Finishing is the final step of any project, and like sanding, the only one in which you literally touch every square inch. In everything else, from milling and shaping to jointing and glueing, your attention is on specific areas. But with finishing, every square inch of a piece comes...
Bread as Craft
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Bread is life, embodying the vitalities and energies of sun, soil, and grain. Flour, water, salt, and yeast – breat is the most elemental of foods. “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are taught to pray. It doesn’t last long, three days at most. Bread is sacrifice....
Rejoice in the Lord, Always
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This third week in Advent is the week of Joy, the rose candle week on your Advent wreath. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say it: Rejoice.” Why? One simple reason for joy: The Lord is near.
Beloved, Let Us Love
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Divine love is not the same as our love. It is not the love of a parent for a child or the passion of lovers or the love of brothers, though these are all embraced by divine love. Divine love is not a feeling but an action, an act...
A Living Hope in a Living Christ
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It is terribly easy to become hopeless, to fall into despair. The darkness of the days, the darkness of the times, the darkness of evil in the world, the darkness of our own hearts can easily drive us to despair and the loss of hope.
Forgiveness
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Forgiveness. The word is central to what we believe. We hear it often, and hopefully we speak it more often. We pray for it. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This past week we saw and heard what that looked like in a...
Covering Up
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You probably heard the story by now. Carson King, a 24-year old man from Iowa, holds up a sign asking for beer money at a college football game to replenish his dwindling Busch Lite supply. Donations come pouring in like a frat house kegger. Then matching donations, along with...
Silence
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I talk too much. I know that, and those who know me know it all too well. It’s an occupational hazard for a preacher. I pontificate, I preach, I lecture, I dump the latest contents of my head on anyone who will listen, even if they aren’t listening. People...
Slowness
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I decided to improve my handwriting, which had deteriorated to the point where even my pharmacist couldn’t read it. Years of banging away at the keyboard had taken its toll on my penmanship. Even my printing had become illegible. I could not decipher notes I had scribbled to myself...
Pilgrims
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Too often, we travel as tourists, bringing the comforts of home along with us. Tourists are known for their excess baggage. You can easily spot a group of tourists. They travel in tightly closed groups, surrounded by their own language, tastes in food, and culture. They prefer to keep...