Recently I came upon a book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer on my shelves that I bought at some distant time and had never read. When I realized that it was a book of daily meditations from his writings, I put it on my bedside table and have been reading a page every evening after I write […]

I so appreciate metaphors; some have sustained me for years. The pictures they have formed in my mind have been powerful aids in healing and dealing with the challenges of life. The first one I recall operating in my life was Kahlil Gibran’s metaphor for parenthood in The Prophet which I read in the 70’s, […]

The Exodus story is so rich with symbolism for us that I am thinking about it again this week. As with the Hebrews God is calling us out of our stuck places so that we can follow him more freely and willingly. Pharoah and Egypt represent hardness of heart, imprisonment of body and mind, the […]

In the 23rd Psalm the word “surely” rings out with confidence and love and expectation and God and me in life together! It is reassuring and definite and without qualifiers. It implies love and providence, needs and challenges met, and no doubt. Look at these synonyms for surely: Absolutely Beyond Doubt Definitely Inevitably Inexorably Infallibly […]

Reminder: Tuesdays thru Fridays I post additional comments and questions on Monday’s blog on FB. Use this link: www.facebook.com/pages/By-the-waters/146585815373488 Today I am putting together a test for all of us to use in evaluating ourselves on our ability to incorporate the main contributions of four major  denominations in the whole body of Christ. Since writing […]

There is a glass ceiling in the church that limits how far we will go in loving God and following Christ. Every sect and denomination has confined the relationship with God into a box of beliefs with which it feels comfortable. If Catholics hold to the practice of the veneration of Mary and the saints […]

I will not live in fear!  I say that emphatically to our culture.  I hang up on the recorded voice that starts “The FBI reports that there is a home break-in every….” I say “no” to every sales pitch for a home security system.  I say a more emphatic “NO!” to those who want guns […]

“I am the way and the truth and the life.”[1] It is Jesus’ life and what he modeled for us that interests me in this declaration from the Gospel of John.  I am thinking in terms of lifestyle, a more modern way of looking at it, but we have to go back to the early […]

Here’s what I believe about the spiritual journey: God creates each of us with a purpose and a unique set of gifts that we can use to fulfill our purpose in the world. Each of us as we were created to be is needed in the world right now. We each have a contribution to […]

So Horatio Alger’s “Go west, young man” no longer calls  us. And Teddy Roosevelt’s “Walk softly and carry a big stick” no longer works in the world. John F. Kennedy’s challenge, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” has faded away. The old American myths […]