What do you think of when you think of Andy Warhol? Campbell’s Soup? All-night parties? Pop-art album covers for the Rolling Stones? You might picture a slight, frail, near-albino artist in tortoise shell glasses, but you probably wouldn’t picture him in the back pew of a Catholic church, genuflecting devoutly. But that’s where he was,Continue reading “You just never know”
Category Archives: Advent
Listening to Life
Five years ago at Christmas, my son Graham gave me a book by Parker J. Palmer called Let your Life Speak. He didn’t know anything about it, found it on a table in the spiritual books section of Barnes & Noble, thought I might like it. It has, over these past five years, become oneContinue reading “Listening to Life”
The thin crayon line
We enter the close of 2011 as members of a nation with very clear dividing lines: red state/blue state, pro-this/anti-that, a worldview of cynicism/a worldview of hope. Now, during what we once called Christmastime but now call the holiday season— correction, the holiday shopping season (apparently the only thing we could agree on was theContinue reading “The thin crayon line”
The gift of forgiveness
Someone wrote to Dear Abby yesterday suggesting that the greatest gift this time of year was the gift of forgiveness. It’s free. It fits all shapes and sizes. And everyone needs it, the giver as much as the receiver. But forgiveness isn’t something that can be given without a shift in the heart that isContinue reading “The gift of forgiveness”
Mary, did you know?
I have quite a few friends with new babies this Christmas. Some are believers, some are not. But each one of them knows the feeling— because every mother on the planet knows the feeling— that is captured in this lyric: “The child that you delivered will soon deliver you.” I remember the first time IContinue reading “Mary, did you know?”
