Connecting Charity, Poverty, and Capitalism in New Ways
Last weekend our antiracism group started the new year with a new book: We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People’s Campaign. When I read the first chapter, I was reminded of something I learned probably a dozen years ago: charitable giving is very...
Sharing a Daily Bread Meditation on Elijah to Start the New Year
Happy New Year everyone! I pray that your Christmastide (or other holiday celebration) has been a blessing. Today I want to do something rare for me: repost a meditation I’ve written for another organization. Periodically, I get asked by my church, St. Philip’s in the...
“Your Practice Will Be Faithful to You”
The quote above is the second half of a statement James Finley shared at CAC’s 2021 Conspire conference, which I wrote about earlier this year. The full Finley quote goes like this: “If you’re faithful to your practice, your practice will be faithful to you.” He...
Why Explore a Rule of Life in Advent?
Earlier this month, I led an Advent retreat day at St. Philip’s in the Hills Church, which is my home parish. Thirty of us gathered to explore and engage with the process of writing or refining a rule of life, which might seem like an unusual choice of topic for...
Announcing a New Book of Homilies: Thirsty, and You Gave Me Drink
It’s that time of year again—with the start of a new liturgical year comes the publication of a new book I copyedited. Last year I posted about Homilists for the Homeless, which gathers a variety of well-known and lesser-known preachers (like me) to share their...
Seeking the Thin Places in Our Holiday Conversations
I hope you had a good Thanksgiving—that you found things to be thankful for. I know that a lot of people were concerned about how conversations would go around the Thanksgiving table—and feared what would happen if voices rose and arguments ensued in our increasingly...
Getting Back to Basics in the Liturgical New Year
Happy Liturgical New Year! I first explained what I mean by this phrase back in my first year of pondering on this blog. Rather than recap those thoughts, I want today to share some of my reflections on something Richard Rohr said at the final CAC Conspire conference...
Reframing Thanksgiving in Light of Life Experience
There’s a lot of discussion in the US these days about our national Thanksgiving holiday. Human beings have a long and rich history of giving thanks to God (or gods) for a bountiful harvest, so no one nation holds a monopoly on the idea, or how it is celebrated. Here...
Reflecting on Food as a Language of Culture
Last month Henry and I spent a few days in New York City. One of the places we visited was the food hall known as Chelsea Market. As we walked from specialty shop to food stall to ethnic restaurant, I found myself thinking about food in different ways. I’ve traveled...
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