I remember our son was still young enough to take his regular position in the back seat of our car. We had spent the morning together shopping for a gift for his mother, then stopped by a favorite out-of-the-way pub to grab a late lunch away from holiday shoppers. When we got home, I realized […]
Rigid Frameworks
My route to the office includes navigating the last main intersection to the local high school. I have it easy as I travel the right turn lane through and away from this intersection. Some mornings I see traffic backed up for what seems like miles in the three inbound directions. Strategically located just off this […]
Complete Freedom
I sat with my son at an outside patio wine bar on the ninth floor – the Capitol building in front of us in all its splendor, fully illuminated on the shadowed side and reflecting the soft glow of the sun as it sank below the horizon on the other. It was late November in […]
The Heart of the Matter
This evening I sat at the island in our kitchen watching the rise of this season’s harvest moon, which always seems to me a bit more special than other lunar events. As the evening waned, the moon shone brightly in the ogee window above the space we call the library, which I tricked myself into […]
Crossroads
This summer, my wife and I had the opportunity to cruise aboard a historic schooner in Penobscot Bay, some of the most staggeringly beautiful waters of mid-coast Maine. We sailed amidst an archipelago laced with granite and spruce islands, broad bays and scenic harbors, the age-old mountains of Mount Desert rising from the sea in […]
Jesus the Homeless
Pablo Picasso said “the purpose of art is to wash the dust of daily life off our souls”. But for what purpose? A cleansing? A reminder of what is truly important? A way to let the light of the soul shine forth? Or, to ready our souls for a touch from the grace of God? […]
Baseball Chatter
As a former baseball player, when the page on the calendar flips to April, there is still a sense of excitement. Not so much for the start of another season, but for the memories of those starts to the seasons years ago and just how special were those times. The other day, as I approached […]
Blind to the Truth
Recently published in the paper of record were two letters that caught my attention – “we need to take a serious look at this very sobering report from the world’s climate experts – there is no longer any meaningful debate about the effects of human activity on our climate”; and “just when the need for […]
Pray. Now.
Over the summer and now continuing into fall, I find myself praying more – more frequently, more intentionally and more deeply. ‘Why’ is not really all that important – it can be simply explained by an overwhelming sense that the world seems to just need it right now, or perhaps it’s that things in the […]
What Makes a Place Spiritual?
I have previously written here about churches and sacred spaces. I have always had a reverence for these places, their sacredness, their mysteries and in the case of actual buildings, the incredible commitment of resources and talents it took to conceive and construct them, even the most modest. It’s understandable that such undertakings are driven […]