Author - The Journal

In life’s mosaic, ‘fragments of possibility’

Imagine – scarlet. Bring it to mind in all its richness. Sit with this vivid, intense color, and let it speak to you. Now, fuchsia. And then, magenta. Try azure. And in a while, w...

DATE: Jan 12, 2016 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

I wonder ...

For those of you who read this column somewhat regularly you know that I wonder a lot. I wonder about a lot of things, some of them worth writing about, most of them not. I wonder...

DATE: Nov 20, 2015 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

Losing your life, and finding the divine

Durango is a nice enough town. I suspect it’s favored by those who live there. After all, for them it is home. But I can’t imagine choosing to live there – not after living in Cortez. And ma...

DATE: Nov 4, 2015 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

One family in Christ, with values in sync?

I’ve been thinking recently about the phrase “family values.” This is a concept that inhabits both the religious and the political spheres. The extent to which those spheres influ...

DATE: Sep 7, 2015 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

Publicly confessed racism can move souls to peace

Recently I ran across a quote I’d once copied and saved. The quote says that “fear and loss brought to speech lead to energy.” It gives a corollary that “fear and loss not brought...

DATE: Jul 16, 2015 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

Systemic sin, climate change and choice

Small churches, like other small groups, tend to be homogenous. Members most often look at the world through the same, or similar, lenses. For the most part they believe the same ...

DATE: Apr 16, 2015 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

Rushing to a conclusion smothers seeds of New Life

Premature convergence. That was my take-away from a training I recently attended. While it is not a phrase I’d heard before, I recognized it immediately – in myself. Premature con...

DATE: Mar 19, 2015 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

Living in Christ in the community of Church

I’ve been asked more than once by members of the congregation I serve to video my sermons and put them on our website. When I decline, they often ask if I wouldn’t just post the texts on the...

DATE: Jan 15, 2015 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

An invitation to engage our faith in a conversation

Prompted by an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor whose blog I read, I have sent an invitation to the people of the Church I serve. The invitation is to join in an Adv...

DATE: Dec 18, 2014 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

Celebrating a transcendent union

All Souls. All Saints. Dia de los Muertos. Some of us Christians have recently celebrated these days of remembrance. As the days grow shorter, their timing is no accident. We are ...

DATE: Nov 6, 2014 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

Living (and dying) by God’s good Nature

Today when I read Ezekiel J. Emanuel’s article in the October edition of “The Atlantic” titled, “Why I Hope to Die at 75,” I knew there were others thinking along the same lines I do. ...

DATE: Oct 16, 2014 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

Experience the fullness of this moment

By Leigh Waggoner “This moment” is all there is. And the moment that existed when you read that first sentence no longer is. Another moment – “this moment” is all there is. ...

DATE: Sep 18, 2014 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way