300 words a day

A simple Monday prayer.

The clocks changed on Sunday. Our bodies take longer than a day. In the groggy, fogginess of recalibration of minds and bodies and hearts that is required in early November in my part of the country, these words of Paul feel more aspirational than factual, more like what would be nice than what is true. […]

by Jon Swanson

A prayer for the thirty-first Sunday in ordinary time.

God. We feel disconnected. Isolated. Lonely. Even when we are with people all day long, helping, serving, working, we feel disconnected. Even with invisible community connections of chat, we feel lonely. And when we are away from home, away from routine, away from what we know best and do best, we feel isolated. We feel […]

by Paul Merrill

Kitty under the blanket

One recent afternoon, I heard our little kitty meowing. I spent a good five minutes looking for him. Finally, I discovered he was under a blanket in a bedroom. He’s strong enough to get out from under that lightweight blanket, but he just couldn’t find his way. So I gladly and quickly lifted the corner […]

by Jon Swanson

A treat

I remember masks. And costumes. And hiding who I was with the identity of someone else. Someone famous. Someone infamous. Someone cute or scary or popular. Someone exactly not like me. Me, looking like me, walking up to a door and asking for candy would never work. It breaks the rules of the October candy-begging […]

by Jon Swanson

All y’ll saints.

Friday is All Saints Day in the Church calendar. In traditions that distinguish saints from other believers, All Saints is followed by All Souls Day. In traditions that consider all believers to be saints, there is one day. The point of All Saints Day is to remember those who have died and to do so […]