Last week, I listened to an interview with the Most Rev. Hosam Elias Naoum, Archbishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East. Yes, that title is complex—and his job is even more complex, especially these days. For example,...
Two weeks ago, I stated rather bluntly that life has been downright horrid for most people in most countries throughout human history. My point there was to help us realize what a privileged time and place we inhabit. As the war in the Holy Land drags on, I find...
Over the past few days, I’ve been posting pictures of the Holy Land on Instagram because we were there on pilgrimage one year ago. So much has changed in one brief year, and yet so much remains fundamentally the same. The callous hardness of war seems endemic...
A few weeks ago, the daily meditation from SSJE’s “Brother Give Us a Word” caught and held my attention. The excerpt, from this sermon by Curtis Almquist, reads as follows: We don’t possess our own lives. We are stewards of the life that God has given us, and for...
I’d planned to post something else today (you’ll get it next week), but the war in the Holy Land is calling for some attention. Yes, everyone is posting about it—and that’s part of the reason I want to enter the conversation. There are so many people pontificating,...
Have you ever considered the water needs of the historic temple in Jerusalem? Until I visited the Holy Land, I hadn’t. This week, I invite you to join me in a brief exploration of this topic as I continue my summer reflections on water in the desert. Jerusalem is...