Nothing prepared me for all the bikes. I knew that 15-20,000 people ride RAGBRAI (The Register’s Annual Great Ride Across Iowa) each year. I knew that we would mostly be on two-lane roads, closed down to car traffic. To call it…
Bicycles, unicycles, elliptical machines, wheelchairs and roller blades became a metaphor for the Kin-dom of God. Actually, the people on these various and sundry vehicles are the kin-dom. Just imagine every possible person and body type on as many different kinds…
I was just being practical. I recently moved from a larger space into a 700-square foot, two-bedroom apartment, plus a small storage unit. I had no choice. I had to get rid of stuff. You see, about five years ago, I…
When I drove to the retreat center near Cincinnati inundated in pouring rain, thunder and lightening, even hail, I thought very seriously about turning back. I was already frustrated by the incredibly amount of work I had to get done before…
Fear is so pervasive in our lives and culture. Whether it is fear that prevents us from doing the next great thing in our lives to the fear that prevents us from standing up for what’s right in the culture or…
I went to a movie on a Monday afternoon. There. I said it out loud. This past month when my one large half-time pieces of contract work ended, I intentionally did not look to replace the work quickly and opted instead…
Five or six years ago, I began to notice it. That tingly tightening of anxiety across my chest as I thought about the many favorite cookies I wanted to make for the Christmas season — a feeling that that emerges far…
According to the book of Phillipians, God’s peace is something “which surpasses all understanding.” (Phillipians 4:7, ESV) If it surpasses all understanding, how then do we access it? You just have to feel it. Or fumble around for it. I remember…
We have a problem with darkness. Not only because the white majority in the U.S. has some seriously, immoral unresolved needs for power and control over people with darker skin. Not only because we anesthetize ourselves with drugs, alcohol, food, caffeine…
I had just finished a morning run. Dripping with sweat and in desperate need of a shower, I noticed my phone ringing. Ivy Beckwith, my friend and colleague on the Faith Formation Team at the national UCC was calling. I was…
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