Noise drowns out love?

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” ~1 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV version) The world today is a noisy place. Everywhere we look, there are words of hate and rhetoric being thrown about. People are being marginalized and […]

Karmic Justice?

In the movie Ella Enchanted, the title character rescues an elf named Slannen, who eventually takes her back to his home village. Due to cruel laws passed by the King Regent Edgar, the elves can only act as performers and must sing and dance for any human, even if their hearts aren’t into it. Ella […]

Be a part of the story

This past Sunday, less than twenty people were gathered to worship at the usual time at the tiny church I attend in my little swath of the Midwest. Instead of gathering in the sanctuary, most of us instead sat in Fellowship Hall, congregating around tables as we snacked on treats and watched a livestream of […]

Steadfast joy

From time to time, I am told by well-meaning friends and family that I could be doing so much more with my life than I already do. I could be making more money. I could be applying myself in different capacities. I could be working a job that is more intellectual than I already do. […]

Be Generous

“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others…not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison There seems to be a contagion in this land. Well, to be fair, history […]

Consider the potter

This past weekend, the tiny church that I attend in this little swath of the Midwest had a special meeting after Sunday’s worship with a member vote. We voted on adopting the following welcoming statement and identity as a church: Norwalk Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is an Open and Affirming congregation. Inspired by our […]

Love unconditionally

It has always amazed me that the English language only has one word for love, even though there are different degrees of love, so to speak. I love my family. I love my one true love. I love chocolate. I love to write. Yet other languages have many words for love, including Greek. There is […]

I can do all of this? Really??????

I live in the Hawkeye state, otherwise known as Iowa. Even I, who cares very little for sports, have heard of the prowess of the female American basketball player Caitlin Clark. It’s hard not to miss it, since her name has been mentioned a great deal this year at both the collegiate and the professional […]

Go ye into all the world….

The other day, while the other half and I were out and about, we came back from shopping at one of the bigger farm stores in the area to find someone had crammed a cartoon gospel tract into the handle of the driver’s side door of the other half’s vehicle. The tract was a reminder […]

Is it lawful to do good?

“Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?” Luke 6:9 (NRSV) In the Christian Bible, Jesus spoke this after being questioned why he was healing a man on the day of rest. Those questioning him […]