(Wedding Feast) – Louis Kahan 1949 In the spring of 1985 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a new ecumenical ministry opened its doors. It was...

(The Two Brothers Sarcophagus – 4th Century Vatican City) Something like 90% of all Americans believe in God. Most everyone believes God...

“Not Peace But Division”… The words of Jesus are hard to hear today....and yet I have learned that what he points to, while painful,...

I have a cartoon taped on our kitchen cabinet that pictures a man in bed late at night. He's sitting up, scribbling on a note pad, and...

The perspective offered in this week's Gospel lesson is one that's always hard earned and too often, I'm afraid, comes to us late. I, at...

Grace – by Eric Enstrom Thoughts on Prayer: Maybe some say, "I know human love, and I know something of its power to heal, to set free,...

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary - Johannes Vermeer. Because I am a lot like Martha , I’ve always balked at the interpretations of...

The Parable of the Good Samaritan,’ Francesco Bassano - 1575, from the Art History Museum in Vienna. I will admit that it can be...

I picture Jesus' hometown family and friends squirming in their synagogue seats and craning their necks to see if he's coming up the...

When you get on board BART, a Cal-Train, or even Amtrak, which seats do you choose?  Do you like the seats that face front, the direction...

What does silence mean to you?  Time to rest? Peace? Or “Oh, oh. The kids are too quiet. What are they up to now?”  Whatever silence...

A bird or a flame. Traditionally, these are the most common images used as metaphors for the Holy Spirit. The ornithological metaphor is...

There they were, a house full of them, Luke says, all moping around wondering what they were going to do without Jesus, when they heard a...

“Prayer”, Kathleen Norris writes, “is being ourselves before God.” Having invested much of her time in working, studying and praying in a...

In the final chapter of his book The Remarkable Ordinary, author Frederick Buechner offers a disarming and often touching walk through an...

I was standing in a hospital room many years ago now. It was during one of a dozen such stays after my dad's first heart surgery. A...

Good Shepherd, Russian icon. … When we hear the lesson of the Good Shepherd, it is a grave and perhaps even diverting temptation to...

I believe that we know much more about God than we admit that we know, than perhaps we altogether know that we know. God speaks to us, I...

(Carved- Painted Frieze Notre Dame Cathedral – Paris) We have a common saying that expresses our insistence on tangible proof of every...

WE CAN SAY THAT the story of the Resurrection means simply that the teachings of Jesus are immortal like the plays of Shakespeare or the...