The word incarnation captures well the mystery of Advent and Christmas.  Through incarnation, the Divine takes on flesh, and becomes a touchable presence.  Western Christianity has emphasized the uniqueness of Jesus as the incarnate One, an outpouring and overflowing of the love of the Father/Mother/Source of All Being.  Eastern Christianity…

I had the opportunity to attend an event last evening where Rev. Alexia Salvatierra spoke on the topic of faith-rooted organizing, which is also the title of a book she co-authored.  She framed the discussion around the idea that we seems to have developed a notion that mercy and justice…

  Nobody knows what time of year Jesus was actually born. But we in our climate zone enter the season of wakefulness and watchfulness – Advent –the time of year when the energy of trees has been drawn down into the roots.  After catching photons from the sun all summer,…

Being ‘blessed’ is theologically complicated.  That’s what we more or less decided during our recent Sunday school discussion of Drew Hart’s book Trouble I’ve Seen: changing the way the church views racism.  How many of our ‘blessings’ are simply consequences of injustice?  We are indeed blessed, although it’s up to…

I wrote this poem yesterday as another step in processing the moral climate of our country.    “Stealing leaves.  November, 2016.” “This is the first time I’ve seen anyone stealing leaves.” My neighbor had caught me in the act, wheelbarrow loaded full with bags full of leaves he had bagged,…