(As this year’s calendar winds down, I hearken back to Psalm 90 , a lifelong favorite. One of its thoughts has stayed with me all my life: “So teach us to number our days, that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom.” [KJV} Today some thoughts about day-numbering.) As I’ve grown older, I’ve often found myself “numbering my days.” For me, that means taking stock of how time is passing, perhapsMORE...
Over my lifetime, I’ve thought about *errands in several different ways. When I received my driver’s license in high school, I would volunteer to take the Dodge station wagon out for the simplest family tasks. As I matured into adulthood, the amount and complexity of necessary errands—encapsulated in TO DO Lists—shaded my feelings in a different way: I had to squeeze these chores into the inMORE...
In every congregation I’ve been part of, a church secretary like you has been at the center of the congregation’s health and vitality. I’ve known some of you as colleagues, others as friends and one as beloved in-law! From those relationships and those experiences, these words of appreciation. Some of you have job titles that more closely characterize your ministries—e.g., parish administratorMORE...
I didn’t used to think I was vulnerable. I tried to fortify my capabilities so that I could defend myself—and those I love—from dangers that might come along. I was young then, and those were different times. I don’t think that way any more. In these later decades, I have come to see that, along with everyone else, I have always been exposed to perils. Lately it has occurred to me that myMORE...
In ancient times, watchers guarded cities in the dark of night, surveying their territory from their posts on walls or high towers. Their job was critical: Watch and listen for danger, and then warn the rest of us! Old Testament writers note with admiration how, like God, watchers ensured the safety of people in their care. (See Psalm 127:1 or Ezekiel 3:17-21.) Their role was also a metaphor forMORE...
When last I wrote about the benefits of weekly Bible study groups in congregations, I left out a few thoughts. Here are some of them…. Our group’s Scripture conversations are an extension (or preview) of the proclamation of The Word in weekly worship. Whether based on the lectionary or not, Bible study somehow always connects with what has been (or will be) shared in a Sunday service. ThisMORE...
Our Monarch larva/babies have morphed into adult butterflies, wending their way out into the larger world. These observations from this part of their life cycle…. “I am a man and no butterfly.” This quote from 2 Hezekiah 19:42 reminds me that, despite my most cherished hopes, I will never fly. In my Spirited imagination, though, I am capable of soaring and swooping, darting among obstacles andMORE...
There’s a lot of “deserving” talk going around these days. Apparently many of us feel that we are owed something for all the troubles we’ve encountered over the past months. That past injustices make us primary candidates for recompense. Or perhaps we even think that our exemplary lives make us worthy for other rewards. “Not so,” says Martin Luther. In his Small Catechism, he frames the meaningMORE...
In my ongoing effort to enliven ecclesiological language, I offer the following adjectival additions to the concept of gratitude. First, let’s start with the presumption that gratitude may need some help. Some of the church’s verbiage illustrates this necessity—as in “the attitude of gratitude.” (Note here the extra oomph that rhyming adds to the concept of thankfulness!) Second, let’s imagineMORE...
One of the quiet blessings of the sequestrated lifestyle is the invitation to daydream, to wander in thought. Over the past many months, I’ve taken advantage of this opportunity, and sometimes find myself meandering off into memories about people, places and events from long ago and far away. Those reveries have been part of my prayer life, in a practice I’ve termed “praying the map”—taking cuesMORE...
BOB SITZE has filled the many years of his lifework in diverse settings around the United States. His calling has included careers as a teacher/principal, church musician, writer/author, denominational executive staff member and meat worker. Bob lives in Wheaton, IL.