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Jeff Munroe

Essay

Linda Ronstadt, Loss, and Life

In the fall of 1977, Linda Ronstadt came to Michigan State University. In those innocent days, concert tickets were sold at the box office. I was in a group of guys who camped out the night before the tickets went…
Essay

Gotta Group?

Alone, all aloneNobody, but nobodyCan make it out here alone.- Maya Angelou Hey you, out there in the coldGetting lonely, getting oldCan you feel me?- Pink Floyd I gotta group. Everybody needs a group. Do you have a group? As…
Essay

A Poem-A-Day

When the Buildings and Grounds Superintendent signed up to read a poem, I knew we were onto something. We have a daily community gathering after chapel at Western Theological Seminary where we do introductions, announcements, and share prayer concerns. In…
Essay

Snowpocalypse (and other O-pocalypses) Now!

It’s late February, which means the citizens of Michigan have descended into a seasonally-induced depression. Parents are depressed because school has been cancelled every other day this month while the rest of us are depressed simply because it’s February and…
Essay

I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again

I heard Matt Bloom of the University of Notre Dame speak recently about research he is doing on well-being and thriving in ministry. Bloom has been studying pastors across several denominations for some time, and I commend his findings to…
Essay

Resolved

Resolved is a curious word, etymologically related to solvent, and, of course, solution, as in resolution. The original meaning had to do with loosening, and that meaning is still easy to see in solvent.   Over the years, resolute has come to mean something much more fixed than loose, yet…