Working for the good of all.

So there will be tensions that happen when someone chooses to live their life following Jesus. Not, of course, that following means being mean, being divisive, being demeaning, being critical. The two greatest commandments are, according to Jesus, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. […]

Read More…

Hallmark families

Sometimes as chaplains we have to say tough things. Perhaps the toughest thing for many families is this: “Hallmark families don’t exist in the real world.“ You know, families where the story turns out perfect. If there is tension, a card makes it all better. If there are siblings, they may be cranky on the […]

Read More…

A prayer for the twentieth Sunday in ordinary time

God. We’re stopped now. Our bodies at rest, sitting or standing, or laying here. But our minds are not at rest, racing around a track to catch understanding of what is happening, why we are in this situation, now, in this place. Our hearts are beating faster with the adrenaline of fear of what could […]

Read More…

The one who wipes tears.

Some connections to my writing and speaking about grief. +++ There is, in the Bible in Revelation 21, an image of tears being wiped away. And no more tears or death or mourning or crying or pain. It’s a fixture in funerals, it’s a last reading. I hear it, from time to time, used as […]

Read More…

Love and anticipation

So what do we do? If we’ve been given our standing in the kingdom, our place. If we don’t have to worry about making God happy enough to love us, being strong enough to fight our way in, being amazing enough to earn our way in, if we don’t have to worry about all that […]

Read More…