Here in northwest Iowa we have been conducting an experiment for the past few months. A colleague and I started a dialogue group to create a space for gracious conversation about issues that affect everyone, so we mostly talk about politics. Almost everybody I know felt beat up after the presidential election of 2016. It didn’t matter whether your candidate of choice won or not. … Continue reading Succeeding at Civility
Texts: Leviticus 16: 3, 5-11, 15-16, 20-22; Matthew 27:50-51 “The Old Rugged Cross” is a hymn I sang at many bedsides while I was a nursing home chaplain. It might seem like just another dusty old hymn to teenagers, but it is a beloved classic for me and for many of you who were born long before me. The familiar refrain says, … Continue reading Atonement Reconsidered
Please come with me on a tour of the neighborhood in Sebenikoro, a suburb and poor cousin of Bamako, the capital of Mali. We will be tagging along with my friend Maly “Bibi” Sangho, director of the Ase Mali Orphanage. I arise while it is still dark to meet with her for prayer. She greets me at my bedroom door and asks me whether I … Continue reading Praying Through the Neighborhood
A child flies a kite made from discarded plastic bags. Toddlers stretch their arms toward me, their eyes begging for me to pick them up. A never-ending drum beat advertises a wedding celebration a few houses away. Scores of people gather in a neighboring house for the six-month-anniversary prayer gathering to remember the deceased, the women cooking huge pots of rice and beans over charcoal … Continue reading Flying Kites in Sebenikoro
“Be still, and know that I am God.” For many of us in ministry, this can be a challenge. There is so much to do! But if I take it to heart, if I turn from the clamor and haste for quiet moments in God’s presence, I find that I cannot do without the silent, slow pauses that restore my heart. Some years ago I … Continue reading In the Labyrinth But Not Alone
“Somebody ought to do something.” How many times have you said that to yourself as you marked yet one more piece of evidence that our society is floundering? I’m just as guilty as the next person of despairing over circumstances, then pushing my anxiety aside, filing it into an overstuffed file of “things I can’t do anything to change.” Except this time we’re not pushing … Continue reading Knock, Knock. Who’s There?
It feels very arrogant of me to offer tips on talking with others who typically annoy or frustrate you. How do I know what it’s like to talk with your sister-in-law who treats you like the dirt on her shoe? I’ve never sat next to your father when he is pontificating, with food in his mouth no less. True. But I have picked up a … Continue reading How a Lab Coat Can Get You Through Thanksgiving, and Other Tips
This was originally written for the Spencer Daily Reporter in their Friday, November 25, 2016 edition. Are you a good listener? Think of a recent conversation that had some substance to it. Did you interrupt the other person? Were you preoccupied with waiting for them to finish so you could say what you wanted to say? Then you probably have some work to do on … Continue reading The Gift of Listening
This post was originally written for The Luke Society‘s blog, anticipating a global audience of their Christian ministry directors doing medicine among the poorest of the poor in their countries. We experienced something remarkable in the United States last week. There was deep disagreement about which of the candidates should be allowed to take the presidential helm for four years. Much anxiety led up … Continue reading What Flows Through
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, [Jesus] said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” (Luke 21:5-6) “Isn’t it perfect? I wish it could always stay this way.” How many times have you felt that, … Continue reading Terror and Promise
saint sinner seeker 