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 …
The Arts of Peace: Some Working Thoughts
My wife Sylvia and I are co-chairing the tenth, indeed capstone, Lake Junaluska Interfaith Peace Conference, which will be held on November 21-24, 2019. The Conference will lift up and …
Holy Darkness
As we move to the end of the season of Lent and into the Holy Week between Palm Sunday and Easter, I want to share with you two panels that …
The Dramas of Life
I recently flew over the snow-covered Midwest to Moorhead, Minnesota, across the Red River from Fargo, North Dakota, to celebrate my daughter Elaine’s birthday. (Yes, she is a Valentine!) My …
Dance with Me
Each summer the mountains here resound with music and dancing. In case this sounds familiar, I’ve written about this before. Folkmoot dancers from around the world come to our little …