We are delighted that Bobby Gross, author of Living the Christian Year and who has contributed previous series during Lent and Advent, has agreed to write a new series of Lenten reflections on the theme of humility. My long-time friend and spiritual mentor turned 87 yesterday (we enjoyed a delicious dinner together at Outback!). I get why his mortality weighs on his mind. I am a year shy of seventy and thinking a lot about my upcoming retirement with, not surprisingly, a growing awareness of my finitude. … [Read more...] about Lenten Humility: Remembering our Creaturely Mortality
Ash Wednesday and the Gift of Lent
We are delighted that Bobby Gross, author of Living the Christian Year and who has contributed previous series during Lent and Advent, has agreed to write a new series of Lenten reflections with future pieces appearing on Mondays beginning February 26. Why would anyone think of the penitential season of Lent as a gift? Forty or so days leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday during which we deprive ourselves of good things—like coffee or chocolate or wine or social media—and fast on certain days and generally … [Read more...] about Ash Wednesday and the Gift of Lent
Seeing: The Feast of Abundance
We conclude this series taking us through the weeks of Advent and Christmastide with the Feast of Epiphany (January 6). Bobby Gross helps us reflect the abundance of life on offer in Christ, celebrated by this feast. After savoring the Feast of the Nativity for twelve days (not without some bitter flavors—honoring Stephen, the first martyr on Dec 26, remembering the slaughtered Holy Innocents on Dec 28, perhaps with fresh laments for the children of Gaza and their wailing mothers, along with the cries of bereft … [Read more...] about Seeing: The Feast of Abundance
Rejoicing: The Taste of Abundance
In this post on the fourth Sunday of Advent Bobby Gross invites to open ourselves to this elusive thing called "joy" as we ponder the mystery of the incarnation alongside Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds who heard the angelic announcement. We started this series on Christ the King Sunday longing for leaders who reflect both the strength and the compassion of a Shepherd/King. As Advent began, we voiced our aching desires to see greater justice and shalom in our world. The next week we considered the active work of … [Read more...] about Rejoicing: The Taste of Abundance
Hoping: On the Way Home
Our Advent post for the Third Week of Advent focuses on hope, essential yet hard to describe, "a feathered thing" lifting us on our journey from exile to our ultimate home. Emily Dickenson famously described hope this way: Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard[i] Intangible. Elusive. Hope is hard to grasp and hard to hold onto. Sometimes singing, sometimes silent … [Read more...] about Hoping: On the Way Home