"What places do I really have to see when I'm here?" I asked the woman behind the desk at the Osage visitor's center. “You must see our church,” she said, smiling. Clearly, she was at least part Osage. I liked the…
James C. SchaapFebruary 26, 2021
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear. The Revelation 1:3 Children make excellent lectors. My forty years of parish ministry has shown me that they are often better than…
Daniel MeeterFebruary 25, 2021
Imagine that the entire city of Miami just disappeared. The whole population: gone. Or maybe you can imagine Omaha or Raleigh better. The official population of each of these cities is actually fewer than the 500,000 Americans dead over the…
Jennifer L. HolbergFebruary 24, 2021
++ One ++ Superspreaders and broad brushstrokes. I wince every time I read a list of high-risk places to avoid during the pandemic. “Places of worship” is usually near the top of the list. Ouch!The story usually goes on to…
Steve Mathonnet-VanderWellFebruary 23, 2021
Moving forward in an intentional way involves a lot of sorting. And it involves grief.
Dana VanderLugtFebruary 22, 2021
for Myrtle Takken for her 95th YearGrandma walks toward Easter one more time;I see her walking not toward church but trees---trees of the farm she used to own:small persimmon hidden in the gully,chestnut in a corner of the cornfield,sugar pears…
Melody MeeterFebruary 21, 2021
Today we will consider the snow pile at the end of my driveway. These days you may have one too. In all likelihood, you know how the snow pile got there, at the end of the driveway, but just in…
Katy SundararajanFebruary 20, 2021
When my family moved to Sioux Center fifteen years ago the neighborhood was very different from how it looks today. Back then my neighbors were white, most of Dutch heritage, and, if they went to church, protestant. Today, many of…
Jason LiefFebruary 19, 2021
On Tuesday morning I looked up from the plank position I had been holding and saw a dolphin. And then another dolphin. Just their dorsal fins arcing up and out of the water, then disappearing, then cresting again. Twenty-four hours…
Laura de JongFebruary 18, 2021
“What are the ashes about?"The question was sincere. My church has never done Ash Wednesday before -- at least not with ashes, anyway. And so as we began announcing that we’d be offering the imposition of ashes for the first…
Jared AyersFebruary 17, 2021
