My dear husband and I work in fields that look completely different. I'm a parish pastor. He consults with federal, state and local governments at the intersection of sustainable land use, transportation, and climate change.  My job is about as local as it gets. He racks up frequent flier ...

     Every year after Ash Wednesday, it takes a while for me to clean out the ashes completely from under my fingernails. I don't know if other ministers have this problem, but like most ministerial burdens, this one is also a blessing.   In a middle-class church like min...

 Every year my birthday (2/24) falls somewhere near the beginning of Lent. I call it a good year when it falls before Ash Wednesday, and this year is a particularly good year, since it coincides with Mardi Gras!! Then again, I'll have only one day to celebrate a journey around the sun befo...

I've been in a dry spell with blogging lately, and then this week was coming up short on tomorrow's sermon as well. Not to worry, I thought, lots of time at the end of the week. Then, as if it's the Spirit's little joke, I've been struggling with a very sore back the last couple ...

I confess: my spirits were lifted almost as much by watching that helicopter leave Washington yesterday as they were by the beginning of a new presidency  and all that the Obama administration symbolizes. As Dick Cheney was wheeled out from the White House, looking for all the world like Mr. P...

    I've been struggling internally a bit with the conflicting demands of institutional life and the so-beyond-all-that-crap attraction of God. Jenell, in her inimitable way, has put her finger on it: "Churches organize people, funds, help, and childcare, and it's grea...

   Even though it's a rare 2nd Sunday after Christmas January 4, we're going to slide into Epiphany on January 4 this year.  See my former post on the Gift of the Magi for thoughts on the Matthew text.     And, though it commits the usual sin of melding Ma...

I'm feeling the need to stay a little more in the real world this week, so I may not blog much, but if you wish you might backtrack over some previous stuff: A defense of the not-so-historical parts of the Christmas Story John 1 and the absolute qualities of light A bit on drawing out twelve day...

Most years it seems -- pastorally -- that this time of year is more likely to produce funerals, crises and general difficulties in the flock. This year its more personal -- one friend received a very hard cancer diagnosis last week and another just died last night after a four year struggle with can...

Ezekiel 34:18-22 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? 19And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled w...