When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I remember being in the car with my parents as they drove the short distance home from our church’s Christmas Eve service. As Dad proceeded down a residential street near our home in Evergreen Park, IL, my ever-observant eyes spotted Santa Claus walking into someone’s house. […]
The moment I spotted the new 8th grader walking into his classroom at Timothy Lutheran School in Chicago, I understood the social predicament he would soon face. When I had entered Timothy as a 4th grader, I encountered a ‘select’ group of students whose criteria for acceptance was quite simplistic and biased- if you weren’t […]
It is a Saturday morning in the spring of 1979. My course work for a master’s degree in learning disabilities complete, I enter a lecture hall at Chicago State University to take my written exams. Three questions. One hour allotted for each. No clue what I’ll be asked. I’m handed the first question and proceed […]
When I was in grade school. my parents planted a tree on our front lawn, between the sidewalk and the curb. One summer day my mom and I came home to find the tree’s trunk nearly severed. I immediately suspected three tough brothers who lived down the block, previously described in my Short Meditation “Turning […]
When my dad resided in the assisted living facility at Harwood Place in Wauwatosa, WI, he frequently could be seen walking the property, both inside and outside. He often wore a favorite yellow cardigan sweater with one or more of his World War II army medals affixed to it at chest height. This was so […]
Number 13 of the Evergreen Park Boys Club Pirates positioned himself in deep center field. As the Oriole batter stepped into the batter’s box, #13 knew what was coming. Earlier in the day that batter, a neighbor across the street, had walked up and announced: “I’m going to hit the ball over your head tonight!” […]
The time is April, 1966- Easter season and my freshman year at Luther South High School. I am standing alone in the basement of Ashburn Lutheran Church in Chicago, wearing my ‘stylish’ new pointy-tipped shoes. I am acutely aware of my mother’s absence. She has been in a sanitarium for the past 3 months with […]
There was a very popular song in the 1960’s entitled “If I Ruled the World”, where each day was the first day of spring and hearts would sing. It was an idyllic view of what the song writer wished the world would be, reminiscent of the Biblical Garden of Eden. But even in that paradise, […]
Have you ever given up anything for Lent? For many Christians, what they give up may be either temporary or largely symbolic. For those of us in our transitional Land Between, what we most likely need to give up is of a permanent nature- fixation on past events, an unforgiving attitude, self-perception that isn’t Scriptural. Current appearances […]
From the moment I started attending Timothy Lutheran School in Chicago as a 4th grader, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. Actually, truth be told, I first wanted to be a pastor until I figured out there was more to that calling than writing and preaching sermons. Teaching was the […]
We often associate the New Year with a fresh start, carrying the hope that things will be prosperous or improved in the coming year. What are you hoping for this year- winning the lottery, finding that special someone, better health, a return to church work? In 1 Samuel 4 and 5, Israel goes into battle […]
In Hamlet Shakespeare writes: “When sorrows come- they come not single spies- but in battalions.” He might well have added “especially at Christmas”! Christmas intensifies the impact of our adversities, much like a magnifying glass igniting a leaf by concentrating the sun’s rays on a vulnerable spot. Bombarded by messages of ‘peace’ and ‘joy’, there […]