Blog, HOPE: A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE, Week 7
The word beauty brings to mind a set of visual images for me. I’m guessing this is, at least to some degree, a shared human tendency. I right away think of mountain landscapes, Arizona sunsets, the Sistine Chapel, my mountain bike and Marisa Tomei. The...
Blog, HOPE: A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE, Week 6
Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky tacky, Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes all the same. There’s a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one, And they’re all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the...
Blog, HOPE: A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE, Week 4
If you saw the Darkwood Brew show last week, you probably caught my Skype-in from Jamaica, along with Gregg Brekke and Nick Vrettos. Many of you already knew Gregg. He’s an editor and news director for the United Church of Christ, and has been a previous guest...
Blog, HOPE: A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE, Week 1
Last week on Darkwood Brew we had bit of a preview of the coming series, Hope: A Pessimist’s Guide. From all the feedback we’ve been receiving, our viewers and Brewers loved the reflective conversation with Chris, Josh and Eric, the amazing music of Chuck...
Blog, Can We Talk? Rant. Rejoice. Reimagine. The Psalms
In the valley of the shadow, darkness is the partner of light. Our journey through life is a journey into death. We shed old cells and form new neural pathways. We put way childish things and then we put away adult things. We grow strong and eventually grow weak....
Blog, Can We Talk? Rant. Rejoice. Reimagine. The Psalms, Part 7: Psalm 27
My friend Paolo is dead. Much of his life was spent in the fight against HIV. He lived with the disease himself and worked as an advocate and educator for others in the struggle. His loss leaves a deep and painful hole. I met Paolo several years ago and we became...
Blog, Can We Talk? Rant. Rejoice. Reimagine. The Psalms, Part 6: Psalm 66
The psalmist in 104 reminds me of the Double Rainbow guy. He’s giddy. Silly. Excited by the scope of creation. I get that. Creation is pretty amazing stuff. We’re Creation people. In fact, I think just about everyone is. Just about. Not the...
Blog, Can We Talk? Rant. Rejoice. Reimagine. The Psalms, Part 5: Psalm 77
Fair question. In fact, it’s probably a necessary question. It stems, I think, from a fundamental logic problem. Can God change? Does God change? If it is possible for God to change even one tiny bit, even one atom – whatever a God atom is – in a...
Blog, Can We Talk? Rant. Rejoice. Reimagine. The Psalms, Part 4: Psalm 137
Each week I’ve been posting one of my photographs that resonates for me as it relates to the psalm we’re covering at Darkwood Brew. The last couple weeks I used the picture as sort of a landing point. A final thought. This week, I’m going to lead...
Blog, Can We Talk? Rant. Rejoice. Reimagine. The Psalms, Part 3: Psalm 112
A few weeks ago my wife Anna and I were traveling back from San Diego to Tucson by car. In El Centro, small agricultural city in the desert along Highway 8, we stopped at a grocery store to grab some food and some drinks for the five or so hours ahead of us on the...
