Benedictory

Local mission to babies (and their parents) 

ARE THERE SPECIFIC NEIGHBORHOOD BABIES, or perhaps your own grandchildren, whom you wish had more connection to church? That the parents of..

Traveling companions

THEY SIT SIDE-BY-SIDE on my dining room table, a plastic dashboard Jesus (complete with a spring and an adhesive base) and an..

The church being itself 

WHEN YOU GO TO A MEETING of the General Assembly of our communion, as I do every other year as part of..

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..

The decider

I’VE BEEN THINKING ... At the close of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes use of a freedom word in the..

Liberty and justice for all

JULY 4 AND JUNE 14 OCCUR CLOSE to each other on the calendar, and their themes are similar. July 4 commemorates the..

Church-hugged

FOR OVER A MONTH I HAVE BEEN SKIPPING out on Sunday morning worship. Yet, in the past weeks of absence from church..

Are you sure you want to bring the confirmation class to GA?

I’VE DONE IT MYSELF — dragged the nine members of the confirmation class to a Saturday presbytery meeting so that 13-year olds..

The feast of Rummage

MOST CONGREGATIONS I KNOW take a deep breath between Easter and Pentecost, and for good reason. Lent is intense with study and..

I’ve been thinking …

I’VE BEEN THINKING ... how a small Bible study group changed my life! I was a sophomore at UC Berkeley when a..

It is accomplished

NO MATTER HOW MANY Presbyterian Holy Week worship services my husband dutifully attends, it isn’t Holy Week for him if he doesn’t..

A whisper, then a shout

ONE OF MY FAVORITE PIECES OF ART is a bronze sculpture in my office — the gift of a well-known sculptor in..

Pentimento

Stuck in the pages of my Bible — next to the flyleaf, crumpled amongst the Psalms, slipped in between maps of Paul’s..

Reflections on sin

TO BE HONEST, SOMETIMES WHEN I hear the word “sin” I flinch. You’d think I’d get used to it after nearly 45..

Blue blood president

I DON’T WATCH ANY TELEVISION series on a regular basis, but if I’m home and otherwise unengaged on a night when Tom..

Practical church history

A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO I got a phone call from a woman who introduced herself as the curator of the art..

Hurry up and wait

The leftovers

Not on the prayer list

To the extreme

It’s not so cut and dried

I LEARNED THE HARD WAY: If you don’t go after the weeds by early April, you will have literally millions of weeds..

Harkening to connections across fearful generations

IN AN EARLIER COLUMN (4/10/11) I pointed out our denomination’s shocking lack of available pastoral calls, in comparison to the large numbers of pastors seeking calls. The column’s conclusion was a series of encouragements for entrepreneurial strategies to address the call shortage.