Sometimes when I’m driving I switch on conservative talk radio. What intrigues me most on these stations is the fear. According to this subculture’s world view—we live in a very scary world, full of conspiracy, of evil cloaked as good, of impending doom. Interwoven with the sense of this evil “now” is nostalgia for the “good old days” when the... READ MORE >
Here in Cook County, conversations often drift toward the practical—outhouses, composting toilets, etc. I’ve heard people complain that you can’t just put in an outhouse anymore. No more digging a hole in the woods, putting your outhouse over it and using it. Gone are “the good old days,” before it became complicated to dispose of our waste. I was thinking... READ MORE >
We sometimes complain about the lack of diversity in Cook County. And it’s true— you don’t see a lot of burkas here. I’ve lived in many more diverse places. When I lived in Cape Town I could walk down the street and pass someone fresh from the bush, carrying a bundle on her head, and next a retired general from... READ MORE >
Of course we can’t. Understand the death of Christ, I mean. Just as our limited human minds cannot understand God, they can never encompass something as mysterious and boggling as God in human form dying. Augustine said, “If I think I have understood God, then what I have understood is not God.” We could as easily say, “If I think... READ MORE >
Rhythms of Darkness and Light—the third annual collaboration between the Grand Marais Art Colony and Spirit of the Wilderness Episcopal Church, opens on March 23. Sixty artists, responding to a call, have expressed the movement from light through darkness, to spring through winter, to resurrection through death. And what a variety of expressions! Oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, beads, collage, engraving,... READ MORE >
When I was in school, we had to choose—art or music? I chose music and so I’d never done any drawing or painting. Then a friend gave me a wonderful birthday present: a drawing class at the Art Colony. As we began to draw, I realized that there were many things I had never seen. Not only had I not... READ MORE >
Neuroscientist Oliver Sacks writes about a man who appeared to be in a coma for decades. Then his doctors figured out that he was not brain dead but cold—in a kind of hibernating state. They treated him and he came back to life— memory intact, able to talk and move—almost as if he’d been asleep for the winter like one... READ MORE >
I can think of many reasons why NOT church: 1. The church has been hypocritical— talking the talk,but not walking the walk.2. The church has been cruelly manipulative—threatening people with eternaldamnation if they don’tplay by certain rules.3. The church has underlined power structuresthat favor privileged whitemales.4. The church has treatedpeople as second classcitizens—blacks, nativeAmericans, women, gaysand lesbians.5. People in churches... READ MORE >
May 21, 2011 has come and gone—no end of the world. Still, that’s been revised to October 21, 2011, so at least we have another date. Or maybe it’s 2012 when the Mayan calendar runs out. In 1970, I left behind being a hippy and became a Jesus freak. I went to Bible Study every night of the week. It... READ MORE >
Many people say they are “spiritual, not religious.” What do they mean? Sometimes it’s a vote against religious institutions: one we can understand. The church is a flawed human institution— see clergy sexual abuse and the Crusades, for example. And while some would argue that the church has also done great good—(see the abolition of slavery and dismantling of apartheid),... READ MORE >
