Category Archives: Sunday Morning

Our Cross

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The English language is a colorful landscape of idioms, expressions and all manner of this and that. Sometimes it is like exploring the attic in your grandparent’s house. Never know what you’ll find. I have always enjoyed exploring the etymology, that is, the origins of words and expressions. One of our common expressions is used when we see someone who has to accept or is stuck in an unpleasant situation or responsibility because there is no way to avoid dealing with it. We remark “that’s their cross to bear.” Continue reading →

Open to listening

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When I was fourth grade I suffered a long series of ear infections and operations that temporarily left my hearing very reduced, some days, virtually deaf. I missed a lot of school that year and when I did return to class there were two things that still stand out in my memory: (a) I had to sit in the front of the class directly in front of the teacher so that I could maximize the chance of hearing her, and (b) I had to stay behind during recess for extra lessons or studying for all that I had missed. Continue reading →

Losing one’s way

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Losing one’s way. Not all that hard to do. You just need to stop paying attention. Don’t read the road signs. Don’t listen to your digital travel app telling you to turn. Be in the wrong lane when your interstate exit comes up. And that’s just in the world of transportation. There are lots of areas in life in which you can lose your way by just not paying attention: marriage, school, sports, career, and even one’s faith life. Continue reading →

The Next Wall

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I swam competitively most of my life: high school, college, and then later in life with the U.S. Masters swim program. I wasn’t gifted with fast-twitch muscles and so have never had a very good sprint. The middle distance events were my best events. My quip was that I was given a distance stroke with a sprinter’s endurance. A couple of years back I competed in a meet and for some reason signed up for the 1500-meter freestyle – a little outside my usual range, but certainly do-able. Continue reading →

Into Mystery

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Throughout the course of my life, most people came to know me via work in  technology and science, e.g., nuclear power, information technology, and the list goes on. And it’s true I know (…or used to know) those things, but even at an early age there was always a part of me that leaned into mystery.

The first mystery I remember was the magic of airplanes. I mean…. How in the world could something that heavy fly? At one point in my life, it was all explained by the “fact” that guardian angels held up the wings to safely carry their charges to their destinations.  Eventually I learned about wing shapes creating pressure differentials and lift. Mystery’s realm was encroached upon by knowledge and understanding. I still think guardian angels are there, supplementing lift forces, keeping airplanes flying. Just saying… Continue reading →

Days when I don’t get it

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Ever been in a conversation with someone – usually not an easy conversation – when the other person, exasperated with you, the conversation, or whatever just blurts out, “You just don’t get it, do you?”  ….and there it is… the end of the conversation.  Just a few words, well delivered that can kill  conversations or end relationships.

I suspect that along with exasperation, it can often be delivered with the characteristics that St. Paul warns us about: “all bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling [and] malice must be removed from you.” We might well add to his list: “You just don’t get it, do you?”  None of the above fulfills the proposal to “be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.” Continue reading →

The grace to persevere

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Several years ago, the Mars Chocolate North America company wanted to rejuvenate their product line of candy bars. Their creative partner, the global firm BBDO, helped them to launch a national campaign with the basic message: “you are not you when you’re hungry.” The television advertisements were wildly popular with stars such as Betty White and Aretha Franklin appearing in them. In all the tv spots the person just wasn’t themselves until a concerned fried offered them a candy bar. The Aretha Franklin spot always cracked me up. On a long cross-country drive one of the backseat passengers is complaining about everything – and while doing so appears to be Ms. Franklin. The backseat companion encourages the complainer to eat a candy bar because “When you’re hungry you turn into a diva.”  Continue reading →

Come and be changed

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The reading from Old Testament, 2 Kings, and the Gospel both described miraculous multiplications of bread that nourishes the people – such a small offering – a couple of barley loaves – yielding such tremendous results, feeding thousands upon thousands. Truly miraculous…but what effect did it have on the people who were fed? The gospel reading is just the first part of The Gospel According to John, Chapter 6 – over the following four weeks, we will read the remainder of that chapter in its entirety. We can actually take a peek ahead and answer the question. The recipients of that wondrous bread – well, they wanted more. They wanted to make Jesus king so they would always have bread. Jesus will keep trying to explain to them the meaning and the implications on what has just happened, but once they figure out that Jesus’ meaning is Eucharistic… well, they walk away. I guess it would be fair to say the whole thing did not have the effect Jesus wanted. Continue reading →

For a while….

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For a group of elite US athletes a moment is quickly arriving – the 2024 Olympic games. I think people have their favorite sport. In my case, no surprise, it is the swimming events. Every four years people are brought to a moment. And they don’t arrive unprepared. Years of preparation.

There is a threshold of practice that raises one’s level of performance to expert. And then a dedicated persistence and perseverance in that practice is needed to maintain that level of expertise. The number oft mentioned in 10,000 hours. Last century, when I was in college I had reached 10,000 hours and more. I competed at a national level, in the deep end so to speak, where lots of people competed in races that were resolved in tenths or hundredths of seconds. Continue reading →

Divine Disturbance

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My Aunt Mary – she was really just a family friend, but out of respect for her 86 years on earth we always called her Aunt Mary. She was the only person I ever met who used an ear trumpet – a tubular or funnel-shaped device which collects sound waves and leads them into the ear. It was an aid for hearing before there were hearing aids. It was necessary to speak directly into the trumpet if you wanted to carry on conversation. My dad discovered that a simple surgical procedure could restore a great deal of her hearing, but Aunt Mary was not interested. It wasn’t that she was afraid, she simply stated: “I’m 86 years old and I have heard it all – and I don’t want to hear it again.” She did want to be disturbed. Continue reading →