April 19, 2025 For years now, every Saturday before Easter Sunday, the final words of Prince Hamlet as he lay dying come to me: "The rest is silence." In regard to Holy Week, the false conviction, illegal trial, and immoral death sentence of an innocent man are over. And so we wait . . .Continue reading "Saturday of Holy Week ~ Silence"
Friday of Holy Week ~ Forsaken
April 18, 2025 With the current events of the world, and especially in my own country, the States, feeling forsaken is becoming a more regular occurrence, forsaken by friends, by representatives, by the president. Then there are the forsaken graduate students who are being unconstitutionally jailed and deported, forsaken federal workers who no longer haveContinue reading "Friday of Holy Week ~ Forsaken"
Thursday of Holy Week: Remembering to Wash Feet
April 17, 2025 Today’s appointed gospel is from John 13:1-15, where at the Passover dinner (the Last Supper), Jesus washes the feet of his twelve closest friends. A colleague and I once discussed why foot washing isn’t considered a sacrament in the traditional Church. The basis for the two sacraments that Protestants observe, baptism andContinue reading "Thursday of Holy Week: Remembering to Wash Feet"
Wednesday of Holy Week ~ Betrayal
April 15, 2025 Betrayal. One of the harshest words and most painful actions. We’ve no doubt all experienced a heart-rending betrayal at some time in our lives, and we’re fortunate if it’s only been one. And, we’ve probably all betrayed someone else (or ourselves) at some time in our lives. Today’s gospel passage (John 13:Continue reading "Wednesday of Holy Week ~ Betrayal"
Tuesday of Holy Week ~ The Invitation
April 15, 2025 The priest and theologian Henri Nouwen wrote, “Pay attention to the people God puts in your path if you want to discern what God is up to in your life.” I wonder what the Greeks in today’s gospel passage discerned when they met Jesus as described in John 12: 20-33. After askingContinue reading "Tuesday of Holy Week ~ The Invitation"
Monday of Holy Week ~ Do Not Be Afraid
April 14, 2025 I keep a stack of notecards with quotations on them that have touched me over the years. Today’s message is, “Do not be afraid,” mentioned as early as the Book of Genesis when God makes a covenant with Abraham all the way through scripture to the Book of Revelation: "Do not be afraid;Continue reading "Monday of Holy Week ~ Do Not Be Afraid"
Vermont Night
April 12, 2025 Vermont Night “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Somewhere outside of Montpeliermiles from the lights of townwith autumn approachingbut not yetI stand under the night skyand gaze up.Such a simple actraising my face to nightmy sight to lightafterContinue reading "Vermont Night"
Spring Ephemerals
Spring wildflowers, March 19, 2025 Ephemerals(plants that flower briefly once in the spring) I walk the woods seeking spring's ephemerals,turning leaf and rock like a child seeks treasures, here in the woods of the Creek, the Cherokee,here where the creek clatters freely down limestone. Here mottled trilliums blanket the floor;hepatica's white petals blanket the moss.Continue reading "Spring Ephemerals"
Morning Prayer
March 13, 2025 Lauds And is this prayer?Just this, the shade rolled upabove smudged window panes,two unmatched candles on the sill,a vase of store-bought mumsa bright offering?Outside, the sun seepsinto the faded gray skybefore it brushes itwith the rose and saffronof another new beginning.A curtain of still-naked treesprepares to bud forthin faithful hope. Can thisContinue reading "Morning Prayer"
The God-kiss
March 11, 2025 Some years ago, a term came to my mind that describes the serendipitous, often unnoticed, gifts that Love provides us. I call them “God-kisses.” They've always been, always will be, yet how often we miss them. Yesterday, I received such a kiss, though I almost stepped on it. I was walking throughContinue reading "The God-kiss"
Spirit Reflections 