Depression, Suicide and Wisdom in the Digital Age

I’m really not sure what to do with all of the social media commentary around Robin Williams’ death. The frenzy was as fast and furious as it was predictable; I saw the first social media post using Mr. Williams’ death make points about mental illness and suicide within two hours of seeing the news that … Continue reading →

Dusty, Broken, Precious

I never quite know who it’s going to be, but I always know it’s going to happen. Every year on Ash Wednesday, I mark the sign of the cross on people’s foreheads with the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And every year, one of those people sticks in … Continue reading →

Copping Out vs. Doubling Down

There is an old story about a young man who would every day open his Bible looking for direct, personal communication from God. He would close his eyes, let the Bible fall open at random, put his finger down on the page, and then read whatever was at the tip of his finger as a … Continue reading →

George, Irma and Jesus

Something pretty remarkable happened during worship yesterday in one of the congregations I’m blessed to serve. The congregation gathered for worship, sang hymns, and heard scripture read. After reading the Gospel lesson from the Sermon on the Mount, I stood up to preach. Very shortly after the beginning of the sermon, though, we all realized … Continue reading →

The Forgiveness Quandary

One of the simplest, yet most profound, truths I have encountered in life is that “hurting people hurt people.” When we’ve been deeply hurt, we have a tendency to lash out, to want to exact retribution and revenge, to make the person who hurt us hurt as much as we do. We tend to believe … Continue reading →

The Sacred Story

On Friday, February 7th, the world of biblical studies lost a giant. Father Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, died at the Jesuit infirmary of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus, in Weston, Massachusetts. Father Harrington was a biblical scholar of international renown, and to mark his passing, America magazine has published a link … Continue reading →

Thanksgiving With the Family

I’ve come to think of the Sacrament of the Altar (aka Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, the Mass) as a multifaceted jewel: what I see there depends on what perspective I look at it from, but what I see there is always beautiful. This multifaceted nature is reflected, I think, in the various … Continue reading →

Not Looking Away

I remember it like it was yesterday. It’s one of the few times I can say with some certainty that I heard the voice of God speak. It was in the late winter of 2001, and I was in the middle of my first year of seminary. The weather was starting to warm up, and … Continue reading →

Choosing Mary or Martha

“But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’” –Luke 10:41-42  In Luke 10:38-42, we find one of the best known stories in all of the Gospels, the … Continue reading →

All Our Answers Are Wrong

A three-year-old little girl died today. Her name was Hala Abu Sebakha. She died because Israel launched an airstrike in Gaza, because a Palestinian sniper from Gaza shot an Israeli who was doing maintenance on the border fence, because the Israelis did this…because the Palestinians did that…because…because…because… Hala, or هالة, means aura or glory in … Continue reading →