I have vows on my mind. Today, I spent a bit of time working on a wedding service for a dear friend whose upcoming, COVID-19-altered ceremony I’ll officiate. At the center of the service, of course, are the vows that…
Jared AyersSeptember 23, 2020
This September morning, I went out to weed the neglected backyard border bed. This corner of my garden, out of sight from my backyard, gets rare attention. I push the rusting wheelbarrow of tools through the arbor and over the…
Carol Van KlompenburgSeptember 21, 2020
I was finalizing both this blog post and my sermon for today when the news came of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday. Wiser bloggers than I will, no doubt, address the justice’s legacy in coming days. But I promised…
James BrummSeptember 20, 2020
Twenty miles outside town, out among corn fields and orchards, we find the driveway marked by an unassuming sign: Plainsong Farm. As we pull in and park on the grass, I’m struck by how ordinary it all looks. Two farm…
Debra RienstraSeptember 19, 2020
A couple of weeks ago, out west on the Oregon Trail, I couldn't help being astounded by both the clockwork and the sheer number of Union Pacific long-haulers passing, one after another after another, on their way east, each heavy…
James C. SchaapSeptember 18, 2020
They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to…
Kate KooymanSeptember 17, 2020
Midweek. I find myself muttering “how is it only Tuesday?” Perhaps your life, too, is a little bit of a whirlwind at the moment. I don’t have time to read long posts (even really good ones), and I definitely don’t…
Jennifer L. HolbergSeptember 16, 2020
The soup ladle pictured above is from Bonnemaman’s girlhood home. Bonnemaman was my wife’s lovable, buoyant grandmother whose life came up a few months short of a century, 1900-2000. Bonnemaman and her family lived in northern France, near the Belgian…
Steve Mathonnet-VanderWellSeptember 15, 2020
Dear Friends, For most of the past decade our daughter has shared a small house in Washington, D.C. Hotels are expensive there and I am a cheapskate, so when we visit we stay with my wife’s cousin, who owns a…
Jeff MunroeSeptember 14, 2020
