I’m not betting on tomatoes in October, but the yellow blossoms on our tomato plants make me happy. I take them as a reminder that even in August, 2014, God is at work and invites us to join him in his hope-filled work.

Becky and I are just not vegetable gardeners, though some of our best friends are. It’s a combination of time, location, and mostly interest that keeps us from getting our hands dirty.  As with most of us, downtime is a precious commodity. Gardening doesn’t rise to the top ten uses of free time. It’s a joy to live in a “tree city,” but lots of shade from towering trees doesn’t make for early-ripening vegetables. And then there is the “some of our best friends” thing.  Why should we garden when we have best friends who supply us with tomatoes and cucumbers all season long? Continue reading →

Why do we so dislike Justin Bieber?  Because even as in a funhouse mirror with all its distortions, we still recognize ourselves.

I am not a big pop culture person. You don’t want me on your Trivial Pursuit team if we need a pie wedge of pop cultural literacy.  But I know enough about Justin Bieber to think “good for him” when I read the internet headline, “Orlando Bloom Throws Punch at Justin Bieber.” And it’s not that I know much about Orlando Bloom, but anyone who cares about The Lord of the Rings has got to be a little bit of an Orlando Bloom fan; you know, Legolas and all. Continue reading →

With apologies to my Feasterville friends, I probably could lead a decent life without going to Feasterville ever again. Besides, Bridgetown Pike and Brownsville Road are such a hassle. But I can’t live a decent life, I can’t live a godly life, if I’m content with local traffic and Playwicki Park. 

Get used to it, they say. It’s going to be a couple of years.  They are rebuilding the State Route 213 bridge over Neshaminy Creek, and if you travel much between Langhorne and Feasterville, life just got a little more complicated.  For now, “Bridge Out” pretty much says it all. Oh, it’s not that we won’t be seeing our Feasterville friends for two years or they us, it’s just that Bridgetown Pike or Brownsville Road are a hassle.  And for those of you on the far side of the bridge, please, don’t give up on us. We want to see you. We promise not to say anything when you show up for worship and Faith Acts, Bible studies and committee meetings, five minutes late. Continue reading →

The bell tolled 298 times yesterday, and it will toll again today and tomorrow. I want my life be lived in such a way that it tolls less often, and that when it tolls it calls us not just to mourn loss, but to celebrate resurrection.

The morning psalm in today’s Daily Office is Psalm 31. The psalm is a psalm of lament. David bemoans the power his adversaries have over him. But like many of the psalms of lament, it also tells of God’s faithfulness and mercy in times of adversity.  The last verse reads, “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” Continue reading →

Kids are in crisis, and we say it is someone else’s responsibility, mostly the responsibility of a government run by politicians who deserve every potshot we might send their way.

(Pictured – kids from Philadelphia, Guatemala, and Langhorne. Kids we love)

Everyone agrees it’s a crisis. Some call it a border crisis, others an immigration crisis, some a political crisis.  Fifty – or is it a hundred thousand? – children and youth, mostly from Central America, streaming across our southern border. Many say it is a humanitarian crisis, but that sounds too sterile, too solvable by the U.N. or the Red Cross.  It is a crisis that involves kids – little preschoolers and soon-to-be-adult adolescents.  Kids are in trouble.  The president says he can’t lead and the congress says he won’t lead. And the kids are still in trouble. Continue reading →