Try a thought experiment with me. Strip away the two-syllable pronunciation of blessed (“bless-ed”). Take away the expectations associated with the “If this, then this” formula. Write the beatitudes out as a letter to a friend. It might sound something like this: +++ Dear friend. You want to follow God. But you feel like you […]

Jesus says “Blessed” nine times in the first few sentences of chapter 5. We look at this list, which is often called “The Beatitudes,” and we try to figure out what Jesus meant. Actually, I think, we try to figure out how we can be part of the list. We want to know because we […]

God. We miss them. We know, of course, that to be absent from the body is to be present with you. That’s all very well for them, and for you, but we miss our loved ones. And on this Sunday after All Saints Day, when we have said goodbye to more loved ones over the […]

In some church calendars, today is All Soul’s Day, or “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.” All Saint’s Day is November 1. All Hallows Eve is October 31. This isn’t a lesson on the celebrations of the church. Instead, it’s a quiet plea to replace, briefly, All and Every with Each. Each soul. Each […]

Here’s Rich Dixon: +++ Gren-vul was a great place for a rest day. Old churches and jazz clubs, imagining civil rights struggles and music legends on those same streets. An interview for the evening news. We returned to The Shotgun House, books in hand. The place was busy this evening. The local news appeared on […]