Gather 'round…
Jeff Rennicke, The Conserve Kid’s English teacher back when COVID closed down the school and the world, is in Alaska, as he is wont to be. He wrote this on Wednesday: "It is fitting, I suppose: a thick fog blanketing the Alaskan mountainsides where I have come seeking solace after such a difficult and divisive... Continue Reading →
“Love has bridged the high-rises of despair we were about to fall between. Love has been a penlight in the blackest, bleakest nights. Love has been a wild animal, a poultice, a dinghy, a coat. Love is why we have hope.” ~ Truth brought to you by St. Anne. * Today it’s time to go on... Continue Reading →
I was with a few close friends the other day, and we were talking about our experience of God. Now, please understand, Im’a simplify the context violently here, or we'll never get anywhere. I'll just cut to my part, which was kinda' two parts: First there was my general presence answer. The deep knowing, the... Continue Reading →
Me post-nos. It's small for obvious reasons. Had me a little nitrous the other day. I guess it was almost a month ago now. Time flying when the fun is had and all that... The nitrous in question was administered at my request as prelude to an extraction. You see, while I've had a tooth... Continue Reading →
Snow shadows from the Hoffman Hills Tower yesterday March 24Even in the DarkTo be broken is no reasonto see all things as brokenSeldom seen, growing along the ocean floor, the white plumed anemone is a watery blossom. It is white lace opening under tons of black, opening as if bathed in the sun, while so... Continue Reading →
I was working through one of those loud and chaotic inner conversations with myself yesterday about how I want things to go. You know, in life. Do you have these? Well, this one got a bit heated, and me, myself, and I all had to take separate corners for a while there. In the end--when... Continue Reading →
I haven’t been writing much lately. Not enough time. Not enough brain space. Sometimes one has to withdraw from the writing to engage in the life. Let’s call it a Lenten switchup. I’ll be back after Pascha, I’m sure. But I have had great occasion recently to wonder with fear and trembling at the tremendous... Continue Reading →
Accidental Saints found its way into my library hold shelf a while back. I didn't review it. Not because it wasn't good. Just because I didn't. I can do that sometimes... read a book and not even have the decency to write about it. Apologies. I loved it. Nadia Bolz-Weber is a foul-mouth overly-tatted rough-and-tumble... Continue Reading →
The Manifestation of God. This is what we’re celebrating today. Just a few little words, loaded well over the safety line. Theophany is here, and Christ is baptized in the Jordan, by none other than John the Baptizer himself, who--I dare say--has no interest in baptizing the Messiah himself. I imagine he was feeling a... Continue Reading →
I've been wondering why it is that flashes of brilliance - or at least flashes of our best selves - manifest themselves while we're in no position to act on them. Creative juices, spiritual prods, humanitarian urges. They all arrive when we are somehow incapacitated. I'm sure I'm not alone. You are resolved (and possibly... Continue Reading →
A little follow up on yesterday's post... It took me a while to find it, as the much-coveted book has already been surrendered to the library, but I thought it worth reposting Mike Perry's closing essay from Roughneck Grace. Kind of sums up those times around the fire, no matter how they're spent. A bit... Continue Reading →
We returned yesterday from our annual week in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. There is always a bit of culture shock as we re-integrate into the civilized world, and this year was no different. I took a walk this morning. On pavement. I was not navigating a boulder-riddled portage trail under the weight of... Continue Reading →
Tales From the Nexus 