300 words a day

More of Hannah’s story that we started yesterday. +++ The tent of meeting was a big enclosure. You could stand by the entrance and see the altar, and see the Holy of Holies, a tent that represented the presence of God. Hannah stood near the entrance and in her anguish, she prayed. All the pain, […]

Thanksgiving is next week in the US. In the next couple days, I’m telling a story to help us think about the challenge of tables. +++ I’m guessing that every family and every culture comes to holidays with expectations. And every culture that has holidays that are about being thankful, about giving thanks, has expectations […]

God.  We talk about our challenges. To you and to others.Not looking for fixes, always. Looking for a listener. And then people tell us stories of how things work for other people. As if the story of Hannah finally having a son and giving him back to you means that we’ll get what we want […]

The book of Ruth is a short story with deep pain and a happy ending. We love a happy ending. We assume happy endings are appropriate encouragement and meaning for the deep pain. Which is why, in moments of grief, we offer happy ending morals to people. That’s often not helpful. +++ Yesterday, I talked […]

Ruth is noble. Ruth is selfless. Ruth is mindful. Ruth is demure. Ruth is David’s grandmother. I haven’t read her story thoughtfully for a long time. I had to last week, because Ruth was in my Sunday lectionary readings. And so, after a couple shifts at the hospital with conversations with people moving toward dying, […]