My father died earlier this year. He died peacefully, on his own terms, with family bedside. The last time we went to the hospital, my dad knew this was his final visit. He told the medical team he was ready to die. When he was moved from the ICU to hospice care, we gathered around his bedside knowing the days and hours were growing thin. He wasn’t able to say much, the strength was leaving his bo...  Read More

A common refrain in my Eastertide preaching is that in some ways it’s a shame that we know what’s going to happen on Easter morning. We miss out on the holy shock and surprise of the resurrection after the heaviness and grief of Holy Week. This year, I am feeling more and more grateful that, all throughout Lent and Holy Week, we knew the promise of resurrection was coming.Lent, in my experience, i...  Read More

We were so excited to meet our niece that night.She was our first niece (or nephew) and she’d just been born.  After our oldest son finished his day at school (he was in first grade at the time), we loaded the family in the minivan, packed dinner to eat on the road (lunch meat sandwiches, chips, apples, etc.) and started driving.  It would take about two hours to get to the hospital where our beau...  Read More

After other members of her group were beaten, police officers led her into a large room.  There, two black men from the jail were told to beat Fannie Lou or face a beating themselves.  Fannie Lou was held down while the men beat her with a makeshift blackjack until they exhausted themselves.  Then the police officers took their turn.  Fannie Lou suffered kidney damage that would never heal and had...  Read More

In the last few weeks my family gathered for celebrations and traditions, we enjoyed an incredible long-planned vacation, dealt with worry around needs of family/friends, wrestled with feelings and realities around the political landscape, enjoyed the snow and days off from school, and reeled from the death of the oldest son (16) of close friends.It’s a lot.I wonder what the last season of your li...  Read More

I have a Lenten discipline that you may find odd (some people call me extra). Every Lent, especially during Holy Week, I make sure to mow the grass. That in itself is not that remarkable. However, while I mow the grass, I listen to the entirety of Radiohead’s 1997 album OK Computer.The album is pretty dark (and so is Lent), so now is probably a good time for a warning. This is not going to be a ch...  Read More

On tough days, my family and I have Taylor Swift dance parties. We turn up the volume on a track like “Paper Rings” or “Look What You Made Me Do” and let loose with the sort of wild, flailing dance moves that you’d never throw on the floor of a club, but which somehow fit perfectly in your living room. After a couple of songs, we’ve usually released enough stress that we’re ready to move on to the...  Read More

Ephesians 4:2-6, NIV2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.If you know, you k...  Read More

? We’re leaving all the windows open;We don’t even mind the rain,Or where we let the floors get wet,So what if the hardwood stains? ?This past year, for me, has been one holy invitation after another to leave the windows of my life open to God’s renewing rains of honesty. Perhaps you know, too, what that’s like - to be drenched by the seasonal or momentary rains of God’s unmasking in your life.May...  Read More

(Song Translation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFtmPRV-9QU)After the Korean War, Korea became one of the few countries to maintain a mandatory draft in the post-war era. The responsibility of defending the nation has largely fallen on young men’s shoulders. They are typically drafted between the ages of 19 and 35, and you can choose when to enter the service within this age range. I decided to...  Read More

When I was younger, I saw my daddy cryAnd curse at the windHe broke his own heart and I watchedAs he tried to reassemble itAnd my momma sworeThat she would never let herself forgetAnd that was the day that I promisedI'd never sing of love if it does not existBut darling, you are the only exceptionYou are the only exceptionYou are the only exceptionYou are the only exceptionMaybe I know somewhere d...  Read More

When I was younger, I saw my daddy cryAnd curse at the windHe broke his own heart and I watchedAs he tried to reassemble itAnd my momma sworeThat she would never let herself forgetAnd that was the day that I promisedI'd never sing of love if it does not existBut darling, you are the only exceptionYou are the only exceptionYou are the only exceptionYou are the only exceptionMaybe I know somewhere d...  Read More