Good morning... As we came in from the sunny winter cold to celebrate a friend's 80th birthday with our Thursday morning class, I received photos from Ohio. "We have about 5" of snow and most schools are closed," my dad texted. "It's much worse in the snow belt east of Cleveland." "Snow days off school," was one thing [...]
Good morning... On Sunday at church, I noticed a left-handed first grader filling out a coloring sheet entitled "Things I like to do in winter." After the service, I asked a staff person in the Children's Ministry if I could have a copy of the coloring sheet to use with our first classes of the semester. We are [...]
Good morning... As I sit beneath the growing weight of our now 40 lb. pup, Cami, I think about Philip Yancey and his wife of 55 years. My prayers go up like incense on their behalf as they drop from the public eye to work on their daily life, a life broken by his eight year affair. In [...]
Good morning... This Winter/Spring semester began yesterday. She began with a BAM! I spoke in all three worship services, 8:30 am, 9:00 am, and 11:15 am, sharing the opportunities offered through our Women's Ministry at Northside Church. Before and after each service, I enjoyed talking with longtime friends and staff members. Here is the invitation I extended. ****** [...]
Good morning... Much of this season we have spent stuck in a soupy, cloudy haze. Unable to see our collective truth clearly, the human experience of many has matched the gloomy weather. The characteristic blue sunny skies of the south have been covered over by grey. With sunshine feeling rare, I have missed the patches of winter light [...]
Good morning... In yesterday's post We Experience Epiphany, I shared the spiritual practice of choosing a star word to guide us into the new year. Journalist Marissa Hermanson explains, "Star words are given out to the congregation in early January on Epiphany Sunday as a way of remembering the story of the Magi following the star to find [...]
Good morning... On January 6th, on the twelfth day of Christmas, Epiphany is celebrated annually. Epiphany commemorates the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child and the revelation of God the Son experienced as a human being. We read the story at church on Sunday. As I revisit Matthew 2:1-12, here are the verses that stand out [...]
Good morning... This week, a friend from our Sunday afternoon group sent us a prayer written by Howard Thurman (November 18, 1899 – April 10, 1981). We, as a group, read Thurman's influential book Jesus and the Disinherited a few semesters back. Howard Thurman's theology of radical nonviolence has shaped the faith life of generations, and he was [...]
Good morning... As the first light of the new year crept through the slots in our bathroom shutters, I sensed the moon growing pregnant with full potential. Sure enough. The Wolf Supermoon (Wolf named for howling wolves in winter and Supermoon because it coincides with the Moon's closest point to Earth, appearing larger and brighter) will occur on [...]
Good morning... Happy New Year! There is no better way to recognize new phases of growth than to remember where we were while celebrating where we are. Two photos, set side by side, tell the story of natural, unstoppable growth. One is from October; the other was taken last night just after the ball dropped in Time Square. [...]
