Editor’s (admin’s) note: Lightly edited copy, with links added, of my email in advance of this month’s appointment with my spiritual director, giving her a heads-up on what I’ve been journaling about (or, in this case, why I haven’t been journaling) since our last meeting and, more to the point, helping me focus over time by … Continue reading Thinking of scripture as story: ‘In the beginning …’ to ‘… making all things new’ (spiritual journal – Nov. 2025)
‘Dwelling in the Word’: Looking at the Book of Revelation in a parish study group during apocalyptic times of huge turmoil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx8QKlE6jMk Son House, 'John the Revelator,' in concert, 1965. Book of Revelation 1 (NRSVue). 4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the … Continue reading ‘Dwelling in the Word’: Looking at the Book of Revelation in a parish study group during apocalyptic times of huge turmoil
What happens when you read a gospel as poetry? or with a grain of salt? John, ‘the Jews’ and the man who was born blind
Jesus healing man born blind, El Greco, 1567 (Wikimedia Commons). John 9 (NRSVue)): 28 Then they reviled [the man who had been born blind], saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man … Continue reading What happens when you read a gospel as poetry? or with a grain of salt? John, ‘the Jews’ and the man who was born blind
Hospital journal 1: A merry romp through abstract theology, Christology, rabbit holes and a lovely prayer for good courage
Creation of Adam, Michelangelo (Wikimedia Commons). Sunday, Jan. 19. First, the good news: I'm getting lots of reading done. I've even finished three or four chapters of Ilia Delio's "Christ in Evolution" (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2008), and I've had plenty of time to read slowly and think about what I'm reading. Which means I'm beginning to understand … Continue reading Hospital journal 1: A merry romp through abstract theology, Christology, rabbit holes and a lovely prayer for good courage
Hospital journal (1 of 3): Stories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A72MAMTVnQo George Burns, in character, answers John Denver's questions in 'Oh, God!' (1977). Editor's (admin's) note: First of three journals based on spiritual and theological reading while I was in HSHS St. John's Hospital in January. I did a lot of reading, in my usual slapdash manner, and I pulled together some disparate ideas -- connected … Continue reading Hospital journal (1 of 3): Stories
In the beginning was the metaphor, and it was good: Reading John and Genesis together in a Christmas candlelight service
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMafneugQAs&t=4145s Candle lighting ceremony, with reading from Genesis and John, begins at 1:06:24. Sometimes the moment and the liturgy come together so perfectly, I feel like there's nothing I can say that would add to it or subtract from it. The last two or three years, I've had one of those moments during the Christmas … Continue reading In the beginning was the metaphor, and it was good: Reading John and Genesis together in a Christmas candlelight service
How is the Holy Spirit like the wind? the breath of God? a wild goose? Notes for spiritual direction, September 2024
Lightly edited copy of an email I sent to my spiritual director today in advance of our session for September. I’ve been writing these for several years now, primarily in order to help me focus my mind before we talk. It’s not a record or an agenda of our sessions. (Often enough, we start discussing something … Continue reading How is the Holy Spirit like the wind? the breath of God? a wild goose? Notes for spiritual direction, September 2024
The spirit blows where it will, and this time the spirit blew me from my parish church in Springfield to a synagogue in Galilee and Luther’s Marienkirche in Wittenberg
Restored ruins of 4th-century synagogue at Capernaum (Wikimedia Commons). John 6 (NRSVUE). 59 He said these things while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum. 60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, … Continue reading The spirit blows where it will, and this time the spirit blew me from my parish church in Springfield to a synagogue in Galilee and Luther’s Marienkirche in Wittenberg
Coming to terms with the antisemitism and speechifying, and taking another look at John’s Jesus
Jacob Jordaens, 'Christ Among the Pharisees,' ca. 1665 (Wikimedia Commons). John 6 (NRSVUE). 41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, … Continue reading Coming to terms with the antisemitism and speechifying, and taking another look at John’s Jesus
Uneasy with St. John’s bias against ‘the Jews’ in an age of religious pluralism? Here are a couple of ways to deal with it
Christ Before Pilate, Hans Holbein the Younger, ca. 1538-40 (Wikimedia Commons) Now comes Jim McDermott SJ, associate editor of the Jesuit magazine America, and suggests -- in the headline, no less -- "The Gospel of John has been used to justify anti-Semitism—so we should stop reading it on Good Friday." To which I say: Amen, … Continue reading Uneasy with St. John’s bias against ‘the Jews’ in an age of religious pluralism? Here are a couple of ways to deal with it
