Eighty years ago on June 6th Allied forces set off from England for an invasion that would change the outcome of World War II.  We know it as D-Day.  It was a day of immense courage.  The success of the operation came at the cost of great loss. This coming weekend is Memorial Day, a… Read More »

It would be my guess that leadership in the Church did not factor in a young child’s fertile imagination when the term “Holy Ghost” became the designation of the third person of the Trinity. It never made a lot of sense to me as that child. Ghosts were for Halloween. Ghosts wore white sheets. Ghosts… Read More »

This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day.  Facebook and Instagram will be filled with sentimental pictures of mothers.  Some churches have special Mother Day services.   This is the origin story from the Encyclopedia Britannica:  Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, whose mother had organized women’s groups to promote friendship and health, originated Mother’s Day. On May 12,… Read More »

“I Love a Parade” is a classic 1932 song introduced in the first show with Duke Ellington leading the band. John Philip Sousa’s marches are part of the tapestry of our patriotic celebrations. There is something about a parade. The Greenbelt Labor Day parade is the focus of attention every year, followed by friends gathering… Read More »

Every year I anxiously await the first signs of bloom on our saucer magnolia tree – and then I check the extended weather forecast to see if a cold snap might shorten the glory of the tree by a sudden freeze.  The tree is ready to be in full bloom and our weather forecast is… Read More »

            This past Sunday during Time With Young Disciples I talked to them about praying when you are feeling sad, or scared, or overwhelmed.  I said all they really needed to say was “Help”.  God would (and does) understand.  I also said the biblical writers had developed a way to pray in difficult times and… Read More »

            I thought this week’s meditation would be about the Central Atlantic Conference meeting scheduled for this weekend.  What is the CAC?  How is Greenbelt Community Church connected to the CAC?  What will be the themes of this year’s Annual Meeting?             And then war erupted in Israel and the Gaza Strip.  I would like… Read More »

            Today, October 4th, when this column goes out, we will conclude our Fall Book Study, Dinners With Ruth A Memoir on the Power of Friendships by Nina Totenberg.  It has been a wonderful month of fellowship and storytelling as we read this book about friendship.             In the next to last chapter, Nina Totenberg diverges from… Read More »

            This Sunday is World Communion Sunday.  Instituted in the mid-1930s at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA, it was designed to open their congregation’s awareness of the peoples of the world.  The service was to challenge them to envision a table big enough to receive all who would participate in the bread and wine… Read More »

            14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket,… Read More »