Thou shalt not covet We read the Decalogue in church last Sunday, and then the Old Testament reading was Exodus 20:1-17, God giving Moses the Ten Commandments. It always ends with the commandment “Thou shalt not covet,” inevitably reminding me that I learned to covet in church. The Christmas pageant, FCS. All the years of my childhood I was a shepherd. A crummy shepherd. Wearing somebody’s worn out tan or brown bathrobe. Or an old blanket wrapped around and tied at the waist with a rope. And burlap cloth over the head. Did anybody but me notice what the Three Kings were wearing? Get a load of this. Gold and silver crowns. Beads. Purple and red and blue and green costumes made special for the occasion.  Even their lines were rich. “Gold I bring, to crown him ... ”  And carrying that fancy box: “Frankincense to offer have I.” "Myrrh is mine ... " Myrrh? What did we get to say? Either keep your mouth shut or mutter anonymously with the crowd, “ ’s go to Bethlehem and see,” ...

Down, Dark, and Cynical   Don’t Even Read It Seems insensitive this morning, even sinful unto blasphemous, to think about lighthearted things in the face of what is going on, news on television last night, reinforced in this morning’s online news, unspeakable atrocities in Syria enabled by outdated concepts of “national sovereignty” untempered by international outrage, power, ability and conscience; desolated, evacuated morality of our presence in Afghanistan where we have so well and truly “got even” for 9/11 that it will be generations before memory and hatred of us begins to fade. After more than a decade, our success in that graveyard of empires will be to have given them yet one more nation of foreigners to hate even more than they hate each other.  In Iraq and Afghanistan, as in Vietnam, we have shown history even if not ourselves that we are not what we thought ourselves to be, much less are we what the world once idolized us to be. An alarming, frightening NYT headline...

My mother used to tell me, “A son is a son till he takes a wife; but a daughter is a daughter all her life.”  Our children are all incredibly close, loved and loving, and we adore each one. And each one has enjoyed, or lovingly tolerated, a time as "Daddy's Baby." In Columbus, Ohio forty years ago today Linda was in labor. My assigned task was not to take my eyes off the tape of a heart monitoring machine that was hooked up because this was a footling breech birth in slow process, and the delivering physician was concerned about the umbilical cord. He was in the adjoining room, and I was to get him instantly if the baby's heartbeat slowed, so he could do a caesarean. All turned out well though. The tape is still around here in a box labeled “Cathy’s Heartbeat.” We named her Cathlyn Marie Lucile, and called her Cathy. But when she started talking she pronounced it “Tassy” and Tassy stuck. Tassy. Tass. Tassa. Tassy Marie. T-Marie. Tassaree. Our youngest. When she was ...

Exodus 19 (NRSV) At the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. 3Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: 4You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.’ 7 So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8The people all answered as one: ‘Everything tha...

Promptly on schedule at seven o’clock last evening, Kristen arrived safely home from college for Spring Break. While she was on the road, my Friday afternoon was a total mental diversion and distraction, reviewing HNES school year 2012-2013 financial aid applications, recomputing each one, discovering and correcting errors, and preparing briefs for the Financial Aid Committee session the end of this month.  My initial examination as soon as each application arrives from SSS takes about thirty minutes apiece, but this final process takes an hour or more each, so that five were completed during my Friday afternoon purgatory. It’s productive stress management actually, keeping the mind on the task, the imagination off the highway, and the eye off the clock. When nature suddenly called, it was six-fifteen and impossible to focus again, so the final three-quarter-hour was spent on the back porch swing with the iPad and watching the intersection of 9th Street and Calhoun Avenue unti...

Psalm 19 (KJV)   1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.   2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.   3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.   4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,   5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.   6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.   7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.   8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.   9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous a...

John 2:13-22 (NRSV) 13  The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ 18 The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ 19 Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ 20 The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ 21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered th...