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Fellowship of Saints and Sinners

These days reading Barbara Brown Taylor’s Leaving Church has become a bedtime ritual. The “central revelation” behind this spiritual memoir about a minister who leaves her clerical post to fall more deeply in love with God is this: “that the call to serve God is first and last the call to be fully human.” I…

Fellow saint and sinner Paul sent along this heartwarming video about a boy whose wish came true. Eight-year-old Atticus in Portland, Oregon, loves soccer. He also happens to have cancer. One day he got his wish: to play the Portland Timbers; Atticus’ team, The Green Machine, took on the Timbers before a stadium of 3,000-plus…

What was to be Sunday’s serenade is now music for a manic Monday: “Just a Ride” by Jem is a reminder that life, much like writing, is a ride with ups and downs. The key is to let go and take it all in stride. Last night I picked up Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird…

This past weekend as I lay sunbathing on a beach in Santa Monica, California, it seemed like everywhere I turned there was somebody beautiful. The tan, toned, athletic bodies were everywhere, which had me wondering whether, after two pregnancies, I really dared peel off that top layer of clothing and bear my own now pale-white…

  As you now know, I love reading the obituaries in The Economist. The latest issue features the life of another restless soul: she was the very last “Beguine,” Marcella Pattyn, whose passing wistfully marks the end of a whole way of life. The Beguines were itinerant communities of women devoted to prayer, work and…

As a corporate chaplain, I spend much of my time in the car, traveling to various companies- so it’s always a plus when I have something other than my favorite bands to listen to. (For as much as I love Mumford & Sons and Keane and could probably erect a golden bust of them somewhere…

It’s good to be back here at this intersection between life and God for all fellow saints and sinners. I’ve missed you! While I was away, I was again reminded of the church’s irrelevance. Three things happened to remind me. First, I was sunbathing on the beach in Santa Monica, California, when a stranger approached…

Someone the other day asked how it was that I ended up writing a book. On a week like this one, when I’m under another self-imposed deadline to finish a second draft, the answer probably would be “God knows!” But the question sparked some reflection on why I am writing in the first place. After…

Yo-Yo Ma played Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor at Thursday’s interfaith prayer and healing service in Boston, where the President and First Lady were in attendance after the tragedy of this week’s Boston Marathon. In an interview with NPR earlier in the day, Yo-Yo Ma explained why he chose the piece: to…

The older I get the more I’m convinced a whole lot of life is about letting go. The only problem is I’m not very good at it. Maybe you can identify. Here’s a short list that helps me let go in times when I’m grieving something I’ve lost or am feeling stuck in an unhealthy…
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