For a couple of weeks, salvage has been following me around like a kitten looking for a home. Sometimes unobtrusive and at other times almost in my face, this word has gradually wormed its way into my conscious thoughts. Some of them follow here. Salvage is derived from salvare, the Latinate root for salvation. The 17th century noun form first designated the payment offered for saving aMORE...
Keep talking “Like father, like son.” If that’s true, I have inherited my father’s enjoyment of shared conversations with friends and colleagues. (My mother’s descriptive noun for him was Schnatterpeter—a Low German phrase meaning something like “one who likes to talk with others about relatively ordinary matters, a chatterbox.”) To the consternation of those around me, when I schnatter, I don’tMORE...
If you know me at all, you know that I’m playful. Not always a good thing—I’ll grant you that—but at least my playfulness keeps me in touch with my inner child! Given the spirit of these times—perhaps now etched into my own—some of my normally good-humored self doesn’t seem available. Maybe it’s even leached out of me? I understand how this might have happened. Playing around—an essential part ofMORE...
One section of First Corinthians seems especially fitting for these times. In Chapter 10, Paul muses about idolatry—and the temptations to yield to its influences. His examples come from the times when the Children of Israel set up idols—e.g., the golden calf fashioned for worship when Moses didn’t come back from Mt. Sinai. According to Paul, these idolatries were punished in various ways. HisMORE...
Today I want to talk to you face-to-face. The situation in which I now find myself—in which you might also find yourself—has pulled me away from any well-intentioned writer’s façade. This feels like a propitious moment for me to take off my mask, so that you can see what’s going on inside of me during these times. I don’t’ think I’m handling this situation like the spiritually centeredMORE...
My wife and I are mask-wearers. When we cover our faces in public, people may wonder, “Who’s behind those masks?” *The Lone Ranger, one of my all-time radio favorites, got that same reaction; people wanted to know who he was under that disguise. This pandemic may set up the same question about us. At first glance, our face coverings identify us in two ways: On the one hand—as senior citizens—weMORE...
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.