As part of my morning devotions, I recently read the short book, “Invitation to Pilgrimage” by John Baillie. John Baillie’s book “A Diary of Private Prayer” is one of my favorite devotional books and I read it frequently. The language in both books is beautiful and they are very thought-provoking. John Baillie was a Scottish …
From Worship Experiences
Tzedakah and the Jewish Tradition of Giving
In a sermon before Christmas, Rev. Karen Graham introduced me to the concept of Tzedakah. I had never heard of the term and misspelled it until I looked it up. Tzedakah is related to the Hebrew word for justice. In the Jewish tradition, giving to the poor is a form of social justice. The website …
Snow Piles Eventually Melt
There are snow piles everywhere and they keep getting higher and higher. I am not a fan of winter. I don’t like being cold and when it is cold outside I eat too much and stay inside too much. Ever since Tom and I retired, we have been spending the winters someplace warm. Until, of …
Comedy, Tragedy, and the Life Everlasting
I recently stumbled on a website that had 23 funny tombstones. Unlike the made-up kind, these were things that people had actually carved on tombstones. They were pretty funny. They reminded me of my favorite tombstone, Ruth Graham’s grave: “End of Construction. Thank you for your patience.” I admire people who are so bold. Most …
Reading Scripture in New Ways
I am always looking for new ways of reading scripture. I love to read the Bible and have read the whole thing many times. But sometimes it starts sounding all the same. Read that, remember that, boring! The Bible is anything but boring and I want to be sure I’m reading it with attention and …
Flock of Robins Caring for Each Other
The other day I was walking the loop trail in Char-Mar Ridge Park and saw a flock of robins. There were about 60 of them on the ground and in the trees. I couldn’t remember ever seeing so many robins at one time. Later Tom and I googled the behavior of robins. Robins are somewhat …
Adjust Your Attitude and Change Your World
Do you need to adjust your attitude? Over the last four years I have seen so many hateful things – many of them coming from people who profess to be Christians. Personal attacks, calls for armed insurrection. Attacks on people of both parties who are our elected leaders. Attacks like this make me sad because …
National Revival Requires Humility and Prayer
Our country needs a time of national revival. I was shocked, as I’m sure you were, by the attack on the Capitol Building on Wednesday, January 6. I wasn’t happy with the results of the national election in 2016 but it never occurred to me to try to overthrow the government because of it. Even …
Ring the Bells of Praise to God
We are just through the Christmas season and I’ve been thinking about bells. Have you noticed how many Christmas songs have bells in them? “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” “Jingle Bells.” “Carol of the Bells.” “Come On, Ring Those Bells.” These are just a few of the songs with bells in the titles. …
Grace-Full in the New Year
Do you have a resolution for 2021? I am going to be more grace-full. I have never been a particularly graceful person, despite being born on a Tuesday (“Tuesday’s child is full of grace”) but maybe the rhyme was talking about extending the grace of God to others. That is what I want to do …