Saturday marks the arrival of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. For the pagans of Old Europe, this night marked the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun. Yule is what they called this time of year,…
Year: 2019
I’m a Bowl
Almost a decade ago, I received a small wooden bowl as a gift from a coworker. For Christmas, she presented each member of our staff a bowl that was accompanied by a small laminated piece of paper with instructions on…
Food Insecurity Among College Students
Two weeks ago I stumbled on the new study about food insecurity at VA Tech. The Roanoke Times headline for the study reads, Study finds 1 in 3 Virginia Tech Students ‘Food Insecure’. The study records that 35% of graduate…
A Reflection on Veterans Day
This morning, I thought about my dad. I had been thinking about him all weekend and even posted his photos on FB. But on Monday, as I sat in Snidow Chapel waiting for the Veterans Day Service to begin, I…
Acknowledging Suffering and the Art of Repairing
The well-respected Unitarian Universalist minister and theologian Forrest Church once said, “Our hands will not be clean until we get them dirty, until we roll up our sleeves and match our words with deeds.” This, of course, is hard to…
Happy Hauntings: What Halloween Says About Us
A remarkable thing happens in my little town of Bedford every year at Halloween. Bedford is a picturesque town where the main street running up to downtown is lined on each side by big homes. The streets are wide and…
Why Did God Make the Gnats?
David Edwards was one of my children’s favorite musicians. David was an alum (Class of 1970) and former pastor of two Lynchburg churches, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Church of the Covenant. David was also a musician and…
In the Midst of Chaos
My husband has an irritating way of weaving systems theory into our everyday challenges. One of the most irritating adages he proclaims is, “During times of stress…chaos, the character of a system, is revealed.” Personally, I prefer chaos theory’s adage,…
The Kindness of Comedy
In a previous article I shared how much I love a good social documentary, but I also love some good stand-up comedians. Whether it’s Ellen DeGeneres or Robin Williams, Jim Gaffigan or Mitch Hedberg, Tig Notaro or Hasan Minhaj, Hannah…
Prompts for Prayer
I recently found out that writing prompts is a thing. Not the prompts for final exams, or for paper assignments, but random sentences that are meant to serve as exercises for creative writers. It may be something I should have…
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