And so we come to another glorious pause…

…I am stepping away from Dating Jesus (again, I know) to focus my attentions elsewhere. I have done this before (many times, actually, and usually so I can focus on other writing). This is one of those times, and I just may return, but for all that feels important these days, driving traffic to a blog …

Saw this on Facebook. Leaving it here.

So imagine: Daily acts of resistance, to add to your daily acts of kindness. I like this idea. I like it a lot.

We are not entering dark times

We are, instead, simply regrouping. If you need inspiration, just play this, loud. Onward. The way may be steep but we are not tired.

In this week’s Bible readings…

…I stumbled across Exodus 5, where the Israelites were required, as slaves to the Egyptians, to make bricks without straw. This was at a time when the Israelites, led by Moses and Aaron, had had it with Pharaoh’s heart, which seemed to harden at the slightest of provocation. (I mean, seriously: If someone turned water …

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Rabbi Cantor spoke:

Rabbi Debra Cantor (pictured) of Congregation B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom in Bloomfield, Connecticut, was invited to speak to Faith Congregational Church, Hartford’s oldest predominantly black church. With her permission, I’m reprinting her sermon here: Thank you. I am deeply honored by the opportunity to address you this afternoon. I’ve been attending the Martin Luther King Day gatherings here …

Those communists in Vermont

So rattling around Manchester, Vermont, (but mostly rattling around the wonderful Northshire Bookstore), we stumbled across this display. Honest to God, I thought about this all the way home. I brought two coats, one for snowshoeing/sweating in, and one to wear around town. It was 9 degrees. My windshield wiper fluid froze, which made driving …

The sad case of Esteban Santiago-Ruiz

The gunman at Fort Lauderdale’s airport had psychiatric problems, and the symptoms seem to have started after he was deployed to Iraq. Some researchers point to a link between combat stress and violence at home. But other research says there isn’t such a direct link between the two. Santiago-Ruiz killed five people in Florida, and now faces the …

We had snow

Snow falls differently for people. There are those who hate it, and hunker down indoors and bemoan the fact that they live in New England (or Minnesota or Ohio, or wherever it snowed) and now sunny Florida (or insert the warm climate of your choice). There are those who resolutely (duty calls!) navigate the dangerous …

The new Congress, many of whom are bought and paid for

Guns Down America researched the new Congress, and how much the blood-gargling NRA has invested in their success.

We must control our toddlers better

According to the Press Union (building on research by the Washington Post), for the last two years, a toddler has shot someone every week. Two years. Every week.