Responding to satire I came to appreciate Neil Gaiman as a storyteller and fantasy author by reading his 2001 novel American Gods. In it he depicts American society not as a marketplace with competing political and economic forces but as a spiritual battle waged between gods, old and new. He broadens our perspective past the […]
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Let’s hit the Pause button
One of the things I find myself constantly thinking about is how discerning, faithful Christians can bring a measure of grace into our fallen world. This is, after all, our calling, and something we must take seriously if we intend to follow our Lord Christ into the world. It may not change the world—that’s the […]
Discerning Cultural Liturgies
In Desiring the Kingdom, philosopher James K. A. Smith says that to be culturally discerning we need to view and respond Christianly to our world in terms of both worldview and liturgy. Worldview analysis identifies cultural ideas, beliefs and values and then examines them in light of the ideas, beliefs and values revealed in the […]
Margie’s 2019 Christmas Gift List
If you are looking for a special book for that special person who has everything? Why not check out this list of some favorite books of the year? Please note all books can be order through Hearts and Minds Books. Audubon and His Journals, Volume II edited by Maria R. Audubon Dover 1994, First edition, […]
How Do You Love God?
I recently reread St Augustine’s Confessions. And once again I am impressed by his uncompromising insistence that love is central to Christian faith and to human flourishing. “God is love,” the Apostle John wrote, “and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16). The Confessions is literally infused […]
Going Home
Going Home We are saddened by the recent death of Denis’ mother. At the same time just when we’d almost lost hope of spring ever arriving, the Northern blood root in my garden poked her green tongues through the frozen ground. Ever in need of redirecting my wandering heart, Holy Week is here now to […]
Musing on the Physical
Reading the Word: Musing on the physical Some natural beauty is quiet and surprising, like the tiny flower with delicate white petals and bright yellow stamen that I happened upon that was growing in a crack in the asphalt in front of a deserted building. The place reeked of abandonment, of things gone wrong, of jobs […]
Letters from the House Between
LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE BETWEEN #4 2020 Publication Date: 11/16/2020 A few years ago someone left a message on our answering machine. A male voice said, (This is a paraphrase. Don’t recall the exact words) “Please take me off Letters from the House Between mailing list. I not interested in it, but would like to [...]
Fifty Years of Ordinary
While we were away in October for our vacation, I expected to review the milestones of Fifty Years of Marriage. Isn’t that what people do who survive that long? We would recount the ways God cared for us through the years. The best of times and the worst. And you would be so blessed. Merry […]
Building Wells In a Spiritual Desert
Ranchers have a choice: build fences or dig wells. Wells are the better choice. In the Australian outback there are two main methods of keeping cattle on a ranch. One is to build a fence around the perimeter of the ranch. The other is to dig a well in the center of the ranch. The […]