The “Bending of the Grasses” and Beyond
[“I did not see God, for that would have blinded me, but I saw the bending of the grasses at the passing of the hem of His garments” (Sophy Burnham, b. 1936).] O Lover,...
Prayers in Winter Blog
Etty Hillesum on Attentive Listening
[Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum 1941-1943. (Complete and Unabridged; K. Smelik, ed., A. Pomerans, trans.). Eerdmans, 2002.] O Lover, In these chaotic days I have found myself exploring as for the first...
Musings on a Shift
[“The whole earth is full of (Your) glory” (Is 6:3).] O Lover, Are not major paradigm shifts glimpsed primarily in retrospect after the tumult has peaked and a measure of perspective gained? Is this...
A Place Called Bethel
[“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.’ He was terrified and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none...
On Holding and Folding
[“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird (‘dress’) yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone...
Confession
O Lover, I confess that I have moments when I wonder whether You and/or I are an illusion; whether religion and spirituality are mere human projections fueled by fear of finitude in general, mortality...
On Death and Dying
O Lover, I still recall the gist of musings long ago by a colleague of mine in the context of a graduate student palaver: “I am more at peace with the certainty of my...
Hodie Revisited
O Lover, In last week’s post pondering Your presence decades ago in the hearing of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Hodie Christus natus Est I failed to accentuate a theme which has since refused to go...
Hodie
[Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872-1958), Hodie Christus Natus Est (solos/choral/orchestral cantata in 16 movements).] O Lover, It was thirty-seven years ago this week. I was driving truck in what would become in retrospect the seam...
Forell Revisited
[“Day by day / Day by day / Oh Dear Lord / Three things I pray / To see thee more clearly / Love thee more dearly / Follow thee more nearly / Day...
Beyond Transaction (11/25/25)
O Lover, In an era of metastasizing capitalism it is not surprising that commodification is widespread. Whether in the arts and culture, data and knowledge, or values and morality, efforts are expended to monetize...