People often ask me if my job is hard. I am a chaplain in a children's hospital and they presume difficulty. "How can you stomach all that suffering?" -- the subtext of their honest question: "Do you like your job?" My answer: "I couldn't say I like it; but I think it pleases God, andContinue reading "Hospital Notes #2: Children are much harder to hate"
Hospital Notes #1: You’re a bigger deal than you think.
I state my esteem for you because I believe that we too, even as strangers, can participate in the love-life of all things, the center of the universe, God, whenever we love.
Merry Epiphany, You Beautiful, Beloved Human!
The magi were the first to name Jesus as Messiah. This changed them. We, who receive the name beloved from Jesus are namers like them.
Being Mindful of God Being Mindful of Me
You know that famous story by O’Henry called the Gift of the Magi? On Christmas Eve, Della Young discovers that she has only $1.87 to buy a present for her husband Jim. She visits the nearby shop of a hairdresser who buys Della's long hair for $20. Della then uses the money to buy aContinue reading "Being Mindful of God Being Mindful of Me"
Making Room for the Promise
Expanding Promises Advent is the season of promises -- those that have been fulfilled in Jesus and those He gave us himself. Advent means "arrival." The word comes to us from the Latin, "Adventus", which is a translation of the Greek, "Parousia." The fancy words don't matter to me as much as their difference. HowContinue reading "Making Room for the Promise"
Between Some Birds and Me
Between Some Birds and Me Upon driving past a heron at sixty miles per hour on November 29, 2022 There was a time when herons would arrest Me on my path. For more than moment’s I Would stop to swallow all this beauty’s best Before it loped away. My widened eyes, Too greedy for a goodly view, approached In heart andContinue reading "Between Some Birds and Me"
No Need to Be Jacob Marley
No Need to Be Jacob Marley for Joel There is no need for me to be Jacob Marley, no shaking of chains in the night, No cold wandering moon to partake of, No threats to spit nor fatal portent cite. Because the ghost they have made is much worse Than I could be in my outpour of wrath. No, IContinue reading "No Need to Be Jacob Marley"
Remembered Forgetting
Remembered Forgetting for Briggs How many ghosts live mostly lost in livesLike ours? Some long and lasting, others brief,These friendships, journeys that do not arrive. Ways can divide by pride and bitter grief;Ambition, chance, desire; joy and neglect;And someone who was-is someone is not,Well, not to me......................................So I did not expectTo see him dead, forContinue reading "Remembered Forgetting"
How do you know the difference between your intuition and God speaking to you?
When you think of an exploding volcano, what do you think of? Is there a plume of smoke and ash rising into the sky or is there flowing lava in your mind? These are what I think of as the most iconic images of a volcano. And every volcano can do either one. These twoContinue reading "How do you know the difference between your intuition and God speaking to you?"
Becoming a Pilgrim in the Slow Lane
What did the Delaware driver who paid extra for their license plate to say "REMEMBR" want me to recall when they chose those letters for the back of their car? Did they want me to remember Jesus? Because I did. I remembered him like a flood. His face was engraved on the back of thatContinue reading "Becoming a Pilgrim in the Slow Lane"
Glassy Beams: A Corona of Sonnets
Remembering a childhood punishment and dreaming of the pure in heart who shall see God, I wrote this corona of sonnets which hopes to offer a continuous path through the passion of my brokenness, the hope of my human capacity for singleness of will, and the vision of my very self through the loving eyesContinue reading "Glassy Beams: A Corona of Sonnets"
Getting off the Track to Murder
Where did the church get this idea that we needed to be hard -- like we’re some teacher with a ruler ready to rap your knuckles if you get out of line? People are scared of the church because it is too often like all the other institutions that are constantly watching us. We’re alwaysContinue reading "Getting off the Track to Murder"
Earth and Sky Making Love Between My Head and Heart
Aggrilacious odor (Greek and Latin concur) Of earth-goddess veins; "Petrichor" numbered and named by Joy (Isabel, "pledged to Yah"), With Homer riding high (Homer, also "pledge"), Receiving tribute From Richard's study wall (rīk-hardu, "king strong"). The lengths we have gone To know and name all we know; To reign like so many Richards Over everyContinue reading "Earth and Sky Making Love Between My Head and Heart"
Early Dark — A Friday Sonnet
In secret woods, tucked between business parks,The fireflies wake early for their eveningDance, which today begins at noon. The sparksOf yellow-green presaging the lightningWhich gathers above my deepening shade.And I contemplate the early leaving Which severe weather on my way has made--Storms of words which would make clocks deceiving,Calendars fly forward years in a score;ErasingContinue reading "Early Dark — A Friday Sonnet"
A Poem from Galatians Chapter 2 on Peter and Paul’s Feast Day
Today is the feast day of Peter and Paul on the Christian Calendar. I was thinking about their dialogue in Galatians 2 (as Paul tells it), and praying about how my own heart and mind has changed, and hasn't. This Way of Jesus is a daily discipline. May we be so diligent as Peter andContinue reading "A Poem from Galatians Chapter 2 on Peter and Paul’s Feast Day"
Working With Worry
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Jesus (Matthew 6:34) Recently I was talking to a mother in the cardiac intensive care unit and I stumbled across a new insight about worry in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount: Don't forget toContinue reading "Working With Worry"
A lesson from Excitebike: You HAVE changed, which means you can change again. Thank God!
I must confess, I have little hope today that the US Government will soon figure out how to escape the clutches of the gun lobby. But I also confess my hope in the Lord who can change anything and everything, especially me. This week, my hope in the Lord's transforming power was confirmed as IContinue reading "A lesson from Excitebike: You HAVE changed, which means you can change again. Thank God!"
Ambition With No Desire
Ambition With No DesireFor Sir Gibbie“Ambition is but the evil shadow of aspiration.” George MacDonald Ambition with no desire,Striving but never wanting,Getting without any receiving—Houses built on sand. And the sky is full with threatOf rain—of trembling sheets of rain.Master Mason, give meBetter materials for this home:Aspiration’s holy fire,Worthy work for worthy hands,My self asContinue reading "Ambition With No Desire"
The Gospel is God’s Spell
The origin of the word "gospel" is just like it sounds. The Gospel is "God's spell." In Old English, before it took on it's more magical connotations, "spell" meant simply "story." In my experience the Gospel has not failed to correspond with its later enchanted associations. This is probably because stories are, in their essence,Continue reading "The Gospel is God’s Spell"
Good Friday Poem
Holy Week Sonnet Number 6 Not many anymore have had to liftA body. This sacred duty residesIn institutions staffed by those on shift.When loved ones die, we call, and stand aside,And others feel their weight. We have our own,In head and heart, the pain is very hard.We feel, but rarely in our limbs and bones;AndContinue reading "Good Friday Poem"
Today, if you hear his voice 