Come eat with us! Gather as neighbors so that strangers might become friends. Join us around the tables so that we can build up our community with love and kindness. Celebrate and give thanks at the Annual Community Thanksgiving. The dinner will be held at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Grand Marais. The meal will be served family... READ MORE >
It had been a long trip in a van that seemed to grow smaller every day. I was with my new husband and our four children on a camping trip intended to help us bond as a family. We had been traveling for days and we were all worn out and more than a little miserable. No one could agree... READ MORE >
O give thanks to God, for God is good; for God’s steadfast love endures forever. (Psalm 107:1) Lately I taste God’s love and goodness as I munch on fresh chives, dandelions, wild strawberries and hear it in the song of white-throated sparrows and the hum of bees as they find nectar in newly emerging blossoms. I see it in the... READ MORE >
“Don’t just do something, stand there.” A wise friend and colleague used to say this to me often. She always challenged us when people were rushing to judgment or knee-jerk reactions. Another member of our group would respond with, “Be still, and know that I am God!” For him it was always an invitation to prayer, to including God in... READ MORE >
There were 52 candles in two pans of sand, one for each of the young people officially graduating from Cook County High School in 2018. Our prayer at the Baccalaureate service last week included lighting a candle for each graduate as we spoke their name and asked for God to bless them. We read scripture from Paul’s letter to the... READ MORE >
Gathering around a campfire weaves a group together, sometimes in conversation, sometimes in song or silence. There is something about the warmth, something about the flames that draws us into companionship. Recently, we built a fire to burn our dried out Christmas tree. The flames sparked high and bright for a brief moment as we added each section to the... READ MORE >
“The women wept and I wept. I too cried for the lost people, their ancestors and mine. But I was also weeping with a curious joy. Despite the murders, rapes and suicides, we had survived. The middle passage and the auction block had not erased us. Not humiliations nor lynchings, individual cruelties nor collective oppression had been able to eradicate... READ MORE >
The nectarine was warm, almost hot, and so full of flavor. It was a journey of seconds from the tree to my mouth. “O Taste and see that God is good” writes the Psalmist. The body of the nectarine was beautiful, the color and flavor deeper than any I have ever bought in a store. It was an especially delicious... READ MORE >
Peace be with you. Trouble has found them, fear has captured them and they are huddled behind a locked door. Peace be with you. They see Jesus and the first words they hear from him are, “Peace be with you.” There is no finger pointing, no words of judgment, no anger, no retaliation, just the same words they heard before... READ MORE >
Walking makes my heart sing. Some of my earliest memories are walking through the forest or along the sea, up hill or down, across prairie or along a river, at sunrise or sunset, under the stars or in the bright light of day. I listen and learn best when I am walking. It is my deepest discipline of prayer or... READ MORE >
