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 …
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 …
Shelves for Sylvia
Sylvia saw the design for this in a recent edition of Fine Woodworking. (“Modular Shelf System,” by Charlie Peterson, No. 315, pp. 224–31.) She asked if I might draw from …
Brookgreen Gardens
We have just returned from five days in the Low Country on the coast of South Carolina between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown. We spent much of three days at the …
In the Dark time…a Light
As we move through a season of stark contradiction between the happy music in churches and the violence and horrific death in Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, and Sudan, between the fervent consumption …
A Table for Marsh Chapel and Beyond
I have just completed the table that accompanies the lectern I wrote about earlier for the Boston University School of Theology. The folks I have been working with on this …
Grief and Love
An ocean of grief has overwhelmed us. It comes as an enveloping cloud, a flood, an avalanche, burying us, immobilizing us. We sit dazed each night before the television, trying …
A Masked and Virtual Easter
From the isolation of our fears you lead us out with everlasting arms of love. In the mask that shrouds you in death’s mystery we see the revelation …
Imagining the Way of Peace
Our Interfaith Peace Conference on “The Arts of Peace: Imagining the Way” has come to pass, moving from anticipation into memory. Sylvia and I now live “APC” (After the Peace …
Our Upcoming Interfaith Peace Conference
As some of you know, Sylvia and I have been working for the past eighteen months as co-chairs of the Tenth Lake Junaluska Interfaith Peace Conference, which will take place …
Annunciation
Annunciation. That is what we call the angel Gabriel’s message to the virgin Mary in Luke’s Gospel story (Luke 1:26-38). In Matthew’s version, it is only related that “an angel” …
Yet, We Live
During this season of Lent we have been visually inspired by Sylvia’s newest piece, hanging in the midst of our sanctuary at First United Methodist Church, Waynesville. Entitled “Yet, We …
The Faure Requiem with Poetry
On October 14 our choir at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville, North Carolina, presented six movements of the beloved Requiem by Gabriel Fauré as the heart of a service …
Bowls from the Dogwood
The dogwood tree (Cornus florida) is a beloved feature of the woods and yards of the southern Appalachians. The four white, or sometimes pink, petals of its flower are tinged …
Music and Dance in our Mountains
The New York Times columnist David Brooks (whom we affectionately call Rabbi Brooks) has written recently about the virtues of small towns and local governments. Our town of Waynesville is …