Turn toward the thaw, and turn toward the rebirth of spring with New Hope.

Remind us that resilience is in our bones, that peace will prevail on earth

What’s your most memorable story about getting lost? What do you remember about finding your way home?

Hope continues, uncertain and true, like candlelight, ready to spark again.

This recipe has been tweaked over time, so adjust as necessary. Sometimes it yields more servings than anticipated. Sometimes it needs a bit more of this ingredient or that. It comes from generations who have gone before me, and I've added my own flavor along the way. A Recipe for Resilience One...

During Advent, we listen and keep vigil for the promise of things to come.

I was talking to someone recently about the story of her church-going life, and she told me about a time in her life that she stopped coming to church. Many people who have a story about their church-going life also have a story about taking a break from church—when they stopped going, sometimes...

You whose hearts are broken, come in. You whom pain has touched, and sorrow, and shock. You who have cried this week, and read the news with sadness. You whom loss has shadowed. You who grieve. Come in, come in. You with hearts open to joy and hope, come in. You whom love has touched, and...

We, the willing, follow the threads to one another; past rightness and quips and tweets. We will find one another and persist past sunrise.

One: Despair is sapping our spirits, damaging our souls, hurting our hearts. Many: We need to be resurrected into hope, faith, and trust. Today, may we be resurrected. One: Violence is shortening our lives and robbing us of our joy. Many: We need to be resurrected into peace and its many blessings.

When the angel Gabriel brought to Mary the news that she would give birth to a son, Luke records that “she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.” The angel said to Mary, [response:] Do not be afraid. When an angel appeared before the shepherds living...

"Hopelessness is the enemy of justice." —Bryan Stevenson, in his 2017 Ware Lecture...

“Suddenly summoned to witness something great and horrendous, we kept fighting not to reduce it to our own smallness.” —John Updike, “Tuesday, and After,” The New Yorker, September 24, 2001 We sat on the back steps watching transfixed as hundreds of rust-red spiders, big as thumbs, dropped...

If ever there were a time for a candle in the darkness, this would be it. Using a spark of hope, kindle the flame of love, ignite the light of peace, and feed the flame of justice.

May we give thanks always, believing that, even in the world’s bleakest moments, the dance of life is always underway.

November 16, 2016 "Well, the only chains we can stand / Are the chains between hand and hand Keep your eyes on the prize / Hold on" —Adapted lyrics to “Gospel Plow,”* attributed to Alice Wine Holding on does not come easy to me. As a teenager who left home and bounced around, I am talented at...

This is not a prayer that you may find hope For hope is a luxury that some cannot find and others cannot afford This is not a prayer that you find more love in the world Though I hope you continue to feel love and send love to those near and far I pray instead that you may find tools A hammer lyi...

I got out of bed this morning because of all those who had to get out of bed before me: Martin and Coretta, the day after his home was bombed. (What did they tell the children?) My father, every day of his young life in Lowndes County, Alabama....

How is it with your soul? This is the question that John Wesley, Anglican priest and the founder of Methodism, was known to ask of participants in small reflection groups. I ask you because, for me, this has been a hard week. So, beloveds, how is it with your souls?...

When all around us voices are raised in anger, hatred spilling into the streets and sparking more hatred, sometimes the best we can do is to sink our hands into the soil. Let the fights over abstractions ebb away, flow like water into the earth....