Whatever winds up this old preacher may end up in this blog, and it isn't always pretty.
I’m a theologian of sorts, I suppose. It’s my duty so to be. Seminary classes occupied three solid years of my life most of a century ago,1 sitting in class after class purposed to teach theology. We read thick books, sometimes exciting, more often tedious, about “systematic theology,” a composite intended to bring together pieces … Continue reading God, the Obscure
Last October 10, a Sunday, the day after our children and I had emptied the remains of Annette’s body into an unremarkable opening in the ground of rural southwest Iowa, following with handfuls of the ordinary, rich black soil that had been piled beside it, and closing it with the sod cap that remained, I … Continue reading Black Butterfly, Thank You
How two nuances in the Christmas story saved Christmas for me. For many, Christmas glitter and merriment seemed meaningless and frivolous this year and carols echoed falsely. I haven’t a doubt that I wasn’t alone in attempting to deal with that hard-hearted contrast. Yet, as has often enough happened so as to be anticipated if … Continue reading Beyond Christmas
On December 28, 2021, the old banjo clock that serves as the mascot for this blog had its 100th birthday, even though like Jesus and Christmas, 12/28 is not its actual birth date. Its birth place was the factory of the E. Ingraham Clock Company in Bristol, Connecticut, so it must have taken a few … Continue reading The Old Ticker Turns 100
A Foreword This post has endured many fits and starts. It began as a response to an op-ed piece I first read in November, 2019, and was drawn in by what I considered then to be far-fetched: an evangelical Christian climate scientist and her being the author of a New York Times column. I’ve had … Continue reading Evangelicals and Climate: Bridging a Gulf
Thursday, May, 29, 1958, turned out to be a day full of impossibly contrasting emotions, a day of such intensity that 62 years later it remains, hour by hour, firmly fixed in memory. Early that morning, Annette shook me awake to news that her contractions were real this time. We were living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, … Continue reading May 29, 1958 Redux
Every April 22 is a red letter day for many of us because it’s Earth Day. This year’s Earth Day was additionally special as its 50th anniversary. It seemed to me a good idea to reconsider my participation in the vision that energized the first Earth Day half a century ago. As I’ve read about … Continue reading Earth Day: Fifty Years, and My Father
As I write, Fat Tuesday—Mardi Gras—dawns in Portland, the last day for merry-making before the rigors of Lent and its ashes will define the bitter reality of our mortality. Then, within the next weeks and especially during the final week, Lent promises to produce the divine antidote for that corrupted mortality. For more than forty … Continue reading “As a Hen Gathers Her Brood . . .”: A Lenten Reflection
I was almost 12. The world was fighting a war, a beloved uncle and several neighbors off somewhere fighting yet, mixed in that disquiet, REA electrical workers fast approached our farm home. Poles in place, wires strung on poles and inside the walls of our home, the great day arrived, and we switched on light. … Continue reading Mission in Context: the Maji Experience
Some weeks ago, I met the Rev. Adam Nicholas Phillips in his office in Northeast Portland to talk about our memories of the Rev. Douglas Cedarleaf. Adam recorded that conversation, and it became the core of the post that follows. It is peculiar that Adam and I, separate by two generations, have been remarkably influenced … Continue reading Douglas Cedarleaf, a Tribute
Winding the Old Clock 