Nationally, Thanksgiving is a collective mindset of gratitude to forces greater than ourselves. Like a Norman Rockwell painting, heads bow over grace when families gather, everyone primed for thanks. Yet for many, saying grace is the holiday exception, not the daily rule. Many might ask, “Well, isn’t a group blessing just the official signal to […]
Black Friday is aptly named. Everyone’s dark side is out when the last nerve is drilled down trying to buy that “smart” toy, a tie, or the last leather bag in saddle brown. Now big sales on Thanksgiving splinter the holiday further. Is the football game on the wide screen TV the only glue holding […]
Mary, Jesus’s mother, spent her last days in Turkey, and I visited her house, surrounded by maple trees, high above the ancient Roman ruins of Ephesus, five miles from the Aegean Sea, now rebuilt by the Catholic Church as a holy place. After Jesus entrusted his mother and apostle John into each other’s care, it […]
October 11, 2015. On Sunday we had a free day to hike the historic neighborhood of Sultanahmet, and had a chance to visit three mosques. Being in a holy place on Sunday felt right, even if Christian churches are scarce. Much like Goldilocks with the three bears, we sampled small, medium and large mosques, and […]
Centuries before the science of positive thinking, the apostle Paul wrote this in 62 A.D., “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, […]