I distinctly remember the first symphony concert I ever attended. We were kids in elementary school and our twice-a-week music teacher prepared us for it weeks in advance so our anticipation was building. Not only were we going on a field trip, but we were joining elementary school kids from all over the city in…
Dad used to smoke filterless Camel cigarettes. I asked him why he smoked and he said he started smoking when he was 11 years old and he just couldn’t quit. When he was 11, it was 1922. There were no surgeon general warnings about tobacco and its side effects. It’s just what kids, mostly boys,…
If it wasn’t the first time Matt appeared at our door, it was close. Halloween had arrived. The doorbell rang and there was Matt, held by his mother Ruth, and wonderfully adorned as a sunflower. All would have been well except that I, having always dressed for Halloween myself, had cut a couple of holes…
I’ll admit that I’m a political junkie. I’m rather addicted to the news about campaigns, especially presidential ones. But this year I have begun turning off the news because it all makes me kind of sick to my stomach. The incivility of it all, and on both sides of the political spectrum, doesn’t seem to…
I loved Easter when I was a kid. In Northwest Missouri, the weather was often warm and clear enough for our Easter egg hunts to be held in the backyard. We usually had to get ready for church first and then my younger brother and I could venture out back to see what we could…
When I was working as the press secretary for the late-Gov. George S. Mickelson of South Dakota, I had occasion to visit the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. It was a work-related visit; didn’t know anyone there. But it was my first visit to a place that housed hardened criminals (along with some…
One of my frustrations as a pastor, and, I suspect a frustration shared by many a pastor, is how a congregation will gather en masse for a Palm Sunday worship service and a week later gather for the celebration of the resurrection, Easter, and just skip over everything that happened in the days that intervened…
Michael Crichton was one of the most successful, creative and entertaining authors of our day. In a memoir of some of his experiences (Travels, Alfred Knopf, 1988), he relates the story of a kind of party he once attended. There was a large crowd of guests and of all ages and backgrounds. Each guest was…
From the second row, I had a pretty good view of the chancel or whatever that area in the front of a Roman Catholic church is called. The casket was more obscured as it sat in the middle of the floor and on the same level as the congregants. But after several hours in the…
I’ll return to the blog next week. Enjoying vacation this week. Thanks for reading! Share here: by