I don’t know what I expected from this movie- I thought I knew but didn’t. Sure we can expect violence and death; after all, it is called Lone Survivor.  I did not read the book but have spoken with several people who did-apparently everything is based on actual events. It’s been a few weeks since we went to see this movie but I decided to write about it because of the 2 portrayals that I continue to think about all these weeks later. The first is about rules of engagement. Most of us know what that phrase means, intellectually. While the movie was filmed in New Mexico, the cinematograph ..read more

Human hands open palm up worship. Eucharist Therapy Bless God Helping Repent Catholic Easter Lent Mind Pray. Christian Religion concept background. fighting and victory for godWhy this useless murmuring? Why this tumult among nations, among peoples this useless murmuring? They arise, the kings of the earth, princes plot against the Lord and his Anointed. These are the first 4 lines of psalm 2, words I am sure I’ve read before but only today, on this first Sunday of Advent, do they echo in my mind and my heart, shadowing me with sorrow and helplessness at the plight of our tumult filled world ..read more

Take Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline, add a pinch or two of a mediocre screenplay and mix. The result: Two hours of pure entertainment; filled with self deprecating humor by these giants of film facing the consequences of age in the film, Last Vegas. Freeman attempting to accept graciously the anxious ministrations of a concerned son; Kline as he fights a losing battle with his manhood, De Niro, lost in grief at the loss of his wife and Douglas, the sole bachelor of the four-some who accidentally proposes to his 30 year old girl friend. It should be boring ..read more

cheap grace Cheap grace: sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? But even a cursory reading of Diedrich Bonhoeffer reveals it’s itchy truth. Germany: the land of Luther, Wagner, Nietzche, Hitler, Rahner, and Ratzinger. The list combines the very noblest and the most bestial of the minds and hearts of man. And there was also a man called Bonhoeffer. I have read occasional meditations by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and found them intriguing but it was not until I began to read Bonhoeffer, Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas that I began to grasp the power and the far reach of yet anoth ..read more

                Eerily reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey, absent Hal, Gravity places two American astronauts alone in the vast, black, void of outer space. I saw the movie last week but keep drifting back to the film and the stunning cinematography which transports the willing viewer to a place of pure silence, isolation; the abyss. With its stark absence of dialogue, and its placement of the man and the woman as the paradox of humanity: fragile and vulnerable yet with a spark of the divine, Gravity manages a strange combin ..read more

Our battles are many Our battles are many. Strange title for an article? Perhaps, but fitting to my life both before and after I found faith. Years ago, I walked into a southwestern boutique store not far from where I lived in Houston, Texas; a print of the profiles of three Indians with 20-25 smaller figures of battling warriors sketched in each of the torsos of the three main profiles. The print seemed to dominate the store and I bought it. The artist calls his work, Our Battles Are Many; then and now, those images have characterized my life. My first article written as a Christian Ca ..read more

Thinking about Martha I have been thinking about Martha for years…and the comparison with her sister Mary. And my sympathies invariably lie with Martha, because I have an image, a very clear image, of what she is dealing with. Tradition tells us that Jesus did not travel alone, quite the contrary; from what we guess, there were generally 10 to 20 people traveling with him. That is a lot of people to worry about, be hospitable to, make sure they have drink, bread and hummus while the main meal is being prepared. So her request of Jesus seems more than reasonable to me. I’ve listened to many ho ..read more

Giving why does it matter? Giving- Why Does It Matter? Today, I finally got my act together sufficiently to set up a monthly donation to the Reno Gospel Mission. John and I have been attracted…called…is a better way to say it, I think,  to help those who have derailed-most because of alcohol and or drug abuse, we have learned. For a few years, we spent some time learning about the folks who lived in what was called “tent city”in Reno. Although I am in no way an expert on the complex  problem of homelessness, I have learned a lot and have, therefore, came to some conclusions about ho ..read more

Our amazing dog Shadow Our amazing dog Shadow is the non-Doberman lying down on the living room rug.  A “throw away dog” as my husband refers to him. Thrown away when he was a puppy, left to starve and feed on the dead rabbits killed on the roads nearby our house. Shadow took the biggest risk of his young life when he chose us out of the many neighbors who had tried to lure him into their homes. We don’t know how old he is but when this Doberman came to live here as a 26 pound puppy, Shadow decided that he would protect him-he still does. This morning, I watched while our amazing dog Sh ..read more

Human hands open palm up worship. Eucharist Therapy Bless God Helping Repent Catholic Easter Lent Mind Pray. Christian Religion concept background. fighting and victory for godWhy this useless murmuring? Why this tumult among nations, among peoples this useless murmuring? They arise, the kings of the earth, princes plot against the Lord and his Anointed. These are the first 4 lines of psalm 2, words I am sure I’ve read before but only today, on this first Sunday of Advent, do they echo in my mind and my heart, shadowing me with sorrow and helplessness at the plight of our tumult filled world ..read more