*cusp: a dividing line between two very different things
One cold, bright-blue day in Colorado, I boarded a chairlift with my husband Frank. We strapped ourselves into seats that reminded me of the seats on Ferris wheels that my brother and I rode as children. But on this ‘ride’ there were long narrow skis attached to
In the past two weeks, I’ve been experiencing a strange sensation. Maybe you have, too. It feels like something long-forgotten, recently resurfacing—like an old song on the radio, one you hadn’t thought of in twenty years, but to whose every word you can sing along. My friends, to put it plainly, I am feeling hopeful.
It’s been so long since I have seen all of you; and although this present experience of “seeing” you, of being with you through these words is far from fully satisfying (for me), this process delights me. At the outset, though, I must offer a fair warning: I may just babble. Gretchen, my dog, has
Not long after I first arrived at Calvary, the Reverend Bill Kolb sent me an email welcoming me to Calvary and Memphis, letting me know we share a mutual interest in pastoral care and inviting me to lunch at a midtown restaurant at 2:30. I emailed Bill back and said, ‘This all sounds wonderful, but
For the first Ash Wednesday since Ardelle and I entered the Episcopal Church 24 years ago, I won’t receive the imposition of ashes on my forehead by another Christian today, hearing the loving and unadorned reminder that I am dust, and to dust I shall return. This is a great loss for me.
The 100 North Main building is an instance of something I’ve wondered at since my house building days. One would think that humans wear out the things we build. And, of course, we do. Boot soles and palms rub stair treads and handrails slowly to dust one touch at a time.
Shakespeare’s Othello and Much Ado About Nothing are two sides of the same coin. Both stories feature couples in love and evil antagonists who plot to thwart that love by sowing lies amidst the good wheat. Much Ado‘s comedic arc, where the lovers overcome Don John’s shadowy machinations to ultimately be joined in marital bless,
On the day before Epiphany, a parishioner sent our clergy team an email sharing the tradition of Epiphany chalk. It is a centuries-old practice in some communities to bless chalk on Epiphany so that people may use it to bless their homes. The chalking is done above the lintel of doorways and looks like a
On a recent trip to novel., to redeem a Christmas gift card, I picked up a collection of essays by Molly McCully Brown titled Places I’ve Taken My Body. Molly would have been one of our LPS preachers last spring if we hadn’t had to shut down for the pandemic that is still
I’ve observed two diametrically opposed approaches to religious life and the pursuit of God.
First is the pursuit of novelty. I don’t think we can often be accused of this in the Episcopal Church, by and large, but the pursuit itself is certainly familiar to all of us in a consumer-driven society. “If I just had