Category: Soul
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My dad died 7 years ago today. What I wrote three years ago still stands — gosh, he would have enjoyed the hell out of his grandkids, who they are and who they’re becoming. I imagine he’d sit around the kitchen table with Pete, talking about the ins and outs of the casino business, and Kelly pulling…
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I was dead asleep on a Monday night when the phone rang. I’d been asleep only an hour, but as I was startled awake, it felt like much longer. It was my oldest son calling to say that his car had died on the way home and he was stranded on the side of the…
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Even though I’ve been back home for nearly a month, people I haven’t seen in a while keep asking how January’s service trip to Haiti was. My response is along the lines of “Do you want the 20-second version or the 9-hour version?” They think I’m kidding. I am and I’m not. Trying to explain…
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It was the lights of Miami that told me our trip was over. The lights I didn’t take for granted, and that seemed so abundant—excessive and wasteful, even—after a week spent in Haiti’s Central Plateau. The plane ride allowed for some time to take stock of the past three days. None had the emotional rawness…
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Trip co-leader Mike Carpenter warned us at Tuesday night’s evening reflection that if something is going to go wrong during our time in Haiti, it’ll happen on Wednesday. He was right and wrong. The day started with a visit to MPP’s schoolhouse, which was expanded in the past year with a generous gift from the…
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We are settled in with our Haitian hosts after a whirlwind day and a half. The 13 members of the Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice service learning trip to Haiti arrived in Port-au-Prince Friday and Saturday. Most of us are from the Main Line and Wellsprings congregations in suburban Philadelphia. This is the first…
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Pope Francis’ powerful remarks after his trip to Africa strike me deeply: “Africa is a victim. Africa has always been exploited by other powers. From Africa, they came to America, sold as slaves. There are powers that only seek to take the great wealth of Africa … Africa is a martyr, a martyr of exploitation.…
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I am headed back to Haiti in early 2016, with my youngest son and members of local Unitarian Universalist congregations—including my own, Wellsprings—so I have my eye on what’s going on there. And the news is not particularly good: The recent run-off for president was criticized as rigged, and led to street protests across the…
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This is what I presented recently at Wellsprings Congregation as part of our annual Wild and Precious Life service, which draws inspiration from the Mary Oliver poem The Summer Day. It’s a little funny to be here as the representative for the 50s, as I’ve been 50 for 8 days now. But let me tell…
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When I turned 40, my mom pulled me aside and said, “The 40s were the best years of my life. Enjoy them.” I love my mom, and she has rarely led me astray—except about this. Because she was dead wrong. The 40s are not the best of times. Why would a usually optimistic and upbeat…
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At today’s leadership meeting at Wellsprings, I realized that one of the things I do—and should own—is a general stepping in and out of commitment. I see it as an orbit, an eccentric one at that, that brings me closer and takes me farther from the issues I wrestle with on a daily basis. I…
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Love is not enough. I was speaking with a colleague in church leadership yesterday in a wide-ranging discussion about where are hearts are these day (one of the reasons I do love my church community). We were speaking about the death of her dog, and what a big impact it had on she and her…
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