Russellings of the Spirit

God

  • The Last Hurrah

    “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it…” (Psalm 24:1, NRSV) Seldom has there been a more oft-repeated, self-evident phrase than the one I am about to utter. Despite that, I press on… “FALL… Continue reading

  • “Well, I declare!”

    It is one thing to know who you are. Today, after 60 plus years of trial and error and experimentation, I feel as if I am finally getting a handle on my own identity. However, it is quite another thing entirely to DECLARE that… Continue reading

  • A Tangled History

    Yesterday I wrote about the way politics and faith seem to live on polar opposite ends of the known universe. (a post which you can read in its entirety here.) As we check the historical record, however, it seems they have… Continue reading

  • Two Years On…

    Today is the day when – two years ago – our world turned upside down. After experiencing a long bout of various gastrointestinal distresses, Joan went made an appointment with her doctor. She went in on a Wednesday to get… Continue reading

  • Pro and Con

    “Well, it sure beats the alternative!” I honestly can’t count the number of times I have uttered this phrase whenever someone complains to me about the tribulations of aging. Here of late though, I’ve had cause to wonder: Is it though?… Continue reading

  • Time for a jolt?

    As a child of the 60s, I’d like to think I know a thing or two about protests.  Granted, most of my participation in the anti-war or civil rights protests of that era consisted of watching them on TV from… Continue reading

  • Clearing the Underbrush

    It hit me as soon as I walked out the door. Patrick the dog and I were headed out for our long Saturday morning walk. But after five steps and two breaths, it became abundantly clear that our walk on… Continue reading

  • The Heartbreak of RPD

    In a wholehearted endorsement of the axiom advising us that confession is good for the soul, I offer this mea culpa today: Sometimes I suffer from RPD… Resistant Personality Disorder. What this means is that I will sometimes resist something… Continue reading

  • Lockdown Freedom

    Yesterday kind of sucked. It was day 4,845,154 of the Great Lockdown of 2020 (not that anyone is counting, of course). It was another day of wearing our masks in public, another day of super-fastidious hand washing, another day of… Continue reading

  • Questioning Church

    For most of my life, there has been very little question about church. To be sure, different chapters have witnessed different relationships to church. There was the “blind obedience” stage, the “I’m just here to meet cute girls” stage, the… Continue reading