Essay

Last week I deleted Facebook from my phone. It was a long time coming. I was tired – tired of the constant outrage, tired of the version of myself that wanted to be outraged, tired of viewing my life through…

Today is tax day. This isn’t the typical time to file taxes. We are much more accustomed to submitting tax returns in the Spring. But then, not much is typical right now. Covid-19 has upended our lives in a multitude…

There have been several reflections here on The Twelve of late related to the current controversy over statues and memorials, including yesterday’s blog by my colleague Rebecca Koerselman.  In this blog I really don’t want to weigh too far into…

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Andrew Bolton created an exhibit based on time and fashion entitled, “About Time: Fashion and Duration.” The exhibition is postponed until fall, but Bolton gave Vogue a preview…

Listen! A sower went out to sow. (Matthew 13: 3) (Note: This is the second in a four-Sunday series of reflections on one or more of the day’s Revised Common Lectionary texts, highlighting poems by Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B. An introduction…

Solomon’s wisdom was not limited to spouting proverbs and keeping babies intact. Apparently, he was also ancient Israel’s version of Darwin (I Kings 4:33).

He was a colleague, my boss, my editor and, for a long, long time, our neighbor and good, good friend. From just across the street, we watched him grow up as a father with all those kids—six of them—some of…

The governor of California is recommending that churches not sing when they worship together. And this has caused much controversy among conservative Christians in that state, who do not wish to have the government tell them how they may and…

I have to admit that I’m rather perplexed at how mask-wearing has become such a hot topic. Admittedly, it didn’t help when the pandemic first appeared, and we were all told to not wear them in order to have sufficient…

I'm satisfied with just a cottage belowA little silver and a little goldBut in that city where the ransomed will shineI want a gold one that's silver lined. I've got a mansion just over the hilltopIn that bright land where…