Essay

The ad appeared in the Pella Town Crier on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, publicizing the premiere of a documentary entitled “Fire and Brimstone,” at a church in nearby Oskaloosa, Iowa, on May 11. “After 32 years of homosexuality and transgenderism,”…

All the talk last week about the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing made me wonder what other semi-centennials we are marking this year. Sometimes this sort of exercise turns up a pattern of deep connections and heavy portents,…

When it comes to "what to say" and "what not to say" to someone who is grieving, I have come to learn that prepositions matter. And so do adverbs. American author, Nora McInerny's husband, Aaron, died of cancer in 2014.…

An ongoing conversation I have a friend who successfully manages his own stock portfolio and is constantly encouraging me to do the same. He has a knack for finding companies that are undervalued. A few years ago, he called and…

If God incarnated himself in man, died and rose from the dead, All human endeavors deserve attention Only to the degree that they depend on this, I.e., acquire meaning thanks to this event. We should think of this by day…

Read: Exodus 31:12-18 The LORD said to Moses: You yourself are to speak to the Israelites: You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know…

I realize we’re planning way ahead here, but if you happen to be in charge of an Easter Vigil service next spring, you should definitely order a big beeswax candle for the occasion. Why? Because in the ancient liturgical prayer…

Let me tell you a story: Fifteen years ago, I was in line at a grocery store, behind two Hispanic men checking out. The clerk—a high school girl—got frustrated because her customers had trouble with the English language. That she…

Arizona, 2015 I lower myself down onto the dusty ground in the shade of a withering tree. Surrounded by nothing but rocks, shrubs, and long stretches of desert in every direction, I welcome the rest at this stopping point --…

Many of you are doubtlessly familiar with Mary Oliver's "The Summer's Day"--with its moving invitation to attentiveness and to relishing one's "one wild and precious life." But in these long days of "ordinary time," we might just need a reminder…