Pixabay.com This has been a painful week for my family. We buried our youngest sister after a few months of indescribable pain. Our Lenten journey was folded into watching the intrepid advance of a lacerating, insufferable cancer which ultimately took her from us as we felt her breath drawn into the ether of Somewhere. As... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com At the beginning of Lent, I suggested you think about the Jesus of Accompaniment and try to emulate his example to deepen your relationship with our loving Creator.  The Jesus of Accompaniment is the Jesus who is with people in suffering and in joy.  That is why we pray and celebrate that Jesus during those moments... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com The televised sights of Ukrainian trains boarding thousands of people, mostly women and children fleeing their homeland to bordering nations, called to mind the experience of my Ukrainian sister-in-law who fled with her parents and brothers during World War II, frightened, cold, and hungry but on their way to the long journey to America.... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com With Lent starting this week, I’ve been pondering a characterization of the Jesus I could meet in Lenten practices and rituals and prayers. I am part of the generation where as children we took on Lent with a dramatic bravado. We were encouraged to ‘give up’ whatever we were fond of like sweets, favorite... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com I learned a new concept this past week which I would like to share with you.  It is called “asset framing” and was developed by Trabian Shorters, a social entrepreneur and former vice president of the John and James L. Knight Foundation. Asset framing “ is a catalyst of a movement to define black people... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com Today, the day of our publication for this blog, is St. Valentine’s Day, the love-laden, optimistic day that reminds many to acknowledge the love or loves of their lives and to express it with small gifts of - well, you guessed it: flowers, candy, cards, dinner and maybe a concert or a movie all... Continue Reading →

Photo credit: Dr. Jill Biden/Twitter (Commander, the Biden family dog has just settled into the White House when along comes Willow, the new First Cat. He is appealing for heavenly help from Champ, the Biden dog who passed away a few months ago. This conversation was picked up through White House surveillance technology.) Commander: Yo! Champ!... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com American individualism is rooted in the DNA of ordinary Americans since the Puritans set foot on the promising shores of the eastern coast of our country in the early seventeenth century.  They were fleeing oppression for their religious beliefs.  Soon there emerged the colonists who saw this land as an opportunity to create a community free... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com Recently we have heard a lot about the ‘beloved community.’ This is a term which the late Rep. John Lewis referred to often in his speeches advocating civil rights for Black and underserved Americans. Lewis was educated for the ministry and took seriously the threads of justice he perceived in the Gospels and other... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com This past week I had the privilege of speaking to a wonderfully interactive group at a residential campus for senior Jewish residents in Northeast Ohio. As I set about thinking of my theme for this presentation, I was confronted with two very challenging realities which dampened the beauty of a sparkling new year for... Continue Reading →