Month: December 2021

Bless the heart, not the land.

Fear is the secret sauce of religion.  Were one to look through the history of religion, one would see quickly, the ways in which failed crops, drought, disease, economic collapse, the loss of battles or the loss of a child would throw a king or queen, bishop or lord into...

A meditation on what’s important

It feels like a million years ago that I was a busy Christian. What do I mean by that term?  My worldview was magical.  I believed that God literally counted, cared about, and tracked every hair on my head.  Nowadays, with substantially less hair, I have begun to rethink this...

Christmas

This is Sugar-the-dog.  She received a toy from my family that had not been wrapped.  Under the tree, she spied it and with great and determined stealth, she retrieved it.  Early.  She seems not to mind much about the decorum of waiting until Christmas Eve or even Christmas Day.  She...

Make your home, your church, full of human warmth.

Christmas is a difficult time for anyone willing to be honest.  One can't heal what one does not feel. Christmas is a season full of expectations.  The perfect family event.  The perfect meal.  The perfect church service.  The perfectly sung anthem or carol.  The perfect response to a gift given....

The Lusitania Watch

In 1915, at 2:12 pm, the unthinkable happened to a member of my family. The ship on which he was sailing was hit by a German torpedo.  Family lore says he was having a late lunch with the captain when he went back to his cabin to get some documents. ...

Christmas ghosts

It is always at Christmas that I am so very relieved not to be going to church. With one notable exception, I have not set foot in one since June of 2017. But it is at Christmas that my love for the boycott is at its zenith of joy and...