by the Ven. Mimsy Jones   “Sometimes I sits and think; and sometimes I just sits.”          -Satchel Paige   Two interesting aspects of my life have converged this month. One is that I am preparing a series of meditations for a weekend silent retreat at St. Columba Retreat Center at the end of October. … Continue reading “Just Sit”

by the Rev. Paul McLain   Many years ago, a grief counselor ended our session by handing me a two-word prescription: ‘Nurture self.’ While that might not seem like a lot, it was amazing how seeing those two words on a little Rx prescription sheet gave me the permission and freedom to seek out activities … Continue reading “Nurture Self”

by the Rev. Scott Walters   Last Monday I decided to buy a bike rack for our car on Facebook Marketplace. If you’re not familiar with this corner of the social media universe, imagine Amazon taking over the classified section in your hometown newspaper. Got it?   Well, I found a three-bike hitch-mount Yakima rack … Continue reading “Troubling Redemption”

by the Ven. Mimsy Jones   As another school year gets underway, I am remembering teachers who formed as well as informed me, beginning with my eleventh grade English teacher whose name was Miss McGing but was known to us students as the Holy Terror.   Short and stocky, with the zeal of a prize-fighter, … Continue reading “Remembering a Holy Terror, and other teachers”

by the Rev. Buddy Stallings   Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the events now forever known simply as 9/11. Anyone, who is at least thirty years old, remembers where he/she was that day. Living in San Francisco and an inveterate early riser even then, I was just waking as a friend called to say, … Continue reading “Grace on 9/11”

by the Rev. Scott Walters   Here’s the way it happened. True story. We were carrying 2x4s and buckets of nails and scraps of tin down a zig-zagging path into a ravine in Pokot country far out in the Kenyan bush. The plan was to extend a dam to capture more rainwater, which would help … Continue reading “Tumbling Lessons”

by the Ven. Mimsy Jones   Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.     “The Tables Turned” by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)   Near the house where I stay in Maine, there is a tree-lined dirt road that winds up, down, and around the bay below.  The road is barely … Continue reading “The ‘Dangerous’ Road”

by the Rev. Scott Walters   Had you been walking down West Third Street in Dayton, Ohio in the late 1800s, the shouts and curses spilling from the upper floor of a bicycle shop may have stopped you in your tracks. Two brothers worked in the space, and, as you may know, there are siblings … Continue reading “A Holy Scrap”

by the Rev. Paul McLain   In the movie Chariots of Fire, British athlete Eric Liddell was torn between his dream of participating in the 1924 Olympic Games and his religious convictions when he learned that his first heat of the 100-meter dash was scheduled on a Sunday. He met with the Prince of Wales … Continue reading “Eric, Simone, Mary, and Martha”

by the Ven. Mimsy Jones   I am back on the coast of Maine after a year off last year because of the pandemic.  Although there are a few rather dreadful changes (construction of a tall, view-blocking hotel in the heart of Rockport village), the natural beauty of sea, sky, lush green lawns, and wildflowers … Continue reading “The Catch of the Day”