The assurance of things hoped for

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
President Obama today won the Nobel Peace Prize.
I am surprised, and very proud of him and of our country, to be sure.
I also wonder a little bit about what it means to award a Nobel Prize to someone who [...]

Addendum

My husband and I received a sympathy card on Friday. It was sent by a colleague in my Annual Conference, and she thought she had sent it out back in March. In an enclosed note, she described how she found the card while moving over the summer and went back and forth about sending it, [...]

Guessing at what I need.

On the personal horizon for me this week is a day I can’t avoid.
September 25 was the day I was due to have a baby. On March 11, when I thought I was nearing the 12-week ’safe’ mark of my pregnancy, we experienced a miscarriage, and that pregnancy– one for which we’d been trying for [...]

You should watch this movie

I’m not having much luck with the embedding thing, so you’ll have to click links, sorry!
I’m very excited about this documentary coming out: No Impact Man. It follows Colin Beavan and his family in a one-year experiment to reduce their impact on the environment to zero (or close to it). The No Impact Man himself [...]

Beyond Anger

A colleague (thanks, Mark!) sent me a link today about some Catholic Sisters who give one another space to face illness and death with peace and dignity. Note especially this section:
Dr. McCann [who works closely with the sisters] said that the sisters’ religious faith insulated them from existential suffering — the “Why me?” refrain commonly [...]

Design your own church

In the middle of last week, the church Office Manager at Trinity and I were talking about use of space in the church and how we would re-design the building if money was no concern. This quickly became a conversation about how we would design the building if we were starting over from scratch.
So I [...]

Lessons of the Season

In my life, lessons come in seasons. I like to think that this is because all of life is learning, growing, and cyclical, but it’s probably just because I’m thickheaded and it takes a few whacks with a 2×4 upside the back of the skull for me to realize that God is trying to tell [...]

Two weeks out

It’s a sunny and almost warm spring day in Central Vermont. I even had a robin on my porch this morning. It’s also two weeks since I lost the baby, and I haven’t managed to go a whole day without tears yet, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for me. Bit by bit.
The flood [...]

Pamper me

I’m not a stuff person, and I don’t go asking for gifts a lot. But I feel like this might be a good occasion.
I’d like you to give me something. Nothing huge, and preferably something that can be sent by email or explained via phone call. A poem. A picture. A prayer (I’m specifically looking [...]

Living Tomorrow Today

(An Extraordinary Ordination, from Church Within a Church)
There are times when you fight for all you’re worth to make change happen. There are times when you bang your head against the wall until it hurts. There are times when you nurse your wounds and pray for strength to pick up the struggle another day.
And then [...]