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 …
Our Struggle over Religious Freedom
On the heels of our day to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., comes a little known Religious Freedom Day to remember the commitment that anchors our Bill …
Magnificat in Dark Times
This past Sunday evening I joined some ninety voices from the Haywood Community Chorus to sing the Magnificat by John Rutter. In Luke’s telling of the birth of Jesus, Mary …
Privacy and Publicity
A few months ago, I posted thoughts (“Publicity, Celebrity, and Salvation”) about my continuing effort to understand how our longing for a more perfect form of action, encapsulated in the …
Birthright
“Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I …
Dear Ms. Constitution
In the crazy house of mirrors that we find ourselves in these days I fell into a fantasy that I was a small-town newspaper editor who received this letter in …
The Assault on our Republic
With my fellow citizens I have struggled with the anger and projected grief that arises in the wake of yet another mass shooting that tears open the raw wounds of …
Reconciling History and Hope
I grew up not far from Charlottesville and still remember visiting Monticello as a boy, fascinated by the gadgets of our third President. The decayed remnants of slavery and the …
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 …
Publicity, Celebrity, and Salvation
Like some other people my age, I have been trying to sift through my thoughts and writings to trace the threads that have become the enduring fabric of my way …
Looking for America
We have been on the road again. In a moment when our country seems to have lost its way, this is one way to try to find the “real” America …
Queen and Constitution
Queen Elizabeth II has been the only monarch of the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth that I can remember. I am not alone, of course. Since her accession to the …
Transgender Conversations
I live in the state with the famous “bathroom law” (HB 2) that the North Carolina Legislature, dominated by Republican extremists, passed in a one-day special session last Spring. Because …
Black Holes Exist
As I try to orient myself to the new political realities before us, I find myself diving beneath the waves of political analysis and commentary to deeper levels. I have …
Climate Change and the Work of Peace
The day after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, we gathered at Lake Junaluska for our seventh annual Interfaith Peace Conference. Our theme this year was “The …