A Communion Plate
The primary formative rituals of the Christian church are baptism and eucharist, or communion. Both have undergone elaborate development in the course of church history, often in ways that markedly …
From Brewing to Bottle Tree
Last fall I sold my faithful pickup, which is now memorialized in a little sconce on a shelf in our dining room. At the same time, I learned that my …
Guns to Gardens
Last weekend I was at our Peace Conference at Lake Junaluska pounding with a hammer on a red-hot rifle barrel held on an anvil by Scotty Utz, of RAWTools South. …
On Aging and Olding
When I reached my 85th birthday last Fall Sylvia notified me that I was now officially “Old Old.” It was a little like feeling the difference between “aged” and “ag-ed.” More …
The Dark Sky of Shelton Laurel
The events of two consecutive Friday nights have convened a conversation in my mind that needs to find its way to my keyboard. A week ago we went to the …
Theo of Golden
I have just finished reading Theo of Golden: A Novel, by Allen Levi (Atria, 2025). Theo is an old man who arrives quietly in a small mid-Georgia city for a late-life sojourn …
A Pause at the Turning
“Holy Darkness” (detail), by Sylvia Everett. CLICK HERE for full work. The power of attraction flows throughout the universe, turning even light into the darkest void. In the black hole …
The American Revolution
We just finished watching the PBS 12-hour documentary on The American Revolution, by Ken Burns and his colleagues. I urge everyone to view it and talk about it with others, regardless …
Wedding Under the Dinosaurs
I have just returned from a brief visit in downtown Atlanta for our grandson’s wedding. As we thundered down I-85 amid four lanes of 80 mph traffic, I began to …
Glenda Beall Interviews Me
Let me take a moment here to link you to an extensive interview that fellow writer Glenda Council Beall conducted with me and has now published on the North Carolina …
Vocational Seasons
At our Roundtable Worship gathering on September 14 we focused our conversation and prayers on the question, What is my vocation at this stage of my life? With our reading …
Letting go…of the Truck
We bipeds have intense and peculiar relationships with quadrupeds and their successors—our four-wheeled vehicles. This is especially true of the male of our species. I can still remember my first …
Roundtable Liturgy for August
I have decided to post the liturgies from our Roundtable Worship regularly in this space. The first reason is that the opening liturgy gives voice to my “sense of the …
Courthouse Protest
Like millions of other Americans I have been spending an hour each week lifting a sign of protest against the tyrannical actions of the Trump administration. Locally, this takes the …