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.
A Backyard Psalm 1When I look at the work of your hands in this place, I marvel and sing “Thanks!” 2You provide homes for your smallest creatures: The rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, voles and birds. The ticks, mosquitoes and ants. Worms, pill bugs, spiders and centipedes find safety, each in their own habitat. 3Living things find the food and water that you provide in abundance. Seeds, greeneryMORE...
This holiday offers us an opportunity to celebrate the example of national heroes, the people who we can hold up as truly great patriots. One problem, though: Some of our forebears were not saints. Thus this idea: Why not also think about truly admirable saints on this day? Unless you’re part of Roman Catholic traditions, you may not be aware of the multitude of named saints who have been part ofMORE...
Looking at recent e-mails, I’ve noticed a higher number of junk messages and spam—all of them essentially e-garbage. Because I would have to open questionable links in order to unsubscribe, I feel stuck in e-Purgatory, writhing inside the grips of people who want to foul this e-nest. This bird-brained matter seems to characterize most other e-tools. E-mail’s original intent was quicklyMORE...
This Federal holiday has emerged as another opportunity to honor some matters about our nation that warrant our remembering. Since any holiday can get co-opted to become another chance to sell something—e.g., traditional Memorial Day mattress sales—I’d like to pre-empt that possibility by offering my personal observations about this special day. What’s there to remember? Obviously, the truth thatMORE...
Just a few days ago, I wrote what I thought would be a convincing entry about the inability of AI to possess or use a sense of humor. Although some comedians and humorists seemed to doubt the present capacity of this technology to achieve that pinnacle of human sentience, a greater preponderance of social thinkers now seem resigned to the opposite: That AI will develop a sense of humor that goesMORE...
In the past few days, I’ve been feeling more than a little relieved. It seems that, per Amos 5:24, justice is once again rolling like an unstoppable river. That the laws of this land are being upheld and miscreants brought to trial. That rickety empires of lying, hate and disregard are collapsing. I think it’s okay to be gratified when evil gets cut down and withers. When generalized shame erodesMORE...
Recently, the State Farm Insurance Company announced its decision to stop writing new protection policies for owners of businesses and homes in California. That got me to playing with the metaphor of “the canary in the coal mine,” an allusion to their warning coal miners about the presence of deadly gases. Because State Farm is a venerable enterprise—over 101 years old—that thought led to theseMORE...
Memorial Day comes once a year, but my thanks for members of the military extends further. With the rest of our country’s citizens, I owe a debt of gratitude to all of you who have served in the military, especially those who have paid the costs of your service in small-yet-significant ways. “Thanks for your service” doesn’t seem to say enough, so let me add these few words to express myMORE...
This entry completes a series of entries about my reactions to the remarkable insights in a *new book about awe. Today: What’s the big deal, anyhow? I owe you an explanation about what lies under my perhaps-dispassionate reporting about awe and wonder. I’ll be direct: As desirable and practiced attitudes, awe and wonder may hold promise as solutions—or at least corrections—to some of theMORE...
This entry continues my reactions to the remarkable insights in a *new book about awe. Today: Congregational worship as awe experiences. Reading the descriptions of social scientist and author Dacher Keltner regarding awe-filled experiences, I’ve realized that worship likely involves awe. When we worship God together with other believers, that experience can invoke, invite and inspire awe in theMORE...
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.