Can Something so Beautiful Smell so Bad?
Have you ever smelled the flower Dracunculus vulgaris, also known as the Voodoo or Snake Lily? Well if you haven’t I suggest you stay far, far away from this elegant, yet very putrid smelling plant. This morning I had the...
What do you know about your water?
Last week I wrote about water, and how I had been unusually conscious of it recently. Hence it was ironic that I opened a publication from the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee a few days ago that asked a series of...
Scorpion scaloppine, anyone?
What are you planning to make for dinner tonight? As a source of inspiration, I wanted to start this blog with the picture of the breaded, pan-fried scorpion that appears in the June 9 issue of Time Magazine. But I...
Water is Life (with a capital L)
How many times have you thought about water in the past week? Where do you live? I am fortunate to live in a place (Chicago suburbs) with, relatively speaking, plenty of water. In a typical week, I don’t think about...
Treasuring lasts
Our family celebrated another commencement weekend as daughter Anne graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School. Graduations are a natural time to reflect on last things and things that last. Last thingsGraduations, funerals, and other rituals,...
A Glimmer of Hope in the Food Crisis
As I was driving to work this morning, I heard an interesting story on National Public Radio. It was about how the global food crisis is affecting Afghanistan, and it started predicatably enough with statistics and stories explaining how horrible...
Bad News/Good News
Does it seem like each morning’s news brings a report about another global disaster? In my darkest “oh-no-not-another one” moments, I just want to turn the TV off, push the paper away, and set my internet news pop-ups to “entertainment...
Remember ELCA Disaster Response on May 25
Last Friday I set to work writing a litany remembering survivors of recent disasters. I was inspired by the hymn. “God of the Sparrow,” ELW #740, a recommended hymn for this coming Sunday, May 25. I was moved by the...
Bomblets and hunger
That war is a cause of hunger is not news. War displaces people from their homes, livelihoods, and usual food sources. It recruits and kills working-age men who would otherwise support their families. It disrupts agricultural cycles and destroys fields....
Earthquake in China
Key ELCA Global Mission and World Hunger partners in China are located in the Sichuan province, in the cities of Chengdu and Luzhou–south of the areas worst-hit by the earthquake. We’ve learned that they are safe and that seminary students...