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Voices of Faith
Pray without ceasing
I love to pray. Whether for daily meals or special gatherings, at the close of intense phone conversations or in the face of distressing news, Spirit-led words arise within and…
Voices of Faith
Find your joy this Lent
Lent beckons with an invitation to introspection, exploration of the motivations and posture of one’s heart, and focused repentance when needed. At the same time, I encourage you to remember…
Voices of Faith
Always grounded
While praying about the invitation to write this column, I was drawn by its title, “Grounded in grace.” Scriptures, images and memories of what this means have gathered and danced…
Voices of Faith
Good hope road
Siblings in the faith, I have a confession to make. I have no sense of direction. Zero. I can get lost anytime, anywhere. During my teenage years, my father promised…
Voices of Faith
Burial ground: Rest in peace, 2020
Here lies 2020, and good riddance! This year has finally been laid to rest and 2020’s obituary is replete with tragedy and challenge. Nearly everyone was forced into a new…
Voices of Faith
Klepto Christ
Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town, first performed in 1938, casts a young woman, Emily, who dies unexpectedly. From the grave’s other side, she asks permission from the narrator to…
Voices of Faith
Jesus and the election
I think this is almost invariably (note the tiny escape clause) an accurate statement: Lutheran pastors do not tell parishioners how to vote. Not only is this technically illegal but…
Voices of Faith
Delayed judgment
In the early 1980s, beginning at Mount Katahdin, I backpacked the length of the Appalachian Trail (2,100 miles) south from Maine to Georgia. Sometimes I’d go three days without seeing…
Voices of Faith
Brothers
When our children were young, we used to meet their cousins at a gas station in Mars Hill, N.C., a town about halfway between our homes in Virginia and South…
Voices of Faith
Last of all
Once upon a time, Jesus and his 12 friends piled into a house in a small seacoast town, kicked off their sandals and probably started to relax with a nice…
Voices of Faith
Mouth house
When Jesus looked at his disciples on that famous afternoon so many years ago, nearing Caesarea Philippi, he didn’t ask them, “What are you thinking about me these days?” His…
Voices of Faith
Backward testimony
I think of a man walking slowly out of town with his head down. It’s night. His whole body heaves with emotion—inconsolable, completely alone. In a crumpled ball on his…