Of unicorns and grandmothers
Most of the students I’ve taught over the years were in their 30s or 40s when they entered seminary, each and every..
More Stories from this Author
Expectations
Many years ago, an Old Wise Head (he was an experienced pastor and probably all of 39 at the time) advised me..
Our God with us in fear and grief
I am not a fan of embalming. I’m not eager to talk about it or think about it or recall the graphic..
A kaleidoscope of change stories
How in all these years of being a student of the Bible I could have been so wrong about some of its..
The lifting of our sin
Any experienced wedding-goer knows what to expect. After the preliminaries are over, it’s time for the preacher to inch forward. Time to..
Let it dwell
The writer of Colossians is a bit of a genius. I don’t know that he always gets the credit he deserves. His..
It takes a cloud
One of the most effective pastors I know was talking recently about the day she answered God’s call to ministry. It was..
Retiring the elephants
Last year, a short article in the New York Times announced the retirement of the Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey Circus elephants. Changing..
Joy
A funny thing happened when I sat down recently to do a little word study on “joy” and its occurrences in the..
Lord, do you not care?
SHE DOES NOT SEEM to have stepped out of her place. “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left..
Deeper hope
In the last line of his 2008 acceptance speech, Barack Obama went to Scripture. “Let us hold without wavering to the..
Love overcomes pride
IT WAS CLEAR TO ME FROM DAY ONE in the little Pentecostal church of my youth that pride goeth before a..
Tag lines
Something there is that doesn’t love a tag line – that phrase you put on your letterhead just under the name of..
Invisible rays: Preaching in the 21st century
Theologian Amos Wilder said that going to church should be like “approaching an open volcano where the world is molten and hearts..
Real life: Preach as if you are dying
ABOVE THE DESK IN MY STUDY I have the advice modern mystic Annie Dillard gives to those who ask her about her..
The new and the young meet the old and the old
It seems that everywhere you look these days the old is passing away. For some of us, it undoubtedly has to do..
Speaking from the heart
“A MAN CANNOT LIE,” said Sigmund Freud (in the sexist language of his day), “if he lies with his lips he will..
Pentimento
Stuck in the pages of my Bible — next to the flyleaf, crumpled amongst the Psalms, slipped in between maps of Paul’s..