Releasing Toxic Souvenirs. I. Christian Union. It is early evening, and the September rain drizzles incessantly outside Room 231 in the Students’ Union building. The single-pane windows soon steam up as the room fills with students, the chatter increasing in volume as hugs are exchanged and holiday stories told. I sit toward the back, making […]
Show Me A Risen Hope
by on April 21, 2019 Leave a Comment
I didn’t hear about the bombings in Sri Lanka until after our Easter service. I am the head pastor, and only person on staff in a little church on the edge of a big city. It was a really busy morning. I was ironing the banners, the brightly colored ones that replaced the dark contemplative […]
The Darkest Day
by on April 18, 2019 Leave a Comment
It’s always darkest before the dawn, at least, that’s what they tell me— “Each new day brings resurrection.” But to get there, we must always move through the dark. There are gifts to be found in darkness. That, too, is true: Rest, coolness, quiet. But terrors hide out in its creases and folds, ever ready […]
The Waters of Liberation
by on April 17, 2019 Leave a Comment
I’ve lived on the banks of a river that is the stuff of legends—those storied waters that cradled civilization and was the bridge between life and death for the ancients. It is obvious why Egypt is called “the gift of the Nile” once you spend a couple months in the sandy, dry heat. No life […]
Liberated from Fear
by on April 16, 2019 Leave a Comment
I wasn’t always afraid. After graduate school, I hopped on a plane to a village 60 kilometers outside of Prague where I lived for a year in a construction building and taught English as a Foreign Language at a local Gymnázium (high school). My roommate and I occupied two rooms in the construction building. The […]
