A New Perspective
The friends we were traveling with suggested a guided bicycle tour. Never in a million miles of travel could I have convinced my husband this was a fun idea...
When I realize I am digitally disconnected from world a slight panic mode ensues. At first it's a lonely feeling because I spend my life 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year connected to the world through the technology of my cell phone and internet. The what ifs start creeping into mind...
Some days, I read a Wendell Berry poem as a prayer. This one particularly hooked me. I love imagining that the ladder we climb to heaven is heaven itself, even if our feet are on the bottom rung. And I am prompted to ask where in the middle of real life, this ladder is propped up.
You have probably held a door open for a stranger on countless occasions. Most of the time you received a polite “thank you” or an appreciative head nod. What about those times when your kindness was ignored or the person grumbled something under their breath? That felt a little awkward, didn’t it? But it Read More...
God said to Abraham, “Go from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” So Abraham went in search of this so- called land of milk and honey. And God said to Moses, “Bring my people out of Egypt.” And Moses at first resisted, but eventually led the people through Read More...
Down through the centuries, biblical scholars have learned a lot of interesting tidbits about eating in the first century Mediterranean world. They know, for instance, how diners reclined at their meals on a couch called triclinium, how they had bread before dinner and wine during dinner of course, but one ceremonial cup of wine afterwards
We were walking on the beach in Guatemala. She seemed elated about using her own hands to build a Habitat for Humanity home for a family living in a leaky grass hut. Serving God seemed to be bringing her to life. So I told her that when we got home, she was welcome at the mid-week Bible study class for young adults or to join us in tutoring at-risk kids. “Oh, I don’t know about that...going to church more than once a week might be too much for me!”
In the opening chapter of the Gospel of John we are introduced to a story about two disciples who are curious to know just where Jesus is staying in the community. As they follow him down the road they verbalize their curiosity and Jesus simply responds, “Come and see.”
How many languages do you speak? Theologian Eugene Peterson* claims that we all know three languages. The first language is the one you learn to speak even before you know words. You coo at your mother or cry to express hunger. After we become articulate, we use this language to convey love to a boyfriend/girlfriend or to express affection to a pet. Language One is the language of human connection and intimacy. It relies on tone of voice and a raise of the eyebrow. We call on a grandchild with the word “honey” or a spouse with a name we whisper only in private.
Pick one. One song. If you had to pick one song for your life what would it be? Maybe it is a song you sing in the car when no one else is listening. Or a song that you listened to a thousand times as a teenager. Or a song that makes Read More...
Rev. Catherine Stark Corn, Interim Minister to Children, Youth and Families This Sunday is Pentecost - the time when the church celebrates its birth in a way. The story of Pentecost in the Book of Acts could seem like a footnote in the history of Christianity – something from the distant past Read More...