I haven't given much thought to the face of Wisdom's handmaiden, Humility. But I encountered her so vividly last week that her subtle and beautiful features shine with clarity after leaving "Worship Camp." Perhaps I can give you a glimpse of her lovely face. My teaching partner, Reggie Kidd, and I have just completed teaching… Continue reading Handmaiden Humility
Category: Archives
My blogs from the early 2000’s until we moved back to Minnesota in 2017.
Hidden Freedom (Part 1)
I've had the house to myself the last ten days. I get up and go to bed on my own schedule. I am free to read for hours, and break for food when my body tells me it's time to eat. I could walk for hours if it wasn't so beastly hot, and I can… Continue reading Hidden Freedom (Part 1)
Hidden Freedom (Part 2)
Every Independence Day we celebrate our country's freedom to act, speak and live as we choose but that does not mean we are truly free. I propose that the most central, albeit hidden, bondage is the captivity of our minds. In my last blog I listed four different kinds of unruly thoughts that can capture… Continue reading Hidden Freedom (Part 2)
A Kingdom Paradox
The first phone call I made this afternoon began like this: "Hello, doctor's office, I need to check on a test I must have for my appointment next week. I was under the impression you were to call me..."Oh, no the hospital is supposed to call you. I'll send them the paperwork again but here's… Continue reading A Kingdom Paradox
A Healing Hand
After two days of a week long hospital stay, I would look up with some apprehension as the shift changed. A few times during that week I was met by the eager smile of a nurse who was present and communicated her desire to help me. But, too often, whether morning or evening, I was… Continue reading A Healing Hand
I Will Not Forget These Stories
My teaching colleague and I arrive first in the classroom on this particular morning. She engages many of her students as they shuffle into her World Religions course at a local community college. At one point five beautiful Muslim girls come in together--heads covered with lovely scarves, chattering away to each other and to their… Continue reading I Will Not Forget These Stories
If Christ Never Came
Last week I came across a comment from Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemman that found an uncomfortable echo in my own soul. "We live as if Christ never came. This is the only real sin, the sin of all sins, the bottomless sadness and tragedy of our nominal Christianity" (Great Lent). Several of my recent blogs… Continue reading If Christ Never Came
A Subtle Battle
Spiritual desert dwelling emphasizes the kind of interior simplicity Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount--a freedom from being ruled by one's body, one's possessions, or one's spiritual self-adulation. The goal for them, as for us, is to love others as God loves us. If I want to learn to love, I try to… Continue reading A Subtle Battle
Lenten Spring
The trunk of the tree by my house matches the pavement, which are both in the same color palette as the sky. Even the greens are gray. I find it fitting that the last "Alleluias" are receding from the airwaves as Jesus' Transfiguration makes way for Ash Wednesday. "Remember from dust you came and to… Continue reading Lenten Spring
Listening to Lucy
Well, there’s just this,” said Edmund, speaking quickly and turning a little red. “When we first discovered Narnia a year ago—or a thousand years ago, whichever it is—it was Lucy who discovered it first and none of us would believe her. I was the worst of the lot. I know. Yet she was right after… Continue reading Listening to Lucy
Carla Waterman 