Christmas Day: The Call to Live with What Is at Hand December 25, 2022 Luke 2:7: And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. One of my favorite writing teachers, the late William Stafford, said that we could all write a poem a day if we lowered our standards enough. He then encouraged his students to do just that—to lower their standards and to write a poem each day using

Advent Part IV: The Call to Awe December 18, 2022 Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Last summer, watching my badly skinned knee heal, I went to the internet to read about biology I had long forgotten. I read about the circulatory system’s role in healing (thank you, heart; thank you, lungs) and about variou

Advent Part III: The Call to Be Open to Others December 11, 2022 Matthew 11:3. "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" One of my most memorable conversations happened in a chance encounter with a fellow traveler. I was returning home from a trip to New York City, and the southbound train leaving Penn Station was full. My first seat mate, an elderly man (that is, a man about my age), was rather taciturn. Though we exchanged a few polite words as we set

Advent Part II: The Call to Be Honest About My Part December 4, 2022 Matthew 3:2. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." It’s easy to notice and name behaviors that someone else should repent of. Politicians and other public figures are easy targets, but stories also abound of ordinary people behaving badly: travelers argue on airplanes, customers shout in check-out lines, diners harangue servers, drivers rage on roadways. I admit feeling judgmental about such peo

Advent Part I: The Call to Pay Attention November 27, 2022 Matthew 24:42. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. I was once in a writing workshop in which the instructor began most sessions asking participants to list details—concrete, specific details: ten things we had seen that morning on the way to class, five sounds we had heard before breakfast, three things we had tasted or smelled. The exercise sounds simple, but for me it was often