This fall-ish weather has been great – is Columbus like this all the time?!  It’s also somewhat of a reminder that summer is vanishing and the school year is pretty near.  Many of you have had the chance to take vacations out of town, are currently on vacation, or are planning one soon.  Wendell Berry is a favorite writer of mine (as you’ll be reminded on many occasions, I’m sure) and I came across this poem this week.  Vacation well, and may your pictures take you deeper into the experience rather than distance you from it. The Vacation  By Wendell Berry Once there was a man who filmed his vacation. He went flying down the river in his boat with his video camera to his eye, making a moving picture of the moving river upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly toward the end of his vacation. He showed his

Three items that caught my eye today to pass along this midweek: 1. Jesus – One of the top current nonfiction bestsellers is called Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan.  As the title suggests, it is one scholar’s effort to detail the historical setting in which Jesus lived – Roman occupied Palestine in the first century.  As the title also suggests, the author believes Jesus to best be characterized as a zealot, a political subversive.  This is not a new claim, but the book is generating a lot of interest.  Reza Aslan is a scholar of religion who happens to be Muslim, which, unfortunately, has been a source of criticism, but has also elevated the book’s profile.  Among the many areas it touches on, the book affirms the historicity of Jesus’ crucifixion – which is actually denied by Islamic teaching, and challenges the literal

For the last number of years Abbie and I have become more involved in growing, harvesting, and preserving our own food – or food that family or friends have grown. We had chickens in our backyard in Cincinnati that through some miracle consistently turned our food scraps we would feed them into delicious eggs. But when we put our Cincinnati house on the market we hid our coop in a neighboring garage and planted grass seed over our garden. Didn’t want to scare off any potential buyers. This year has been one long transition, and we’re on the home stretch. We’re doing work on the house this week, packing up belongings from Cincinnati on Friday, and moving in here on Saturday. The pre-occupation with the details of the transition have put me totally out of touch with the growing season this summer. A few days ago my mom brought me

There’s been a lot of focus on breath this week at church.  Vacation Bible School is in full swing with the theme, “Breathe in, God gives life.”  We’ve talked about how the Hebrew word for breath – ruakh – is the same word translated Spirit and wind.  Scriptures so far have included the breath of life in Genesis 2 in God’s humorous, and profound, formula for making a person (Dirt + Breath = Human).  We’ve talked about Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones, and the impossible hope of breath giving life where there was no life.  Yesterday we looked at the disciples crossing of the stormy sea and Peter’s willingness to get out of the boat to meet Jesus on the waters.  Here the wind/spirit/breath is the cause not of peace, but turmoil and trial and, ultimately, a deepening of faith.  We’ve talked about how prayer is as accessible