Thank you Bishop Rinehart for your thoughts about applying an ancient practice to our very modern challenges. Though appropriate any time, Lent seems a particularly good time to incorporate this practice into our lives. Lent begins next Wednesday with Ash Wednesday. Lent and Learning to Fast Again by Michael Rinehart God cannot fill what is full. — Mother Teresa The three disciplines of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Jesus instructs his followers on these three […]
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Who Was Valentine?
All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt. Charles M. Schulz We’ve barely lugged all the holiday trappings back to wherever they were before Thanksgiving. Now we’re surrounded by reminders to get something (preferably something chocolate) for Valentine’s Day. How did a Christian martyr from the 3rd Century end up being used to market flowers, candy, romance-themed movies, and cards? There are several St. Valentins for whom this annual shop-for-your-sweetheart-or-wish-you-had […]
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Christmas Carol
It’s hard to imagine a Christmas season without Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol making an appearance. This Christmas holiday season finds me giving copious quantities of cash to various home supply shops as I organize my new apartment. My daughter and her daughter are celebrating all of us being together this year by helping me bake cookies for a church fundraiser to support a local charity. I hope you’ll enjoy this rerun from 2018. May the transformed […]
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Searching for Home
I’m currently in Ohio, staying with my brother while searching for my next home. I’ve had a great time exploring the area and contemplating various options. As I told the realtor who is suggesting possibilities, I either want to rent or buy something, either old or new, in or not in a planned senior retirement community. I know. Searching for a home takes a lot of imagination and investigating. As I do this, I’m also […]
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Thanksgiving History
As we approach Thanksgiving 2022, it is time to again set the Thanksgiving History record straight. The Pilgrims were not the first Americans to have a period of thanks for an abundant harvest, nor did they invite the Natives to join them. Many Indigenous North American communities had their own traditions of giving thanks for a fall harvest centuries before the Mayflower sailed into Cape Cod Bay. The Natives who gathered with the English settlers in […]
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