Good morning... Emmanuel, God-with-us, is born anew today. God humbles himself to put on skin, to grow up with us, to walk beside us, to quietly guide us. Christ's footprint mirrors our footprint, wherever slushy, sloppy circumstances greet us at rise of sun. Day after day, night after night, God's experience gently mirrors our experience so we never [...]
Good morning... Over the phone, she describes in detail her favorite painting of the newborn Jesus with his mom and dad. She notices the image as her guide for this unusual Christmas. She begins, "It's a dingy stable room instead of a soft warm space. The setting reminds me of the small, one room apartments we would encounter [...]
Good morning... Many of you in our online community have enjoyed the chapel services created by my husband, Steve, who is the chaplain at a local high school. Usually the Upper School students cram into a packed chapel and experience a weekly service in person, but COVID has limited large gatherings indoors. Instead Steve records his weekly faith [...]
Good morning... I hold in one hand our newest nativity, brought home for a dollar from last weekend's yard sale. The intimacy surprises me. Animals and humans, angel and baby, each handcrafted clay figure rests securely on the open palms of the Almighty Creator. What is the one thing this small nativity has in common with all other [...]
Good morning... This simple poster caught my eye. "There is no place that Jesus is not." At the depth of my being, I truly believe, "There is no place that Jesus is not." This poster reminds me of a gift I recently gave to a friend, a handcrafted pottery plaque reading, "Bidden or not bidden, God is present." Invited [...]
Good morning... "This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived" says 1 Peter 2:24-25 in the Message translation. "He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step. He never did one thing wrong, not once said [...]
Good morning... "Anyone who drinks water will soon become thirsty again," Jesus said to end yesterday's post. "But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life" (John 4:13-14, NLT). I am now drawn to the Message translation of verse 14. "Anyone who drinks [...]
Good morning... How can you not laugh when someone you love says, "I just woke up one morning and my front teeth were gone. I have no idea where they went!" 93-year-old Betty Skinner looked like a jolly jack-o-lantern the week before Halloween. On Saturday morning we talked for a few hours in Betty's nursing home room, which [...]
Good morning... I woke early on Saturday morning, surprise, surprise. It was the long awaited day to visit again with Betty Skinner, the 93-year-old Christian mystic whom God has used to shape my soul. Betty's captivating story, a rise from clinical depression into the joy of oneness with God, is chronicled beautifully by Kitty Crenshaw and Dr. Cathy [...]
Good morning... I just happened upon a Scripture verse that sums up our Source of eros, life-giving energy. 1 John 5:6-8 in The Message translation says: Jesus—the Divine Christ! He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death. And all the while the Spirit is [...]
