So when I am at my best, I make one resolution, “Take the time to acknowledge those new mercies every single day.” Over the years, I've learned that rejoicing each morning in this newness of the Presence of God is a far more critical task than "make myself better than ever" type resolutions, especially the "exercise more and lose weight" ones. Read more
So the absolute absence of God is . . . absolute hell. That is the place where love cannot be, where all justice is twisted with the guilty rewarded and the innocent punished, where grudges are held forever and mercy never granted, where kindness makes no appearance, where the oppressed are further trampled and the privileged live without accountability, where music is forever silenced, where hope may no longer poke its head above the ground and breathe freely. Read more
With Christmas fast approaching and the season of too much spending, too much food and drink, and too many parties accompanying it, I turn my mind to Mary’s Magnificat. I am in danger. I was in the middle of my usual retired person’s morning routine: the dog stretched out in my lap (we call this “Mommy Lap” time), breakfast at my side, all while perusing a couple of actual print newspapers. I’ve long preferred print news because I tend to... Read more
Women working in sugar fields in India are getting unnecessary hysterectomies in order to keep working, essentially as slaves. How are you doing with keeping your baptismal vows? Do you think about this one very much: Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves? I think about it a lot, especially where continued violence against women is concerned. It’s not getting better. I feel so helpless... Read more
I do not blame those who voted for this sexual predator. They had their reasons, and many of those reasons were valid. I simply want some truth so we can all be set free. The memories swamped my brain and whacked my generally stable emotions into incoherence. The rape, the handsy gropes, the slam against the wall with a tongue thrust down my throat, the comments, the never-ending reminders of my lesser worth because I was a woman, the insistence... Read more
The GOP and much of the Christian world has embraced a man who is morally, spiritually, emotionally, educationally, and temperamentally unfit to be President of the US. This is a man who operates solely out of the basic principle of revenge/hit back harder and nastier to anyone who doesn't suck up to his massive ego. Read more
Donald Trump governs on “feral instinct.” Believe it. The “I’ve never met a Republican I didn’t like” Wall Street Journal thinks so. This quote is from an opinion piece in the Wednesday, July 31 edition of the Wall Street Journal: Mr. Roberts explains in a letter to the editor nearby that Project 2025 was an attempt to offer ideas to debate and govern. But his mistake was thinking that Mr. Trump cares about anyone’s ideas other than his own. He governs on... Read more
In case you didn’t know, being called a DEI candidate is a clear insult! Let’s see who all might qualify for that epithet. I see lots of negative political chatter about the Democratic Presidential Candidate, current Vice-President Kamala Harris. Many of her detractors claim she is a “DEI” candidate. Now, in case you didn’t know: this is very much meant as an insult. “DEI” stands for “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion,” a movement to open up our society more fully to historically... Read more
Despite what Trump voters think, I contend Mr. Trump was extremely lucky. I also know that anyone alive is extremely lucky because bad stuff is just around the corner for anyone. Eight years ago, while writing a newspaper column called “Ask the Thoughtful Pastor,” I received a question about Trump voters. The original column is here, and I will repeat some of it in this column but with updated material. The original question: Dear Thoughtful Pastor: I’ve noticed a lot... Read more
Like many “liberals,” I’ve been hearing horror stories about Project 2025. As a big believer in looking at the source material, I downloaded the whole sloggy 922 pages of it. It’s a straight, white man’s dream. Ah . . . Project 2025. What a lovely, utopian world: almost no Federal Government, locals handle all educational decisions, households all based on the nuclear family, daddy out to work to earn money, mommy taking care of the household, and the children happily... Read more
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