An old adage says that if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.
At one time or another most of us fall into the trap of believing that we have control over our lives and our futures, and that a well-laid plan is the first step toward the outcome we want. We make to-do lists, strategic plans and contingency plans. We tell each other that failing to plan is planning to fail. When reality doesn
Thousands around the world grieved as they watched flames consume the roof and the spire of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.
Every spring, our church invites us
Darkness and snow descend;
The clock on the mantelpiece
Has nothing to recommend,
Nor does the face in the glass
Appear nobler than our own
As darkness and snow descend
On all personality.
W.H. Auden,
Twenty years ago when the first Harry Potter books were published, they re-ignited a controversy about the proper attitude of Christians toward magic, or more accurately, stories about magic.
As political ads begin to shout at us, as we draw closer to the midterm elections in November, there seems to be a new round of questioning about how Christians should vote, or how they should think about political issues, or even whether Christians should take part in the political process at all.
I imagine that many folks reading this will have been part of the process of writing a Mission Statement for some church, board, committee, or other organization.
As a seminarian, I travelled to Palestine as part of a group organized by St. George
When I was a kid, we lived a few blocks from the town cemetery