On our trip to South Carolina a few weeks ago, we visited the Chapel of Ease, built circa 1740 as a place of worship for planters on St. Helena Island who lived too far to participate regularly in services at the parish church in Beaufort. On the grounds stands a mausoleum where some members of the Fripp family were laid to rest. This place of ruins, tombs and … [Read more...]
This Is My Song
On summer Sundays in the small country church where I worshiped as a 12-year-old girl, someone would open the windows before the service. Without air conditioning, we welcomed any available breeze and plucked vintage fans from behind the pews—fans made of stiff cardboard that unfolded to reveal da Vinci's Last Supper on one side and an ad for a funeral parlor on the … [Read more...]
Vacate
From Prayer, by Philip Yancey:"Be still and know that I am God": the Latin imperative for "be still" is vacate. As Simon Tugwell explains, "God invites us to take a holiday [vacation], to stop being God for a while, and let him be God...God is inviting us to take a break, to play truant. We can stop doing all those important things we have to do in our capacity as God, and … [Read more...]
Notes from the Father
On Sunday, we lit the first candle of our Advent wreath and talked about the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled and how hard it must have been for God's people to piece it all together.I wrote out some prophecies on paper, folded them up, and asked the older two kids to create a simple scavenger hunt. The younger two raced off in search of the messages, which they found and … [Read more...]
Finding Bliss in the Better
Poetry's been on my mind quite a bit lately.First, there are my poem-promoting/poem-lovin' friends. Yes, indeed, a lot of my friends are enjoying poetry, whether reading, writing, sharing, publishing, or even tweeting it (check out TweetSpeak Poetry on Twitter tonight, November 23, 9:30-10:30 p.m. ET).Also, I went to that Wendell Berry reading, and though he read from … [Read more...]
Recommended Reading: RW Article about Ryan Hall
The story about Ryan Hall in Runner's World is as much about his faith as his running, because it's a profile on the young man himself, and he's fully committed to the Lord.Here's the teaser:A decade ago, God told Ryan Hall to run. Now Hall's a 2:06 marathoner and an Olympic favorite. His story is almost beyond belief.The people at his church, his family, and Ryan … [Read more...]
