To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here “Would you like to hold her?” On a cold winter morning more than 30 years ago, a young mother gently placed the body of her stillborn daughter, carefully wrapped in blankets, into my arms. She had come into the world that morning. And she had left our world that same morning. The Russian novelist Fyodor… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here A few years ago, Stephan Pastis – creator of the syndicated cartoon strip Pearls Before Swine – depicted his gentle-hearted character Pig in a theology classroom. His assignment? “Define heaven.” Pig submits this answer: “All the dogs I’ve ever owned rush out all at once and start licking my face as… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Throughout the season of Lent, we’re taking a close look at the Apostles’ Creed – one of the earliest and most concise summaries of what followers of Jesus believe. There’s a difference between getting over a tragedy and getting through it. Christian singer and songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman and his family have made it… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Throughout the season of Lent, we’re taking a close look at the Apostles’ Creed – one of the earliest and most concise summaries of what followers of Jesus believe. William Goldman (1931-2018) was one of America’s most cherished storytellers. Two of his movie screenplays, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here If you assess the national landscape of outdoor Halloween decorations, Skelly is hard to miss. Skelly the Skeleton, who debuted at Home Depot in 2020, is a whopping 12 feet tall, “big enough to look down on a basketball hoop,” as his creators put it. The team that brought him to… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Of the more than 4,300 episodes featured over the years on Sesame Street, #1839, which aired on Thanksgiving Day 1983, stands alone. That show has been identified as one of the ten most influential moments in the history of daytime TV. During that episode, the Sesame Street cast confronted the real-life… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here For most people, climbing Mt. Everest is a peak experience in more ways than one. Reaching the summit of the 29,032-foot mountain means you can justifiably claim to have stood “on top of the world.” Getting there is also likely to require more stamina, perseverance, courage, and risk-taking than the vast… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here A number of people have made memorable comments about the end of life: Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75. Ben FranklinThe idea is to die young as late as possible. Ashley MontaguWhen you’re dead, you’re dead. That’s it. Marlene DietrichI would rather die a meaningful death than… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here It’s coming. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Just when you thought 2024 couldn’t get any crazier – what with a total solar eclipse, crowds flocking to see a movie depicting a future civil war, and a November election that for some reason keeps popping up in the news… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here So why are cemeteries such scary places on the last day of October? Historians believe that Halloween is the semi-Christianized version of an ancient Celtic festival that spanned October 31 and November 1 called Samhain (pronounced SAW-win) which marked the beginning of winter. Celtic lore suggested that during Samhain the boundary between the world… Read more »
