Why We Need Christmas Trees
Rituals are our allies in sorrow. They help us appreciate what brief time we had with our loved ones while acknowledging the years we will face without them.
Welcoming a Baby in Advent
Like Mary and all Israel waiting for the Messiah, like a mother welcoming a child, we are to “wait for it with patience.”
Lead Kindly Light
And so, feeling blessed by the rich experiences of my ministry, I stand at the start of a new year in the dying days of the old one.
William James’s Grief
Decades of sorrow and searching for clinical evidence have strengthened his resolve, tempered now by experiences that add up to more than disparate bits of empirical data.
The True Face of Justice is Compassion
He took the words of Jesus to heart—he rarely judged others. When he passed this year, he left a memory not of condemnation, but of mercy.
Mary Shelley’s Grief
Mary writes with gentle pathos, patience, and calm—traits common to those who have endured terrible loss. Her observations on life’s many ironies offer catharsis for author and reader alike.
The Liberal Charity Model
Our need for privacy has been accentuated by the way we live, in which goods and services arrive seemingly out of the ether, things we’ve bought to consume, throw away, or do with what we wish. The faces and hands behind these goods are invisible to us.
Joan of Arc’s Grief
My grief would overwhelm me if I were not in God's grace. — Joan of Arc, February 24, 1431
Else Lasker-Schüler’s Grief
Her work is certainly redolent of sorrow and, as she describes it, the eternity that dwells within her. But her words also carry hope and surprising faith that she will see her son again.
Falling is Not Failure, and Getting up is Not the Point
Life knocks us down. It is the price of this world, however much we may kid ourselves otherwise. Our falls become part of us.