Category: Religion

MY OWN LITTLE WORLD

OCTOBER 6, 2024 – Maybe it’s an “age thing” or perhaps its my surroundings or both; in any case, today I found myself in orbit around my own little world, as it were, and the view triggered myriad emotional and cognitive responses in a combination I had not experienced before. Physically speaking, I was well …

MISSION IMPRESSIVE (PART II)

JULY 25, 2024 – (Cont.) As she hobbled from the convent to the school building a hundred feet away, the good sister pointed out the exact spot where a few weeks back she’d stumbled, fallen and broken her hip. There she’d lain, wailing in agony until the associate pastor discovered her and called for an ambulance. After …

MISSION IMPRESSIVE (PART I)

JULY 24, 2024 – For four days running we successfully entertained Russ and Kerri, our Red Cabin sojourners from afar.  I say “successfully,” because they didn’t up and leave before their time, though admittedly, to do so, they would have to have stolen our keys—and car. Or walk. In fairness to my wife and me, …

CONSTANCY

MARCH 19, 2024 – (Cont.) One of the papers I wrote for that freshman year survey course in Western Civilization was about the sincerity of Constantine’s conversion. Was he truly committing mind, heart, and soul to Jesus or . . . being a supreme opportunist was he simply riding the rising swell of Christianity within …

CAR TALK ON THE WAY TO SECOND GRADE

DECEMBER 7, 2023 – Late last night after a pleasant day filled with numerous wonders, I watched 20 minutes worth of the fourth Republican Presidential Debate (so called). DeSantis and Ramaswamy managed to set my hair on fire, while two or three times Chris Christie made me cheer out loud when calling out his colleagues …

WOŁYŃ (PART II OF II)

MAY 30, 2023 – (Cont.) Second: the plight of women. This is one of history’s great challenges. With some notable exceptions, women have shouldered burdens and abuse disproportionate to their 50% representation of humanity. (In the case of extremist Ukrainian atrocities against the Poles of Volhynia, women and children were a sizable majority of the …

HARDWIRED

MAY 27, 2023 – Recently, while I was hiking the hills of “Little Switzerland,” a golfer in his late 20s called out a greeting to me as he strode from his cart to the tee. An extrovert, he prompted me to respond similarly. I reciprocated and added a passing observation about the late-day improvement in …

MODERN MONK (PART I OF ??)

MARCH 7, 2023 – My mother was heavily involved with her branch of Christianity—the Episcopal Church. Over decades, she was church organist, youth choir director, Sunday school teacher, vestry member, Bible study leader, building committee member, chief informal advisor to the rector, head of this committee and that . . . not to mention a …

“JIM” WEBB, PHILOSOPHER

JULY 15, 2022 – If you’re like me—semi-normal—you’ve beheld in awe, the recently released images captured by the James Webb telescope. Perhaps you’ve explored the science behind those pictures, but again, if you’re like me, you haven’t—beyond a cursory narrative. Inside my personal universe the images prompt a feeling of déjà vu. Is NASA deploying …

WARSZAWA (PART III OF III)

APRIL 13, 2022 – During my days in the capital, which included mass, pro-Solidarity demonstrations that I joined to get a closer look, I learned three things about Poland that would’ve escaped me without on-the-ground exposure. First was the psychological proximity of WW II. For many Americans, that conflict was epitomized by Pearl Harbor, D-Day, …

L’ABRI

APRIL 1, 2022 – Twice in Switzerland—during my 1979 Eurail trip—I’d practiced a “religion” of mine: downhill skiing. One “worship ceremony” occurred on the Aletsch Glacier next to the Jungfrau in the Bernese Oberland. Surrounded by Alpine peaks and bathed in sunshine, I made two mistakes: I wore shorts and forgot to apply sunscreen to …

GENIUS OF THE SOUL

JANUARY 17, 2022 – As a photography hobbyist, I target scenes. As a cancer patient, I’m targeted by new perspectives. On Saturday evening, the film, A Hidden Life, 2019 masterpiece by American filmmaker Terrance Malick (Amazon Prime)—struck the bull’s eye. It probes as deeply as a Mahler symphony and explores the soul as far as …

LIGHTING THE HEART OF DARKNESS

JANUARY 8, 2022 – Friday night I awoke from troubled sleep. In the heart of darkness, thoughts unleashed my fears and agitated my moorings. In contempt of this disturbance, I summoned an imaginary flock of sheep and sent them one-by-one over a New England stone fence. This imagery soon went awry, however, when the sheep …

STAR OF BETHLEHEM

DECEMBER 23, 2021 – Recently, we took our six-year-old granddaughter on a driving tour of local, outdoor Christmas lighting displays. There were the usual “icicles” and the new-fangled “dripping” lights; inflated Santas, looking slightly drunk as they swayed in the artificial wind of their internal fans; life-size Nutcracker soldiers of heavy plastic; lights wrapped around …

ON THE NATURE OF “GOD”

OCTOBER 23, 2021 – Recently, I’ve witnessed fear and suffering—up close and personal.  I’ve also seen hope and kindness that confirm my faith in humanity. When peering into a matter of life and death, the existence or non-existence of “God” enter one’s thoughts. After the crisis passes, one contemplates the “Great Power” from multiple perspectives …

“THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD”

APRIL 4, 2021 – Today is Christianity’s big day when lamentations over the Crucifixion change to shouts of “Halleluiah!” over the Resurrection. This is the day when it is said that Jesus, deader ’n a door . . . er, crucifixion . . . nail, came to, sat up, rolled the stone away from the …

“GOOD” FRIDAY

APRIL 2, 2021 – When I was young, I couldn’t figure out what was good about “Good Friday.”  From my limited perspective, it was all bad—first the betrayal, then the taunts, then the crown of three-inch thorns pressed onto his head so hard . . . A-a-h-h-h! . . . then spikes hammered through his …

DONKEY PARADE

MARCH 28, 2021 – I remember Palm Sunday of my childhood. At some point you’d wind up with a palm cutting in one hand and a small palm cross in the other. As I recall, you were supposed to save the palms until Lent the next year. Mine never lasted that long. As to the …

INSIDE CHURCH

MARCH 12, 2021 – Last Wednesday I wrote about “church town” U.S.A., which was a tad weird, given that I’m wholly unholy.  Call it nostalgia or . . . the aging process amidst a world in constant tumult. My earlier post, however, didn’t go inside any of the mentioned churches. That’s because I myself never …