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Anti-Abortion Laws and the Control of Women’s Bodies
This one time in the church parking lot we were talking about vasectomies. I didn’t know it at first. My friend keeps his hair long, like 1990s Chandler from Friends, so when I overheard him say,...
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You Dads Think You’re All So Funny
My wife tells me I have “Dad humor” and shakes her head. But she is smiling. I do tell funny stories about our kids. Like the two-and-a-half-year-old son celebrating a successful poop in the potty like...
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The Pardon
My oldest son does well in his prekindergarten assessment, identifying all the letters and numbers in a quiet, confident voice. His teacher smiles at me afterward and sing-songs above my child’s head:...
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Soul Mama
My wife makes damn sure our kids love James Brown. After supper, she shouts, “Dance Party!” Those three immediately get up offa that thing! The Godfather of Soul was played during our wedding reception...
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Praying the ‘Our Father’
Across the world, believers in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions address God as Father. One of the central prayers in Christianity is known simply as the “Our Father.” Without seeking to...
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Eden Again
Walking into the elementary school, the smell in the air matched the exact scent I remembered from my childhood. I wondered if all schools mopped the squeaky floors with the same cleaner. I found the...
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12th Anniversary
Google claims the twelfth-anniversary gift should be made of silk, linen, or pearls. My wife’s kayak was polyethylene. “Tandem” originally referred to colts, harnessed one behind the other. For a...
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That’ll Preach
In the Hebrew Bible, the word “salvation” originally meant to “clear the road.” I recently learned this at an academic gathering of theologians and biblical scholars at my alma mater. We had spent the...
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Dear Son (BREAKING NEWS – School Shootings)
Dear Son, Though you are now seven years old, I still like to crack your bedroom door and watch you sleep, safe and sound. Our world can be nightmarish. Earlier this afternoon, I asked you about the...
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You Were a Child Once Too
These six words are the crystallization of the philosophy of Fred Rogers, a mantra that guided nearly 1,000 episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood from 1966 to 2000. This Thanksgiving, you can watch...
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Goldening
For L.F. on her birthday When our first son was born, we lived across the road from a field that was farmed by a father and his son. These dairy farmers were faithful members of the church where I...
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The Song of Myself
As I approach forty years old, I no longer Rage Against the Machine, though Zack de la Rocha and Tom Morello were my favorites as a teenager. Nowadays my rock ’n roll predilection is more like Third...
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Surprise, Surprise
Most Saturday afternoons, I endeavor to get my seven- and four-year-old sons out of the house and out of their mother’s hair. Sometimes we go to a park or for a hike. If the weather is bad or they are...
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One Human Body (Coronavirus Reflection)
for Dr. Sarah Bradford, one of my heroes Words matter. This is especially true in a crisis. How we talk about the coronavirus impacts how we think and react to this pandemic. I say we should avoid all...
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Shoes that Involve Socks
A Parent Sanity Announcement (PSA) in COVID-19 For my family in the time of COVID-19, the pre-supper walk is crucial for burning the children’s energy and maintaining their parents’ sanity. So, I...
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Really Real
Though I will remember this spring as the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, my young sons will long recall the daoine sidhe. This is not a new disease but a very old story stretching all the way back to...
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Very High Up
My family lives in a part of the county that is “rapidly growing” which means humans are actively cutting down, digging up, hauling away, and burning the plants that were actually growing. When our...
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Sunflowers at Christmas
This past Christmas Day, my wife and I took our three young children out to dinner. I know this is July. Please bear with me. We had always celebrated at home with extended family. But my in-laws were...
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Anticipating Election Day as a Poll Chaplain
I’ve been a pastor for ten years, but only recently purchased my first clerical collar. It was just $30! I wondered if Amazon had sold me a Halloween costume by mistake. In the days leading up to...
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My Experience as a Poll Chaplain on Election Day
I was contacted a few weeks ago to serve as a volunteer “poll chaplain” — a non-partisan, non-anxious presence at a polling place on Election Day. The nonprofit that made the request hoped that such...
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