Following nearly 100 years of Syrian occupation and physical exile in Babylon for many Hebrew people, ancient Israel as a nation had a political and national rebirth. The biblical book, Ezra-Nehemiah, is an historical faith record of that national rebirth. Ezra was a priest and scribe (one who cared for the long forgotten sacred texts)…
Taking down the Christmas Tree, packing away the ornaments in their respective storage boxes, and putting away all the Christmas decorations for another year is a very difficult day. First of all, IT TAKES A WHOLE DAY and sometimes spills over to the better part of the next…even without procrastination. Second, it is an emotionally…
Amidst these fast-waning days of Advent I received an email from a friend whom I have known and admired since college days. In his email to me, Jim related this serendipity experience. It occurred, he wrote, as he was reading on his computer screen the many SiriusXM holiday stations which he can play on his…
Recently I read Michael Lewis’ excellent book, The Premonition. In a most engaging way Lewis tells of the very disjointed – and often publicly resisted and opposed – development of our national response to infectious disease and the Covid-19 Pandemic. He also relates, through the careers of several of our nation’s various state-wide, community health officers,…
Some weeks ago, my wife, Grace, and I took an afternoon drive to the country cemetery where my father is buried. His body has been interred in that sacred space for 62 years. 62 years. As we stood at my dad’s grave I remembered – as I always have on such visits – the day I…
The Plain Dealer reported today (10/26/21) that the six major Republican candidates running to replace retiring US Senator, Rob Portman, were at a candidates forum near Columbus this past Sunday night. The forum was organized by a group of “socially conservative evangelical voters” belonging to an organization called the Center for Christian Values. What a terrifying collection…
Two and a half years ago, before Covid-19 changed everything, I was invited to give a series of six Sunday sermons at an historic, urban, church in downtown Cleveland. While the church was not of my United Methodist denomination, I had – over my 32 years of pastoral ministry in the city – built valued…
One of the ways I have chosen to help deal with the past four years of presidential insanity as well as the caustic, turbulent, always spiritually exhausting climate on which MAGA supporters continue to thrive, has been to read of similar disquieting times. I have done this in search of reasons for hope and to…
I have been a boater on Lake Erie most of my adult life. While some people remember the cars they have owned, I remember the four boats I have owned and used with my family. While all of my boats have been different in such things as the size of hull, beam, and engine horsepower,…
In the backyard of our lake house stands a magnificent, pignut hickory tree. No one knows for sure why the tree is called a pignut hickory other than pig farmers once supposedly used the nuts produced as rooting material for their pigs. But, more about pig nuts in a minute. Regardless of its name, the…