This Lent I can’t abstain from caffeinated coffee because I am not drinking it at all. But for years it has been a not so trivial way to help me step into the season of Lent. Not being a "morning person," my cup of coffee in the morning helps me wake up, and offers comfort… Continue reading No Swinging During Lent
Category: Archives
My blogs from the early 2000’s until we moved back to Minnesota in 2017.
Community
Does everybody love everybody?” My father’s booming baritone would sound with a faint hint of warning as his four teenagers would be scrambling for their preferred television channel, the comfortable couch, or worst of all, leg room in the station wagon.At the sound of this warning we would squelch our resentments temporarily and assume the… Continue reading Community
Favored Ones
"I renounce the lies the enemy tells us about you, dear Father of Jesus." The scene? A Saturday afternoon as our class on the Sacred Actions and Ministries of Worship gathered in a little historic chapel at the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies (IWS) for a service of baptismal renewal. The teaching on… Continue reading Favored Ones
Food Freedom
During my New Year's week in the hospital for gut issues I was seen by several doctors. Each of them had a different set of instructions on if and/or what I could eat or drink. I would have orders reversed more than once in the same day. One meal I ate what I wanted. The… Continue reading Food Freedom
Four Fiats
No, I've not taken to writing new slogans for Italian made cars that can be trusted. That is a Fi-at'. I am writing instead about fi'-at, the great "let it be done" in redemptive history. This fiat is not a resigned acceptance, a sort of spiritualized "que sera, sera, whatever will be will be." Rather… Continue reading Four Fiats
A Merciful Silence (Zechariah Part 1)
Resignation is a soul-deadening, light-obscuring posture of the soul. There is a hopeless inevitability in it that slowly shuts the door to God's comforting light. When Zechariah the priest entered the temple to burn incense that day a double-portion of resignation is residing in his soul. As an Israelite, he is the member of a… Continue reading A Merciful Silence (Zechariah Part 1)
Zechariah’s Song (Zechariah Part 2)
His name is John...that caused a stir—and then it got even more interesting. Nine months of silence had been very good for Zechariah’s soul. And when he opened his mouth, his words had not a trace of doubt left in them. He blesses God. “And fear came on all their neighbors.” What would this child be? Zechariah’s song… Continue reading Zechariah’s Song (Zechariah Part 2)
Dusting Off Grace
I think my eyes get cloudy in all the wrong the places. I am working hard to paint my house coordinating colors, to center the pictures I hang on walls, and put my books on the shelves in some kind of coherent order. I'm really quite clear about these things. But grace, a reality as… Continue reading Dusting Off Grace
Gatorade
My son began playing T-Ball when he was four years old. For two un-self-conscious years he would come running over to me with a quick, "Mommy, I'm thirsty." I'd hand him a bottle of water and off he'd go. But by age six, the television ads had accomplished their goal: "Mom, I have to have… Continue reading Gatorade
Gritty Love
Many years ago I entered into a memorable silent retreat. During this time I was a busy college professor, loving my students, loving my church. But early on in the retreat I found my mind defaulting to two other people in my life: my husband and toddler son. "Well, Lord, I love them, too. But… Continue reading Gritty Love
Carla Waterman 