In the opening pages of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the penultimate volume in that magical series, the prime minister of England is worried. Strange and ominous things have been happening across his country – dozens have died when a well-built,...
For these four and a half months since Joe’s death I have been slowly going through his things, deciding what to keep and what to donate or throw away. Joe was, to put it politely, a bit of a packrat, so there is a lot to sort through. Sometimes in the...
The original source of this quote is uncertain, but the words have stayed with me since I first heard them in seminary many years ago. “A preacher,” the theologian said, “should have the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” Since I spent many years...
For the last three Sundays in our Gospel readings we have heard Jesus telling his disciples what life will be like for those who follow him. At first, life as a disciple sounds pretty good. Jesus gives his friends and followers the authority to cast out demons, to...
Her name escaped me long ago, but her actions will haunt me forever. The rural Tennessee woman, whose story I covered as a reporter for the Nashville Banner, was a person of faith, who always tried to do what she believed God would have her do, no matter how difficult...
There’s a funny thing about history. It changes depending on who is telling it. For many years, history textbooks told the story of this country’s past from the viewpoint of white men. Stories of women, Native Americans, African Americans, and other minorities were...
I was talking to a friend a few days ago, who commented that she had heard people talking about the three-day holiday weekend. “When did Fathers’ Day become a national holiday?’ she asked. Well, today is Fathers’ Day, and we give thanks for all...
A few years ago I visited a friend in Wilmington, Delaware, and preached at her church, Trinity Parish. The more than 100-year-old church was once one of the predominant features of the downtown Wilmington landscape. But now its spires are dwarfed by the immense...
