Over the past three years, I’ve found myself saying, “It can’t get much worse than this” about things happening in our world. A global pandemic, cataclysmic weather events, and violence that seems be the ground on which our society stands; I’ve been shocked again and again at how suffering seems to never end, as ifContinue reading “In the Abyss”
Conversion of Love
This sermon can be listened to here: Conversion of Love Once while driving from Texas to the East Coast, I drove past a large billboard with a black background and big, bold white letters that read, “‘For God so loved the world.’ – John 3:16” and then in an ominous red font below it read,Continue reading “Conversion of Love”
The Blessing of Changed Plans
My first Epiphany here at Christ Church, I took home the paper instructions and blue chalk and while I don’t remember if it was me or Father Steve who preached that night, I do remember how the chalk crumbled slightly as I with every bit of prayerful intention I could marked C + M +Continue reading “The Blessing of Changed Plans”
The Practice of Christmas
The memory for me is still visceral. I remember the cool, smooth surface of the standard issue junior-high chair with its metal legs and deep blue seat. I remember exactly where I sat, one-third the way down the third row of the tiered band room; I remember the daily unpacking of my standard issue clarinetContinue reading “The Practice of Christmas”
Changed by the Wilderness
The day started early, with simple and delicious buttered bread and a bowl of coffee, which, I learned that morning, was how the folks in the Basque area of France drink coffee, literally in a bowl. Over breakfast, I sat with other pilgrims, talking about the day, our hopes, and plans for the pilgrimage;Continue reading “Changed by the Wilderness”
A Way Forward
There is not much else I enjoy in this world as much as I love a good story. I love to be drawn in and the rise and fall of a narrative; I love when stories are predictable, and I love when they are surprising. But the thing I love most of all isContinue reading “A Way Forward”
An Increased Faith
Ever since I was a young child, I have been fascinated with trees. The yard of my childhood home has white oak trees that soar more than 100 feet into the sky, with the base of the trunk being so wide you can’t even wrap your arms around half of it; their roots spreadContinue reading “An Increased Faith”
A Life That Really Is Life
In his poem, “Ask Me,” William Stafford has a line I have tucked away in my pocket and it’s one of the lines that seem to find me when I most need it: “Ask me whether/what I have done is my life.” It is haunting in its simplicity. Every time I revisit this poem, IContinue reading “A Life That Really Is Life”
The Joy of Belonging
There is an admiration that I hold for my parents as an adult, one of the many ways in which I admired their parenting was their ability to navigate not one, but two, curious children’s questions. I may have been shy kid in public, but I never failed to ask my folks whatever questionContinue reading “The Joy of Belonging”
A Trampled Sabbath
In Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life, one can find some of the best life advice there is, but within the framework of a non-fiction exploration of writing. Dillard is a master at blending poetry and prose as she dances between fiction and nonfiction; she crafts narratives that seem to be about nothing, but alwaysContinue reading “A Trampled Sabbath”
Becca Kello 