When I first became the communications person (read: webmistress) for the Synod of the Sun Presbyterian Women’s Coordinating Team, I learned about #OrangeDay. Started by the United Nations in 2008, it’s more formally called the UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign. The idea is that, on the 25th of each month, one wears orange prominently, […]
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea [or Reed Sea], to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there […]
“A believing community is always a narrating community.” —Gustavo Gutiérrez, “The Narrator Narrated,” included in Essential Writings (1996). Remember that the newsletter is where we tell the stories that weave us together. —organizing principle for Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian‘s communications, 2005-2013 Dismantling our enemies requires at least three steps: proximity, curiosity, and humility. —Michael […]
I have cast the world, and think me as nothing. Yet I feel cold on snow-falling day, And happy on flower day.
The black cobblestone floor of the Rothko Chapel shifts as if it’s an ankle-deep creek. This is likely an artifact of my aging eyes. I spent some time wondering: why black? And it became the insides of my open eyelids as I prayed though some panels also flowed like water. It could be a via […]
Brighter than fireflies upon the Uji River Are your words in the dark, Beloved
In my Presbyterian (PC(USA)) polity class on Tuesday, we spent nearly the full hour and a half discussing what is now Book of Order G-2.0104b, “Gifts and Qualifications” (that is, qualifications for ordered ministries, a.k.a. our deacons, elders, and ministers of Word and Sacrament). (I’m doing my best not to go deep geek on you […]
—Annie Savoy (character in the movie Bull Durham) Not sure why this ditty popped into my head—today I’m primarily working from home, alone. But it’s not just a wonderful piece of animation (look at everything that’s going on in there!), it’s a glorious exposé of a point of view. C’mon. You know people like this! […]
I met a dear friend at a coffee shop not far from where A went to high school. I had hot tea, because my thermogenics can’t support an additional coffee+trimmings each day. I headed a little south to collect a lunch sandwich–there’s a bakery not far from there that I’ve treasured ever since I found […]
(Unrelated: I’m composing this from my sunny backyard, with noise-making creatures all around. Central Texas springtime is springing.) affordance. plural affordances. psychology. : the qualities or properties of an object that define its possible uses or make clear how it can or should be used. —https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affordance Last week, and a good slug of the week […]
