“As we enter this time of thanksgiving, may we find moments of stillness and quiet gratitude. May we find a way to share God’s love with all who we encounter as we maneuver through blending hints of what was with the newness of what is before us. May we lift our hearts and voices in gratitude for those who have walked beside us on this winding and lingering journey.”

“God of the table,
prepare a place for us
to love and be loved
to know and be known
to forgive and be forgiven.”

“So, here is this greatly respected British writer and theologian, almost twenty years a teacher at Magdalen College, having pints with J.R.R. at the bird and the baby and winding up a Christian at the end of it all.”

“Our kingdom is not of this world. It is a vast, ancient, living being that grows and transforms with each life that is born into it. It heals us and cares for us as we reach out in care for the world. It is the Truth.”

“Someone shares how when they were young, they felt a comforting presence when her step mother was mean to her and sent her to her bedroom. She says now, looking back, she knows that she can see that it was Christ with her. This presence lifted her out of fear and comforted her from the pain.”

“The Way of Jesus was a threat to the power and empires of the world. Yet, periodically, Jesus’s followers have been tempted to claim that Jesus’s kingdom IS of this world, to claim that Jesus loves the same few people he loves and hates the same people we fear or despise. But Jesus is not about power, but service.”

“My help comes from the Lord,
creator of sunrises and sunsets
wild bears and lap dogs
cherry trees, dogwoods, and dandelions …”

“The Celts approached God with awe, reverence and wonder but also saw God as an essentially human figure intimately involved in all creation and engaged in a dynamic relationship with it. This interweaving of intimacy and mystery embraced the Trinity as a family and each family unit be it family, clan or tribe was seen as an icon of the Trinity.”

“So I take a walk. I take a walk, and I notice how blustery and windy it has gotten while I have been huddling inside the house. My ears are cold; so is the tip of my nose. It is cloudy, but soon the sun breaks through, and bronze leaves swirl and leap in the street. I notice little patches of foliage still erupting green into the afternoon light.”

“People on the street had their own reactions. Some passed by, looking anywhere but where a sock might be and pretending that there really wasn’t anything wrong at all. Some trod a careful path through the socks, being careful not to step on any or come in contact with them at all.”