Go Forth in Joy
From time to time my interest in prayers and litany for worship has led me into song, at least the words if not some efforts at a melody. Scott Taylor, …
The Heritage of Mata Ortiz
Las Cruces is in America’s Borderland with Mexico. We are staying, in fact, in Old Mesilla, where the Gadsden Purchase was signed that defined the geographical border between the two …
O Sacred Head
In the Organ Mountains the head of a canyon often weeps among the desolated trees. It’s a sacred place where the earth’s ribs wounded by …
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 …
A Liturgy from the Roundtable Gathering
As close readers of this blog site already know, I gather every month with about fifteen other people at a round table for a time of circle conversation, prayer, song, …
How Many More?
How many children more must we sacrifice to Great God Gun? How many more must die to feed the greed of Smith and Wesson, Remington, and …
Spirals and Labyrinths at Easter
This year our Easter experience emerged as an exploration of the spiral that is often seen to be at the source of all life, whether in the galaxies of space …
My Life with Words, Images, and Acts
Words, images, acts. They constitute the three-legged stool of my life. This is a matter of not only where I sit but of how I express myself in the world, …
The Gaul of Grace: Thoughts at Lent
It’s Lent again. It’s the season of the Christian year looking for a suitable practice beyond Mardi Gras and ashes. Do we give something up that’s “bad” for us? Do …
The Gift of Mother Emanuel
Last week Sylvia and I went on a long-planned visit to Charleston, South Carolina, a beautiful and historic city we had not seen in twenty-five years. Founded in 1680, its …
How do you know?
“What do you know?” Who hasn’t uttered this frequent throw-away line in our everyday discourse. Not so usual would be to say “How do you know?” And yet, this could …
Reflections on the Lake Junaluska Peace Conference
Last Sunday we concluded four days devoted to the Lake Junaluska Peace Conference, we have been involved in for the past seven years. This year’s theme was “Longing for Peace/Exploring …
Mortality, Autonomy, and Craft
I have been reading two books lately about two very different topics that engage the same basic question: How can we act as genuine individuals in a society that treats …
Sawdust and Soul
Over the past fifteen years I have carried on a lively conversation about woodworking with my good friend John de Gruchy—he in South Africa’s Western Cape, I in the mountains …