After Biking To Church The Pastor Writes A Poem
Days after the rains the river still swells but is back within its banks. The air is crisp but gloves hold the heat and the sun promises warmth to come. Two geese are eating grass. A squirrel risks its luck and darts in front of my tire. A leashed dog…
The feast after the fast
This evening begins the Muslim month of Ramadan. It’s a season of fasting during daylight hours, sharing pre-dawn and post-dusk meals with family and friends, spiritual reflection, and giving donations for the poor. There are nearly 2,000,000,000 (two billion) Muslims in the world, about ¼ of humanity. Columbus’ large Somali…
Knowing the place (again) for the first time
A number of these daily Pilgrimage devotionals have reminded me of these words from TS Elliot: We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time. – from “Little Gidding,” Four Quartets I first encountered this…
Red and Green and In Between
For the last 6-7 years I’ve had a color printout of the 1930s-era redlining map of Columbus on the bulletin board in my church office. Like all good maps, it serves as a useful guide for understanding where we are and how we got here. In this case, it illuminates what areas of our…
Midweek Blog: Lent = Pilgrimage
What’s the difference between a tourist and a pilgrim? I think I first asked myself this question while studying in Cairo, Egypt during my senior year of college (half a lifetime ago, oh my). The semester included trips to many common destinations – the pyramids, a boat trip on the…
Some good news
We got some good news a couple days ago worth celebrating. The city of Columbus budgeting process involves the mayor sending a proposed budget to City Council toward the end of the calendar year, with Council having the ability to make its own adjustments. On Monday, Council President Shannon Hardin…
Snow day, surprise Sabbath
It’s a snow day for Columbus City Schools and, as far as I can tell, just about every K-12 school around Central Ohio. This is not particularly convenient for parents and guardians who suddenly need to account for their children throughout the day, and do their regular job. And yet…Maybe…
It “did something to the material you’re made of”
For this week of honoring the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Kings Jr, I share words from Rosemarie Freeney Harding from her memoir Remnants. Rosemarie and her husband Vincent were close companions of the Kings and involved, for a time, in the racially integrated “Mennonite House” in Atlanta. “Martin…
What The Sneetches teaches
Last Saturday I was doing some house cleaning while listening to a podcast, the most recent episode of NPR’s “Planet Money.” I was intrigued with the title: “The economics lessons in kids’ books.” I was even more intrigued when the episode centered on an elementary classroom “in the Columbus, Ohio…
Longest night, mammals and all rejoice
Happy Solstice. It’s the shortest day and longest night of the year. It’s the first day of winter and it sounds like winter will soon be felt. It’s a good time for mammals to give thanks for fur, and those who have lost their fur to find a warm blanket,…