‘They wanted a king, what they got was bread’ — some preliminary thoughts on the feeding of 5,000 and the Eucharist
Benedictine Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha in Galilee. John 6 [NRSV]. [...] 10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they[c] sat down, about five thousand in all. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who … Continue reading ‘They wanted a king, what they got was bread’ — some preliminary thoughts on the feeding of 5,000 and the Eucharist
God’s presence in an 11th-century Irish poem and a gust of wind on a nice spring afternoon — for Trinity Sunday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lx-iI-kFDA St. Patrick's Breastplate, Church of the Redeemer, Kenmore, Wash. John 3:1-17 (NRSV). 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being … Continue reading God’s presence in an 11th-century Irish poem and a gust of wind on a nice spring afternoon — for Trinity Sunday
Coming to terms with John 3:16 with the help of Johnny Cash, the Carter family and the gospel according to Wikipedia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98jzQ478VNs 'Where the soul of man never dies' - Johnny Cash with June, Helen and Anita Carter John 3 [NRSV] 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.[i]16 “For God so loved the world that he gave … Continue reading Coming to terms with John 3:16 with the help of Johnny Cash, the Carter family and the gospel according to Wikipedia
Connecting the dots for Lent III on covenants, the destruction of the temple and the Church of the Nativity
Editor's (admin's) Note. Third of ___* Lenten meditations based on lectionary readings on the covenants of Noah, Abraham and Moses. This one riffs on the Ten Commandments and the passage in the Gospel of St. John where Jesus speaks of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. 'My father's house' -- Church of the Nativity, … Continue reading Connecting the dots for Lent III on covenants, the destruction of the temple and the Church of the Nativity
Of faith and trust under a fig tree, East Tennesseans, Galileans and a Swedish-American historical research project
Bethany beyond the Jordan (from Qasr al-Yahud on Israeli side). John 1:43-51 (NRSV). 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom … Continue reading Of faith and trust under a fig tree, East Tennesseans, Galileans and a Swedish-American historical research project
‘Letting grace renew us’ — a little book by a Swedish dean of Harvard Divinity and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QviA2iOsOo Gott ist gegenwärtig [God himself is present]. Heilig-Geist-Kirche, Menden, Germany When we got our mail out of quarantine earlier this week, a little volume by Krister Stendahl titled Energy for Life: Reflections on the Theme "Come Holy Spirit -- Renew the Whole Creation" tumbled out. Perhaps I should explain. The mail wasn't directed to … Continue reading ‘Letting grace renew us’ — a little book by a Swedish dean of Harvard Divinity and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit
A parable of sowing the word of the kingdom of heaven on YouTube and Facebook (for Pentecost VI)
Sunday service, Peace Lutheran Church, Springfield, Ill., July 12, 2020 (Pentecost VI) Yesterday's lectionary reading, for the sixth Sunday after Pentecost (ordinary time to non-Lutherans), was the the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. Which means, if you think about it, watching the service on social media was almost like a parable about a … Continue reading A parable of sowing the word of the kingdom of heaven on YouTube and Facebook (for Pentecost VI)
An after-Christmas epiphany on John 1:1-5 and Genesis: We’re burning up the garden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsiD5tB9yrc ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corp.), Jan. 8, 2020. Genesis 2:15 (KJV). And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.To dress it and to keep it (Ellicott's Commentary). The first word literally means to work it; for though a paradise, yet the garden … Continue reading An after-Christmas epiphany on John 1:1-5 and Genesis: We’re burning up the garden
Spiritual formation, October
Email sent last night to my spiritual director. Copied here because these "heads-up" emails force me to think about my progress -- or lack thereof -- and because I can refer back to it so important things don't slip between the cracks. Hi Sister -- How did it get to be November already? Here's the … Continue reading Spiritual formation, October
Krister Stendahl — a Swedish theologian on salvation, eternal life and the ‘coughing [of] mosquitoes’
Normally I don't get my spiritual direction and theological tips from the New York Times, not even back in the day when I thought Sunday mornings were for curling up with the Week in Review section instead of going to church. But I was caught up short the other day when I was tracking down … Continue reading Krister Stendahl — a Swedish theologian on salvation, eternal life and the ‘coughing [of] mosquitoes’
Ordinary Time 