It begins with ashes on the forehead as worshippers exit the sanctuary on Ash Wednesday. It ends with Easter lilies on Easter Sunday. It flows from lament to praise, from a 40-day trudge up the hill to Golgotha to a celebration dance at an empty tomb. It’s called Lent, ending either on Maundy Thursday or …
Friday night is usually “movie night” for Lori and me, with Lori being the “movie-finder,” narrowing our choices to two or three, from which we mutually decide, although the genre for this last one was not for me. I’m not a horror movie guy. I like to go to bed with pleasant thoughts. But last …
“We always love hearing you pray,” the two ladies said, almost in unison. Lori was hosting a couple of friends for brunch. They asked me to bless the food. I feel uneasy when people admire my prayer. “I’m just talking to my Lord,” I think, so how can I be complimented for that? Although I …
When it’s all been said and done—when we’ve sent that most important of all our Valentine’s cards, when that love letter with a heart drawn in the margin has been signed, sealed, and delivered, when that box of chocolates from the drugstore has been wrapped—what we really want on this Day is that somebody knows …
“Look, David, there’s a Cardinal in your composter,” Lori said. The bright red Cardinals immediately spark joy for us. We’ve seen as many as 10-12 Cardinals gathering around my composters. They don’t actually get in the compost; they are living ornaments adorning the otherwise plain and ugly. “Cardinals in the compost,” I said, echoing her …