Jan 2, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
It was hard to believe: 162-year sentence deemed excessive. That was the headline (Commercial Appeal, Dec. 16, 2022). The story was of a man, Courtney Anderson, who in 2020 was sentenced to 162 years in prison for repeated non-violent offenses. I found it difficult to...
Dec 23, 2022 | Pondering and Kindling
As a preacher and writer, I use a lot of words, hopefully most of them simple and the meanings well known. Lately, maybe because of my age, I find myself doubting the way I have spelled a word, and I check it out. Sometimes I use my cell phone, but as a creature of...
Dec 20, 2022 | Pondering and Kindling
Our language reflects dominant issues in culture. I don’t know when it began but we hear a new word a lot these days: woke. I have to keep looking up the meaning: an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning “alert to racial prejudice...
Dec 17, 2022 | Pondering and Kindling
George Bernard Shaw once wrote: “I am by nature and destiny a preacher, but I have no Bible, no creed. The preacher must preach the way of life…Oh, if I could only find it!” The Apostle Paul had found it — and he preached it. In two succinct verses, he...
Dec 10, 2022 | Pondering and Kindling
We are in what the Christian calendar calls Advent. In a recent blog, I mentioned the Christian worship practice of lighting a candle each Sunday of Advent each signifying the four traditional Advent themes: Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy. Last week I reflected on peace;...
Dec 8, 2022 | Pondering and Kindling
One of the leading story on the front page of the newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, was about a famous dog, Riona. Riona was rescued after being set on fire by her owner. Six months after her recovery she made her first public appearance. For the past few months she...
