General Posts

crucifix hanging on a stone church wall, sculpture of Jesus hanging on the cross

Who would even think about praying all the time? But brace yourself. That’s not only possible. It can be a blessing. Over the years I have developed a practice of prayer, which opens up the promise, I believe, of whatRead More →

In the foreground are fir trees, covered in snow. Only the tops are showing. Over the trees we see hazy white mountains.

When my two kids were young enough so that I could carry both of them in my arms, I sometimes found occasions to pick them up, sing a random ditty that I’d make up on the spot, and dance inRead More →

A very young infant, lying on its back, crying. It's eyes are closed and its face is squinched up.

This may have happened to you. You’re at the airport, about to board your flight. People are milling around in the waiting area. Then everybody suddenly turns their heads and looks in the same direction. Why? Somewhere in the midstRead More →

abstract image of blue and purple overlapping dots

So, Rachel Maddow is now doing a major series of podcasts. Almost all the people I know of in public life – or maybe half – now have podcasts. What’s a podcast?* Add to the podcasts: many public-minded souls areRead More →

book cover, abstract painting greens and blue, sense of a forest; text says: EcoActivist Testament: Faith Explorations for Fellow Travelers

In recent months, I have been unashamedly talking about my new book, EcoActivist Testament: Explorations of Faith and Nature for Fellow Travelers (Cascade), with anyone who might be willing to listen. I have particularly sought out younger friends and coworkers,Read More →

old white man in blue jeans and a long sleeved white shirt and baseball cap, swinging a scythe at flowering buckwheat

This is a question I’ve thought about a lot lately, because I’ve recently been reminded, by my daughter and one of her two daughters, that it’s much on the mind of younger generations these days. While those two key womenRead More →

book cover tree sculpture carved man with branches as arms

     In my day and in my particular Church tradition, thirteen-year-old Catechumens were routinely asked, among many other things, to memorize Martin Luther’s explanations of the Ten Commandments.  Even at such a relatively young age, I was struck byRead More →

Of course my wife, Laurel, and I had to see the much-heralded exhibit at Boston’s Gardner Museum in the fall of 2021, “Titian – Women, Myth, and Power.”  For the first time in 500 years (!!), this preeminent Renaissance artist’sRead More →

colorful stack of plastic milk crates

I have lately donated most of my ecotheology books to a theological library in England. I am pleased that these books have now found a new and more permanent home. Call this the pedagogy of fourteen boxes. Let me explain.Read More →

view of earth from space, blue oceans and green and brown land

For me, April 22, 2020 was not just the celebration of the first Earth Day fifty years ago, it also was a more parochial time to begin some ruminating. I published my first book in ecological theology the same yearRead More →