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Thin Places

When Charlie was born… before Charlie… because of Charlie… I could write a seemingly endless stream of thoughts all sharing a common thread. The themes might vary, but the main subject–my son Charlie–remains constant.  Over three years ago I had little to say on the subject of disabilities, yet alone Down syndrome. It wasn’t until…

Last week, I wrote a post, “What is the Bible?” In it, I argued that the Bible is “both the work of human beings and the Word of God.” And I asked, “if it isn’t merely a culturally constructed and deeply flawed human project, and if it isn’t God via dictation, what is it?” One…

I have a new post at her.meneutics: “Secular People Need Sabbaths Too.” It begins: It’s taken years for me to integrate Sabbath-keeping into my week. For most of my life, I have attended a church service on Sundays, but otherwise Sundays haven’t been distinct. In recent years, though, ceasing from work, resting, and celebrating God’s…

In an email exchange with someone who happened upon this blog, I found myself recommending a series of spiritual memoirs. I thought other readers might benefit from the list: Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, by Kathleen Norris. My all-time favorite. Norris grew up in the Dakotas but moved to New York City for college…

From the current issue of Time Magazine, in reference to who uses “medical” marijuana: “Colorodo health department records show that only 2% of registered [medical marijuana] patients had cancer; 1% had HIV/AIDS. There were 94% who suffered ‘severe pain’–a catchall condition that can be entirely subjective and difficult for a doctor to measure or verify.…

While washing the cheese grater tonight after dinner, a memory popped into my head. Flashback to high school, maybe age 16, in “Teen Living” class with several of my (Virginia) Beach-crazed friends. This particular memory was of the day when we made pasta with Bolognese sauce, topped with freshly grated cheese, and a green salad on…

I have an article here at beliefnet: “Five Ways to Welcome Laughter Into Your Home.” Hopefully it will help bring a little laughter into your day! It begins: It’s easy for our household to become grim. With two small children and another on the way, there are plenty of mornings like this past Saturday, when…

For the next few weeks, I am going to address a few questions about the Bible:  What is the Bible? Who decided what goes into the Bible and how did they decide? What is the Old Testament? What is the New Testament? How do I read the Bible today? Our culture exhibits a range of…

I’ve written before, from a different angle, about how disability is not as different from the norm as most of us think. There’s the spiritual reality that all of us are equally broken and equally beloved. There’s the emotional reality that, although some of us are more able to hide our need and vulnerability from…

Technically, the baby is due in ten weeks. Penny and William were both early, so I assume I have 8 or 9 to go. Penny has endured this family upheaval before. She seems as ready as she can be to be a “big, big sister,” in her words. William doesn’t seem so sure. If I…
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