by Nathan Brasfield, Director of Youth and Community Ministries
It is circa 734 BCE. The one nation previously known as Israel remains tragically divided into two kingdoms. The southern kingdom known as Judah faces threats from both the northern kingdom known as Israel and the nation of Syria to join forces with them against a still larger threat
It’s December, and Advent, and the onrush toward Christmas, but luckily for me, I had some unread emails waiting for me after the Thanksgiving holiday. I say lucky, not because I (or any of us) love the pile of unread missives, another reminder that I must unsubscribe from a host of places, but
November may be my favorite month. I love autumn, with its cooler weather and the fall colors, and I adore Thanksgiving, with its focus on feast and family. I’m one of the few people who decorate the house with Thanksgiving decorations.
I decorate doors, windows, porch, and mantle with colorful leaves and turkeys of every type.
A couple of weeks ago, as I was leaving my house to head to Calvary, a new thought flashed across my mind: Take your passport with you. I couldn’t explain why, but I obeyed that quiet inner nudge. Ever since then, I’ve packed my passport every morning, right alongside my laptop and my lunch. It’s become a
While growing up in the Episcopal Church, I came to value the comfort of its consistency and the beauty of its language. On summer mornings, I attended my grandparents’ small parish in Kings Mountain, NC. It was there that I felt most at home. The familiar hymns, gracious people, and scents
One of the richest moments of sabbatical serendipity happened on the fourth day of our walk in the Cotswolds. We stayed that night in the town of Broadway. Worn out as we were, I ended up reading the book on the nightstand well into the night, fascinated by the story of a furniture designer named
I still remember the shock I felt when I realized that Tony the Tiger says “They’re Gr-r-reat!” about Frosted Flakes because … he’s a tiger. (Tigers growl.) It was similar to how I felt when I realized that it is no coincidence that Chester—the Cheetah—peddles
“Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures …’ And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:24, 31)
This past week, the world lost Jane Goodall at the age of 91. Her death has stirred grief across the globe, but also gratitude for a life that revealed the beauty, fragility, and resilience of God’s
As any runner knows, the endorphins make the hard work of the run worth it. Most of the time, the hard work for me is just getting my shoes on and getting out there. However, I’ve found running to be best for my mind. Running is my stress release, my processing time, my prayer time. And
“Hastily assembled angels” is a turn of phrase from a poem by Shane McCrae. It’s a lovely poem, but I’m not building on its themes, just stealing the phrase. It’s a good phrase to describe a group of people we commemorated earlier this week in the Episcopal Church: the Martyrs of Memphis, also