We have made it to everyone’s favorite time of the year! It is time for Advent Caroling Madness X, the tenth journey into submitting and voting for your favorite versions of Christmas songs! It all began with a spark of inspiration while driving in my car …
Read MoreAn Open Letter to the Newberg School Board
An open letter to the Newberg School District Board of Directors and Superintendent Phillips, I’m writing this open letter since public comment isn’t allowed this evening. I write as a parent of three graduates of Newberg High School and as a former employee. I’m writing …
Read MoreDependence and Wonder
(Message given at Wayside Friends on July 17, 2022) Imagine we are sitting by the shore of a lake. I push out from the shore in a little fishing boat, and turn and face you, using the acoustics of the water to share a story …
Read MoreRegenerative Belovedness
(Message given at Wayside Friends Church on May 15, 2022) One of the joys of getting older is time. Time to see more and more of what is out there in our beautifully diverse world. Time to read more perspectives and experience more things; the …
Read MoreWhat story are we in? (Part 6)
(Back to part 1) On Time Team, the fun part is the finds; digging in the trench, discovering something, and then pulling the expert over to talk about what the find tells us about the story, about the context. Now that we’ve had the crash …
Read MoreTwo-thirds of a life
It was 36 years ago, tonight. Vivid in my mind, I can still feel the bricks of the hearth under me as I sit, hear the laughter of people I love around me, see the streaks of black and blue on my own right ankle …
Read MoreWhat story are we in? (Part 5)
(Back to part 1) So we’ve had our crash course in the story handed to us. We now can bravely try to play the part of “biblical pottery expert”, as we begin to examine little pieces of the current story, the little shards of incidents …
Read MoreWhat story are we in? (Part 4)
(Back to part 1) Is there a way out of this human cycle of rescue, home, institution, oppression? In just a short time after the dedication of the temple, oppression rises as political power distances from Yahweh and tries to extend its own reach. As …
Read MoreWhat story are we in? (Part 3)
(Back to part 1) Longing for home leads to a desire for safety, security, and power. The wandering people of Israel conquer the land they believe they were promised (perhaps blaming God in their holy texts for their own horrendous choice of genocide.) They take …
Read MoreWhat story are we in? (Part 2)
(Back to part 1) The story begins with oppression and cries for rescue. At least, that’s one way to tell the beginning of the story of the people of Israel. Alternative arguments can be made for when Abraham left Ur to go to the land …
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