What comes to mind when you think of the word “taken”? Some of us might have the uncomfortable response of feeling “taken” advantage of.  We may have known people to take advantage of loved ones or of those things that we hold dear—our labor, our kindness, our friendship, our ignorance, our money, our beliefs, or… [Read More]

Like many of you, I have struggled this week.  I have struggled to understand in my heart how we can be so persistently divided in this country and how that division has played itself out in politics, policy, race, vision, and hope.  This weekend, my mind continued to grapple with the 200 plus incidents of… [Read More]

The year was 1665.  It was the year the bubonic plague struck a small Derbyshire village, Eyam (pronounced eem).  The plague that was carried there by a bolt of flea-infested cloth from London.  It was a year of rampant death, terrible grief, but also a year of wonders.  The author, Geraldine Brooks, weaves a beautiful… [Read More]

A friend of mine and her husband recently attended a concert.  It was an energetic dance band from the 70’s – but you can reminisce and then substitute your own favorite band.  My friends were so excited to be there that my friend and her husband and several others began to dance in their rows. … [Read More]

We know it when the color rises in our cheeks and we feel suddenly like it is 10 degrees warmer.  We may want to close our eyes and disappear indefinitely.  Or our eyes may look down, or anywhere but the person who stands right now before us.  We may start to stumble in our speech,… [Read More]

They had nothing to lose because already it felt as if they had already lost everything: their health, a sense of belonging to the larger society, and an intrinsic sense of self-worth.  The Master was passing through their border town, the region between Samaria and Galilee.  They were already outsiders, the ten of them were… [Read More]

Many years ago, in 597 BCE, a group of people was forcibly removed from their homeland by a foreign power—Nebuchadnezzar. They were as discouraged and devastated as the caged bird that dreams of freedom, and they cried bitter tears.  Psalm 137:1-4 describes their pain: “By the rivers of Babylon—there we sat down and there we… [Read More]