Thanks to brilliant scientists and the development of Covid-19 vaccines, my wife and I were able to go out to lunch with our 21-year-old grandson for the first time in over a year! While ours is certainly not a unique experience in these re-emerging-from-pandemic-restriction-days, it most certainly is a wonderfully personal affirmation of gratitude for…
One of the concepts authored by a great preacher of the 20th century, Leslie Weatherhead, was the idea of a “Christian Agnostic.” By this term, Weatherhead meant that he was a follower of the life and teachings of Jesus, but in terms of describing the nature of God, Weatherhead recognized – in the most engaging…
I have never given sparrows much thought. The ubiquitous little birds have always just been, well…around. But this spring I have paid more attention because a pair of them have taken up housekeeping in the bird house on our patio. They have been nest building and having bird sex right before my eyes. The female…
My wife and I were recently in conversation with my brother and sister-in-law. As is often the case on such occasions, there were stories about our long-deceased father; a veteran of World War II who died from a war-related illness when my brother and I were young children. In the midst of our reflections, my…
In the summer of 1972, I was a graduate student in the Divinity School of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.The summer program included practical application of class work to local church settings in many rural and urban settings. That summer I was an intern in a relatively quiet, North Carolina, small town in which…
Over the past two years I have read Ron Chernow’s comprehensive and excellent biographies of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Ulysses S. Grant. In addition to these historical tomes, I have read Isabel Wilkerson’s powerfully compelling narratives, “Caste” and “The Warmth of Other Suns.” There has been great value in studying the historical record contained…
There is a well-known phrase used in real estate assessment in determining a home’s marketability and sale value. The phrase describes a property’s “curb appeal.” As a potential buyer drives up to the address listed by the real estate agent, the “curb appeal,” (the first impression and overall attractiveness of the exterior of the home) will…
Several years ago, on the first day of Holy Week, I was riding an RTA bus fromUniversity Circle to Public Square in Cleveland. Sitting in the seats in front of meand talking loudly, several folks were in conversation about their variousschedules for the coming week and their weekend plans. Suddenly, with greatexcitement one said to…
During the last four days of February this year the Conservative Political Action Congress (CPAC) gathered in Florida. CPAC is a shadow of its former self. It was once a reasonably cogent gathering of conservative thinkers and activists that provided focused, national support for Ronald Reagan. CPAC at its last incarnation was a Trump Cult gathering anxious to cheer for their hero described by many as…
On my most recent previous post I wrote that the effort to find common ground in our religiously and politically polarized time is a trivial pursuit. I suggested some examples where “common ground” is no longer possible to find because – like the Fountain of Youth or Xanadu – it does not exist. I suggested…