You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. (Psalm 71:20) I sometimes think of God as the divine switchboard operator. Not all that long ago, switchboard operators connected us to each other through a system of cables they manually moved around on their enormous switchboards. I was reminded of this when watching an episode of “The Crown.” […]
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Bicycling to a Better Life
You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 23:9) While our politicians are locked in gridlock debating how to treat immigrants and refugees, my hometown of Houston is busy welcoming strangers, immigrants, and refugees. Nearly one in four Houston area residents were born outside the United States. Over 100,000 of these immigrating residents are entrepreneurs who seek a better life for themselves […]
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Inside Nancy’s Noodle
Though we’ve not yet met in person, the paths of this guest blogger and I have criss-crossed in several places in the village of ELCA female clergy. Of the many articles I read and news commentaries I’ve heard on this topic, I think Pastor Nancy Kraft said it best. You can follow her on her blog at Inside Nancy’s Noodle. K.H. Is the World About to Turn? (a reflection on #metoo) By Pastor Nancy Kraft […]
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Thank Tisquantum for Thanksgiving
Before you carve into that turkey, pause to thank God for Tisquantum. You may have heard of him as Squanto. That’s his Anglicized name. Tisquantum was a member of the Patuxet tribe that lived in what is today Massachusetts. By whatever name you may know him, you probably do not know what a significant part he played in the traditional Thanksgiving story about the Pilgrims and Native Americans feasting together in the fall of 1621. […]
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500 Years Later – 1517 to 2017
In honor of the 500th Anniversary of the start of the Reformation, I am pausing from the post-Harvey blogs to reflect on the significance of that globe-changing movement that began October 31, 1517. Today we may rant and rail against political, religious, and business injustices and inequities, but at least we are we are free to do so. Five hundred years ago people in Europe were controlled by a complex system of royalty and religious […]
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