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You might not think that “wanton destruction” or “a state of violent disorder or riotous confusion” would have any place in a clergyman’s home.  Think again, dear reader.  It’s after Easter now, in a college town known for plenty of partying, and I’m reporting in to say that a little madness in the spring– mayhem, even — has crept into our normally quiet abode. Recently my husband found some post-Holy Week relaxation in watching, on YouTube of course, those new … Read More

“Just think of it as one service that spreads out over three days,” Rob said to me, trying to be helpful.  I was asking him to explain the different services of Holy Week for the umpteenth time.  Certain things don’t change:  He is always just as amazed by my fogginess about the whole crucial story as I am by his ability to guide people through so much worship year after year.  When I ask him why he says “three days” rather … Read More

Before unleashing one of his sermons at church, my husband is likely to gaze out into the congregation and notice that people are in their usual pews.  Of course there are slight variations from Sunday to Sunday, and often one or more newcomers who don’t have a favorite location yet, but there is also quite a high degree of sameness to the configuration.  Certain people like to be right up front on the left, say, and others prefer the back … Read More

This weirdly warm March has brought out mixed reactions: some people don’t mind a bit that there’s been very little winter to speak of and are ready to garden; others (I’m in this group) feel there’s something kind of eerie about the missing cold temperatures and snow.  We’re used to a certain rhythm of the seasons — even though for most of us who don’t work the land the weather conditions are more of a backdrop than anything else — … Read More

He no doubt meant it as a compliment, but when Rick Santorum referred to his wife Karen as “the rock which I stand upon”  (The New York Times, 2/4/2012), apparently crediting her for the solidity of his religious faith, I was glad that my husband would know better than to describe our relationship this way.  Besides the obvious fact that it would be uncomfortable to be stood upon at all, and that the rock involved wouldn’t have any freedom of … Read More

With days filled with lists of things to do and struggles for achievements of one kind or another, how are we to know what is “essential” and what “inessential”?   This time of Lent, which began last week with Ash Wednesday, brings a question like this forward.  It’s been sitting there quietly all along, of course, not making a fuss, but now the season escorts it gently up to the front of the room so that we might get a good … Read More

In our house, there’s agreement that Whitney Houston’s best song was definitely not either “I Will Always Love You” or “Greatest Love of All.”  Both of these, we think, suffer from weightiness; even as they do showcase the sheer power of the singer’s a voice — they’re just too solemn for our taste.   My husband, who has never been known for his moves out on the floor, is absolutely sure that “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” is … Read More

We have just received our new “Friends” membership packet to the Emily Dickinson Museum, a place my husband and I like to support for many reasons.  Since I have been thinking a great deal about friendship recently, the mailing is particularly timely for me.  A refrigerator magnet that was included in the envelope has a famous sentence from one of the poet’s letters:  “My friends are my ‘Estate.’”  It is such an apt way to describe both how the museum … Read More

Let’s get the part of this post that is about Tim Tebow out of the way first.  Here’s a paragraph from an article in The New York Times that appeared back in the fall: At the intersection of faith and football, the fervor that surrounds both Tebow’s beliefs and his struggles in his second season for the Denver Broncos has escalated into a full-blown national debate over religion and its place in sports. (“In Tebow Debate, a Clash of Faith … Read More

It’s never surprising to me when a Beatles song captures the spirit of real events unfolding in our lives, but recently this particular tune has really done that:  “You say ‘Yes,’ I say ‘No.”  You say ‘Stop’ and I say ‘Go, go, go.”  Those of us over 50 will no doubt remember “Hello Goodbye” from the Magical Mystery Tour album that came out in 1967.  When he was asked to explain where the lyrics came from, Paul apparently said, among … Read More