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I am obsessed with Olympic curling. I am riveted by it. I will be up at ridiculous times of night to watch big matches live. I just can’t get enough. For those who don’t know much about curling, it is a sport where teams “throw” (actually slide) granite stones with handles down a sheet of ice to a bullseye section on the opposite end. The team that gets the most stones closest to the center wins the end. The team with the most points in a certain amount of ends (8 or 10) wins

There are houses on our street that still have their Christmas lights up. And not just our street but many others as well. I bet there are in your neck of the woods, too. Bright lights of all colors just blazing away, doing their best to bust through the dark and the snow. Almost shining defiantly as if to say. “You can’t tell me when Christmas is over” or perhaps: “The dark is so dark and we need a little light in our lives”. I confess that while our inside tree was taken do

What did you do to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day yesterday? Did you attend a breakfast to remember him and his work and ministry? Gather with a group to talk about how far we’ve come (or haven’t come) since he lived and died? Go about your day thinking, praying, and wishing for unity, racial justice, and peace (someday, dear God, some day)? Like some of you, I remember when this day was not a federal holiday and kids spent time in class learning and remembering Martin

FAITH = ACTION “Faith equals action, everything we do, everyway we move. Oh, faith equals actions. Come on, everybody, put your faith to work Isn’t it plain to see, what you say’s gotta be what you do if it’s true? Everyone gather round, finding our common ground. Be the change right now!” In the early summer of 2018, I was on the leadership team that developed that West Central Regional Youth Event (RYE) that was held at Grinnell College. (It just so happens that I flew from

Happy Epiphany! A dear friend of mine has two holidays she celebrates with great joy every year. One is Groundhog Day and yes, she has made several pilgrimages to Punxsutawney, PA. The other one is Epiphany. Early on she told me that on the night of Epiphany she heads outside to look at the stars (the star?) and make a wish: hoping, believing and trusting that God will give her what she wants or needs that year. When she first told me of this tradition, I did not correct her

I have many favorite Christmas songs. But there is one that impacts me spiritually more than any other. And it is one that I find very few people are familiar with. So let me introduce you to it if you do not already know it. Here is this YouTube video of the Christmas song “Awake! Awake, to Greet the New Morn” written by Marty Haugen and sung by the St. Olaf Choir. I rarely sing this song that I don’t have tears in my eyes. It reminds me that Christmas changes everything. “