There was a fascinating story in this week’s New York Times about the threat of swarms of locusts in Africa and the attempts to limit the damage: As Locusts Swarmed East Africa, This Tech Helped Squash Them - The New York Times (nytimes.com). The desert locust, known to scientists as “Schistocerca Americana, subspecies gregaria,” is a distant … Continue reading The Years of the Locusts →

On this day in 2013 we held the funeral service for a remarkable person, Van Cliburn, at Broadway Baptist Church. Here are my remarks that day. Opening Sentences We have gathered this afternoon in this place of beauty to remember, honor, and celebrate the life of Van Cliburn. As you would expect, Van wanted the … Continue reading Van Cliburn →

Early in the week I finished Barack Obama’s presidential memoir, A Promised Land. Obama really is a good writer. Then I read Rob Bell’s newest book, Everything is Spiritual, which I liked a lot. Bell writes: I’ve had a sense since I was youngthat there’s more going on here, thatthe world is not a cold, … Continue reading What I Read This Week →

To journey without being changedis to be a nomad.To change without journeyingis to be a chameleon.To journey and to be transformedby the journeyis to be a pilgrim.-Mark Nepo, “Being a Pilgrim,” January 30, The Book of Awakening Henri Nouwen writes:When I taught academic courses on the spiritual life, I sometimes drew a long straight line … Continue reading A Journey To and From the Center →

I am someone who has had some sort of deep, in-born desire to be right, to do it right, and to get it right all my life. Now, in my late 40s, I am someone who has come to know the terrible limits of that way of being—the limits of my ability to be right … Continue reading Getting It Right →

I discovered a little notebook yesterday when I was cleaning off my desk. In it I had written down some notes about a year ago after reading a book by Richard Rohr called The Universal Christ. I wrote that somewhere around the 5th century, Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, started preaching and writing about something … Continue reading Original Blessing →

I have just finished reading the wonderfully insightful and disturbingly powerful book by Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origins of our Discontents. For a full review, see this from the New York Times. The basic thesis is expressed by Wilkerson early in the book, and it is worth sharing: A caste system is an artificial construction, … Continue reading Caste →

As I read in the 12/16/20 issue of The Christian Century, Loretta J. Ross, who teaches a popular class at Smith College, is challenging her students to address “call-out” culture—the practice of publicly shaming someone for behavior or speech deemed inappropriate. Ross, a radical Black feminist and a longtime activist, believes call-out culture is toxic. … Continue reading Call-In Culture →

Our friend Julie Rowe taught school as usual last Thursday and then, tragically, suffered a devasating stroke after she got home that afternoon. She died Sunday night, December 6, 2020. Julie was 41 years old. My wife Jamie has been close friends with Julie’s husband, Kyle, since high school and close friends with Julie for … Continue reading Julie Rowe Education Fund →

Brene Brown talks about learning about having a strong back and a soft front from Joan Halifax. The strong back is self-respect, strength, and courage. The soft front is openness and vulnerability. She quotes Joan Halifax: “All too often our so-called strength comes from fear, not love. Instead of having a strong back, many of … Continue reading Notes from my journal →