Aug 3, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
Whatever our experience, there is no Christianity apart from the Church. This is true because there is no such thing as solitary Christianity. Although our Christian faith and experience must be personal, it cannot be private. The more private we seek to make it, the...
Jul 30, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
I sing a lot. I don’t mean I sing a lot publicly. Most of my singing is at odd times, private and alone…when I’m driving, during my private prayer time, even when I’m waiting for an appointment. According to the circumstance and where I am, I sing aloud. I...
Jul 27, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
Lewis Grizzard was a syndicated newspaper columnist, the author of a number of books, and a rather sophisticated writer who pretended to be a redneck. He was brash, irreverent, and sometimes obscene. I often felt that he was laughing at something, such as, his...
Jul 23, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
Edith Sitwell said of William Blake, the great painter and poet, “Of course he was cracked. That’s where the light shone through.” I like that explanation! All of us are cracked somewhere, or we are not what we are cracked up to be. None of us are...
Jul 20, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
I have recently become a reader of Bill Keane’s cartoon, Family Circus. It is modeled after the cartoonist’s own family—his wife Thelma, and their children, Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and P.J. In a recent scene Billy issues, a huge AH-CHOO sneeze into the face of Dolly....
Jul 16, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
I decided recently that I should follow Bill Keane’s cartoon, Family Circus, more faithfully. So many profound lessons are couched in humor. Keane models the cartoon after his own family: Thelma, his wife, and their children, Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and P.J. The...
