Mr. Fisher writes that John calls for two things in this lesson: […]