I’m around a lot of memory conversations. Those times when people get together to remember someone they care about. Sometimes the storytelling is public, news specials when someone famous dies. Most often, I’m with people after funerals, or before a death, or sitting at a family reunion. Someone new to the family speaks up: “Tell […]

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, according to Mark anyway, starts in the wilderness. Isaiah, a book of prophecy ancient when Mark was writing, talked about a person in the wilderness, calling out about the arrival of the Lord. Then, Mark says, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness. Then people […]

“I’m not being very clear,” I said. “I can’t find the words.” I was talking with a friend about finding a different way to look at our work. Not to change anything, but to think through the way I look at it. +++ I like to be clear. I like to offer well-researched, well-reflected, well-crafted […]

This is the beginning of the fourteenth year of writing here. Actually, yesterday’s prayer was the beginning. I started this blog by writing through the book of Matthew, interacting with the text with as much clarity as I could bring, and with exactly 300 words. Since then, I’ve been less rigorous with the wordcount, and […]