Scripture Reflection
Here I share the fruits of my personal reflection on the Word of God, whether I’m reading along with the lectionary readings for that week or exploring a particular book of the Bible. Enjoy the posts that appear below; you’ll find them with the most recent first. If you’re looking for something in particular, try typing a topic, book of the Bible, or other keyword into the search field at the bottom of the page. Topics I write about frequently include those listed below:
My mom had a no-fail way of dealing with grumpy, complaining, mopey kids: she’d send us to our rooms with one command: “come out when you’re ready to be happy!” Typically I would stomp off full of whatever grievance I was nursing, only to come out soon after, having laid it aside. Not that the trouble went away; but I ...
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Night fell gradually, so slowly that we didn't notice it was coming. People of all ages had flocked to the field for AbbeyFest, an annual day-long celebration of family, faith, and music. As the light waned, so did the guitars. The songs became softer, more worshipful. And as the last rays of sun disappeared, someone lit a match down front ...
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We rounded the corner of our house after being away for a while and gasped. Tire tracks churned through the yard. Piles of rocks and flagstones, uprooted from the old terrace, lay everywhere. The back yard was a rough sea of mud and debris. "My garden!" was all I could think. Everything from lilies to raspberries -- gone! Who knew ...
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Friday the 13th seems an appropriate day to be heading into Saturday’s Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It brings to mind another Friday, the one that we call “good” — although it must have seemed anything but “good” to the disciples who witnessed it. But here is the glory of the Cross: that when God became man, ...
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“Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God….” (Ruth 1:16) These words have been sung at countless weddings – but they were first said not by a bride but by someone who turned her back on the sensible option for her own future, to ...
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I wouldn’t call St. Paul the master of the tweet. It would take three full tweets, in fact, to cover 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 — and that’s one of his shorter quotables. But it’s definitely worth sending out to your friends, if only they’ll pause long enough to take it in: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus ...
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I was five and we were vacationing on Lantau island. Today an airport crowns the Hong Kong mountain. Back then, it hosted scores of families seeking respite from the summer heat. The tiny cabins were separated from the main peak, where we took meals at a common dining room, by a “saddle”: a flat, grassy strip of land with steep ...
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Near the end of Little Big Man, the 1970 film with Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, and Chief Dan George, the aged medicine man—who has survived the massacre at Wounded Knee and seen victory at the Battle of Little Big Horn—prepares to die. On a high, lonely mountain he sings and dances before the god he calls “Grandfather” and he cries ...
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The artist stands a full hour in the clearing, staring at the aspen trees. Her keen eyes trace the form of the trunks, feeling the way they curve back from the center; she explores the knots and crevasses, memorizing the patterns and colors of the bark. Later, she will sketch the tree from memory, then paint it as though she ...
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