“It is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27 —– Nearly every day in the Arizona Republic (Arizona’s flagship newspaper), there appear between 4-6 obituaries with names of people […]
Just after 6am this morning I pulled onto Thompson Peak Parkway in Scottsdale, Arizona, and headed to St. Patrick Community Church, one of 40 Catholic parishes in the diocese of Phoenix. Standing in the dark, […]
“How we spend our days, is, of course, how we spend our lives” … Annie Dillard —– A few days after my dad turned 64 my mom called me from the bank where she worked. […]
In the summer of 2017, my Pastor-to-Pastor Initiatives board gave me an 11-week sabbatical. Jennifer and I came to Phoenix that summer, where I studied spiritual formation at Phoenix Seminary with Dr. Ted Wueste. I […]
Today, January 25, is the Feast of the conversion of St Paul the Apostle. Among the churches celebrating this day are the Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches. I have tried to imagine the Apostle Paul […]
In recent months, people have asked me many times, and I have asked myself, “Given these last four years, and the deep divisions between people, and between people in the same church — especially in […]
This morning I had a text at 7am. A pastor I counsel needed to talk. To say the least 2020 was a hard year for him. By 8am we were talking, as we have many […]
In the last few years, I have given my bookshelves a break by giving away 1600 books, mostly books of theology and practical ministry. In my most recent purging last fall in preparation to paint […]
