Most of the earthquakes I’ve experienced while here in Berkeley have happened at night and, although they jolt me awake to that state of unnatural attentiveness that’s not quite sure whether to run or hide, it’s hardly the best time for considered reflection. But last night, seated at the dinner table, when the world bucked …
Category Archives: Berkeley
Feast of the Assumption
I said this was an embarrassing feast. And I’d like to convince you of that by starting with a quiz. Eyes closed please… Paying attention to what you are feeling… OK … first question: what does God like most about your body? Just stand there naked before God and see what God’s response is? We …
St Clare
How fast does a bullet travel? Something shot across the Atlantic Ocean today at 1800 miles per hour, and gouged a trail through Europe. Billions watched it pass in awe—at least if the weather permitted–a total eclipse. Here’s what Annie Dillard has to say about surviving a total eclipse: “… I heard screams. People on …
Wednesday Week 18 Year I
Isn’t it the story of our lives? We see a land of promise laid out before us. We hear the voice of a God delighted to be giving us all we have ever desired. There we are wandering in desert, sand in our shoes, backs burdened under the weight of all we have been through …
Sunday Week 16 Year A
Someone famous—whose name of course escapes me at the moment—someone once said that you should pray with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Apart from the problem of not having enough hands to turn over the pages there’s something missing from that advice. No one ever says where in either …
Sunday Week 14 Year A
Two score and six years ago on this day my mother and father married. He used to say it was the day he lost his independence. He also said it was the day he began to lose his hair. Somehow subconsciously, over the years, I came to believe in that connection. Bald is bad—and not …
Sunday Week 11 Year A
It’s the look that makes all the difference in the world. … There’s a quiet little magic that almost slips by unnoticed in the gospel today. Jesus, heartbroken by the crowd, gathers disciples but sends out apostles. In the space of a sentence twelve bewildered beginners are promoted to full ambassadorship with authority to speak …
Trinity Sunday Year A
Somebody’s hiding here. Or, truer to tell, someone’s being hidden. E-mail! All those messages flying up and down the wires. All that urgency of communication. And what’s in these person-to-person packages of such life and death import? Jokes, get-rich-quick schemes, and invitations to porn. Isn’t technology wonderful? OK, somewhere in there, there are messages that …
Monday Week 8 Year I
The time may be ordinary but the liturgy still packs a punch. These are sturdy messages to hear after the heated rush and joyful babble of Pentecost. A bit like having cold water thrown in your face. Repentance. Burning desire. And bitter disappointment. Like I said at the beginning these two turnover times—between semester’s end …
Friday Week 7 of Easter
Just what I don’t want to hear after breakfast on the beach—the taste of fish still strong in my mouth—salt and smoke in my hair. Here we go! “Do you love me?” “Yeah, of course I love you!” “No, I mean it … do you love me?” “Yes! I love you.” There’s something about those …