On Constitutions, Covenants, and Preambles
It is July 4 – the American summer festival of extravagant patriotism, razzle-dazzle festivities, hot dogs, hamburgers, and (for many) beer. It is also a moment when the punditry and …
Losing a House, Losing a World
Our life has been a little disrupted this past ten days because climate change has become more personal than ever. Our son Eric, who has lived in the New York …
A Wedding and an Anniversary
June brings weddings and their reverberations in anniversaries. This year I participated in helping to plan and lead a lovely wedding for Sarah Osmer and Gabriel Vinas. Sarah we have …
Raising the Quilt Square
Over the past few years, in nearby Yancey and Mitchell counties, the Toe River Arts Council has made and installed over two hundred painted quilt blocks on barns, stores, and …
A Vedic Temple in Our Mountains
We just attended a small portion of a five-day dedication of an authentic Vedic Temple in the mountains near our home. The Sri Somesvara Temple has just been completed in …
Lines Lively
A friend once said to me “I didn’t know you wrote metaphysical poems.” Well, I do. And here is yet another one, posted on this Earth Day, where we re-connect …
Blessed Be the Bond
My earlier book on marriage and family entitled Blessed Be the Bond is now available free on this website. First published in 1985, this is its third edition, thanks to …
Racial Reconciliation in Mississippi
This May is the 50th anniversary of the “Freedom Rides” that broke down the segregation of transportation in the Southern states. The burning of one of the buses in Anniston, …
Gulfside: The Journey Continues
Gulfside Conference Center has been a place of retreat and education for Black United Methodists for almost a century. Situated right on the shore, it had suffered considerable damage from …
The Gulf Coast Five Years Later
Seventy-five miles west of Fairhope, Alabama, we resumed our shoreline travel in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Here you begin to see the devastation from Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. Shearwater …
Fairhope Community
We just spent three days in Fairhope, Alabama, a remarkable town on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay founded a little over a century ago by disciples of the “single …
A Late Valentine
Absorbed by the political revolutions of the past weeks, I neglected to share a poem about the revolution of the heart that we celebrate each February. Here, for your enjoyment, …
The Father and the People
Out of nowhere, it seems, “the People” in Egypt have risen up against their long-time dictator, successor to a lineage of autocrats stretching back to the ancient pharoaohs. Appeal to …
SweetheARTS Exhibition
The Haywood County Arts Council is hosting a delightful exhibition this month of pieces created by couples who engage in artistic work. Each couple has also prepared a one-page story …
The Tucson Atrocity
Like you I have been trying to get hold of my emotions and order my thoughts in the wake of the atrocity last week in Tucson. Indeed, it was not …
Class Conflict and the Common Good
In the midst of the inanities of our present political discourse two terms continually return as my filters for the vapid media verbiage: “class conflict” and “common good.” First, “class …