I went onto the Internet the other night looking to download a graphic to use on a Christmas e-mail to send to family and friends. I rather naively did a Google image search of the word “Christmas” thinking that there would be plenty of images of the child lying in a manger, with Mary and Joseph, shepherds and wise men... READ MORE >
Like everyone I know, all I can think to ask is … why? Why would a quiet and intelligent young man walk into an elementary school and murder 20 first graders? Why would he turn his gun on six more adults before taking his own life? What is it about our culture that this happens over and over and over... READ MORE >
There is a wonderful poem written by Catherine Alder called Advent Hands that includes this verse: I see the hands of John, wornfrom desert raging stormsand plucking locusts fromsand ripped rocks beneath theremnant of a Bethlehem star. A howling wind like some lostwolf cries out beneath themoon, or was that John? This loneliness, enough to makea grown man mad. He’s... READ MORE >
I ran across a story many years ago that I often think of as the season of Advent gets under way. I have no idea of who wrote this, and it may or may not be true, but I like it anyway and I love to share it. The story takes place in 19th century London in a home for... READ MORE >
There is no question about it. Advent is my favorite season of the church year. Certainly the other seasons each hold within them the wonder of the gospel as well. Epiphany reminds us that Christ came into the world for all people, not just for a select few. The season of Lent places us at the foot of the cross... READ MORE >
For the kingdom of heaven islike a landowner who wentout early in the morning tohire laborers for his vineyard.Matthew 20: 1 In the 20th chapter of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells a parable about workers who are hired to go out into the field to labor. Some are hired in the morning, some during the day, and others in the late... READ MORE >
When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and... READ MORE >
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a poet who lived in the first half of the 19th century. She wrote the words…“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.” Young Elizabeth Barrett lived with her parents for many years because of a childhood accident that left... READ MORE >
When I was in first grade I went to North Side Elementary School in Albert Lea. It was a school from a bygone era, with creaky wooden floors, drafty old windows and an asphalt playground. On the second floor sat a large wooden lost and found box that was filled to the top with articles of clothing. It was amazing... READ MORE >
Our family had the chance this past July to spend an afternoon at Niagara Falls, and so we did what thousands of tourists do every year, we boarded the Maid of the Mist tour boat and cruised right up beneath the falls. Those of you who have been on it know that when it circles in right beneath Horseshoe Falls,... READ MORE >
