Here’s where the roving eye of Bob Sitze lands on interesting or important events, trends, discoveries, opinions or research that are part of contemporary life. Sometimes missed in spiritually oriented utterances, the stuff of life consists of all the places where God’s hand stirs, supports or motivates. These blogs may also include links for further information or action.
When I fill out forms that are necessary for navigating my current existence, I sometimes come up against questions where my likely answer is not included in the possible responses. So I enter D/N/A or N/A. Every day I deal with all sorts of messages that claim to be important enough for me to read, explore further or answer. It would be easy enough to open all of them—and enter the danger zonesMORE...
At various occasions in my life, 1catharsis has been a useful concept. At one time in my earlier decades—lasting maybe ten years or so—this word characterized a decision-making process about my 2eventual lifework. What I remember is that the process took awhile. It was slow. The swirl of colliding emotions had to settle down, to get sorted out. Changing circumstances, contexts and other realitiesMORE...
(The following comments come from our years living in South Lake Tahoe, CA, where the casino-oriented culture correlated with a dismal social landscape that included the highest per capita crime rate in the State of California.) Recent news headlines have announced these statistics for Illinois: In October, sports betting surpassed the $1 billion mark. The state’s share: Over $560 millionMORE...
Living joyfully through a variety of worship services this past holiday season, I realized how many descants I’ve heard during that time. As you might imagine, “This got me to thinking….” In its original Latinate form, a descant was a cantus (voice) set apart. Connected loosely to the emergence of polyphonic (many-voices) musical styles, the descant was a melody—usually sung or played at aMORE...
(The Sunday after Christmas is sometimes designated as Holy Family Sunday, a time to remember how Joseph, Mary and Jesus escaped Herod. Today my thoughts about another way to think of that event.) CHARACTERS Herod (Computer hacker) The Holy Family (Computer innocents) The Magi and an angel (Geek Squad) TRADITIONAL STORY Generously gifted by the Wise Men, Mary and Joseph may not haveMORE...
Today might be a good time to start thinking about this coming Holy Family Sunday: Imagine how it might have felt for Mary and Joseph after the shepherds had headed back to their flocks. This new family was alone once again. Their makeshift maternity ward was still a stable. They were still political pawns in Rome’s bean-counting census. They were still strangers in this village far away fromMORE...
Now’s the season when “Fear not!” claims its place in the lexicon of faith-based attitudes and actions. The sources of this proclamation include a variety of angelic greetings—to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the shepherds—as well as Jesus’ assurances throughout his ministry. Well-reasoned sermons and Christmas greetings notwithstanding, part of me wants to say, “Wait a minute…!” I know theMORE...
One Advent theme that doesn’t get much attention comes from the idea that we live in the last times. That the world will end, perhaps soon and perhaps suddenly. The connected thought: As we head toward the end of our lives, there will be a host of “last times”—final events, thoughts and relationships that have graced our lives. Examples: The last Christmas involving your whole family; yourMORE...
As the result of some recent medical tests, I have come to find out that part of one knee is “internally deranged.” Always curious about anything medical, I wondered where else this diagnosis might apply. What other thoughts it might eventually generate. If deranged denotes the generic misplacement or inappropriateness of something, I’m willing to accept that diagnosis as generally true about meMORE...
The December, 2022 issue of Scientific American included an article titled, *“An Invisible Epidemic.” Its subject: Moral injury, a psychological condition that results when someone’s principles are violated by contextual necessities. Examples include: healthcare providers during COVID’s worst days or soldiers killing civilians during wartime. Ethically wrenching situations were their new normalMORE...
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.