Like so many of us, we are having Sunday morning Bible classes and worship online this Holy Week. In our class meeting at “virtual” First-Baptist-Abilene this morning, we were imagining what it would have been like to be in Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. My colleague Ken Lyle suggested to us that in a … More The Grace We Need for This Day

The cardinals have come. Slight flashes of crimson. We only see them at our house in the early spring. I don’t know why they visit so seldomly, but I’m thankful they come. A pair of cardinals are flitting to our church-shaped bird feeder for a morning snack of black-oil sunflower seeds. But you have to … More The Cardinals Have Come

These are overwhelming days. One morning last week I made the mistake of skipping my typical routine of beginning the day with something from Ron Rolheiser or Richard Rohr, and instead checked the NY Times on my iPad. Screen after screen was filled with pandemic stories.  Overwhelming.  One news story spoke of a family in Louisiana whose … More Overwhelming Grace

Hope. Hope comes in different sizes and shapes. There’s short hope and long hope, boxed hope and unboxed hope.  Short hope. Short hope reaches for the possible solution to a crisis that seems to appear right in front of us. Like the hope that some people who have made damaging decisions will suddenly see the light … More Sizes and Shapes of Hope

When I arrived at Logsdon Seminary this morning I was pulled into the Chapel by the Window.  It’s the day after the collapse of the last sliver of hope in being rescued from an impending disaster. But the brilliant sunlight flows blindingly through the window this morning. It is unstoppable. And the message of the … More Window Words