Kerkasiel: a
customary law in the Netherlands giving a congregation the right to receive
refugees during a religious service within their building.
A month ago a CMC member emailed me a
story about a congregation in The Haag, Netherlands. Like us, they are hosting a person – or in
their case a whole family – their government is trying to deport. While we in the US have the “sensitive
locations” policy that instructs ICE officers not to...
The new year is in full swing, which means all those things that have been holding off until “after the holidays” are also beginning to gain momentum. January is an especially full time in the life of our congregation, and if you are here for the next few Sundays, you will notice that quite a gauntlet has emerged in the church lobby. As of this afternoon, there are four large easels with various sign-ups looming down the corridor between the front door and the entrance to the sanctuary.
I looked up that word to make sure I was using it correctly, and, indeed, here is one...
A new calendar year is underway. It’s a good time to look back on the previous year and give thanks for how the Spirit of love, grace, and justice has accompanied us along the way. It’s also a good time to change the hard-to-pronounce Phloem and Xylem blog title to the more pragmatic Midweek Blog. Without trying be exhaustive, here are some highlights from each month of 2018.
January | Winter
Seminar featured Sara Thompson and Jonathan Brenneman (who have since married)
presenting on skill building for confrontational nonviolence. One of the role...
This morning I was listening to a podcast where the guest made an off-hand comment that drugs – and money, the host added – make people more extreme versions of themselves. Whether or not this is true for drugs and money, it seems to be true for the Christmas season.
This is a season in which we feel things more deeply. The grief in our life rises to the surface. Simple joys feel richer. Losses and longings have more weight. The warmth of what holds us dear glows brighter. The coldness that separates us from others, and ourselves, intensifies. Relational complexities get more...
“The real function of discipline is not to provide us with maps but to sharpen our own sense of direction so that when we really get going we can travel without maps.”
— Thomas Merton, “Renewal and Discipline” essay in book Contemplation in a World of Action
I could have included any of thousands of quotes from Thomas Merton. This one comes from an essay I’m currently reading.
Monday was the 50 year anniversary of the death of Thomas Merton, one of the most important voices coming out of America in the 20th century. Exactly 27 years before...