Presence: and absence

Jesus went out of the house, away by himself, early in the morning. The disciples went looking for him. They wanted him to come back. There were sick people outside Peter’s house, waiting to be healed. He said, “We’re going to other villages. I need to go preach there.” I’ve always had this picture in […]

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Responding To Hurt Feelings

Rich Dixon continues his story +++ From last time – how to respond when best intentions still cause hurt feelings? I don’t know the best response, but here’s what I did: I asked the experts at Project Rescue how they presented the notion of justice. Almost immediately, I understood my mistake. There’s a difference between […]

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Presence: and grief

The woman was walking by the coffin, lost in grief. Her husband, gone years ago. Her only son, her only hope, her only support, now heading to the cemetery in that wooden box. We have a word for widow. We have a word for orphan. We have no simple word for the parent whose child […]

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Presence: and conversation

Jesus asked for water. And had a comparatively long conversation with the woman about cultural conflicts over religion and worship. The woman asked for healing for her child. And Jesus had a relatively long conversation with her about who could expect what from God. Martha met him on the edge of town. And Jesus had […]

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A prayer for the twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

God. We need you. We need something or someone to anchor us.We need something or someone to steady us.We need something or someone to stop changing all the time. Because everyone and everything is changing all the time. We are fretting. On account of evil doers.And we aren’t sure who the evil doers are anymore.Because […]

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