Tag: community
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Robert B. Talisse on “Civility”
Robert B. Talisse notes “civility” is subject to partisan perception
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Last Good Days
I noticed on Saturday that it was the anniversary, liturgical yearly speaking, of our last Cajun Dinner. It was traditional for us to hold it on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday. That’s if “traditional” can be something we’ve been doing for under twenty years. Not everyone would say that, but I would. It was a…
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Affirmation
Can we be “on a level” with everyone else, and also be “special”? Important in a way that matters, to other people, and to us? People get really exercised over that question, and confused, in my experience. We’ve all heard those grumpy complaints about how “now EVERYONE has to be ‘special’” in schools on awards…
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Inarticulate Emotions
Weather interfered with our plans – to bid a fond farewell to a couple of valued, treasured members. People are delighted for them to have found a new place closer to children and grandchildren, and better situated for their needs. And people are simultaneously dismayed at everything this will mean for us, absent them, going…
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Abundance
The story of the wedding at Cana – where Jesus turns water into wine, into exceptionally fine wine, into hundreds of gallons of exceptionally fine wine, into more than enough exceptionally fine wine to keep the party going for days – is a story of abundance. Unlikely abundance, surprising to those in the know, its…
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Tutoyer
In French, when people se tutoyer, they address one another familiarly. They use “tu” rather than “vous,” the “familiar you” rather than the formal one. The one for close friends and family. Sunday was Baptism of the Lord Sunday, and our pastor pointed out that in Luke’s gospel, and in Mark’s, God addresses Jesus directly:…
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Concern
Our little group of worshipers was about half its usual size yesterday morning. Our local hospital’s COVID wing is full and the county is back “in the red,” and we are an older bunch of folks (Presby-terians, no coincidence), and blessed with lots of underlying conditions, so people exercising additional caution is part of that.…
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Sanctuary
What does it mean to be “close to home”? We’ve been reflecting on the various meanings of “home,” our little congregation, this Advent. And yesterday’s fourth Sunday of Advent focused on the idea of “sanctuary” – “somewhere God’s love dwells freely and abundantly.” How we need that. Need that ourselves. And then, can be that…
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Misery
People’s children are sick. Their grown children. Sick in ways that children should not be before their parents. Sick in ways that are wrong and heartbreaking and exhausting and unbelievable. Sometimes this happens: The world turns strange in an instant. Things that were always remote theoretical possibilities become hideously concrete and immediate. The world goes…
Matters of Interpretation 