On my way to work every morning I pass a bus stop that has been driving me crazy for months.  Hanging in the bus stop is a poster with one ominous looking (dark skinned) man in the foreground and two women behind him staring with fear in their eyes.  The poster reads, “If You See Something, Say Something.” This poster, along with other marketing strategies, is part of a wider anti-terrorist campaign… Read More

As I packed away all the Christmas decorations this weekend I thought again how strange it felt to say goodbye to all of them, put them in boxes, stack them in storage, and not give them another thought for at least eleven months…and then, to climb into the storage closet, hit your head, swear under (or over) your breath, and drag out dusty boxes of well-loved plastic and ribbons to take them out… Read More

From the Outside…In January 9, 2011 Matthew 2:1–12  On Thursday the Christian Church around the world celebrated the Day of Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas, a day that commemorates the coming of the wise men to visit the baby Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew.  Our word “epiphany” comes from the Greek work epiphaneia, meaning disclosure, manifestation, unveiling, or appearance—the same meaning we ascribe to the word epiphany when… Read More

I recently had the opportunity to attend the symphony, one of my favorite things to do.  The occasion was festive, the crowd was all dressed up, and the music was magical.  I loved the whole experience. But I do have a confession to make. Conducting that night was a conductor named Sarah Hicks (http://www.sarahhicksconductor.com/web/bio.aspx), and watching her do her job gave me pause.  I was, of course, non-pulsed by the thought of… Read More

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow. Crunchy numbers Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 63,000 times in 2010. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would have performed about 3 times. In 2010, there were 104 new… Read More