Be sure to follow the news over the holiday, our professor told us as we headed out the door. It was 2002, and I was a freshman journalism student in Washington, DC. Because this is when the powers-that-be do their worst. When no one is paying attention, he practically had to shout over us to … Continue reading Herod, Blackwater, and the War on Christmas →

What are their names? I asked, staring at the picture before me in my spiral-bound Catechism workbook. I don't remember how old I was, but since that time, the image has seared into my brain. Through somewhat blurry sepia-tones, I could make out the bodies of two women - their sandaled feet protruding from under … Continue reading Those women in sandals who died in El Salvador →

I haven't known what to say since the election. I haven't needed to. So many others have said so much, it hardly seems that my two cents would offer anything not already covered in the civic discourse; at least among moderates, liberals, and progressives. That civic discourse, I've noticed, reads one of two ways: A … Continue reading Being right and being good →

How can we tend to our souls in these difficult days? Each day, I say to myself, I will pray. I will center. I will show compassion for those around me. Then, I falter. Then, anxiety calls me, like a siren, into a fog of haphazard distraction. Mindlessly, I scroll the fire updates and the … Continue reading Soul-tending →

For a moment, two weeks ago, I thought that I was home. The air was thick in the darkness, humid like Western Pennsylvania in the summer time, and the roll of thunder outside of my window slowly roused me from sleep. But then I heard the howl of the wind. I woke up with a … Continue reading One day at a time →

On a particularly difficult day, in a series of difficult days, I found myself not only unable to attend to my long to-do list, but also unable to take joy in any other activity. Frozen on the couch, I asked my wife what she thought I should do. (She is also a pastor, and she … Continue reading “Be gentle with yourself” and other lies I tell →

It was a week an a half ago that I met him. Let's say that his name was Isaiah. He was young, so young that I almost did a double-take. I don't think we've met before, I said. Do I know you? Do I know me? he replied, barely making eye contact. Quickly, I inferred … Continue reading People like them →

Fearfully and wonderfully made, she said. And then, Breathe, as she plunged the needle into my back. I pressed my fingers against the wall, and made a mental note that I needed to use hand sanitizer as soon as this was over. It would be a while, because it was, as Christians say, a kairos … Continue reading Fearful, wonderful →

Halfway through my third year of ministry, I tried to run away to the convent. Now, I forget the specific reason. Perhaps it was that my Annual Conference had yet to to decide if it would ordain openly gay candidates. It might have been the approaching first anniversary of my grandmother's death. Whatever the motivation, … Continue reading More prayer, not less →

Like many things, chronic pain was something that I thought I understood by proxy. I had watched my grandmother suffer under the weight of her increasing affliction. As years passed, she hunched over, more and more; finding less and less relief. Sometimes, I relive the progression with photographs. My grandmother suffers from chronic back pain, … Continue reading Christ and Chronic Pain →