Materialism, the accumulation of things and the richness of how we celebrate anything, has grown and grown as the most important ingredient in our lives here in the United States since the early 1980s. It used to be that the CEO’s of any company here lived in the same town as his workers; he knew […]

It’s hard to form a community with someone you are judging, you are afraid of or don’t trust, you don’t know anything about, you don’t agree with on basic issues, you don’t like, and probably many more reasons. As Jesus says in His Two Great Commandments (Matthew 22:36-40), “’Love the Lord your God with all […]

After God created mankind, Genesis 1:28-31 says: “ God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, ‘I give […]

I’ve been writing a lot about community being the nature of life in this world, in the life of animals and people. In reality, every creature depends on others of its kind for help and sustenance and safety and many other things, plus it has a purpose that it fulfills in our interdependent system on […]

We have now lived through eleven months of threats to our democracy, especially to those who are of lower income and to those who are immigrants and threatened to be thrown out of the U.S., even though they have contributed mightily to our economy. I think more and more these days that white men through […]

When I think of the difficult things in our lives and in the world today, especially in our country, I think that they are wake-up calls from God to “see and hear” as Jesus says often[1], to know what is really happening and what is really needed for us to do in light of, say, […]

Being present to people is like—and this is the best metaphor I can come up with—driving a car on roads in town or on a highway. Your eyes have to see everything that is going on: any change in the traffic lights or traffic, any potholes to avoid, what the cars ahead of you and […]

Community is the true nature of our relationships with people, too. Belonging to one or more communities is much less important today in our country than the next thing that we want on our list of material things we have to have. This loss of community in our neighborhoods, even our families, our cities, and […]

God created this interdependent, beautiful world in which every living creature and plant resides in a living community which provides everything that each species needs to thrive. And each species has a role to play in its life on earth. Just for instance, beetles are the trash collectors of this world and pollinate some plants.[1] As […]

The Christian Church across all denominations today is leaching members. According to the Gallup Poll taken in 2024: “On any given weekend, about three in 10 U.S. adults attend religious services, down from 42% two decades ago. Church attendance will likely continue to decline in the future, given younger Americans’ weaker attachments to religion.”[1] 30% of […]