On Monday evening about 50 CMC folks gathered with about 3000 others from around the city for the annual BREAD Nehemiah Action at the Celeste Center at the Fairgrounds.  This was my first experience being a part of this gathering and so it was impressive to see this many folks turn out for a show of people power to address key justice issues in the county.  Along with broad interfaith cooperation, one of things I most appreciate about BREAD is how we choose a single area of focus each year and a specific way of addressing that issue locally.  The three issues addressed at this gathering were public education, immigration, and mental health – the first two being follow ups from previous years.  These are all huge issues, and so for each one research committees have chosen to address one particular solution.  For education, it was discovered that suspensions are

This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day. In light of speaking of stillbirth this past Sunday, it feels especially important to recognize that such a day can be just as much about loss and unfulfilled longings as it is about joy. Being a non-mother myself, one of the things I find most meaningful about the day is remembering the first failed attempt at making this a national holiday. Julia Ward Howe originally sought to establish an annual “Mother’s Day for Peace” which was directed at women around the world, regardless of their procreation status. After witnessing the horrors of the American Civil War, Howe believed that women had a vital role to play in promoting international peace. Her “Appeal to womanhood throughout the world” later became known as “Mother’s Day proclamation” and remains a powerful call to action. Part of the appeal is below, and the full text, which still fits

After a remarkably cold winter, spring feels extra sweet this year. For our household, it’s time to plant and time for a significant home improvement project.   When it comes to planting, Abbie and I are still in the “dabbler” category, although we’re getting better at it. We have a garden plot tilled up in the back yard (thanks Fred S) and so far we have onions, sugar snap peas, and lettuce in the ground, along with a rhubarb plant we just received, and garlic from last fall. It’s all starting to grow. The main home improvement project for the year is installing a new kitchen. After tearing out a dividing wall between the kitchen and dining room right when we moved into the house, the arrangement has felt kind of in-between, and now it’s time to change the whole floor plan with new cabinets and countertops. We made a

I took a break from this weekly blog during Lent because of the daily devotions series. Many thanks to those of you who shared your thoughts and insights in what turned out to be a wonderfully eclectic and soul-affirming journey. And now we’re into the Easter season. One of the topics that the wider church has been discussing for a number of years now is the role of the Bible in our personal and collective lives. How we read and interpret the Bible (or not!) says a lot about us. The passages that we elevate as central to faith and those that we minimize, disagree with, or ignore, shape how we go about life. And how we go about life in turn shapes our understanding of the Bible. Some of us have had a Bible-saturated life and have a complex and nuanced relationship with it, while others approach the Bible

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.” The season of Lent begins today, Ash Wednesday.  In case we had forgotten, these words spoken over us re-awaken us to our mortality.  Our bodies come from the stuff of the earth, and it is to this earth that our bodies are returning.  The ashes we receive on our foreheads today mark us as those who bear witness to this.  Remembering that we are dust and will return to dust does not carry the immediate sense of good news.  Remember – you’re going to die and there’s nothing you can do about it.  Ouch.  But our tradition teaches us that there is great freedom in coming to terms with one’s mortality.  It becomes the gateway into truly living.  Our baptism is an acting of dying in advance, dying before you die, in order that the life you now have