Hope and the Spirit

“The wind blows wherever it pleases,” Jesus once said to Nicodemus, “You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.”  (John 3:8  NIV) As I am writing this I look out the window and watch the last of the lovely...

Hope and Spirit

Hope is always found in spirit. They are forever linked. Hope is the essence of the energy  force that drives the spirit. To be “in the spirit” one needs to feel hopeful. To win in sports, we must have the will and hope to succeed. To be successful in...

Beauty and Time

Scott Russell Sanders tells a charming story about his daughter’s wedding. He is in the vestibule of the church with the wedding party. “Clumsy in my rented finery–patent leather shoes that are a size too small and starched shirt and stiff black...
Is Beauty Beautiful?

Is Beauty Beautiful?

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...

'Tis the gift to be simple

Just down the road from my home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts is the Hancock Shaker Village, a living history museum on the site of a former Shaker community. It is a beautiful spot, with oft-photographed buildings such as this Round Stone Barn.  Both my children...
Little Boxes and Small Houses

Little Boxes and Small Houses

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...

Keep It Flowing

This week we look at Matthew 6: 19-34. 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and...

Where is Wall St?

This weeks reading from Amos 5: 21-27 couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. I am reminded of the scene in DeMille’s movie The Ten Commandments where the slave driver Edward G. Robinson (bad casting) reminds the Israelites of their former life in...

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